founders

New study of unicorn founders finds most are ‘underdogs,’ and female founders are rising

A new study that zeros-in on the founders of so-called “unicorns” — companies worth over a billion dollars — has found most have “underdog” founders who are often drawn from th

Discipulus Ventures mentors young founders to revive a Norman Rockwell vision of America

Scores of accelerator programs run every year with the aim of identifying and cultivating founders in the earliest stages of building a company. Only a fraction seek out founders who are explicitly al

Building a startup is like building a house

The journey of building a startup is an adventure filled with unexpected twists and turns, much like the construction of a dream home.

Pitch competitions help level the playing field for underrepresented founders, but it isn’t enough

Pitch competitions are a bright spot for underrepresented founders but not without burdens that regular funding doesn't have.

How to plan for general partner succession

The succession process requires an open and genuine dialogue between the senior retiring and incoming management teams.

Startup founders often make these legal mistakes

Early-stage founders face many challenges. Some of the trickiest and most foreign are legal because the legal world is unfamiliar and ever changing.

Startups must master operations

Josh Claman Contributor Share on X Josh Claman is the CEO of Accelsius, makers of direct-to-chip, two-phase cooling technology. An advocate for the power of transformative technology throughout hi

How to ensure an ethical acquisition for your startup

Syed Balkhi Contributor Share on X Syed Balkhi is founder and CEO of Awesome Motive, a software holding company that provides website tools to help small businesses grow and compete with big companies

Three human mistakes VCs often make, and how understanding them can help entrepreneurs fundraise better

The sheer number of non-economic mistakes made by VCs due to their human nature is seriously underestimated.

Founders: It’s never too early to start planning for your succession

Exits are few and far between and founders are burnt out. Even if they don't have immediate plans to leave, planning for it makes it easier.

How to be an inspirational startup founder

For startup founders, the ability to inspire has everything to do with the ability to get others to see the world the way you do.

Why startups should start preparing now for a potential founder breakup

Founders are inherently optimists, but they should plan for worst-case scenarios so they aren't blindsided if something does happen.

Early-stage founders are optimistic about raising again — but not all of them

A January Ventures survey found that the fundraising market is starting to turn back in founder's favors but not all founders are so sure.

How founders can cut through the noise and find events that are actually worth it

Founders get bombarded with invitations to events, and not all of them are worth it, but there are ways to figure out which will provide value.

To attend or not to attend: We asked 52 founders whether events are useful or a waste of time

There are many founder-focused events but are they actually helpful or just a distraction? Founders need to strike a balance.

A program so nice, these founders did YC twice

Parker Conrad may be best known as the founder of both Zenefits and Rippling, but he is also arguably the best-known founder to have gone through Y Combinator’s accelerator program twice. Of cou

Spotify founder Daniel Ek admits he initially ‘didn’t get’ the appeal of the flagship feature, Discover Weekly

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek made a surprising confession in a recent post to X (formerly Twitter), where he admits not only that he didn’t come up with the idea for Spotify’s flagshi

How Pilea helps founders break down stigma around mental health

There hasn’t been a ton of research on the prevalence of mental health issues among founders, but what there is speaks loudly.

If it hadn’t been for them meddlin’ kids

Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Not to get all GrumpyManYellsAtCloud.gif, but I’m getting pretty tired of the myth of the dropped-out-of-college founde

Don’t fall into the toxic workplace trap

Having a strong culture can lead to less churn and more efficient teams, and that is even better for the bottom line.
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