music Archives - Startup Economist

American Pie and the Moment Every Founder Loses the Music

Tuesday, 03 February 2026 by Paul O'Brien

Don McLean’s American Pie is usually shared as an elegy for rock ’n’ roll and American innocence. It’s a song with tremendous meaning to me, sung as a group while my high school class graduated, I went to study the lyrics and history in college, teaching myself how to build and website (then with notepad,

Published in Fun, Startups

9 Comments

Michael Jackson and the Startup Delusion: Why Tech Isn’t What Creates Value

Monday, 12 January 2026 by Paul O'Brien

“Can a model perform well technically but fail to create business value, and why?” What a wonderful question; I was asked recently that perspective on tech in a way that made me see a primary challenge in startups, in a different light. Read the question again and appreciate that even the asking of it reveals

creativity creators michael jackson music

Published in Startups

10 Comments

Startup from the Soul: Grace Is What Matters

Monday, 17 November 2025 by Paul O'Brien

There’s a thought Jeff Buckley once shared, half-interview, half-confession: “Grace is what matters in anything. It keeps you from pulling the trigger too soon. It keeps you from destroying things too foolishly; it sort of keeps you alive and keeps you open for more understanding.” You could hang that on the wall of every entrepreneurs’

entrepreneurship founders music passion

Published in Startups

2 Comments

Building Cities Out of Song; the Creative Engine of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Tuesday, 14 January 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Music, a primary cultural cornerstone, plays a transformative role in fostering creativity, collaboration, and risk-taking — traits essential for entrepreneurship and innovation. A 2019 study by the World Economic Forum underscored the symbiotic relationship between the arts and innovation, emphasizing that creativity spurred by artistic engagement improves problem-solving and decision-making. Similarly, the National Endowment for

arts austin creative creativity detroit entrepreneurship innovation manchester music new york silicon valley texas

Published in Austin, Economic Development, Startups

34 Comments

The Art Making Manchester Startups

Thursday, 30 March 2023 by Paul O'Brien

Have this unusual thesis about innovation and entrepreneurship: Cities and countries throughout the world associate themselves with “tech” or appeal to venture capital, they strive to be known as startup cities or the next Silicon Something; at the end of the day, most fail to achieve the circumstances of such an economy. Startups fail. It’s rather the

culture economic develpoment england entrepreneurship europe manchester music startups sxsw

Published in Regional Development

No Comments

The Vision For Austin

Wednesday, 08 March 2017 by Paul O'Brien

You know that licking of your lips and grasping at air that one does when trying to put in to words a dream. How you think through, as you’re talking with someone, something you just can’t quite simplify. What I’m thinking about is not a dream but a vision. Something magical is happening by way

austin brand central texas film identity media mediatech music san antonio sxsw tech technology texas video video games vision

Published in Brand Marketing, Texas Startups

52 Comments

Austin is Music Tech

Monday, 06 June 2016 by Paul O'Brien

“Music is the greatest form of communication. It possesses the information of language, the emotion of poetry, the creativity of art and the passion of love.” That’s a thought I shared almost two decades ago with a Yahoo! time capsule (yes, there was such a thing); a sentiment I put down for posterity, digitally. Music

austin history music tech technology texas

Published in Austin, Startups

15 Comments