team Archives - Startup Economist

Energy Is the Startup Resource That Actually Matters

Friday, 27 February 2026 by Paul O'Brien

And no, I don’t mean your Series A. Some wonderful conversations lately about energy. That it connects all things… that it’s the origin of the universe… that matching frequency is how people find partners, close friends, and love. There’s a word that gets thrown around startup ecosystems like cocktails at a launch party – passion

Published in Startups

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The Art of Coming Down the Mountain: Why Founders Must Master Recovery

Monday, 15 September 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Founders love the sprint. I do. The next release, the hackathons, pitch days, and product launches; we thrive on speed, the release, and feedback. We glorify the rush of deadlines, the late-night breakthroughs, the caffeine-fueled wins that light up LinkedIn. The problem is that we often confuse motion for momentum, and in doing so, neglect

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Published in Startups

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Innovation Lessons from Quantum Leap, Doctor Who, and Star Trek: Why Every Startup Needs Its CEO, CTO, and CMO

Monday, 25 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

As someone who grew up on MacGyver inventing solutions from chewing gum wrappers and paperclips, I’m ashamed I never put thought to my second favorite hero of the week, Sam Beckett. I’m a huge fan of what pop culture teaches and inspires in future entrepreneurs because like startups, innovation is never the clean, linear story

cofounders entrepreneurship team

Published in Startups

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Startups and the Art of Worldbuilding

Saturday, 02 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Film Producer Anton Jokikunnas recently shared a wonderful observation that “each film is a startup,” kind enough to add a thought I published the other day, “Entrepreneurship isn’t just a decision. It’s a personality type explored to be so by more researchers, universities, and studies than we can count.” Given my past in media, I

cofounders films lessons love mission movies passion startups storytelling superman team world biulding

Published in Startups

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Why is “Are startup founders different?” Still a Meaningful Question??

Thursday, 03 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

It’s always amusing when mainstream media stumbles into a conversation the rest of us have been having for, oh, I don’t know… decades? This week, The Economist decided to pose the bold question: “Are startup founders different?” as if it’s some new frontier of behavioral science. Imagine walking into a neuroscience conference and breathlessly announcing

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship founders personality profile team

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

20 Comments

You Don’t Need Traction. You Need to Understand Why They Say You Do.

Friday, 13 June 2025 by Paul O'Brien

There’s a special kind of eye twitch that founders get the 37th time they hear, “We’d love to invest, but you need more traction.” It’s a vague hand-wave of a dismissal that sounds helpful, but is really just cowardice in a hoodie. And when you ask what kind of traction they mean, they blink like

advice advisors entrepreneurship investors team traction

Published in Insights / Research, Raising Capital, Startups

11 Comments

Set Up Your AI Board of Advisors

Monday, 27 January 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Among the incubators in which I’m involved, and in conversations with founders, it’s evident that most need startup experienced advisors; the brightest of founders even asking for them in their ask at the end of a pitch (before asking for funding). Evident in 90% of startups is that they lack the CMO but don’t have

advice advisors entrepreneurship team

Published in Startups

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