Know What's Happening in Entrepreneurship
Know What's Happening in Entrepreneurship
PopSockets turned phone backs into a $169 million business
PopSockets began as a garage prototype in 2011, converting the unused back of smartphones into a grip accessory. By 2017 the company generated $169 million in revenue, driven by word‑of‑mouth growth, celebrity endorsements, and embedding the product into daily phone use.
Female‑founded Nude Foods Market, a Colorado zero‑waste grocer, landed Shark Tank investment from Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec after its March 11 appearance. The company now operates two brick‑and‑mortar stores in Boulder and Denver, offers over 1,500 packaging‑free items with 40% locally sourced, and has diverted more than 1.5 million plastic pieces from landfills. Community crowdfunding has raised roughly $600,000, fueling an expanding e‑commerce and delivery network across the Front Range. With the new capital, Nude Foods plans to replicate its reusable‑container model in additional Colorado markets.
Your $200K/year survival kit. Don't have time to read them all? Here's the 80/20 concepts (a thread🧵):
Moniepoint has secured a foothold in Kenya by acquiring a 78% stake in Sumac Microfinance Bank, gaining an immediate deposit‑taking licence. The acquisition follows a stalled attempt to buy Kopo Kopo and comes days after Moniepoint bought Nigerian restaurant‑software firm...
Small businesses are drowning in software sprawl as teams pile on niche tools that promise efficiency but create hidden costs, fragmented data, and constant context switching. The article argues that the solution isn’t a single “perfect” platform but a disciplined...
The post argues that AI‑driven tools have driven software execution costs toward zero, turning every idea into a feasible project. While this abundance seems empowering, it creates a hidden danger: teams waste time on low‑value features and over‑engineered solutions. The...
Xero announced a multi‑year partnership with Anthropic to embed Claude directly into its accounting platform, letting small‑business owners ask the chatbot about cash flow, overdue invoices and profit margins using live data. The integration works both ways: Claude powers Xero’s...
The Workshop Kit offers a ready‑to‑use package that helps organizations move from reacting to industry shifts toward anticipating them. It bundles a detailed reference guide, a facilitator’s playbook, and a participant workbook, each packed with prompts, frameworks, and customizable templates....
On April 16, I'm sitting down with Eric Simons, co-founder & CEO of @boltdotnet, for an in-depth chat on how @boltdotnew went from near-shutdown to $40M in 5 months. We're gonna go deep on the pivot, the decisions, and how...
MTN’s digital infrastructure arm has joined a $45 million Series‑A round for US‑based ORAN Development Company (ODC), alongside Nvidia, Cisco and other telecom giants. ODC’s AI‑RAN platform will embed AI processing into radio access networks, turning traditional cell towers into edge‑computing...
The advice I give is NOT for founders who think they're creating unicorns, decacorns, or the next Anthropic. What I care about is showing that beautiful tech lifestyle businesses can be built outside the VC ecosystem. I'd rather...
It doesn’t matter if you’ve scaled past $5M, $10M, or $20M. You’ll fail if you think the same strategies will get you to your next milestone. • The offer • Creative approach • Targeting • Product lineup • The team All can change at each...
OpenAI has appointed Laura Modiano to head its European startup team, where she actively scouts talent at hackathons, events, and investor gatherings. Modiano shares how she automates outreach, the traits she values in promising AI startups, and her criteria when...
A candidate used AI to ace the coding test. The team couldn't tell the difference. This is the new hiring reality for SaaS founders 👇 On this week's SaasRise Mastermind, we broke down the biggest challenges SaaS CEOs are facing...
Origin Secures $30 Million Series A+ to Scale AI‑Powered Global Benefits Platform Origin’s financing highlights a growing consensus that AI can unlock efficiency in traditionally manual HR functions. By centralising disparate benefits data, the platform not only cuts costs but also...
South African fintech Scale has teamed up with Mastercard to launch a one‑integration card‑issuing platform across Senegal, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The partnership consolidates issuing banks, payment networks and BIN sponsors into a single onboarding flow, cutting time‑to‑market...
