Why We Partnered with Acquired — Plus 4 Favorite Episodes that Reflect How We Build Enduring Platforms
Intapp announced a partnership with the Acquired podcast, highlighting four episodes that embody its philosophy of building enduring, governed platforms for professional services firms. The selected shows—covering Google’s AI governance, Epic’s deep hospital system integration, TSMC’s trust‑based manufacturing model, and Visa’s invisible payment network—illustrate the pillars of depth, trust, and long‑term commitment. Intapp uses these narratives to reinforce its focus on governed AI and industry‑specific compliance. The post invites readers to explore the full Acquired archive for deeper insight into platform longevity.
Stop Calling Yourself "CEO"
The article argues that using "CEO" as a blanket title, especially in solo‑founder or tiny startups, creates a misleading picture of a company’s structure and governance. It contrasts the legal and operational responsibilities of a Managing Director with the strategic,...
You Can’t Build Proximity to Cows From SoMa
The post argues that while San Francisco remains the hub for foundational AI, the most valuable startups now blend software with physical assets and are locating near those assets. Companies like Halter in Auckland, Starcloud in Redmond, and Mariana Minerals across...
I Make $5K a Month From Writing Online. Here’s My Exact Daily Routine and Business Model.
A writer turned his freelance coaching business into a $5,000‑per‑month online venture by selling simple digital products under $100. He leverages a free newsletter, a daily writing habit, and focused one‑off guides to generate passive income. The model eliminates client...
How a Niche YouTube Channel Became a Multi-Platform Travel Business
Jessica Dante left a corporate travel role to launch a YouTube channel that delivers hyper‑specific London travel advice. By concentrating on a single city, her videos quickly surpassed a million views and attracted a "drive‑by" audience of trip planners. She...
Part 2: The Spaces Between
Bright Frontier, a new platform founded by Janis Naeve and Tim Fitzpatrick, maps systemic gaps in kidney and cardiometabolic (CKM) care and proposes four critical "bridges"—signal to decision, decision to action, action to accountability, and accountability to signal. The analysis...
The US VC Database Most Founders Never Build
The VC Corner has launched a searchable database of 2,000 active U.S. venture‑capital firms covering pre‑seed to seed stages across every sector. Each record includes fund name, portfolio, focus, location, social links, investment count, exits and a full description, all...
AI Gave My Small Business a Finance Team, a Marketing Agency, and a Supply Chain Crystal Ball
Sarah Wells, founder of Sarah Wells Bags, explains how AI tools have transformed her four‑person, 14‑year‑old small business. Using Finaloop for finance and inventory, Blaze.ai for brand‑consistent marketing, and Amazon’s AI for ad and listing optimization, the company now operates...
Mistral Raised €105M at Seed with 6 Employees, 4 Weeks in, and No Customers. Here Is the Memo that Did...
In May 2023, three ex‑DeepMind and Meta researchers formed Mistral AI with six employees. Within four weeks they closed a €105 million ($115 million) seed round, the largest ever in Europe, without a pitch deck, customers, or revenue. The round valued the...
Be Productive by Doing Nothing... With Meghan Joyce of Duckbill
In a recent Code Story podcast, Meghan Joyce, co‑founder of Duckbill, recounts a moment in Amsterdam where a malfunctioning breast‑pump disrupted her ability to attend Uber meetings. While on hold with the pump’s support line, she imagined a hands‑free solution...
Proparco Commits $17.25m to Alterra Africa Accelerator Fund
Proparco, the French development finance institution, has pledged $17.25 million to the Alterra Africa Accelerator Fund (AAA Fund), a pan‑African growth‑equity vehicle managed by Alterra Capital Partners. The fund targets profitable, growth‑stage companies in East and Southern Africa that serve basic...
