Triangle entrepreneurs show a continued and slightly higher level of optimism in the second quarter, anticipating sales and hiring increases, according to Quarterly Outlook of Triangle Entrepreneurs (QuOTE) survey for Q2 2018, conducted by the City of Raleigh and the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic.

Among the entrepreneurs participating in this survey, a greater percentage – 91.8 percent (vs. 91.1 percent in Q1 2018) – report that they anticipate the next six months may bring increases in sales. In terms of capital spending, a slightly lower percentage – 60.6 percent (vs. 63.3 percent) – anticipate increases, while for employment a greater percentage – 73.8 percent (vs. 69.3 percent) anticipate increases.

“As we’ve emphasized all along, the strength of the outlook index is that we can identify trends over time. So, this is good news for our entrepreneurial ecosystem—we’ve now seen one more consecutive quarter of growing optimism” says Lewis Sheats, associate professor of practice in entrepreneurship in the NC State Poole College of Management and executive director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic in a statement.

“This growing optimism, so far, seems robust to seasonality and the ambiguity in the political environment,” he said. “Within these new data, we are perhaps seeing the results of recent capital spending that is now resulting in greater sales and employment growth. As a community, we need to recognize this need—for ventures to scale up and manage growth—and support them as much as we can in sustaining the expansion,:

The City of Raleigh and the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic in conjunction with Poole College jointly conduct the quarterly survey, which helps entrepreneurial companies in the Triangle region anticipate business decisions and plan for growth. Jeff Pollack, an associate professor in the NC State Poole College of Management adapted the survey and analyzed the data based on the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of American companies that conducts a similar survey nationally with large companies.

A full report on the findings is available online at Clinic Research.