Know What's Happening in Entrepreneurship
Know What's Happening in Entrepreneurship
PopSockets turned phone backs into a $169M business
PopSockets began as a garage prototype in 2011, converting the unused back of smartphones into a grip accessory. By 2017 the company generated $169M in revenue, driven by word‑of‑mouth growth and celebrity endorsements.
Human capital is increasingly recognized as a strategic asset in the GCC, where talent scarcity and mobility demand a shift from treating HR as a support function to a core business driver. Companies that overlook employee experience face hidden costs such as turnover, lost knowledge, and slower execution. Introducing human‑first policies—like comprehensive women’s health leave—has proven to attract higher‑quality candidates and improve retention. Stable, engaged teams ultimately deliver more predictable revenue and stronger market reputations.
You’re killing your productivity if you’re still running on to-do lists. Most entrepreneurs have long, generic lists. Zero priority. Zero time for it.. The result? You end your day with it longer than you started. After 29 years of entrepreneurship, here’s what...
The best way I learn is to to just DO THE THING and interact directly with customers. I love being able to own an early project and go into "Full Stack Founder" mode where I do everything from marketing, development...
Saudi quick‑commerce startup Ninja, founded in 2022, is weighing a Riyadh IPO after posting roughly $1 billion in 2025 revenue and targeting $1.6 billion in 2026. The company secured $250 million of funding in 2025, lifting its valuation to $1.5 billion and joining Saudi...
Phoenix Venture Partners announced the third closing of its debut Phoenix Venture Partners Innovation Fund, bringing new investors from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE. The fund, which previously closed its second round at $50 million, targets...
I’m excited to announce that @reforge is joining @MiroHQ . 10 years ago @andrewchen and I ran the first Reforge Growth Series. What started as a single course has grown into a community of over 100,000 alumni and SaaS...
In our last report on Advisor Marketing, we found that the median client acquisition cost (CAC) for advisory firms was $3,800 when including both "hard dollar" expenditures on marketing and the "soft dollar" value of advisors' time. https://t.co/BTglcsTaaR Acquisition costs...
The NSF‑backed Tech Metal Transformation Challenge, run through Stride Ventures, awarded roughly $16 million to eight winning teams for metal‑recovery technologies. Each winner receives up to $2 million in the first 10‑month stage, with potential follow‑on funding of $2.5 million and $3 million for...
DO. FAIL. LEARN. Failure isn’t the end. It’s how we get better. And I’ve had my fair share of it over the years. Startups don’t always succeed, but how you talk about the journey matters. Building a startup is hard, harder...
MaRS Impact Health will convene more than 1,000 biotech, digital‑health and medical‑device innovators in Toronto on April 23, showcasing Canada’s push to define a "middle‑power" role as the global healthcare market fragments. The summit highlights rare‑disease breakthroughs, including mRNA vaccine...
Cohere, a Toronto‑based large language model developer, signed a memorandum of understanding with Swedish defence contractor Saab to embed its generative‑AI technology into the company’s GlobalEye surveillance aircraft. The collaboration will focus on data‑driven mission support, predictive maintenance tools, and...
Serbian studio Nordeus, founded by Branko Milutinović, grew its flagship football manager Top Eleven to over 300 million users and was acquired by Take‑Two Interactive in 2021. From day one the company pursued a global‑first mindset, stayed bootstrapped for a decade,...
Littlebird closed an $11 million funding round to bring its AI‑assisted screen‑recall platform to market. The tool reads on‑screen activity, converts it to searchable text and integrates with email and calendar apps, promising marketers faster content creation and better attribution.
AI writes your code. Users write your roadmap. The only thing you need to write yourself is the vision.
Pleo, a Copenhagen‑born fintech, has spent a decade turning a pan‑European vision into reality by embedding local offices, partnerships, and autonomous teams across 16 countries. The company argues that true scaling comes from “going local,” adapting tone, product features, and...
Sam Liang came to the DFJ offices in Menlo Park from China with broken English and a strong spirit. He told us he was creating a business that allowed phones to tag people as they moved around the world and would...
Swiss biotech NanoZymeX has secured €160,000 (about $174,000) from Venture Kick to accelerate its lipid‑nanoparticle platform for enzyme replacement therapies. The technology, spun out of the University of Basel, seeks to improve delivery of therapeutic enzymes into muscle cells and lysosomes,...
Artists are increasingly turning their creative output into viable businesses by leveraging online sales platforms and print‑on‑demand services. Building a recognizable brand, selecting an appropriate business model and crafting a focused marketing plan are essential steps. Legal protection, sound bookkeeping,...
Most people quit and then try to build. I built and then quit. Before I left corporate I had already signed my first investors, closed my first deals, and had real revenue coming in. The business existed before it was my only option. That’s...
6 figure jail is when your revenue plateaus and nothing you do seems to move it. You’re running systems designed for where you were. not where you’re going. The jump from 6 to 7 figures isn’t about working harder. It’s about fixing...
Yumari is an AI‑driven infrastructure platform that links U.S. and Canadian direct‑to‑consumer brands with manufacturers across Latin America. The startup’s proprietary models automate supplier matching, product development, quality control, customs clearance and logistics, creating a true "manufacturing‑on‑demand" experience. By digitizing...
Tomorrow is our 1st birthday at Upstarts 🎉 I wrote about our first year in operation, my gratitude for the startup ecosystem, and what to expect from @upstartsmediaco in Year 2. https://www.upstartsmedia.com/p/upstarts-turns-1-heres-whats-next-e6a
![Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast [Mar 24, 2026] Echodyne’s Eben Frankenberg on Affordable Electronically Scanned Radars](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://hixhlmpcokxhartfkpyi.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/images/articles/ea4795a2e7f3889106a3062fc4470474.webp)
Echodyne CEO Eben Frankenberg explained how the company leveraged breakthrough meta‑material technology to create small, affordable electronically scanned radars for both military and commercial use. Founded in 2014 within Nathan Myhrvold’s Intellectual Ventures, the firm secured $135 million in 2022 funding...
