new business Archives - Startup Economist

How To vs. Experienced With: The Distinction of Startup or New Business

Monday, 06 October 2025 by Paul O'Brien

The opportunity isn’t that cities, chambers, and investors don’t support entrepreneurship, it’s that they have the chance to support the right kind in the right way. For decades, we’ve been celebrating every new idea in the same sandbox, mixing storefronts with startups, consultants with creators, and then wondering why only a few hold up when

Startups: Avoid Competition (don’t neglect it)

Sunday, 03 May 2020 by Paul O'Brien

Years ago, Peter Thiel provocatively proclaimed in the Wall Street Journal that “Competition Is for Losers” and I recall loving the headline not for the negative connotation implied, but for the play on words that you’re going to lose if you set out to compete. “The airlines compete with each other, but Google stands alone.

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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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