The AgeTech Collaborative™ From AARP and HLTH Launch Landmark Collaboration to Advance the Future of Aging
HLTH Inc. and AARP’s AgeTech Collaborative have announced a landmark partnership to accelerate aging‑technology startups. The collaboration will feature 20 vetted companies at HLTH 2026 in Las Vegas, giving them exposure to investors, health systems, and industry leaders. Leveraging AARP’s longevity expertise...
Why Running a Successful Indie Label Is Still Harder Than It Looks
Luciano Winter explains that independent labels, despite streaming‑driven growth, now hit an operational ceiling as they outgrow spreadsheets and piecemeal tools. The core issue is infrastructure built for major‑label budgets, leaving independents to manually reconcile royalties, chase UGC revenue, and...
Couple Swap London Life For New Luxury Glamping Venture
Barney and Heather Barc have launched Pont Tyweli Glamping, a luxury glamping site on an 11‑acre estate in South West Wales. After four years of planning and construction, the venture opened in April with three UK‑made geodesic domes, each equipped...
Spain’s Pangea Propulsion Secures €2 Million From the Catalan Government
Pangea Propulsion, a Barcelona‑based deep‑tech firm, received €2 million (about $2.2 million) from the Catalan government to expand its manufacturing and testing capacity. The financing follows a €23 million Series A round and a €7.27 million grant from Spain’s science ministry, underscoring strong public support....
Is the Streaming Model Failing EDM Producers?
The article argues that the current music‑streaming model is economically unsustainable for electronic dance music (EDM) producers, whose royalties are too low and whose brand identity is diluted by algorithmic playlists. It highlights how streaming services treat tracks as interchangeable...
Most People Will Never Build Something That Pays Them. Here’s Why.
A creator explains the "Clarity Gap"—the lack of a clear, market‑ready offer—as the primary reason skilled people fail to monetize online. By interviewing potential customers, identifying a single urgent problem, and building a minimal viable product, the author grew from...
Why Your First Five Hires Make or Break Startup Execution
The article argues that a startup’s first five hires are far more than extra headcount—they form the execution architecture that will dictate decision flow, ownership, and scaling potential. Once these hires arrive, the founder’s sole control gives way to a...
Survival Is the Only Success
Tai Lopez turned a viral 2015 YouTube ad into more than $50 million in revenue and built a sizable marketing empire. By 2019 he launched Retail Ecommerce Ventures, raising $112 million to buy distressed brands such as Radio Shack and Pier 1, but the...
Communique 114: How Tech Safari Turned One Newsletter Into a Group of Businesses
Tech Safari, originally a tech‑focused newsletter launched in 2022, has rebranded into a multi‑vertical media and services platform. In September 2025 it added Ag Safari, a weekly agriculture newsletter that quickly amassed over 3,000 subscribers, 80% of whom are C‑suite...
Awful Events Drove This Entrepreneur to Create His Own B2B Media Company
James Dice founded Nexus Labs after finding smart‑building media saturated with vendor‑driven buzzwords and lacking technical depth. He turned his newsletter and podcast into a 9,000‑subscriber community, which birthed NexusCon—a 600‑person conference that charges $10,000 for exhibitor booths and $800‑$1,600...
Wadaro Becomes Simphonic, Bags Investment to Drive Deployment
Simphonic, formerly Wadaro, released a white paper showing that 40.5% of device‑side QoE events captured via SIM applets are negative experiences invisible to traditional network KPIs, with 59.4% occurring at subscribers' primary locations. The study proposes a Customer Experience Index...
Last Week in ConTech - 20 April 2026
Construction robotics is entering a rapid growth phase, with 22 funding rounds delivering $250 million in 2025—13% more than 2024—and an additional $144.3 million raised for autonomous excavator solutions. The surge is driven by three converging forces: commoditization of hardware components, AI...
6 Months Into Substack: What's Working, What We're Changing, and Where We're Headed
Six months after launching the Substack publication *The Sacred Art of Selling*, the author saw explosive growth despite starting with virtually no strategy. By repurposing a decade’s worth of intellectual property and applying a low‑effort "Miracle Hour" approach, the newsletter...
