accelerators Archives - Startup Economist

Washington’s Blueprint for Public-Private Innovation for Washington Startups

Thursday, 09 October 2025 by Paul O'Brien

A coalition reimagines the role of cities, universities, and entrepreneurs in shaping the future of downtown Washington D.C. and Washington startups. Just north of the White House, where K Street bends toward Dupont Circle and the stately facades of Farragut meet the hum of D.C.’s intellectual life, something quietly revolutionary is taking shape. The Penn

Published in Regional Development

11 Comments

Bellevue, Washington: The Startup City Defining Its Shadow

Tuesday, 30 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Bellevue isn’t Seattle and that’s precisely the point. Too often, when people talk about the Pacific Northwest, Bellevue gets treated as an extension of Seattle. But Bellevue has its own history, its own culture, and critically, its own startup identity. Understanding this matters not just for Washington but for cities everywhere trying to grow deliberately,

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Published in Regional Development, Uncategorized

12 Comments

Why Most Accelerators Fail – And What Comes Next

Tuesday, 23 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

On The Forge of the Unicorns with Michele Brissoni I’ve been in hundreds of cities working to support entrepreneurs and ecosystems. One thing I’ve seen over and over again, whether I’m in Boise, Bogotá, or Brussels, is this illusion that we can bootstrap startup economies by launching accelerators. We treat them like vending machines: plug

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Published in AI, Startup Ecosystems

49 Comments

Stop Funding Accelerators. Invest in Venture Studios Instead.

Monday, 04 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

The most underwhelming moment for an entrepreneur in a startup ecosystem is the ribbon-cutting on yet another accelerator. Confetti flies, politicians pose, local media snaps a shot of the logo on the wall, and everyone goes home to wonder why venture capital still doesn’t show up. If you’re not familiar with why your region isn’t

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Published in Economic Development

75 Comments

Building a Tough Tech Venture Studio

Tuesday, 17 June 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Welcome to the frontier of innovation that doesn’t get VC Twitter likes or SXSW panels, the mud-covered, steel-reinforced, and sometimes radioactive frontier of “Tough Tech” (my word, I’m trying to come up with something to distinguish not-consumer, not-university, not just-apps). This isn’t SaaS, crypto, or your fourth AI wrapper for ChatGPT, this is the real

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Published in Economic Development, Startups

91 Comments

Seek the Contrarian: What to Expect of a Good Entrepreneurship Program

Tuesday, 15 October 2024 by Paul O'Brien

In a speech in Paris, in 1910, Theodore Roosevelt remarked the often encouraged, “Comparison Is the Thief of Joy.” That, when we compare ourselves to others, we rob ourselves of our own happiness as, through comparison, we either feel a sense of inferiority or superiority. What we see in entrepreneurship and among founders is this

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Published in Insights / Research, Local, Startup Ecosystems, Startups

21 Comments

Why Accelerators Fail Startup Founders

Thursday, 11 April 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Let’s take the two most distributed Startup Development Organizations in the world, and tease out what’s happening In a point of fact: overwhelming most Accelerators *fail* founders; but why? With such a bold assertion, let me properly set the stage by pointing out that when 90% or more of all startups fail rather quickly, it’s