New research from LinkedIn shows small business creation is accelerating heading into 2026, defying expectations amid continued economic uncertainty. The professional networking platform reports a 69% year-over-year increase in US members adding “founder” to their profiles, with over half of small business leaders expressing optimism about growth prospects.
The data reveals a shift in how entrepreneurs are building businesses. Rather than waiting for economic conditions to improve, founders are leveraging technology—particularly artificial intelligence—to compete more effectively while doubling down on authentic brand building and professional networks.
AI Levels the Competitive Playing Field
AI adoption has become central to small business strategy. According to LinkedIn’s survey, 54% of US small business leaders consider AI essential to their growth plans. Among marketers specifically, 76% believe AI tools help smaller brands compete against larger competitors with bigger budgets.
The technology’s influence extends beyond operations—it’s changing who becomes an entrepreneur. Nearly half of survey respondents (47%) said AI has made them more likely to start their own business, suggesting the technology is lowering barriers to entry.
The economic opportunity is substantial. Generative AI could unlock up to $1.6 trillion in productive capacity for US small and medium-sized businesses, representing 40% of the total AI opportunity available across all business segments. Small business leaders are prioritizing AI applications for marketing (63%) and lead generation (62%).
What this means for marketers: AI is fundamentally changing competitive dynamics in your industry. Smaller competitors now have access to capabilities—from content creation to data analysis to campaign optimization—that were previously exclusive to companies with large marketing departments. If you’re at a larger organization, you can’t assume budget and headcount will maintain your competitive moat. If you’re at a smaller company, you now have tools that can help you punch above your weight class.
Authenticity Becomes a Business Strategy
Brand building has emerged as the top priority for small business leaders in 2026, with 76% citing it as key to achieving growth goals. This focus on brand reflects broader changes in how businesses establish credibility. Three-quarters of respondents (74%) say showing up authentically online is now as important as in-person presence.
This mindset is driving behavioral change. Sixty-five percent of brand owners say they’re becoming content creators themselves, producing material to build their audience directly rather than relying solely on paid advertising or intermediaries.
The emphasis on authenticity aligns with shifting consumer expectations. As trust in traditional advertising declines and audiences become more skeptical of polished corporate messaging, small businesses are finding advantages in their ability to communicate more personally and transparently than larger competitors.
What this means for marketers: The rules of brand building are evolving. Your audience increasingly values authenticity over production quality, and founder-led content often outperforms corporate marketing messages. This creates both opportunity and pressure—you can build deeper connections with more modest resources, but you’ll need to be comfortable showing up as yourself, not hiding behind corporate speak. For B2B marketers especially, personal branding is becoming inseparable from company branding.
Networks Drive Decision-Making and Growth
Professional connections remain critical despite—or perhaps because of—increased technology adoption. Seventy-eight percent of small business leaders say professional networks are essential for growth, while 63% rely on community input for quick decision-making.
Notably, 73% of respondents say human connection has become more critical in the age of AI, not less. This sentiment is reflected in hiring priorities across companies of all sizes, with 69% agreeing that people skills have increased in importance as AI handles more technical tasks.
“Our research shows that small business leaders are thriving despite economic challenges by blending new technology that allows them to accomplish more than ever before, with a strong network that helps unlock opportunities,” said Ora Levit, VP of Product Management at LinkedIn.
What this means for marketers: As AI handles more execution work, your relationship-building skills become more valuable, not less. Marketing is increasingly about community building, partnership development, and authentic engagement—the human elements that technology can’t replicate. Invest in your professional network, participate in industry conversations, and build genuine relationships. These connections will drive business development, provide market intelligence, and create opportunities that no algorithm can generate.
The Bigger Picture
This surge in small business creation comes as the economy sends mixed signals. While inflation concerns persist and many large corporations have enacted hiring freezes or layoffs over the past two years, entrepreneurship is growing.
The trend reflects several converging factors: workers who left traditional employment during and after the pandemic are building their own ventures, technology has reduced startup costs and operational complexity, and remote work has normalized distributed business models that don’t require physical infrastructure.
For the marketing industry specifically, this proliferation of small businesses is creating both opportunity and fragmentation. More companies need marketing services and tools, but they’re also creating more competitive noise and putting pressure on customer acquisition costs. The small businesses succeeding in this environment are those that can efficiently blend technology, authentic branding, and strategic networking.
LinkedIn is supporting this shift with free one-month access to courses on AI for business growth, brand building, and small business marketing through LinkedIn Learning. The company also offers tools through its Premium subscription, including Premium Company Pages, which it says delivers 7.5x more page engagement and 6.7x faster follower growth for small businesses.