PinnedPaul O'Brien·Sep 21, 2023Founders, VCs Might Not Like My Sharing This, But They ShouldOne of the more challenging skills to help develop in a founder, is being able to discern b.s. from experienced and valid advice. As you…A response icon2A response icon2
PinnedPaul O'Brien·Jan 4, 2023It’s never as easy as it looks.I lost $50,000, more or less, on a business started in my 20s. Hurt a lot. I’m now 4d-*ahem* and finding peace with success. Lessons…A response icon1A response icon1
Paul O'Brien·1d agoTulsa Startups Owe More to The Church Studio Than to Any Tech HubWell, Thomas Graham threw me for a loop today, sharing on Facebook that Route 66 is 100 years old. The loop is that I was just in Tulsa…
Paul O'Brien·3d agoGuatemala Startups Export Their Founders and Import Their Paychecks; the Ecosystem Has to Keep BothThis has been a heavy few months for me. I’m the type of person who has thousands of lightweight friendships and very few close ones, and…
Paul O'Brien·Nov 5Innovation Needs InfrastructureNobody today would recruit a startup into a building with no electrical service and hand the founder a diesel generator. Nobody would site…
Paul O'Brien·Nov 2Texarkana Is Sitting on a Lithium Goldmine and America’s Best Opportunity to Watch a Startup…On December 8, 1873, a railroad agent named Major H. L. Montrose stepped off the first Texas and Pacific train to reach the Arkansas line…
Paul O'Brien·Oct 27Healthcare, Government, HR, and Education Innovation Keeps Failing for One Reason; The Sectors That…In 2016, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that the Department of Defense was coordinating America’s nuclear forces on a…
Paul O'Brien·Oct 19HR Tech 2026 in Las Vegas Is Where the Future of Work is Learning to Read the Data It Already OwnsI have been spending a lot of time thinking about the future of work. Whether in the context of our startups and founders meaningfully…
Paul O'Brien·Oct 16The Next Version of the Startup Accelerator Is Being Drafted in New York at AcceleratorCONOn May 17, 1792, 24 New York merchants and brokers stood under a buttonwood tree near what became Wall Street and agreed to trade…
Paul O'Brien·Oct 10Among Losers Who Raised as Much as the Winners we Find a Startup Moat That Too Few Build; What 42…Research has spent twenty years telling us that the team and the marketing work cause most startup successes and failures. The AI boom is…
