If 2025 had a theme for small businesses, it was “survival mode.” According to the newly released 2025 Year in Review SMB Report from fintech firm Revenued, 68% of business owners feared their company might not survive at least once during the year.
The report, titled “Tariffs, AI, and Resiliency,” paints a vivid picture of a sector under siege from rising import costs and tightening credit, yet remarkably adaptable. We sat down with Revenued’s Director of Marketing, Grant Pastor, to discuss why traditional banks are failing small businesses, how AI became a tool of necessity rather than novelty, and why business owners are entering 2026 with a newfound sense of grit.
Q: You’ve just released your 2025 Year in Review, and the headline number is stark: 68% of owners experienced a moment this year where they feared their business wouldn’t survive. Beyond just the numbers, what were the specific “financial and emotional pressures” that defined this volatility for the 446 owners you surveyed?
Grant Pastor:
What stood out wasn’t just the financial strain, but the cumulative weight of uncertainty. Owners were dealing with rising costs, delayed payments, and shrinking margins while at the same time they were making deeply personal decisions, whether to keep staff on payroll, dip into personal savings, or take on debt they weren’t sure they could service. Many described sleepless nights and a constant sense of vigilance. Even when the numbers technically worked, the margin for error felt nonexistent, and that psychological pressure was as destabilizing as any balance-sheet issue.
Q: A major focus of the report is the impact of tariffs, with 67% of respondents saying they were directly affected. How did these trade policies ripple through to the average retail or construction business owner, and what operational adjustments did they have to make to keep their margins intact?
Grant Pastor:
For most owners, tariffs didn’t show up as an abstract policy issue, they showed up as higher invoices and impossible choices. Retailers saw the cost of goods climb almost overnight, while construction businesses faced price volatility in materials that made quoting jobs risky. To compensate, owners renegotiated supplier contracts, passed along partial increases to customers, or cut costs elsewhere, often in ways that constrained growth. What we saw repeatedly was improvisation: businesses redesigning operations not to optimize, but simply to endure.
Q: We often hear about AI in the context of tech startups, but your report finds that main street businesses adopted AI out of “necessity rather than innovation.” From scheduling to invoicing, how are these tools actually being deployed to stabilize workflows when labor is tight?
Grant Pastor:
AI didn’t enter these businesses as a bold strategic bet, it entered quietly, as a way to plug gaps. Owners used basic tools to automate scheduling, draft customer communications, reconcile invoices, or forecast cash flow, tasks that had previously eaten up hours of manual work. With labor harder to find and more expensive to retain, automation became a form of triage. The goal wasn’t transformation, it was stability. AI became less about innovation and more about survival infrastructure.
Q: Access to capital remains a critical hurdle, with many owners reporting that “traditional financing fell short.” Why were bank approvals lagging so far behind the reality of the 2025 revenue cycles, and what does this say about the need for flexible, alternative financing options?
Grant Pastor:
Traditional banks were still underwriting risk as if revenue were predictable and linear, but 2025 wasn’t that kind of year. Many businesses had strong demand one quarter and sharp pullbacks the next, which made them look inconsistent on paper even if they were fundamentally healthy. As a result, approvals lagged behind real-world conditions. This disconnect reinforced what many owners already felt: that they needed alternative financing options who understood volatility, seasonality, and the realities of operating in an unpredictable economy.
Q: Despite the stress—which rose significantly for 43% of owners—your findings suggest that entrepreneurs are feeling “better prepared” for 2026. If market conditions haven’t necessarily improved, where is this confidence coming from, and what does it tell us about the “resilience” you observed?
Grant Pastor:
The confidence we saw heading into 2026 wasn’t rooted in optimism about the market, it was rooted in experience. Owners had already lived through their worst-case scenarios and found ways to adapt. They had diversified suppliers, tightened operations, adopted new tools, and learned how to operate with less margin for error. That builds a kind of hard-earned confidence. Resilience, in this context, isn’t about expecting things to get easier; it’s about knowing you can handle it if they don’t.
To download the full report and see the data on how businesses are adapting, visit https://www.revenued.com/the-revenued-2025-year-in-review-smb-report
