Paul O'Brien

Willie Wonka Inspired a Generation of Founders He was no wizard.

The more I sit with this, the more I realize how much pop culture influences kids toward what we’ll see when their part of our working population decades hence.

Makes me curious how movies, TV shows, and music today, are setting up the 2050s
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AI Runs on Yesterday’s Hardware — Quantum Writes Tomorrow’s Policy The Quantum Playbook

AI Runs on Yesterday’s Hardware — Quantum Writes Tomorrow’s Policy
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New Collar Jobs and the Critical Distinction of Startups from Small Businesses Today at the Texas Venture Forum in Austin, TX, we had the honor of hearing from the 28th Administrator of the U.S.

New Collar Jobs and the Critical Distinction of Startups from Small Businesses
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Founders and Policymakers Need Us at the Table— Before They Decide the Future for Us BREAKING: DOJ Finally Cracks Down on Google Search... 20 Years Late

Founders and Policymakers Need Us at the Table— Before They Decide the Future for Us
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This Is Why It’s Critical to Our Economy That We Distinguish Startups from New Businesses Not All Failure is Created Equal

This Is Why It’s Critical to Our Economy That We Distinguish Startups from New Businesses
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If You’re Asking If You Can Start a Startup, We Know How Likely You Are to Fail — And It’s a Lot Worse Than the Average This is one of those “I did the math” posts, and it might inspire you, but it could also discourage you so before I let you go on into the depths of discouragement, let me point out that what we’re ex...

If You’re Asking If You Can Start a Startup, We Know How Likely You Are to Fail — And It’s a Lot Worse Than the Average
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Belgian Startups, Immigration, and Why your Definition of Innovation is Wrong Let’s make something clear before we get into it, this is a discussion of beer from the perspective of an entrepreneur and economist, to explain to you something critical to your startup ecosystem: “t...

Belgian Startups, Immigration, and Why your Definition of Innovation is Wrong
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SX Sideways: More to Changing SXSW than Condensing the Weekends For those unfamiliar, SXSW is rather unique in the world for being far more than a conference, trade show, or film or music festival — it’s an economic engine, a cultural touchstone, and, arguably, th...

SX Sideways: More to Changing SXSW than Condensing the Weekends
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How the Irish Saved Entrepreneurship The Future of Ireland’s Startup Ecosystem: The Emerald Ripple?

How the Irish Saved Entrepreneurship
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Why Most Investors Are Wasting Their Time Ignoring Emerging Fund Managers The most prevalent reason why I always raise my hand to speak, moderate, or host an event, is that while written content reaches millions or podcasting helps people see or hear your tone and passion, ...

Why Most Investors Are Wasting Their Time Ignoring Emerging Fund Managers
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Texas Drops a Bigger, Better Blueprint: Why the World Should Take Notes (and Copy It)

Texas Drops a Bigger, Better Blueprint:
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Startup Accelerators Fail Founders Too Often Let’s talk about the dirty little secret of startup accelerators: most of them fail founders.

Startup Accelerators Fail Founders Too Often
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Portugal’s Entrepreneurial Revolution: Why Startups and Innovation Thrive (And What Needs to Change) A Country Built on Bold Exploration and Innovation

Portugal’s Entrepreneurial Revolution: Why Startups and Innovation Thrive (And What Needs to Change)
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Your Startup Pitch is Bad; Let me Explain How I Know Over the last couple of weeks, I've been pushing us to question traditional startup methodologies such as lean startup or how venture capitalists discern investments, through an exploration with you o...

Your Startup Pitch is Bad; Let me Explain How I Know
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Your Conference Event is Boring. Here’s How to Fix It in Austin (Especially for SXSW) So, you’re hosting an event during a conference or trade show, perhaps a meetup, a happy hour, or maybe even some speakers with engaging content hosted by a dynamic moderator (you are at least getting...

Your Conference Event is Boring. Here’s How to Fix It in Austin (Especially for SXSW)
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We had social media during the American Revolution. Paul Revere’s ride is the shining example of it; get on your horse and get out there and tell people.

People can wait for the “Media” to decide what to tell us and how. The consequence of that is being controlled.

In startups collaboration is a requirement, so people like me can discern if cities, investors, advisors, etc. are going to fail in their work to HELP founders, because they keep their work isolated to their community or friends.

Quantum or Bust: The Playbook for Post-Silicon Economic Dominance Earlier this week, Philip Farah, VP of sales, industries and strategic relationships for IonQ and William Hurley (aka whurley), CEO and founder of Strangeworks, joined The Texas Tribune's Matthew Watk...

Quantum or Bust: The Playbook for Post-Silicon Economic Dominance
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The Bell Mason Diagnostic and First Principles Thinking in Venture Capital Why Venture Capital Needs a First Principles Overhaul

The Bell Mason Diagnostic and First Principles Thinking in Venture Capital
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AI transcription of video, automatically parsing who is speaking... I just ran a 45 minute video on Otter AI and, respectfully, it's so inaccurate I can't even afford the time to go through it all to try to fix it. Anyone have a good alternative?

Your Startup Methodology is What’s Failing: How the First Principles Approach Beats Lean, Agile, and Waterfall Your Brain Is More Agile Than Your Project Plan

Your Startup Methodology is What’s Failing: How the First Principles Approach Beats Lean, Agile, and Waterfall
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I have a confession, when I was little, at Yellowstone, I was the one chosen to prevent forest fires.

After the decline of Yahoo and the risk of Quora, I was surprised to discover Ask Jeeves is still a thing.

2025 seems designed for us ENTPs 🤣

A great irony in the U.S. today is that many people argue and hate on the idea that the country is Free Market and Capitalist, and yet free market capitalists are active in the government now, proving that it isn't.

Where's Elon Musk is the new Who is John Galt

Why Doesn’t Europe Have a Silicon Valley Europe is home to some of the world’s most brilliant minds, world-class universities, and a rich history of scientific and technological breakthroughs.

Why Doesn’t Europe Have a Silicon Valley
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Time for Congress to Reform the SEC’s Outdated Accredited Investor Definition Public policy isn’t just a framework for startups and investors, it’s a gatekeeper deciding who gets to play the game.

Time for Congress to Reform the SEC’s Outdated Accredited Investor Definition
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I've heard it said that in Washington, among staffers, using the word "corruption," is taboo, like a curse word that will get you hauled before HR. The last thing any politician wants is to be affiliated with the word, true or not, so it's not to be said.

Time for this to change

We learn to love others from families capable of great love