Startups Archives - Startup Economist

Because Entrepreneurs are the Greatest Catalyst for Societal Change

Wednesday, 13 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

We’ve reached a tipping point. In a world awash in pitch decks, podcasted advice, and more bootstrapping encouragement than anyone asked for, the last thing we need is another startup program repeating what you can Google. If you read my work, you know that I have been pushing hard on challenges and gaps that still

Published in Economic Development, Startups

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Why Startups and Cities Fail Without a Clear Narrative: ACES for Ventures and Ecosystems

Wednesday, 06 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Most of you don’t fail because they lack a great product, brilliant founders, or access to capital. You fail because you haven’t worked out how to tell your story. You fail because your narrative doesn’t build trust, urgency, or credibility; three things that must happen before you ever get to the sale. This isn’t just

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Published in Startup Ecosystems, Startups

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Startups and the Art of Worldbuilding

Saturday, 02 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Film Producer Anton Jokikunnas recently shared a wonderful observation that “each film is a startup,” kind enough to add a thought I published the other day, “Entrepreneurship isn’t just a decision. It’s a personality type explored to be so by more researchers, universities, and studies than we can count.” Given my past in media, I

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Published in Startups

22 Comments

Why Nobody Understands Startup Growth

Wednesday, 30 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Startups don’t grow like businesses. Not in the traditional sense. They don’t scale by adding headcount, expanding inventory, or renting more retail space. They grow by discovering, and then systematically proving, a revenue-generating system that works before it collapses. And yet, here we are, in 2025, with startup advisors, development organizations, investors, and even policymakers

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Published in Insights / Research, Startup Ecosystems, Startups

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Solutions to Overcome Ignorance

Monday, 28 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Startup Funding Isn’t Broken, It’s Behind Ready for a spicy topic likely to frustrate some friends in my criticism of good intentions? Let’s begin with a blunt but necessary truth: venture capital isn’t broken, most of it just doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing. The problem isn’t capital. It’s experience. And the startup ecosystem,

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Published in Startups

27 Comments

You Don’t Want to Be an Entrepreneur, You Want What It Represents

Friday, 25 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

If you’re asking why you want to be an entrepreneur, you probably already shouldn’t be. That’s not snark (well, not only snark), it’s insight. I wanted to write this because becoming an entrepreneur, taking entrepreneurship studies, or questions about how to be one, are prolific topics in modern society. The things, entrepreneurs, real ones, aren’t

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups, Uncategorized

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The GTM Slide is Broken: Here’s How to Fix It

Wednesday, 23 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

The Go To Market Slide (GTM), is the most misunderstood, misused, and mangled slide in the entire startup pitch deck. It’s like the appendix of a pitch; everyone includes it, nobody knows exactly why, and when it bursts, the whole body of your presentation goes septic. Every founder knows they need one. Almost no one

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

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