Is debt bad for your business? What 250 UK founders really think

Ask most UK founders about debt and you won't get a financial answer. You'll get an emotional one.

In our 2025 survey, more than half associated borrowing with shame or failure, and only 27% saw debt as a strategic tool to grow. For the rest, it was a last resort. That feeling is real, and worth taking seriously. It's also, in part, learned.

Where the fear comes from

Dr Nikhil Sapre, Lecturer in Finance at the University of Bristol, who contributed to our research, put it plainly:

"Fear of debt is behavioural rather than structural, a consequence of inadequate financial education and the persistent framing of debt as dangerous rather than enabling."

In other words, a lot of debt anxiety has little to do with your numbers. It comes from a story we've all absorbed: that borrowing is something to be ashamed of.

A calmer way to think about it

Debt isn't automatically good or bad. It depends on whether it's understood and whether it's right for your situation. Used well, borrowing is simply a way to bring future capacity forward: buying stock before a busy season, hiring ahead of a contract, smoothing an uneven month.

The problem our research found wasn't founders borrowing recklessly. It was founders avoiding finance they could have used responsibly, because it felt opaque and faintly embarrassing.

What helps

Clarity. When you can see the cost, understand the terms, and draw only what you need, borrowing stops being a leap of faith. That's why we built Juice Flex the way we did: so the decision is yours to make calmly, with everything in front of you. It's a revolving credit facility built around clarity and control, not complexity.

None of this is advice to borrow, only that the decision should be an informed one, not a fearful one.

Explore your options → Funding is subject to status and lending criteria. Borrowing should be considered carefully and isn't right for every business.