Search Archives - Startup Economist

Founders and Policymakers Need Us at the Table— Before They Decide the Future for Us

Monday, 21 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

With my work increasingly entrenched in Washington, D.C., state capitols, and the public policy battles shaping entrepreneurship and venture capital, I’ve found myself staring down a familiar name in tech: Google. Again. For many of us, the latest antitrust accusations is déjà vu, about privacy, about data, and control – whether it’s Apple, Microsoft, X,

Published in AI, Economic Development, Search

3 Comments

Can You Tell When a Digital Marketing Plan Will Fail?

Wednesday, 18 November 2020 by Paul O'Brien

A marketing plan is more like a flywheel, not a funnel.

Advertising digital digital marketing marketing online marketing plan promotions roadmap

Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, PR, Search, Social Media

11 Comments

Resume Not Landing You That Job? Stop the Keywords, Start Optimizing

Tuesday, 27 October 2020 by Paul O'Brien

To take a look at even the most advised of resume writing guides is to take a step back into the history of web page design; everyone writing a resume is being taught and encouraged to create a website circa 1999. While such designs look prettier than the old text-laid-out-on-a-page, in thinking about a resume

employment hrtech jobs resume

Published in Insights / Research, Search, Social Media

8 Comments

The Best SEO Plugin for WordPress [really] [no, really this time]

Tuesday, 07 January 2020 by Paul O'Brien

What are the best SEO plugins for WordPress? I love these kind of questions where every plugin developer jumps in with a “hey check out mine which I build because the mist popular one didn’t do what I want… and here are some SEO services.” And it’s particularly amusing in this case because one could

search engine optimization seo

Published in Search

4 Comments

How to SEO, Considering the Top 10 Google Ranking Factors

Monday, 09 September 2019 by Paul O'Brien

Despite my frequently sharing that I don’t do SEO, an SEO piece for those trying to figure it out. One of the most notable people in Search, Rand Fishkin, just published this data. The 26 Google ranking factors, prioritized. Largely working with startups and new ventures, it’s clear that countless continue their search for “SEO”

Google ranking search engine optimization seo

Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, Mobile, PR, Search, Social Media

10 Comments

Do Startups Not Need to Be Profitable?

Wednesday, 14 August 2019 by Paul O'Brien

We’re in this really weird era as Silicon Valley creeps out to the rest of the world, in which investors elsewhere, traditional business owners, and the like, keep advising everyone to, “focus on customers,” “it’s all about revenue,” and questions such as this. Startups never needed to become profitable. Venture Capital investors fund EXITS Grants fund

funding investing profit profitability revenue startups

Published in Insights / Research, Search

28 Comments

Products and People Fail, Marketing Can’t.

Friday, 02 August 2019 by Paul O'Brien

Provocative thought, I hope. “Can’t”?? I’m sure you’ve felt frequently that Marketing has failed. You’ve had that consultant, agency, or tried what that marketing article advised, and it just didn’t work out. But I chose that word carefully. Not, “Doesn’t,” not, “won’t,” and not, “might,” because marketing actually can’t. Marketing is a practice; things you

entrepreneurship marketing product sales

Published in Advertising, Insights / Research, PR, Search, Social Media, Startups

20 Comments