Paul O’Brien
Early mid stage startup and venture capital consultant, and economic development advisor.
Startup Economist, has evolved from professional and creative blog to being one of the most subscribed publications covering the unusual topic of developing startup ecosystems.
I have 3 amazing kids who define who I am. I love Netflix, being a Cubmaster, coaching robotics, and playing Minecraft with them.
Professionally, found frequently speaking, moderating discussions, or hosting events, I draw from experience on the air (radio), on stage, and as an ENTP (Myers-Briggs) and entrepreneur.
For whom I work best: Organizations fostering innovation, cities and governments developing ecosystems, founders seeking funding, and investors endeavoring in startups. I started my career at Yahoo! a long time ago, have helped launch a string of successful startups, and foster economic development through a focus on venture capital ROI.
Here’s how I work…
- Analytical. Everything we do starts and ends with the data.
- Sincere. I’m an open book and all over the internet.
- Up-to-Date. Marketing technology and MediaTech change at light speed.
- Driven. You might be satisfied; I am never so.
- Audience. There are two factors that create value in business: being innovative and your audience.
- Storytelling. From your elevator pitch to what makes journalists care, tell stories.
- Resourceful. Solve problems quickly and efficiently.
- Objective. Let’s focus on outcomes and not next steps. What do we need to accomplish?
- Open-Minded. If you can try, test, optimize, and repeat, we’re going to be friends.
- Search. The way the world works today is thanks to Google and yes, AI is changing it.
Does Paul O’Brien mentor or advise?
Yep, online and publicly so everyone can benefit. Get in touch here or book a meeting here.
Where I’ve spoken
SMX
Amazon AWS Startup Day
Founder Institute
eTail
CEA San Francisco
SXSW
Stanford Univ. Web 2.0
Shop.org
Affiliate Summit
IASP Summit Austin
FUND Conference
Ticket Summit
Search Insider Summit
AMA Hot Topic Series
Startup Week Austin
What I’ve been doing, generally speaking
I help startups get funded by working throughout an ecosystem to better develop how and why they should be. I work as a partner in venture capital, as founder of MediaTech Ventures, as Director for Texas of the global startup incubator Founder Institute, and through my work on the Boards of the diversity incubator, DivInc, and of Funded House. That’s wherein I’ll meet for coffee or mentor (a bit) but, know yourself and your business – time is valuable; so is mine.
For over 25 years I’ve been working with entrepreneurs, startups, and venture capital firms to foster innovation in public / private partnerships and to help drive capital and growth. A few articles here are completely off topic while we otherwise float from social media to local search, fund raising to advertising, and from industry research to conferences and events. I learn from you through our discourse here; the hands-on experience I get building this site a testament to what I do.
I uncover why startups and ecosystems are going to fail so we can figure out how to prove me wrong.
Please take some time to listen to Paul O’Brien who to me is one of the best minds in the startup world. He speaks about Funded House at SXSW as well as MediaTech. Well worth the listen.
– Eric Samdahl; Founder, GHSD, and Change Management COO
Where I’ve Been
I’ve held a few formal roles, from VP of Marketing for Zvents and Outright, to managing interactive marketing for HP and designing online advertising for Yahoo! I am honored most of all to be one of the 25 distinguished marketers featured in the Michael Miller book, Online Marketing Heroes, as well as appearing in or writing for Forbes, Techcrunch, Silicon Hills News, Crunchbase, KGO Radio, SXSW, and Webmaster Radio.
Paul O’Brien Speaker Bio
Long time Silicon Valley technology and startup veteran, Paul O’Brien has been known as SEO’Brien for his extensive past in the search industry; more accurately though, as a Startup Economist and publisher at seobrien.com. From Texas, O’Brien works in Venture Capital Economic Development, serving the investment and venture capital economies directly, through thought leadership, consulting, and startup development. He’s the founder of MediaTech Ventures, runs Texas Startups, serves on the board of American YouthWorks, is a founder of Funded House, and a Director in Founder Institute.
Notably, O’Brien is a seasoned marketer with an early career at Yahoo! and HP. From there he led the early growth of startups such as Outright.com (Acquired by GoDaddy), Zvents (Acquired by eBay’s Stubhub), and MicroVentures (Venture Capital). O’Brien has consulted with various governments, cities, venture capitalists, and economic development entities, and was featured in the book, Online Marketing Heroes.
