The hottest Entrepreneurship Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Business Topics

From Blockbuster Ambitions to Box Office Bust: The MoviePass Saga

Founder Fuck-ups • 0 implied HN points • 13 Sep 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. MoviePass failed due to an unsustainable business model - offering low-cost movie tickets to subscribers led to financial losses as the company paid full price for each movie.
  2. Competition from both theaters and alternative movie ticketing apps posed a significant challenge to MoviePass, drawing users away with better pricing structures and enhanced features.
  3. Strained relationships with theaters, including a dispute with AMC, added to MoviePass's downfall - revenue-sharing deals and conflicts led to backlash and loss of business.

From $120M to Zero: An In-Depth Analysis of Juicero's Catastrophic Collapse

Founder Fuck-ups • 0 implied HN points • 19 Jul 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Juicero's downfall showcases the importance of delivering real value to customers. Without fulfilling promises or solving problems, even well-funded startups can face failure.
  2. High costs and lack of differentiation in a competitive market were key challenges for Juicero. Consumers questioned the worth of expensive products amidst other affordable options.
  3. Negative publicity can significantly impact a business. Juicero's flawed product and inability to manage media scrutiny led to widespread doubts and ultimately contributed to its collapse.

Navigating the Emotional Labyrinth of Startup Investing

Meliora by Ana Stoica • 0 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Invest in people, not just technology: Trust in the passion and collaboration of the team behind a startup as strong indicators of success.
  2. Ask questions openly and embrace learning: Curiosity, diverse perspectives, and timely decision-making are crucial in the uncertain world of startups.
  3. Navigate emotional challenges with empathy: Recognize emotional biases, communicate openly, and make timely decisions with understanding for productive partnerships.
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🙏🏽 Thank you! A new thing

Turnaround • 0 implied HN points • 29 Mar 21
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. The author shares the journey and challenges faced while pursuing a career in journalism, eventually leading to the opportunity to write a book about Xiaomi.
  2. The upcoming book, 'Xiaomi: How a Startup Disrupted the Market & Created a Cult Following,' delves into the success, strategies, and impact of Xiaomi in the tech industry.
  3. Testimonials from industry experts like Kunal Shah and Hamish McKinzie highlight the significance and value of the author's upcoming book.

My dog co-wrote this issue on guerilla marketing

Mehdeeka • 0 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Guerilla marketing involves unconventional and attention-grabbing marketing tactics, like pavement ads or driving trucks with displays.
  2. Brands can measure the success of guerilla campaigns through tracking direct interactions, impressions, and creating unique webpages for traffic analysis.
  3. Guerilla marketing can be a cost-effective and creative channel for B2B brands to explore, especially for startups looking to disrupt or increase visibility.

China Zero Trust startup Feiyue Cloud closed investment from MiraclePlus accelerator.

CyberSecurityMew • 0 implied HN points • 26 Feb 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Feiyue Cloud, a zero-trust startup from China, secured investment from MiraclePlus accelerator in November 2023.
  2. MiraclePlus, founded by Dr. Lu Qi, focuses on early-stage technology-driven enterprises and offers acceleration programs to aid in obtaining the next financing round.
  3. Feiyue Cloud is a secure network platform for the AI era, catering to various business scenarios with features like intelligent interconnection, security policies, asset discovery, and service distribution.

The Correct Launch Price Is Free

Lump Letter • 0 implied HN points • 04 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. The correct launch price for your software should be free, as other price points are seen as crippling mistakes.
  2. Charging free for your software can help solve the distribution problem, making it easier to attract users and gain attention.
  3. Free pricing can lead to more sign-ups, engagement, and even pave the way for introducing premium features later on.

🧩 $5.5mil With Evergreen Niche That Always Sell For Print On Demand

Money Making Engineer (MME) Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 05 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Pets niche is evergreen and lucrative for online businesses, with examples like earning $5.5mil with print on demand products.
  2. Differentiation, SEO, and becoming a one-stop shop are key strategies to replicate success in the pets niche on platforms like Etsy.
  3. Exploring niche ideas, trends, and tools can help in finding success and profitability in the online pets niche market.

The Unaddressed Opportunity in Emerging Managers

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 10 Nov 22
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Emerging managers in the venture industry show potential for high returns despite receiving a smaller share of capital allocation.
  2. Diversity in emerging manager profiles and strong alignment with LP incentives make them attractive investments.
  3. The slow change in LP-GP dynamics, the challenge of identifying new managers, and the dominance of established firms hinder the growth of emerging managers, limiting diversity and innovation in the asset class.

Operators-In-Residence Program at Equal Ventures

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 05 Oct 20
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Equal Ventures launched an Operators-In-Residence program to collaborate with experienced Operators to explore new venture opportunities.
  2. The program is remote, accepting applications from operators in the U.S. and Canada, aiming to provide connections, deep market insights, and the potential for new ventures.
  3. Qualifications for the program include being an operator in a high growth tech company for 5+ years, interest in starting/joining a new venture, and a friendly demeanor.