The Legal Research Renaissance: What's Behind the Explosion of New Startups?
Legal research startups are booming in 2026, with more than 150 new firms launching in 2025 and collectively raising roughly $1.2 billion. The surge is driven by generative AI breakthroughs that cut research time dramatically, expanding data licensing agreements, and a...
Give First, Build Right with Eric Ries
Eric Ries, author of *The Lean Startup*, will host a free virtual fireside chat with Brad Feld on April 29. The event promotes Ries’s upcoming book *Incorruptible*, releasing May 26, which tackles how companies can safeguard their mission over time. Feld connects...
Pickle's Julia O'Mara Is Building a Nationwide Closet, One Community at a Time
Julia O'Mara, a materials‑science graduate with finance experience at Blackstone, co‑founded Pickle in 2021 as a social polling app for fashion choices. User comments revealed a demand for borrowing items from peers, prompting a pivot to a community‑driven closet‑sharing platform....
A Shopify Early Look and a Thank You Gift
The author announced the official launch of a new Shopify storefront this month, inviting newsletter subscribers to participate in a pre‑launch experience. The post emphasizes exclusive access and a thank‑you gift for early supporters. By embedding direct store links in...
Why The Best Business Ideas in Renovation Usually Start With What Homeowners Keep Complaining About
The piece argues that the most viable renovation business ideas arise from fixing the everyday frustrations homeowners voice—delays, poor communication, opaque quotes—rather than chasing flashy concepts. By streamlining the service process, offering transparent pricing, and targeting a narrow, painful problem,...
Convos: Instant OpenClaw on Your Phone
Convos, the chat app from XMTP, lets users spin up OpenClaw or Hermes AI agents directly on their phones with a few taps. The platform provisions email, phone numbers and web‑browsing capabilities in seconds, turning each agent into a personal...
📅 Save the Date — Live Session: 5 Architects to Scale Your Business
Grants for Small Business Owners is hosting a live session on April 27 at 5 PM EST titled “5 Architects to Scale Your Business.” The webinar, featuring growth strategist Clayton King, will outline five critical roles—referred to as architects—that underpin scalable enterprises. Attendees...
Brainjo Secures €2m in Seed Funding for VR Mental Health Tech
German startup brainjo announced a €2 million (≈$2.2 million) seed round to develop its first virtual‑reality Digital Health Application (DiGA). The VR‑based tool is designed as a prescribable adjunct for children with ADHD, allowing at‑home use alongside traditional psychotherapy. Funding was led...
The Base Is Thinning 🔻
African startups raised $3.3 billion in the 12 months to March 2026, with $1.8 billion in equity and $1.4 billion in debt. However, the share of small equity rounds is collapsing – deals between $100k‑$250k fell from 40% in 2021 to just 21% in...
The Growth Levers You Keep Ignoring
The post argues that most growth issues stem from misallocated attention rather than a flawed strategy. Companies often tweak pricing, offers, or channels without fully exhausting existing assets, creating activity but not scale. The author suggests shifting from constant optimization...
Tyrese Haliburton Is Latest Athlete to Launch Production Company
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton has entered the media business by founding Zero Doubt Creative, a production company that signed a multiyear development deal with Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse Sports. The venture will produce original entertainment and branded content for both...
The Challenge of Building an African Consumer Brand Abroad
ReelFruit, the Nigerian dried‑fruit snack maker founded by Affiong Williams, has landed distribution agreements in Europe and a major retail partner in the United States, expanding both branded and bulk exports. The move helps the company earn dollars as the...
The AI Agent that Thinks Like Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, and Dario Amodei
The AI Corner released a “Founder Thinking Agent Playbook” that packages the decision‑making frameworks of six top tech founders into ready‑to‑paste prompts for Claude, ChatGPT and OpenClaw. The kit supplies system prompts, memory files, identity configurations and six copy‑paste prompts...