Zero-Based Engineering: Rethinking Your Team for the AI Era My business partner Shiyan Koh recently shared a post that I found illuminating. Most founders are asking the wrong question about their engineering teams. Instead of "who can I cut?" they...
Deep Science Ventures (DSV) and Renaissance Philanthropy have launched a venture‑creation project to build deep‑tech spin‑outs that boost crop resilience against climate extremes. The initiative, part of their Climate Emergencies Resilience Lab, moves beyond static genetic modification by focusing on...
In this episode of the Liquid Launch Project, host Matthew Meehan and co‑host Professor Luigi Rosa Bianca interview Dan Gretsch, a former Pulitzer‑winning journalist turned business storytelling strategist. Dan shares how being fired in 2013 forced him to reinvent himself,...
Claros, a power‑management startup, raised a $30 million seed round led by General Catalyst and Red Cell Partners. The funding will accelerate development of its integrated voltage regulator (IVR) and Power Gateway direct‑current distribution platform. The IVR claims up to 30%...
Multiply, an AI‑native media agency for B2B firms, emerged from stealth with a $9.5 million Series A led by Mayfield. Its self‑learning advertising platform links Google Search and LinkedIn campaigns to sales call recordings, CRM data, and performance metrics, automatically generating and...
I got to know Jim Guzy on the football field. My school, Hillview Elementary, was playing against Fremont Elementary in flag football. They had this kid who was crazy fast on the field. That was Jim Guzy. Later, he became an electrical engineer...
Blossom Health, a New York‑based telepsychiatry startup, raised $20 million in Seed and Series A financing led by Headline and a broad investor syndicate. The capital will fund geographic expansion, new payer contracts, clinician onboarding, and accelerated AI research. Blossom’s platform combines...
I have been really busy building SAAS and finally seeing some traction. I was not posting much but here I am 39.99 MRR not bad so far. I will update as we go, I have 3000 leads and trying to...
Telehealth company eMed announced a $200 million Series A round that lifts its valuation above $2 billion. The round was led by Aon Consulting and includes backing from Tom Brady, who also serves as founding chief wellness officer. eMed will use the capital to...
This ex-colleague of Stan Druckenmiller once ran a $3.5B hedge fund. Then he pivoted to running a consumer wellness company.
Legal AI startup Harvey just reached an $11B valuation. On The Upstarts Podcast, CEO Winston Weinberg shares how a cold email to Sam Altman helped launch its journey, and why he believes lawyers are a surprise power user of AI tools. Plus,...
Content creator Alanah Pearce has founded Charred Pictures, an indie production company that partners directly with game developers on film and TV adaptations. The debut slate includes three projects: a pre‑production adaptation of the survival‑horror game Faith: The Unholy Trinity,...
Ray Kroc didn’t just build restaurants. He built a system. * Persistence beats talent * Systems scale businesses * Execution wins long term Lessons from McDonald’s growth: https://michaelwmchugh.com/ray-krocs-mcdonalds-success/
Budderfly raises $550 million to scale its Energy-as-a-Service platform #energysky -- via pv magazine usa: https://t.co/mVu3KQ8ZPN
Tazapay announced the close of a $36 million Series B extension led by Circle Ventures, bringing total Series B funding to $36 million. The round added new investors CMT Digital and Coinbase Ventures alongside existing backers. The capital will fund licensing expansion, accelerate go‑to‑market...
Agentic commerce could lower the cost of building companies. What does that mean for VCs? https://t.co/meE1SvxnF0
"The customer is not always right when it comes to guiding your product development." $10M ARR bootstrapped. Never built what customers asked for verbatim. Built for the outcomes they actually needed. https://t.co/ubYZfSUe3L
Harry McCracken’s Fast Company oral history chronicles Apple’s first decade, spotlighting a vivid anecdote from veteran engineer Chris Espinosa. While programming BASIC on an Apple‑1 at the Byte Shop, Espinosa recalls a barefoot teenager being interviewed by Steve Jobs, who...
