Startups Archives - Startup Economist

Universities Are Sitting on the Next Great Companies. Here’s How to Launch Them.

Wednesday, 29 April 2026 by Paul O'Brien

You Can’t License Your Way to Commercialization The Texas Innovation Conference & Awards at TCU didn’t change university tech transfer overnight but that’s not a criticism, it’s almost a compliment. What it did was harder and rarer: it put the people who actually need to be in the same room, in the same room, and

commercialization ip licensing research tech transfer universities

Published in Conferences / Events, Education, Startups

2 Comments

Bootstrapped Startups Don’t Win More Often; You’re Reading the Data Wrong

Tuesday, 21 April 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Every few months, some founder-influencer reposts a chart “proving” that bootstrapped startups succeed at higher rates than venture-backed ones, and a thousand frustrated founders forward it like scripture. Occasionally, I’ll get into an impassioned discussion there, trying to help everyone understand what’s really going on, why everyone is frustrated with VC, and how misinterpretations are

angel investors bootstrap bootstrapping funding fundraise venture capital

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

13 Comments

Sprezzatura: The Art of Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Friday, 10 April 2026 by Paul O'Brien

I sat across from a founder last week who spent the first eight minutes of his pitch explaining how hard everything had been. The fundraising was brutal, their cofounder quit, and the product pivoted three times. By minute ten he finally got to the business. Had I been at my best, I would have cut

imposter syndrome

Published in Startups

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You Can’t Buy an MVP

Wednesday, 01 April 2026 by Paul O'Brien

The average cost of building an MVP is $0. You read that correctly. Not “$0 if you squint,” not “$0 with an asterisk.” Zero dollars. Let me restate it clearly since I keep getting asked, “How much does it cost to build an MVP?” Nothing. If you’re uncertain of that answer, we have more evidence

Lean Startup mvp validation

Published in Startups

2 Comments

The Startup Framework: A Better Pitch through Storytelling

Sunday, 29 March 2026 by Paul O'Brien

You learned something in elementary school that ruined your ability to communicate as a founder: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. That’s the order they taught you, and it’s wrong. Not wrong in the sense that those aren’t the right questions (they are, and they’re the First Principle questions that matter), but wrong in

framework narrative narrative design pitch deck pitching startup framework startup pitch storytelling

Published in Startups

1 Comment

Your Startup Has a Story Problem

Wednesday, 25 March 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Congratulations! You have a pitch deck. So does every other founder about to fail. Provocation aside, let’s take that thought seriously, that roughly 90% of startups die, and the overwhelming majority of those dead ventures had a pitch deck, went through an accelerator, followed a template, and still couldn’t get anyone to care. CB Insights

narrative design pitch deck pitching startup narrative storytelling

Published in Startups

5 Comments

Nice Is Different Than Good: What Founders Learn Too Late

Monday, 23 March 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Every founder goes into the woods. We hike into a psychological space where the rules of the ordinary world stop applying, where the things you believed about yourself and your market get tested by forces you didn’t anticipate, and where coming home means becoming someone you can’t fully explain to the people who watched you

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Published in Startups, Uncategorized

4 Comments