validation Archives - Startup Economist

Why Startups and Cities Fail Without a Clear Narrative: ACES for Ventures and Ecosystems

Wednesday, 06 August 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Most of you don’t fail because they lack a great product, brilliant founders, or access to capital. You fail because you haven’t worked out how to tell your story. You fail because your narrative doesn’t build trust, urgency, or credibility; three things that must happen before you ever get to the sale. This isn’t just

Published in Startup Ecosystems, Startups

13 Comments

Solutions to Overcome Ignorance

Monday, 28 July 2025 by Paul O'Brien

Startup Funding Isn’t Broken, It’s Behind Ready for a spicy topic likely to frustrate some friends in my criticism of good intentions? Let’s begin with a blunt but necessary truth: venture capital isn’t broken, most of it just doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing. The problem isn’t capital. It’s experience. And the startup ecosystem,

entrepreneurship funding marketing startups validation

Published in Startups

27 Comments

If You’re Asking If You Can Start a Startup, We Know How Likely You Are to Fail — And It’s a Lot Worse Than the Average

Wednesday, 09 April 2025 by Paul O'Brien

This is one of those “I did the math” posts, and it might inspire you, but it could also discourage you so before I let you go on into the depths of discouragement, let me point out that what we’re exploring here is how to avoid failure – that, if the math prove that you’re

entrepreneurs entrepreneurship failure odds success validation

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

28 Comments

The Foibles of Pivoting: Why It Fails

Tuesday, 07 January 2025 by Paul O'Brien

The idea of pivoting in startups is almost as entrenched in entrepreneurial culture as the notion of disruption itself. Popularized by Eric Ries in his seminal work, The Lean Startup, the concept of a pivot refers to a “structured course correction designed to test a new fundamental hypothesis about the product, strategy, and engine of

entrepreneurship execution Lean Startup marketing validation

Published in Startups

4 Comments

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

customer validation entrepreneurship fit market validation marketing new business startups validation

Published in Startups, Insights / Research

7 Comments

Why Startup Founders Need Executives Before Customers

Friday, 29 July 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Time and time again I’m advising founders on the cat and mouse game of customers vs. funding. You know the rat race: investors want to see customers… you have some but seemingly not enough… you’re advised that you need to talk to more customers to validate what you’re doing… you have and yet… Something is

advisors customers executives experts funding investment validation

Published in Startups

4 Comments

Startup Validation in 12 Steps (Hint: It’s Not About Sales)

Monday, 17 August 2015 by Paul O'Brien

Among the most cited frustrations by entrepreneurs that can’t get funding, is that they have customers and sales, and that they’re being encouraged to get more. And yet… As we explored in a previous post (“Should I be raising money?”), with the utmost deference and respect to investors, the worst advice you might hear from

angel investors fund raising funding marketing raising capital validation vc venture capital

Published in Featured, Startups

28 Comments