×

Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2005-2024; Paul O'Brien - STARTUP ECONOMIST - All Rights Reserved

Subscribe via Substack

Aerospace Adelaide

Monday, 30 June 2025 by
Adelaide’s not merely dipping a toe into space, it’s building its own launchpad, and during a recent whirlwind tour of the United States, I had a chance to share some thoughts with a few of the startups making the rounds and decided to dig in deeper to some possibilities. Under the radar, this ecosystem has
Read more
23 Comments

Why Cities Should Invest in Startups: The Key to Economic Growth

Wednesday, 25 June 2025 by
Why Startups? Let’s Distinguish Why City Officials Should be Focused on Strategic Investment in Innovation-Driven Ventures (and why most are failing despite trying) It’s one of the most misunderstood yet consequential distinctions in economic development today: the difference between startups and small businesses. Cities talk about “entrepreneurship” like it’s a monolithic idea, but if we’re
Read more
50 Comments

How Media Distorts the Truth About Regional Ecosystems – Apparently Austin is on Life Support

Tuesday, 27 May 2025 by
There’s a reason the phrase “don’t believe everything you read” never dies. Because even when it’s printed in The Wall Street Journal, a brand so synonymous with business credibility that your uncle still calls it “The Paper,” the story can be skewed, shallow, and — let’s not mince words — wrong. In this case, we’re
Read more
21 Comments

This Is Why It’s Critical to Our Economy That We Distinguish Startups from New Businesses

Friday, 11 April 2025 by
This might be among my most harsh criticisms of our economy, and I don’t write it lightly but rather because as time progresses, we can see more and more clearly how misrepresentation of focus, skills, and experience, actually harms entrepreneurs. Not All Failure is Created Equal And more importantly, not all failure is worthy of
Read more
30 Comments

Why Most Investors Are Wasting Their Time Ignoring Emerging Fund Managers

Wednesday, 12 March 2025 by
The most prevalent reason why I always raise my hand to speak, moderate, or host an event, is that while written content reaches millions or podcasting helps people see or hear your tone and passion, it’s only through live events that one can read the reaction of an audience, and in real time nuance the
Read more
20 Comments

The Bell Mason Diagnostic and First Principles Thinking in Venture Capital

Thursday, 20 February 2025 by
Why Venture Capital Needs a First Principles Overhaul Venture capital is broken. Not in the “bubble’s about to pop” and certainly not in the sense that so many are pissed off because they aren’t getting funded, but in the “founders keep getting bad funding advice from firms still operating on outdated, ineffective methodologies” sense.  In the
Read more
48 Comments

Time for Congress to Reform the SEC’s Outdated Accredited Investor Definition

Thursday, 06 February 2025 by
Public policy isn’t just a framework for startups and investors, it’s a gatekeeper deciding who gets to play the game. And few policies are as restrictive as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) definition of an “accredited investor.” This definition has long determined who can and cannot invest in private securities offerings (i.e. startups), not
Read more
35 Comments
TOP