Startups Archives - Startup Economist

You Don’t Need Traction. You Need to Understand Why They Say You Do.

Friday, 13 June 2025 by Paul O'Brien

There’s a special kind of eye twitch that founders get the 37th time they hear, “We’d love to invest, but you need more traction.” It’s a vague hand-wave of a dismissal that sounds helpful, but is really just cowardice in a hoodie. And when you ask what kind of traction they mean, they blink like

Published in Insights / Research, Raising Capital, Startups

8 Comments

Startups Are Getting Crushed by Politics, Not Product; Here’s the Hire That Can Save You

Thursday, 05 June 2025 by Paul O'Brien

You’ve probably heard it in every startup pitch deck since the dawn of Lean: “We’re hiring a killer PM to build the roadmap.” Or worse, “Our Head of Product will drive user adoption and retention.” Bless their hearts. That mindset is the startup equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, blind to the reality

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Published in Startups

17 Comments

New Collar Jobs and the Critical Distinction of Startups from Small Businesses

Thursday, 29 May 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Today at the Texas Venture Forum in Austin, TX, we had the honor of hearing from the 28th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler, a former business executive, co-owner of a WNBA team, and founder of a commodity exchange, now carries a unique blend of corporate, public, and policy experience to

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Published in Economic Development, Startups

14 Comments

Startup Ecosystems Fail Because of Investors

Wednesday, 28 May 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Yes, I meant what I said in that headline… let’s see if I can back it up. In my conversation with Bryan Hancock on Executive Connect, I pulled back the curtain on the startup mythology that’s selling cities, founders, and investors a false bill of goods. We don’t need more accelerators. We need people who

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Published in Economic Development, Startups

8 Comments

What Startups Can Learn from Utility Regulation: How Northwestern’s Five Prisms Reveal the Blueprint for Disruption

Thursday, 15 May 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Having recently discovered Lynne Kiesling, my attention was drawn to Northwestern University’s Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics‘ Five Prisms, which she shared online and which I’ve included here (granted, without asking, I hope they don’t mind). Economic regulation in our rapidly changing world faces challenges I find legislators and local leaders ill equipped to

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Published in Economic Development, Startups

4 Comments

Your Startup Without a Wedding Planner: Marriage Advice for Entrepreneurs

Tuesday, 06 May 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Most startups fail because their founders treat launching a company more like hooking up on Tinder than getting married. It’s all adrenaline, pitch decks, and “minimum viable commitment.” Seriously, we have Speed Dating and Founder Dating… The reality is that if you planned your startup like people plan their weddings, months of agonizing over details,

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Published in Startups

16 Comments

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

Friday, 11 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

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

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Published in Economic Development, Startup Ecosystems, Startups

30 Comments