Startups Archives - Startup Economist

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

Published in Economic Development, Startup Ecosystems, Startups

23 Comments

If You’re Asking If You Can Start a Startup, We Know How Likely You Are to Fail — And It’s a Lot Worse Than the Average

Wednesday, 09 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

This is one of those “I did the math” posts, and it might inspire you, but it could also discourage you so before I let you go on into the depths of discouragement, let me point out that what we’re exploring here is how to avoid failure – that, if the math prove that you’re

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

27 Comments

Belgian Startups, Immigration, and Why your Definition of Innovation is Wrong

Tuesday, 01 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Let’s make something clear before we get into it, this is a discussion of beer from the perspective of an entrepreneur and economist, to explain to you something critical to your startup ecosystem: “tech” is not code. It’s not apps, websites, VC-backed SaaS tools, or whatever spitting image of Silicon Valley nonsense is being peddled

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Published in Startups

18 Comments

Your Startup Pitch is Bad; Let me Explain How I Know

Thursday, 27 February 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pushing us to question traditional startup methodologies such as lean startup or how venture capitalists discern investments, through an exploration with you of First Principles Thinking and the Bell Mason Diagnostic. In fact, I’m not inherently a detractor of either, rather frequently advocating that founders need to

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Published in Raising Capital

11 Comments

The Bell Mason Diagnostic and First Principles Thinking in Venture Capital

Thursday, 20 February 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Why Venture Capital Needs a First Principles Overhaul Venture capital is broken. Not in the “bubble’s about to pop” and certainly not in the sense that so many are pissed off because they aren’t getting funded, but in the “founders keep getting bad funding advice from firms still operating on outdated, ineffective methodologies” sense. In the

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Published in Raising Capital, Startup Ecosystems

48 Comments

Your Startup Methodology is What’s Failing: How the First Principles Approach Beats Lean, Agile, and Waterfall

Tuesday, 18 February 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Your Brain Is More Agile Than Your Project Plan If there’s one thing founders can count on, it’s that nothing ever goes according to plan. Timelines slip, stakeholders pivot, technology evolves, and sometimes (typically), the whole thing implodes spectacularly. But what if the way we approach project management itself is fundamentally flawed—not because of poor

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Published in Startups

21 Comments

The End of Illusions: Why the Future of Freedom Lies in Innovation, Not Government Control

Saturday, 15 February 2025 by Paul O'Brien

U.S. Vice President Vance Signals that Politicians are Finally Understanding the Internet In an era where governments are increasingly positioning themselves as the guardians of truth, security, and economic stability, a stark reality is becoming impossible to ignore: they can’t actually do any of it. The illusion that central authorities can safeguard speech, protect intellectual

education europe germany innovation privacy public policy regulation security

Published in Economic Development, Startups

17 Comments