Whether you love them, hate them, or aren't sure how to feel about them, millennials are changing how just about everything works.
That's especially true when it comes to business. The "Me" generation will make up 75 percent of the workforce all over the world -- with more spending power than any generation has ever had before.
So how do millennials run their businesses -- and finance their businesses -- differently from their predecessors? And what can the lending industry expect from the next few decades?
Here are five ways that millennials are changing how small businesses get managed and financed.
1. Their businesses make less money... For now
According to data gathered by Fundera, the small business financing marketplace I started, millennial-owned small businesses bring in less revenue than their non-millennial counterparts.
37 percent of millennial-owned small businesses make $100,000 or less annually, while only around 24 percent of non-millennial-owned small businesses do the same. The two groups skew in opposite directions when it comes to annual revenue.
The turning point is the $100,000-to-$250,000 category:
About one-third of all businesses -- whether they're owned by millennials or not -- fall into this bucket, but almost half of non-millennial owned small businesses make more, where only roughly a third of millennial-owned small businesses are that successful.
The reason is probably pretty simple: millennial entrepreneurs just haven't been around for as long, and building up revenue takes time.
Nevertheless, it's important for the industry to remember that millennial business owners are still finding their footing.
2. They operate in different industries
Unsurprisingly, millennial entrepreneurs tend to gravitate towards a few different industries than their predecessors.
Specifically, more millennials run businesses associated with electronics, marketing, salons and spas, online retail, and fashion and apparel. For example, 5 percent of millennials veer towards e-commerce, while only 2.8 percent of non-millennials are attracted to that industry.
On the other hand, nearly 6 percent of non-millennial entrepreneurs run strategy or general consulting agencies, while only 4 percent of millennials do so.
The variations aren't too major, but they're notable trends we should all be aware of -- since they'll only grow with time.
3. They have better (and worse) credit scores
As you might expect, more millennials than non-millennials have "challenged" personal credit scores, or scores below 580. The length of your credit history matters a lot when it comes to calculating your credit score, and millennials naturally have shorter histories.
But surprisingly, a higher proportion of millennial to non-millennial business owners have an "excellent" credit score of 700 or above, with 27 percent of millennial borrowers and 24 percent of non-millennial borrowers.
Why would this be the case?
It's hard to say. It might be because more millennials use online monitoring tools like CreditKarma and AnnualCreditReport.com, or they research the factors that go into credit scores more, or they're more cautious with paying back their debt on time.
Whatever the reason, a higher credit score generally correlates with lower loan APRs -- which means that millennials generally get more affordable loans.
And interestingly, millennial entrepreneurs tend to predict their credit scores more accurately than non-millennials do. Although this difference is pretty slight -- 45 percent of millennials to 43 percent of non-millennials -- it seems like an indication that millennial business borrowers are more aware of their credit.
4. They apply on their smartphones
For much of the millennial generation, smartphones are the new desktops.
Online lending is no exception: more millennial borrowers than non-millennial borrowers apply for business financing on their mobile phones by a substantial amount.
Here's the breakdown: more than four-fifths of non-millennials looking for financing use their desktop or laptop computers to apply for a loan, while nearly a quarter of millennials use their smartphones instead.
This might not be too surprising, since nearly 20 percent of millennials use only their smartphones to browse the internet, while under 5 percent of non-millennials do the same.
But regardless, mobile-first business financing is definitely an experience that the millennial generation looks for -- and will continue to focus on in the coming years.
These aren't the only ways that millennial small business owners work differently, manage their companies differently, or borrow differently, but they're big trends that nobody in the lending industry should ignore.
Today's online lending players will need to adapt to their changing customers in order to stay relevant, or they'll get replaced by companies that better understand what millennial business owners want and need when looking for small business loans or business lines of credit.