SMB Fintech Pain Points & Priorities Assessment

Welcome! This survey explores the challenges that professionals and small business owners face in areas like cash flow, marketing, hiring, and software tools. Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you may stop at any time. There are no right or wrong answers — we are interested in your honest opinions and experiences. All responses are confidential and will be reported only in aggregate. The survey takes approximately 8–10 minutes to complete. Thank you for your time!

Which best describes your current work situation?

• Self-employed or freelancer
• Owner/partner of a small business (1–50 employees)
• Employee at a small business (1–50 employees)
• Employee at a medium or large company (51+ employees)
• Student
• Not working currently
• Other

Which of the following areas do you personally handle or influence in your work? Select all that apply.

• I manage cash flow or finances
• I work on marketing or growth
• I handle hiring or contractors
• I choose or manage software/tools
• None of the above

Which, if any, of the following do you use at least once a week? Select all that apply.

• Mobile banking app
• Budgeting app (e.g., Mint, YNAB)
• Payment app (e.g., PayPal, Venmo, Cash App)
• Investing app (e.g., Robinhood, eToro)
• Credit monitoring app
• Buy Now, Pay Later service
• Crypto wallet or exchange app
• None of these

How much of a challenge is managing cash flow or finances for you right now?

How much of a challenge is marketing and growth for you right now?

How much of a challenge is hiring or managing contractors for you right now?

How much of a challenge is managing software and tools for you right now?

Which one area is your single biggest challenge right now?

• Cash flow/finances
• Marketing and growth
• Hiring/contracting
• Software/tools
• None — I don't face a major challenge in these areas

From the list below, which specific issues are most challenging for you right now? Select up to 5.

• Unpredictable revenue timing
• Late or missed customer payments
• Limited visibility into cash runway or forecast
• Limited access to credit or working capital
• Too few qualified leads
• Unclear channel attribution
• Low conversion on website or app
• Hard to find qualified candidates or contractors
• Onboarding and paperwork take too long
• Too many tools to manage
• Tools that don't integrate well
• Software subscriptions cost too much

Thinking about the biggest challenge area you selected above, briefly describe a recent example and how it affected your work or business.

You mentioned your biggest challenge earlier. I'd like to explore that in a bit more depth. What have you tried so far to address it, and what has or hasn't worked?

Thinking about the past month, rank the following by how much of your work time you spent on each area (1 = most time).

1. Finances/cash flow
2. Marketing/growth
3. Hiring/contracting
4. Software/tools
5. Operations/admin

Rank the following outcomes by how helpful each would be for you right now (1 = most helpful).

1. Improve cash predictability
2. Get more qualified leads
3. Hire or contract faster
4. Reduce software/tooling costs
5. Automate routine financial and admin tasks

Based on your responses throughout this survey, is there anything else you would like to share about the challenges you face with finances, marketing, hiring, or software tools?

Where are you primarily based?

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East/Africa
• Prefer not to say

What is your age group?

• 18–24
• 25–34
• 35–44
• 45–54
• 55–64
• 65+
• Prefer not to say

How do you describe your gender?

• Male
• Female
• Non-binary
• Prefer to self-describe
• Prefer not to say

What is the highest level of education you have completed?

• High school or less
• Some college or vocational
• Bachelor's degree
• Graduate/professional degree
• Other
• Prefer not to say

Approximately how many people work at your company or organization?

• Just me (solo)
• 2–5
• 6–10
• 11–50
• 51+
• Not applicable

Thank you for completing this survey — your input is greatly appreciated! Your responses will be used in aggregate to improve products and services for professionals and small business owners like you.