In a recent talk, Steve Blank warned that treating startups like scaled‑down corporations leads to failure. Early investors often forced founders to write detailed plans, forecasts, and hire senior staff, but startups lack a proven business model. Blank’s core truth...
The article argues that moving from founder‑mode to a scaling‑CEO mindset is essential for sustainable growth. It outlines five critical shifts—identity, communication, talent, metrics, and trust—that CEOs must adopt to transition from personal heroics to team‑driven execution. Drawing on two...
MedTech innovators are confronting a stark reality: brilliant devices often fail because commercial strategy is an afterthought. At LSI USA ’26, 2,000 executives and 394 startups highlighted that 74% of U.S. device startups don’t return investor capital, and the average...
Swiss independent watchmakers Hazemann & Monnin have been awarded the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives, receiving a €150,000 grant (≈$162,000) and a year‑long mentorship at LVMH’s La Fabrique du Temps. The win underscores LVMH’s push to nurture emerging...
Chef Joey Chavez and his wife Kaitlyn opened Truffle & Rye Market & Café in Richmond, a Houston suburb, offering artisanal sandwiches, pastries and coffee. The venture marks the chef’s move from Michelin‑starred kitchens to a community‑focused casual concept, highlighting...
Dash0 announced a $110 million Series B round that values the OpenTelemetry‑native observability platform at $1 billion, making it a fresh unicorn. The funding, led by Balderton Capital, brings total capital to $155 million and will accelerate the development of Agent0, an AI‑driven autonomous...
Zymtrace announced a $12.2 million funding round, including an $8.5 million seed led by Venture Guides, to scale its autonomous AI‑infrastructure optimization platform. The company’s eBPF‑based solution continuously profiles GPU and CPU workloads, automatically generating pull‑requests that fix bottlenecks without code changes....
Swedish startup Noru announced a €553.9K (~$600K) pre‑seed round led by Ampli Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz a16z Seed Fund, SSE Business Lab and several Nordic operators. The company’s AI‑native “agentic compliance” platform embeds regulatory processes directly into developer...
Allday Goods, an East London kitchenware brand that turns landfill-bound plastic into colourful knife handles, has secured £765,000 (approximately $970,000) in a funding round led by FIGR Ventures. The round also includes Anotherway Ventures, Machroes Holdings and several angels, adding...
Top advisor coaches use a seven‑question framework to unlock growth, clarity, and accountability for financial advisors. The questions surface unexpected wins, eliminate low‑impact tasks, and challenge comfort zones while addressing bottlenecks, over‑delivery, and personal development. Each prompt includes actionable homework...
Swedish cleantech startup Renasens secured a €10 million (≈$11.5 million) seed round to expand its waterless, chemical‑free textile recycling platform across Europe. The company will use the capital to launch a pilot plant in Borås, Sweden, converting mixed textile waste into high‑quality...
A recent analysis shows that while 53% of the UK’s high‑growth startups are located outside London, they capture only 39% of venture funding. Entrepreneur Jenson Brook’s Britain’s Got Startups (BGS) platform is trying to bridge the gap by showcasing regional...
Deborah Pan Dorner, a former MIT‑trained medicinal chemist, founded the healthcare communications agency Bond and Matter after a career in biotech research. The podcast episode explores how her scientific background shapes the agency’s data‑driven yet creative approach to pharma marketing....
Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani, former Wall Street interns, launched Alinea Invest in 2020. The fintech app aims to demystify investing for Gen Z, especially women, by offering an approachable, low‑threshold experience. They identified a gender‑specific white space in traditional wealth...
at a ceo offsite with one of our crossover investors and im pretty objectively the most junior/early stage founder here and its so genuinely inspiring + intimidating in best way
EnviroGold Global unveiled its Rapid Deployment Pathway (RDP), a structured framework that moves tailings reprocessing projects from initial evaluation to commercial deployment faster than traditional mining routes. The RDP combines staged assessments, pilot testing, and industrial demonstrations to de‑risk projects...
