Findings from the 5th Annual Hiscox DNA of An Entrepreneur Study [INFOGRAPHIC]

The 2013 Hiscox eDNA small business survey highlights the triumphs and challenges of the American entrepreneur. The study, on the DNA of an Entrepreneur includes insights from 500 small and medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and provides a unique and revealing portrait of the financial pressures, stresses, opportunities and challenges faced by entrepreneurs. 50% of entrepreneurs are optimistic about the coming year. This year's findings reveal that although male entrepreneurs were more likely to report growth in revenue, new customers and number of employees, the gender gap is narrowing as female entrepreneurs continue to generate strong results.

Additional key findings include:

• Male small business owners were more likely to have reported growth in revenue (50% male vs. 45% female) and new customers growth ( 57% male vs. 52% female) in the last 12 months
• 34% of male small business owners worked on average between 40 to 49 hours per week, while female small business owners (also 34%) were most likely to work an average of 29 hours or less per week.
• Women are using social media for a variety of business reasons, whereas men use social media tools primarily for hiring and recruiting (see infographic here).
• Despite the mainstream popularity of crowd funding, over 90% of male and female small business owners have not considered it as a funding option.