Welcome Wrapbook to the Equal Ventures Portfolio

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 25 Aug 20
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Increased legislation and scrutiny regarding how workers are treated is expected in the future, with a clearer distinction between W2, 1099, and project-based workers.
  2. Wrapbook is a financial platform specializing in the entertainment industry, streamlining payroll processing and providing competitive workers' compensation rates.
  3. Wrapbook offers a superior product experience for employers in handling project-based workers, offering digital profiles and enabling workers to own their information.

SmartHop — A platform for truckers, by truckers

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 21 Jul 20
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Trucking industry is crucial for the US economy, employing over 3 million individuals, but smaller fleets face challenges like limited access to technology and higher costs.
  2. Investment in technologies like SmartHop can significantly improve the lives of independent truckers, providing better access to loads and optimizing take-home pay.
  3. SmartHop's platform, run by an experienced team, partners with top brokers to enhance driver pay and access to premium loads, creating a transformation in the industry.

Announcing Equal Ventures Fund I

Equal Ventures • 0 implied HN points • 11 Feb 20
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Equal Ventures Fund I is a $56M seed-stage venture fund focused on bridging the digital divide.
  2. Equal Ventures is thesis-driven, places emphasis on seed-stage investments, and values domain expertise and hands-on support for founders.
  3. The founders of Equal Ventures bring diverse backgrounds and experiences to the firm, aiming to support founders and industries often underserved in the traditional venture capital landscape.

💼 How the Not-Dads behind Dad Grass Are Building a Brand Without a Brand Book

the case for brand 💼 • 0 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. The founders of Dad Grass built their brand without a traditional brand book, focusing on creating an experience that goes beyond typical models.
  2. Dad Grass founders highlight the importance of having fun and connecting with customers to build a successful brand.
  3. Investing heavily in branding early on is crucial for founders looking to build a strong and enduring brand.

On hiring - A rapid hiring process for busy startup engineering leaders

Joseph Gefroh • 0 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Efficient hiring involves building a pipeline and moving candidates through it with minimal effort. Creating a streamlined process like a Kanban-style project can help manage the hiring stages effectively.
  2. From a candidate's perspective, simplifying the hiring process by highlighting only 3 key stages can make the process feel lightweight and easy to follow. A clear and concise hiring workflow can be a competitive advantage.
  3. Utilizing different sourcing channels, such as LinkedIn, can be a valuable way to find candidate leads with low effort but high value. Building and leveraging a strong professional network can significantly impact the hiring process.

🔮 How to predict the future

The Wisdom Project • 0 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
🎭️ Culture Entrepreneurship
  1. Trend forecasters read the room, observe patterns, and ride cultural waves like surfers to predict the future.
  2. The future will be about niche networks and communities rather than mass cultural trends, each with its shared values and trends.
  3. You can save time by learning the main insights from non-fiction books in just a few minutes with summaries like Keys to Wisdom.

Are You Selfish Enough?

Shubhi’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 17 Mar 15
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. All essential life lessons are taught in kindergarten: be fair, apologize when needed, and look out for each other.
  2. Understand yourself better to make a significant impact: know what evokes emotions in you and what issues you want to tackle.
  3. Persevere like the Japanese Bamboo Tree: grow steadily despite slow progress, then surge ahead with determination.

Introducing Probable Wisdom

Probable Wisdom • 0 implied HN points • 27 Feb 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Success in building products and ventures relies on accepting and managing uncertainty.
  2. Adopting a probability-based mindset involves focusing on making outcomes more probable.
  3. Using structure and systems can increase the probability of success in new ventures.

GRANTED: The two kinds of respect employees want and why you should bet on older entrepreneurs

Granted • 0 implied HN points • 15 Jul 18
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Employees want two kinds of respect: owed respect, which is about being included and recognized as a human being, and earned respect, which is about being valued for contributions
  2. Betting on older entrepreneurs can be more beneficial, as 40-year-olds are more likely to found successful startups compared to 25-year-olds
  3. The evolution of self-esteem in a career involves transitioning from feeling unimportant to pursuing work that is important, which leads to increased productivity and impact

Why I invested in Wally Health and Tyler Burnett

Latest Curiosities • 0 implied HN points • 23 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Investing in unique business models can lead to success, even if they initially seem unconventional.
  2. Prioritizing optimization and innovation in traditional industries like healthcare can be a key strategy for growth and differentiation.
  3. Leveraging data and benchmarks from experts can provide valuable insights to make informed investment decisions.

I picked a bad day to restart my substack

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 08 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Entrepreneurship
  1. The newsletter 'Mess and Magic' is being relaunched by Joshua Gans, focusing on the economics of innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology, particularly artificial intelligence.
  2. Twitter broke interactions with Substack, which impacts the ability to share links and discuss newsletters on the platform.
  3. There are speculations about Twitter's motives for breaking links with Substack, potentially related to competition and attracting users to their platform instead.

