founders Archives - Startup Economist

Seeking Better Startup Founder Agreements

Monday, 28 October 2024 by Paul O'Brien

Ever see a pie chart like this, or can you at least envision one, wherein a partner of yours (or God-forbid, you), expect a majority control of a startup? I get asked all the time, about how to handle retaining control when it was my idea or how to deal with a cofounder who wants

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

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Superman isn’t Coming

Tuesday, 25 June 2024 by Paul O'Brien

When asked if I have any mentors to whom I look up to, people tend to chuckle when I share that at the top of my list are my family and Superman. Embodying both to an extent, my earliest experience with a Man of Steel was my father, who struck me as impervious to anything,

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Published in Startup Ecosystems, Startups

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Finding the Right Cofounder for your Startup

Tuesday, 18 June 2024 by Paul O'Brien

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

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Published in Startups

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Startups: What Exactly is Execution?

Sunday, 03 December 2023 by Paul O'Brien

I want to put your head on a specific focus as we explore this question. In the last few weeks, I’ve tackled the question of an ideal team for a startup, sharing new research about personalities, been critical of expectations, and proposed that understanding and avoiding how startups fail is more important than attention directed

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

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Success as a Startup Founder? Need for variety and novelty, reduced modesty, an openness to adventure, and heightened energy levels

Thursday, 19 October 2023 by Paul O'Brien

A recent study conducted by researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of Melbourne examined data from over 21,000 startup founders, formally identifying six key startup founder personality types associated with success. Notably, the research indicates that the collective personalities of a startup’s entire founding team significantly influence the venture’s

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Published in Insights / Research, Startups

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Startup Founders, Focus! (Yeah, but on what?)

Thursday, 25 May 2023 by Paul O'Brien

Focus. We hear that word and advice bantered about A LOT in the startup community but rarely is that mentorship capably followed up with WHAT to focus on and why. This is what contributes to founders to wasting time and failing. You think the advice is helpful; it’s not, it’s distracting. Focus? Yes. But on what?? Most

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Published in Startups

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Entrepreneurs Struggle Beyond Startup

Tuesday, 08 June 2021 by Paul O'Brien

Highly risk tolerant and constantly fixated on doing things better, entrepreneurs tend not to be found running companies. That’s not remotely a knock against entrepreneurs. Operating a company is a management skillset, it’s operational, it’s project based, it’s plan and execute…. and these are skillsets that, while valuable to a founder, are not typically consistent

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Published in Startups

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