Social Media Archives - Startup Economist

The Great Startup Delusion: What Web3 Failures Teach About Confusing Business with Innovation

Monday, 15 December 2025 by Paul O'Brien

There’s a nasty little lie that keeps getting passed around the economy like a like a VC quote on LinkedIn: that every new business built on a new technology is a “startup.” It’s how we got here, misunderstanding the difference between a startup and a business. The bloated graveyard of Web3 ventures, now being backfilled

Published in AI, Insights / Research, Quantum, Social Media, Startups

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Using Event Sites and Social Media to Grow Attendance and Registration

Monday, 08 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

You’re hosting a startup event coming up, maybe a Founder Institute session or a local startup pitch night. You know it matters, you know it should be crowded, and you’ve sent out the obligatory newsletter to your mailing list. And now? Crickets. Here’s the reality of how the internet works: your audience didn’t even see

event marketing events marketing promotion startup events

Published in Social Media, Startup Ecosystems

6 Comments

The Age of Artificial Truth

Thursday, 19 June 2025 by Paul O'Brien

If Orwell predicted a future of authoritarian oppression, we missed the plot twist: truth isn’t being silenced, it’s being distorted, mass-produced, and flooded upon us like a knock-off Rolex that still ticks. The root isn’t the Press nor Politicians, it’s not the White House or foreign influence, it’s everyone, all of us speaking at once,

ai content influence journalism media seo Social Media truth

Published in AI, Insights / Research, Social Media

20 Comments

Struggling? Network In Real Life.

Wednesday, 30 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

I sat in the Texas Capitol this week, doing some legislative work, where a group of (probably) early 20-year-old staffers, having lunch, were talking about how and where to get to know more people. All, talking but on their phones, but what caught my attention was discussion of twitter, TikTok, some local venues, getting into

career contacts introductions jobs networking referrals

Published in Insights / Research, Social Media

22 Comments

How Substack Quietly Emerged as the Empirical Thinker’s Social Network

Thursday, 16 January 2025 by Paul O'Brien

It’s easy to miss a quiet revolution in a world dominated by the noisy chaos of Twitter threads, AI clickbait, and influencers slinging collagen gummies. But that’s exactly what Substack has pulled off, amidst the rise of AI content pushing audiences even more desperately in search of authenticity. What started as a niche newsletter platform

content journalism marketing media mediatech news Social Media

Published in Social Media

24 Comments

Marketing is Leading Tech Companies Again, Faster Than You Think

Friday, 13 December 2024 by Paul O'Brien

The tectonic shift in how tech companies operate is unmistakable: whether evident in VCs saying Storytellers will run the world, advisors shifting to stress that media is most important, or research validating that marketing is what defines a company’s success or failure, people are waking up again to the fact that marketing runs your business.

development market research marketing product

Published in Advertising, AI, Insights / Research, Social Media

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Media is Capital: Startup Success Starts with Story and Community

Wednesday, 03 July 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Possessing a compelling story outweighs merely having a brilliant idea so much so that media has become the new capital for burgeoning founders. The fundamental concept here is that media — encompassing storytelling, audience engagement, and community building, well beyond what you might consider it to mean in “the press” — serves as a powerful

Advertising audience community content entrepreneurship media news pr startups storytelling

Published in Social Media

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