Kevin Busque, former TaskRabbit VP, discovered that only 36% of employees used the company’s 401(k) plan, exposing costly, clunky legacy systems. He co‑founded Guideline in 2015 to build a transparent, fee‑free retirement platform for SMBs, designing the entire software stack...
8 hours of outbound a day. Cold DMs. Cold emails. Reddit. LinkedIn. Repeat. I've seen this blueprint. I've watched it burn founders out. Miss one week and your pipeline goes to zero. I've worked with 30+ SaaS companies. The ones that stall out built everything...
Flexzo AI secured $12 million in Series A funding, led by Octopus Ventures with participation from Fuel Ventures, to expand its agentic AI workforce platform for healthcare. The UK‑based startup uses machine‑learning to match clinicians to open shifts, automate allocation, and cut...
Bengaluru‑based Sarvam AI is in talks to raise up to $250 million in a new round led by Nvidia, Accel and HCLTech, which could lift its valuation to roughly $1.5 billion—over seven times its 2023 level. The startup recently unveiled two home‑grown...
Tiltify reported that creators donated more than $100 million in 2025, roughly double its 2024 total, cementing creator‑led philanthropy as a major growth engine. The platform’s tools—especially creator‑designed incentives, auctions and matching challenges—accounted for 40% of the funds raised, up from...
Entrepreneurs: Once you grow to $10K MRR without any VC money, you start perceiving VCs differently.
Cathy Tie, the founder of Origin Genomics, announced the shutdown of her previous embryo‑editing venture and the launch of a new startup focused on pre‑implantation genetic modification. The new company, dubbed EmbryoX, has secured $55 million in Series A funding led by...
I don't look for good ideas. I look for expensive problems. The difference built me a billion-dollar company. So many founders start by asking "What cool thing can I build?" That’s the wrong question.
Spade announced a $40 million Series B round led by Oak HC/FT, backed by Andreessen Horowitz and other fintech investors. The New York‑based fintech reported 470% year‑over‑year growth and a peak daily transaction volume of 1.9 billion, underscoring rapid adoption. The capital will...
A Credit Banc client was juggling nine short‑term loans and an open tax balance, resulting in roughly $56,000 of cash outflows each month despite steady revenue. The firm consolidated the debt with a $1.1 million term loan that also covered the...
I don’t build companies just to invest - I build them to win. Everything I do on social media is about one thing: customer acquisition. If I can lower CAC and increase ROAS for my companies, I win and so do...
As Airport Security Waits Spiral, One Man Started A Line-Sitting Business — $600 To $1,200 To Skip The Wait - View from the Wing https://t.co/WcrOZafP1H
Compliance startup Delve has suspended all product demonstrations after a scandal involving fabricated certifications. Insight Partners, a key backer, has withdrawn its investment, underscoring governance risks in Y‑Combinator‑backed B2B SaaS companies.
My first website was embarrassing... First blog posts were rough. First talks were brutal. But reps build range... Build. Ship. Learn. Decide.
Made my first $10,000 on the internet not with digital products but by selling a writing service. This is the quickest way to monetize online. And tomorrow, I'm sharing the exact roadmap I'd follow if I had to start from scratch in...
Euler Motors secured a $47 million Series E round led by Lightrock, complemented by roughly $30 million in debt financing. The funding will boost product development, manufacturing capacity, and its dealer network across India. Revenue grew 12% to about $23 million in FY25 while...
Founders: Strategic vs Tactical discovery: Tactical = How many users? Strategic = "What happens if you miss hiring goals? Tactical = "Current process? Strategic = "Cost of status quo? Strategic questions = bigger deals.
Your first $1K: hustle Your first $10K: offer Your first $100K: systems Your first $1M: team Your first $1B: Brand
XO Health, a startup that provides an alternative health plan, announced a nationwide rollout targeting self‑insured employers and plan administrators. The company will extend its episode‑based pricing model, which bundles all services for a specific medical episode into a single,...
Refounding a company in this era, from AI first principles, when you’re not the original founder is the story that will define this next generation of decacorns 🔥 The future belongs to the bold. Buckle up.
Congrats to the @withshepherd team on their $42M Series B! They're rebuilding commercial construction insurance for the AI era. When a broker submits an account, Shepherd delivers an indication in minutes—not weeks. 1,500+ policies issued, $400B in insured value, 600+ commercial...
In this episode, co‑founder and CEO Alison Lee walks through Revive’s evolution from a fitting‑room tech startup (originally called Hamster) to a full‑stack virtual tailoring, refurbishment, and resale platform that helps fashion brands cut returns, recover damaged inventory, and sell...
Bettani Farms, the former Climax Foods, raised $6.5 million and acquired Hungry Planet, Numu and Stockeld Dreamery to create a unified vegan cheese platform. Leveraging its AI‑powered Caseed ingredient, the company unveiled a high‑stretch mozzarella that mimics dairy performance, achieving a...
If you’re a content creator you need to watch this. No hype or marketing. Nick is sharing is his genuine journey on how learning to make software transformed their business.
2012 → Instagram needed 13 employees for a $1B exit. 2024 → Startups needed a team of 5 to scale. 2026 → You just need Accio and a Mac. @Accio_official connects to your Gmail/Shopify/Slack/Github etc. this app can read, write, and execute across your...
