Innovation Lessons from Quantum Leap, Doctor Who, and Star Trek: Why Every Startup Needs Its CEO, CTO, and CMO
Monday, 25 August 2025
As someone who grew up on MacGyver inventing solutions from chewing gum wrappers and paperclips, I’m ashamed I never put thought to my second favorite hero of the week, Sam Beckett. I’m a huge fan of what pop culture teaches and inspires in future entrepreneurs because like startups, innovation is never the clean, linear story
- Published in Startups
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Predicting Startup Success with Personality Data
Tuesday, 19 August 2025
Entrepreneurial DNA: The Science in Startup Success The mythology of entrepreneurship has always been convenient for investors and romantic for founders: anyone with grit, an idea, and caffeine can succeed. But data is increasingly cutting through the myth. A growing body of research confirms that personality traits, psychological wiring, and the composition of the founding
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
Startups and the Art of Worldbuilding
Saturday, 02 August 2025
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
- Published in Startups
Your Startup Without a Wedding Planner: Marriage Advice for Entrepreneurs
Tuesday, 06 May 2025
Most startups fail because their founders treat launching a company more like hooking up on Tinder than getting married. It’s all adrenaline, pitch decks, and “minimum viable commitment.” Seriously, we have Speed Dating and Founder Dating… The reality is that if you planned your startup like people plan their weddings, months of agonizing over details,
- Published in Startups
You Can Develop the Personality Traits that Correlate with Startup Success, Here’s How
Thursday, 21 November 2024
Launching a startup demands resilience, creativity, and a touch of audacity. Like it or not (and even agree with it or not), the research is well established finding that certain personalities, and the characteristics of a person, to some extent more than experience or skills, determine success or failure. Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, University
- Published in Insights / Research, Startups
The Unfair Advantage: 10 Books Every Founder Needs Because Marketing, Teams, and Persuasion Matter Most
Monday, 18 November 2024
Success in startups, initial funding, and traction, don’t come from ideas and MVPs — it’s built on the pillars of marketing, team-building, and persuasion. These three areas consistently prove to be the leading causes of success — or failure — for founders. Yet, despite the endless lists of “must-read” startup books, founders continue to stumble
- Published in Startups
Finding the Right Cofounder for your Startup
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
The past decade of research into entrepreneurship and startups has proven rather conclusively that success is all but determined by the team in place, and that there are certain personalities, skills, and experiences that contribute to success, or assure failure. This has my head spinning as it should of founders, that when the market validates that
- Published in Startups
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