October, 2022

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Why Startups Really Fail, and How To Fix It

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Photo by Matthew Osborn on Unsplash As founder of six startups, advisor to founders, and a startup strategist at IMD ( #1 ranked business school ), I see many mistakes being made and have made many myself. What drives me crazy is that the same mistakes happen again and again. So here is my scary list of the most impactful mistakes founders make: Mistake 1: Scaling Early (Means Failing Early) The top three reasons why 90% of startups fail are “no money,” “no market need,” and “too strong competi

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EO members share 9 lessons learned from childhood entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Contributed by Kym Huynh, an EO Melbourne member, EO Global Communications Committee member, and co-founder of WeTeachMe. Kym is fascinated by entrepreneurs and their journeys, so he asked EO members from various chapters to share their experiences. Read his earlier posts on what EO members wish non-entrepreneurs knew about entrepreneurs, how EO members define success , the impact of core values , lessons learned from their best and worst partnerships and the best advice they’ve ever received.

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How a Company Becomes a Pillar of Its Local Community

Revolution

This article originally appeared in Harvard Business Review on October 3, 2022. Hill Street Studios/Getty Images There was never a guarantee that Detroit would become the Motor City. At the turn of the 20th century, any number of American municipalities with similar access to talent, materials, investment, and transportation might have emerged as the beating heart of the automobile industry.

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Orlando has all the ingredients to be the next big startup hub

TechCrunch

There’s much potential for Orlando to be what Austin is to Texas, what Atlanta is to Georgia — a booming hub where startups flock from around the world to dream, innovate and grow. The numbers are already showing potential: New PitchBook data found that in the first half of this year, a little more than $360 million was invested in the Orlando-Kissimmee metro area, way more than the $144 million invested in H1 last year.

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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Postmortem of Launch413

Paul G. Silva

A central tenet of the Lean Startup is “pivot, persevere, or perish.” On June 1st, after five years of perseverance and pivoting, my partners and I wound down Launch413. With six months now past, it feels right to share what we’ve learned. For those unfamiliar with it, Launch413 was a Post Accelerator that helped startup CEOs scale for sustained success by providing coaches with deep domain expertise.

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Lesson #347: Do Not Apply a 'One-Size-Fits-All' Approach to Your Marketing

Red Rocket

A common mistake that many companies make is using a “one-size-fits-all” approach to its marketing efforts. Said another way, the company comes up with one marketing strategy, uses mass marketing techniques and the same messaging to everyone that sees its advertising. Yes, that is a simple approach, and saves you time and efforts required to customize your messaging to specific sub-audiences.

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Q&A with GSEA ‘Together We Grow’ Award Winner, Arnold Shoko

Entrepreneurs' Organization

The EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and national competitions in hopes to qualify for the GSEA Global Finals. GSEA delivers on its vision to empower student entrepreneurs to become the world’s most influential change makers by supporting student entrepreneurs who require much-needed mentorship, recognition and connections to t

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How Alternative Proteins Can Win Consumers Over

Revolution

We've come a long way since the introduction of the first veggie burger in the early 1980s. Today, innovation has spurred a plethora of meat alternatives, but consumer skepticism and startup economics are still barriers to parity with real animal protein. But I believe we are on the precipice of a major shift. Millennials and younger generations are acutely aware of the consequences of global warming (and how cattle contribute to methane emissions) and they are using their purchasing power t

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Nigerian proptech Spleet gets $2.6M led by MaC VC to scale its property management products

TechCrunch

For the average individual living in Lagos — Nigeria’s most populous city, with over 20 million people — apartment hunting is an extreme sport. Not only is rent expensive — low- to middle-income housing can cost between $1,000 and $5,000 yearly — but renters must also pay a year in advance, sometimes even two before moving in.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.