Every Tech Revolution Rewrites How We Live. AI Will Rewrite It Towards Coliving
The post argues that the AI revolution will reshape housing demand, positioning coliving as the primary solution for displaced white‑collar workers, a growing loneliness crisis, and an expanding digital‑nomad population. It cites estimates that AI could displace 200,000‑300,000 entry‑level jobs...
AI Moves Fast. These Five Things Don't Change.
Product teams are caught in an AI‑focused sprint, tracking every new model from GPT‑5 to Gemini and Claude, yet the core questions of product building remain unchanged. The article argues that fundamentals—problem diagnosis, observing real user behavior, validating solutions, pricing...
Resources for Starting and Growing an AI Safety Org
AISafety.com has launched a new founder toolkit page that aggregates fiscal sponsors, incubators, venture capital contacts, articles, and tools for anyone looking to start an AI safety organization. The resource, suggested by community member Ryan Kidd, aims to lower the...
How to Hire People Who Are Better than You
CEOs often must hire executives in domains they don’t master, yet hiring people who are better than you is essential for sustainable growth. The article argues that you can evaluate such candidates by looking for ideas that excite you, learning...
Should You Do Startup vs PE Fractional Work?
The post contrasts two fractional GTM career paths—working with early‑stage startups versus private‑equity portfolio companies. Startup gigs involve building go‑to‑market functions from scratch, offering $5K‑$10K monthly pay plus equity, while PE assignments focus on diagnosing and fixing existing GTM engines...
Unlock Your Business Potential: A Comprehensive Guide to SBA Loans for Women
The Small Business Administration offers government‑backed loans that, while not exclusive to women, provide lower interest rates, longer terms, and sizable funding for women‑owned firms. By formally designating a business as woman‑owned, entrepreneurs can tap into SBA resources such as...
Write2Sell: How to Make $5k/Month on Substack (My Exact Blueprint)
The author reveals a step‑by‑step blueprint that consistently generates $5,804 per month on Substack, even while holding a full‑time job. The model relies on four parallel income streams and a three‑engine system—offers, growth tactics, and automated sales—rather than a single...
I Built 4 Digital Products in 12 Months. One of Them Is Right for You — Here's How to Tell.
Over the past year the author built and sold four distinct digital products—a drip‑email course, downloadable templates, a video course, and a live cohort program—each generating revenue and teaching a different launch strategy. The email course was assembled from existing...
You Don’t Need Another Tactic to Find Your First 100 Customers
The post argues that founders chasing dozens of growth tactics dilute their efforts and miss the data needed to acquire their first 100 customers. By committing to a single primary channel—such as Substack—and defining a clear "North Star" outcome for...
A Path to Profitability in an Industry Built on Fear?
The No Film School podcast featured Kino co‑founders Brit MacRae and Daril Fannin discussing how insecure screeners, fragmented feedback, and fear‑driven distribution hinder independent film profitability. They explained Kino’s shift from an interactive streaming concept to a B2B platform that...
A Picnic of Shit Sandwiches
Tom, co‑founder of privacy‑infrastructure startup Ketch, reflects on being early in a market that only now values data privacy as a strategic asset. A recent Harvard Business Review piece cites a Journal of Marketing study showing privacy‑focused brands outperform peers,...
TextQL Closes $17M. Here's Why We Backed Them Before Anyone Else Would.
TextQL announced a $17 million Series A round led by Blackstone, building on an early seed investment from Unshackled Ventures that helped the founders secure a visa. The startup’s AI agent, Ana, lets executives ask natural‑language questions of their data without writing...
20 Free Tools To Start A Business (And How To Use Each One)
The post lists 20 completely free tools that cover branding, design, web hosting, email marketing, AI writing, video SEO, e‑commerce, payments, project management, automation, accounting, CRM, time tracking, AI learning, workspace organization, surveys, logo creation, blogging, presentations, and analytics. Each...