entrepreneurship Archives - Page 14 of 20

From Automobile to Innovation – Stories of Entrepreneurship

Sunday, 13 January 2019 by Paul O'Brien

I didn’t grow up around incredible cars, nor in a family of enthusiasts, but a few of my earliest and fondest memories involve automobiles. The first was as a child, being driven to school by mom, when she shared a passing anecdote that she had always wanted to be a race car driver (that story

Published in Industry, Startups

11 Comments

How Some Startups are Able to Attract Venture Capital Though They’ve Just Begun

Tuesday, 11 December 2018 by Paul O'Brien

Three things matter most to investors. THREE. You read a ton of content about validation, MVP, customers, revenue, etc. All of those perspective are platitudes; they’re meant to inspire you that you CAN or teach you how you MIGHT. End of the day, three things matter, period: Outcome. Can this exit? Will it? No ROI

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Published in Startups

42 Comments

How the “Bootstrap Culture” of a Place like Austin Changes Entrepreneurship From an “Equity Culture” of a Place Like Silicon Valley

Tuesday, 27 November 2018 by Paul O'Brien

Bootstrap or VC? It’s a question on so many minds as entrepreneurship flourishes beyond Silicon Valley, in cities where venture capital seems inaccessible. It’s a question that not a day goes by in which it doesn’t come up for me, based in Austin, TX, having professional roots along Sand Hill Road. What strikes me as

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Published in Insights / Research, Regional Development, Startups

14 Comments

Let’s Get Something Straight, ALL Entrepreneurs are Bootstrapping

Wednesday, 14 November 2018 by Paul O'Brien

Do Venture Backed Entrepreneurs look down upon Bootstrapped Entrepreneurs? Asked of me, on Quora, and I thought, WTF?! Let’s get something clear because such distinctions are misleading, inaccurate, and aggravating. ALL entrepreneurs are bootstrapped entrepreneurs. Every single one. The only people who start out with funding are privileged and more rare than Unicorns. They aren’t

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Published in Startups

11 Comments

As an Entrepreneur Do you Ever Struggle to Make New Friends and Keep Them?

Wednesday, 07 November 2018 by Paul O'Brien

We’re all in this together, no? It has been an interesting year in consideration of mental health and entrepreneurship. I’ve seen an increasing number of startups focused on mental health issues from substance abuse to depression, and venture capitalists have been notably conscientious about the toll that being a startup founder takes. MediaTech Ventures‘ friends at

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Published in Startups

24 Comments

Might it be Said that the Purpose of an Entrepreneur is to Create Problems?

Tuesday, 18 September 2018 by Paul O'Brien

The Problem Solution Statement; a core tenet of Lean Startup and Customer Development. A phrase that conveys to founders and investors alike that the purpose of a startup is to solve a problem; an idea that leads many to believe that a pitch should lay out how the problem is being solved. With most new

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Published in Startups

6 Comments

How a Struggling Startup turns into a Successful Business

Tuesday, 04 September 2018 by Paul O'Brien

You’re here meaning you’re in the great majority of founders who struggle. According to my last “study” *ahem* of the startup economy, that’s roughly 100% of us. Imagine that. Yep, we all struggle. It might be said that the very definition of being an entrepreneur is epitomized in the one who struggles. It’s our job

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Published in Startups, Insights / Research

7 Comments