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What Drives The University Of Michigan’s Entrepreneurial Success

HPA

In preparation of speaking at the Michigan Tech Week (MTW) on October 12 and 13, I discovered so many connections to the University of Michigan (U-M) that I decided to dig into what powers U-M’s entrepreneurial success. Seemingly everyone knows that the University of Michigan (U-M) is the world’s leading public research institution. What’s not as widely known is how Ann Arbor has a storied and growing entrepreneurship ecosystem that shows no signs of slowing down.

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How to maintain engineering velocity as you scale

Y Combinator

Engineering is typically the function that grows fastest at a scaling startup. It requires a lot of attention to make sure the pace of execution does not slow and cultural issues do not emerge as you scale. We’ve learned a lot about pace of execution in the past five years at Faire. When we launched in 2017, we were a team of five engineers. From the beginning, we built a simple but solid foundation that allowed us to maintain both velocity and quality.

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This 21-Year-Old Entrepreneur Built A Six-Figure Business From LinkedIn?—?Here’s What She Told Me.

Entrepreneur's Handbook

The secret lies in one word — Gen Z. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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3 Lessons Learned from Living in Adventure Mode

Entrepreneurs' Organization

I spent 14 years building and scaling my business, International Nomads. We launched in 2006 as the first full-service digital agency in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Middle East region. We crafted digital strategies for brands and built apps, games, marketing campaigns, and story-driven experiences long before it was popular in the region. We were explorers and adventurers, like many startups: Following our passion, trusting our gut, and building something we loved.

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15 Modern Use Cases for Enterprise Business Intelligence

Large enterprises face unique challenges in optimizing their Business Intelligence (BI) output due to the sheer scale and complexity of their operations. Unlike smaller organizations, where basic BI features and simple dashboards might suffice, enterprises must manage vast amounts of data from diverse sources. What are the top modern BI use cases for enterprise businesses to help you get a leg up on the competition?

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District of Innovators: Takeaways From DC Startup Week

Revolution

This September, the metro area convened for DC Startup Week — a five-day, 180+program occasion hosting more than 11,000 entrepreneurs. The event showcased just how robust DC’s tech community has grown — but that wasn’t always the case. Just ask our Chairman and CEO, Steve Case, who built AOL in Northern Virginia in the 1990s. Over the next few decades, the company served as a tech engine throughout the region.

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Fast Forward Venture Studio to build African startups from idea to scale

TechCrunch

Opeyemi Awoyemi , one of Nigeria’s well-known serial founders, is back with another outfit. It’s not a tech company this time — Awoyemi co-founded online jobs site Jobberman (which was acquired by ROAM Africa in 2016) and Whogohost, a bootstrapped hosting platform — but instead, a venture studio: Fast Forward Venture Studio. Awoyemi choosing this route is quite interesting, especially as many African founders either launch syndicates or venture capital funds post- or duri

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The real guide to building a business from someone who has built Europe's first on-demand fuel business

Founder Bounty

Building a business or startup is hard and risky. You have to be dedicated, and motivated a reduce your chances of failure. Im Vlad Kozul and I have build Europes first ondemand fuel company. In this article, I want to give you some of the learnings and lessons for you to make your side hustle and business successful. Check out what we had build here: Lessons learned from Building Europe’s first OnDemand fuel station from its COO Before Shell tap-up and Cafu and others, we built Euro

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YC Founder Firesides: Mutiny on AI and the next era of company growth

Y Combinator

Mutiny ( YC S18 ) uses AI and data to convert website visitors into customers. Today, the fastest growing B2B companies such as Notion and Snowflake use Mutiny to identify ideal customers, determine sections of websites that will increase conversion, and produce copy that converts visitors into customers. YC’s Anu Hariharan sat down with Mutiny co-founder and CEO Jaleh Rezaei to talk about their recent acquisition of Intellipse, an AI marketing platform, as well as how AI will impact the

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How Top Tech CFOs Solve Annual Planning’s Biggest Challenges

Gearing up for 2025 annual planning? Our latest eBook from the Operators Guild is your ultimate guide. Discover real-world solutions and best practices shared by top CFOs, drawn directly from discussions within OG’s vibrant online community. Learn from senior executives at high-growth tech startups as they outline financial planning strategies, align CEO and board goals, and coordinate budgets across departments.

