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Universities Aren’t Commercializing Innovation, They’re Taxing It

Friday, 19 December 2025 by
Everywhere I go lately experiences at some point, the same conversation. Different city, different state, different accents and startup hype, but the same whisper once the doors close and University administration is out of the room.  I was just in Phoenix, sitting with startup operators and ecosystem builders, and within minutes we were right back
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The Great Startup Delusion: What Web3 Failures Teach About Confusing Business with Innovation

Monday, 15 December 2025 by
There’s a nasty little lie that keeps getting passed around the economy like a like a VC quote on LinkedIn: that every new business built on a new technology is a “startup.” It’s how we got here, misunderstanding the difference between a startup and a business. The bloated graveyard of Web3 ventures, now being backfilled
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When Markets Learn Faster Than Governments

Tuesday, 04 November 2025 by
The debate over “market failure” has raged for decades, rooted in a false premise that the economy should behave like an equation rather than an ecosystem. This isn’t just academic. The idea of ‘market failure’ keeps resurfacing in policy debates over AI, climate, and housing, as if the lessons of the last 25 years never
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Washington’s Blueprint for Public-Private Innovation for Washington Startups

Thursday, 09 October 2025 by
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
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How Hard Tech History Fuels Entrepreneurship – Austin’s Story

Wednesday, 03 September 2025 by
Amidst what seems to be a boom of chips in Central Texas, I want to share with everyone, everywhere, how the hard tech of Texas isn’t a result of a recent pivot, there is a history to study in how it grew up around Austin, a history from which we can learn how to build
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The Missing Infrastructure of Entrepreneurship: A Policy Guide for Cities and States

Tuesday, 26 August 2025 by
Governments keep insisting they’re “supporting entrepreneurship,” yet the tools they fund are usually the bureaucratic equivalent of a pep rally: innovation hubs with free Wi-Fi, pitch competitions, and motivational speakers who read the same three startup books as everyone else. These things create the appearance of activity but deliver outcomes only for the handful of
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Stop Funding Accelerators. Invest in Venture Studios Instead.

Monday, 04 August 2025 by
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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