2025 年女性创业者现状报告

2025 Advising Founders & Business Owners Capstone Partners is one of the largest and most active investment banking firms in theUnited States, with a unique set of capabilities specially tailored to serve the needs ofmiddle market owners, investors, and creditors throughout their full business lifecycle. Wehave proudly served many women entrepreneurs during the firms’ 20+ years in operation. “Capstone’s strategic vision and exceptional leadership were pivotal in guiding our merger andensuring a seamless transition and a strong foundation for future growth.” Elena WestCEO,Ohio Art Company “We were represented by Capstone Partners, who provided invaluable guidance and strategicknowledge of the possible transaction partners across both the private equity and Specialty ChemicalDistribution landscapes. Capstone helped us navigate this unfamiliar terrain and maximized our timeand value for our shareholders. They were truly our partners in this process, and we were grateful tohave them on our team.” Kristin Mays-Corbitt,President & CEO,Mays Chemical “Capstone was the best choice I could have made. They made a difficult process work seamlessly. Theteam held my hand carefully and assertively guided the process for my best outcome.” Becky Bailey,Owner,Conscious Discipline “Capstone was a persistent partner through the deal process. With the timing of our go to market, manybuyers were hesitant given the industry, but Capstone forged forward with tenacity to find the rightbuyer for us. They brought a balanced insight to us as founders and helped educate us throughout theprocess.” Leila HormoziCo-Founder,Gym Launch “Throughout this whole process, we were blown away by the attention and thoroughness that wasprovided by Capstone. The team was top notch, and we are so beyond grateful that we decided to gowith them. They far exceeded our expectations, and we feel confident that we got the best dealpossible because of them.” Sarah Douglass,Founder & CEO,Wise Owl Business Operations & StrategyPage 8 Capstone Q&As: Performance ImprovementPage 11 Equity Capital Markets AdvisoryPage 13 Mergers & Acquisitions AdvisoryPage 18 Life After ExitPage 20 State of the Market The More Things Change Americans remain highly entrepreneurial, andwomen are increasingly at the forefront of newventures. In 2024, still catalyzed by thedisruptive innovation of the pandemic,entrepreneurs filed five million new businessapplications compared to the pre-2020 annualaverage of 2.8 million, according to the U.S.Chamber of Commerce.1Today, independentbusinesses with 500 or fewer employeescomprise 99.9% of all U.S. firms and represent 43.5% (~$12 trillion annually) of gross domesticproduct (GDP). Notably non-store Retail (thedominant sector for women-ownedcompanies) comprised the largest share of newbusiness applications, followed by ProfessionalServices, and Construction. Impressively, thenumber of women-owned firms grew 44%faster than men-owned firms from 2019 to2024, according to Wells Fargo’s 2025 Impactof Women-Owned Businesses Report.2As of2024, women own 39.2% of all U.S. enterprises. While the launch of new women-ownedbusinesses is a natural bright spot, only aportion of these companies will reach scaleand profitability. Approximately 18% of smallbusinesses will fail within their first year ofopening and 65% will shutter by year 10,according to private business directoryChamber of Commerce.3These statistics makespotlighting the challenges, strategies, andtools to successful growth crucial. Whencomparing 2025 to 2024, 56% of respondents to Capstone’s Women Entrepreneurs (WE)Survey saw revenue growth and 22% reportedan increase of 26% or more. The industries withthe weakest revenue growth were Agriculture,with just 29% of owners reporting positiveyear-over-year (YOY) growth, and Consumer(32%). Operators in these industries have beenparticularly impacted by sticky inflation, theFederal Reserve Bank’s higher-for-longerinterest rate stance, and the White Houseadministrations’ evolving tariff policies.Unsurprisingly, CEO sentiment has soured, withthe majority (56%) reporting a neutral-to-negative outlook for the U.S. economy. At thesame time, respondents had a positive outlook for global (52%) and local (54%) economies—both of which have helped support optimismfor 2026 revenue growth (66%). Securing equity or debt capital is a key aspectof unlocking company growth and a knownhurdle for women entrepreneurs. Capstonefound that 20% of women entrepreneurssurveyed had successfully accessed debtcapital over the last twelve months (LTM) tosupport their business strategy and operations.Companies of scale (those with 100 or moreemployees) were more than 2x as likely to havesuccessfully secured a loan. Despite owning~40% of U.S. businesses, only 19.4% of 7(a) (Share of Women Entrepreneurs) loans—those used primarily for working capitaland business expansion—approved by the U.S.Small Business Association (SBA) to date infiscal year 2025