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A Venture Capitalist Told Me How He Decides Which Startups to Fund, and I Couldn’t Believe It

Entrepreneur's Handbook

The real reasons people invest in startups aren’t always what you’d think. Continue reading on Entrepreneur's Handbook ».

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How to Break Free of The Enhanced Silos Remote Work Creates

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Over the last few years, we have learned first-hand the many benefits of working remotely. But there are downsides as well: Namely, the way we communicate between departments and teams in remote and hybrid environments has built bigger silos. In an office, the opportunity for collaborative communication is far greater. With everyone working in the same place, there are more chances for employees to interact organically and communicate with coworkers outside of their teams.

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Seraf Toolbox: Dealing with Restricted Stock - Model IRS 83(b) Election Form

The Seraf Compass

Many years ago I joined the board of a company after my angel group became the lead investor in the company’s seed financing round. As part of my compensation for being a board member, the company issued me restricted stock. Since I was new to the early stage investing world, I didn’t understand what the tax implications were with restricted stock. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t get good tax planning advice at the time, because if I had, it would have saved me a significant amount on my tax bill

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Stability AI, the startup behind Stable Diffusion, raises $101M

TechCrunch

Stability AI, the company funding the development of open source music- and image-generating systems like Dance Diffusion and Stable Diffusion , today announced that it raised $101 million in a funding round led by Coatue and Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC. The tranche values the company at $1 billion post-money, according to a Bloomberg source, and comes as the demand for AI-powered content generation accelerates.

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Your Fractional Finance and Accounting Team

Mighty Financial specializes in supporting the financial aspirations of small businesses and entrepreneurs. With our comprehensive bookkeeping and precise accounting expertise with decades of experience across diverse financial roles, our team offers tailor-made services ranging from essential bookkeeping to strategic fractional CFO support, catered specifically to the unique challenges of technology companies, startups, and SMEs.

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Inspiring Sustainable Design: Green Materials—How To Build Better

Venture Well

Learn how to teach students to incorporate green materials into their inventions with exercises from the Tools for Design and Sustainability. The post Inspiring Sustainable Design: Green Materials—How To Build Better appeared first on VentureWell.

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a daily run, part two

Derek Sivers

In my previous post, “ a daily run ” — (please read it first ) — running was a metaphor for whatever actions you take in your life. The story is about how we choose beliefs because they’re useful, not true. Beliefs make emotions. Emotions make actions. Actions come from emotions. Emotions come from beliefs. So choose whatever belief makes you take the action you want.

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Weekly 19: How to sell your startup to VCs in one minute

Entrepreneur's Handbook

Welcome to another edition of our new newsletter! You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week. In this week’s edition, we share: Why your pitch deck has one minute to sell investors on your startup The 7 types of startup founder, and why it matters to you Let’s do this. P.s. Listen to our latest podcast episode w/ Henri Pierre Jacques here How to grab a VC’s attention in just 1 minute When DC Palter receives a pitch, it has his attention for a minute.

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EO Australia Members Give a Helping Hand

Entrepreneurs' Organization

Contributed to EO by Peta Strachan, Operations Manager at Free 3D Hands , a mission-based charity in Australia that designs and 3D-prints prosthetic hands and assistive devices for free. Earlier this year, EO members from all around Australia attended EO Ignite – Reignite Your Passion, a regional event at stunning Hamilton Island, located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.

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Digitalization: 5 Tech Updates That Will Help You Survive The Recession & Thrive

Lack of digitalization decreases business competitiveness. To thrive, embracing modern solutions becomes essential. The approach to digitalization often aligns with a company's business model. This shift not only boosts productivity but also automates processes and improves security. The tech market offers a wealth of technologies tailored for management, planning, and forecasting, replacing outdated pen-and-paper methods.