What Covid can teach us about entrepreneurship?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 25 May 21
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Covid-19 led to shifts in entrepreneurial opportunities, with some ventures thriving (like online businesses) while others struggled (like physical stores).
  2. The pandemic allowed for some individuals to reevaluate their career paths and possibly pursue entrepreneurial endeavors, especially due to the pause it enforced and the time it provided for reflection.
  3. Research indicates that discrimination in lending markets may have made it difficult for certain neighborhoods, particularly those with higher proportions of black residents, to secure loans for new business ventures.

Snapchat chooses execution over control

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 13 Feb 17
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Snapchat prioritizes execution over control to drive user engagement and product innovation.
  2. An execution strategy can be more profitable than a control strategy, as it allows for quicker market entry and cost-saving experiments.
  3. Snapchat's strategy mirrors Apple's approach of focusing on innovation rather than building barriers to entry, though profitability execution remains unproven.

The Disruption Dilemma

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 23 Aug 16
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Disruption in business can stem from new technological opportunities that incumbent firms fail to take advantage of, leading to their downfall.
  2. The concept of Creative Destruction from Joseph Schumpeter describes how capitalism thrives on constant innovation and change, challenging the idea of long-term profitability for established businesses.
  3. Innovation that disrupts industries can come in different forms, like customer-disruptive innovations that initially underperform but later improve, and architecturally-disruptive innovations that change the fundamental design of products or services.

Do founders insure against disruption?

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 08 Mar 16
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Founder-involved firms may be longer-lived due to deep knowledge of organization structure
  2. Having a founder at the helm can help manage architectural innovations and reconfigurations within a business
  3. While not foolproof, having a founder heavily involved can aid in navigating disruption and rallying the organization

Twitter needed strategy

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 27 Jan 16
🕹 Technology Entrepreneurship
  1. Twitter lacked a clear strategy compared to Facebook, affecting its growth and innovation.
  2. Entrepreneurial strategy involves clear initial choices like defining customers, technology, identity, and competition.
  3. Twitter's lack of a founding strategy still hinders its development and understanding, suggesting it might need a fundamental change to reach its full potential.

Creative Destruction and Inequality

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 04 Jan 16
🔬 Science Entrepreneurship
  1. Entrepreneurship can decrease inequality if things are working as they should. However, it involves complex factors like income distribution changes and wealth management.
  2. Innovation and entrepreneurship can impact top income inequality positively, but can also lead to social mobility. The relationship between innovation and inequality is influenced by various barriers.
  3. Entrepreneurship and innovation may increase income inequality by displacing successful entrepreneurs from the past, leading to a decrease in the overall growth rate. The complex relationship between growth, risk, and income distribution needs more research.

The Entrepreneurship/Inequality Myth

Joshua Gans' Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 03 Jan 16
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. The common belief that entrepreneurship and inequality are inherently linked is likely a myth. There is no strong theoretical or moral basis to support this link, and empirical evidence is inconclusive.
  2. Entrepreneurship, if done right, can actually reduce inequality. The financial rewards gained by entrepreneurs can come from reallocating resources in ways that decrease inequality, not increase it.
  3. Some successful entrepreneurs, like Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, choose to give away their wealth, indicating that not all entrepreneurs prioritize personal consumption over reducing inequality. This challenges the idea that a larger slice of the economic pie is necessary for entrepreneurship.

A Newsletter & Content Shift

Become a Senior Engineer • 0 implied HN points • 23 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Starting a newsletter is a journey and a learning experience. Each issue helps in understanding the process and your role as a writer.
  2. There is a shift to make 98% of the content free. The paid tier will focus on supporting the creator without exclusive content for now.
  3. The newsletter will have a more casual tone, focus on sharing knowledge for seniors, and there will be a new blog for formal content with code-heavy topics.

Coming soon...

The Uncommon Executive • 0 implied HN points • 02 Nov 23
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. The newsletter is focused on career acceleration for aspiring executives covering topics like career coaching, product management, venture investing, and personal insights.
  2. The first post will be released on Thursday, February 22, 2024, with subsequent posts every Thursday. Subscribers can expect updates on career coaching, venture capital, solo entrepreneurship, and product work.
  3. Readers can subscribe for free to receive new posts and support the writer's work on 'The Uncommon Executive' newsletter.

How to get more user interviews and use them well

Recontact • 0 implied HN points • 11 Mar 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Have a sincere mindset when connecting with people for user interviews; understand their time is valuable.
  2. Personalize your outreach messages for better responses; even a simple name customization can make a difference.
  3. Building a personal connection with interviewees can lead to more valuable insights and willingness to help in the future.

Welcome! I'm Xavi

Xavi Benjamin • 0 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Entrepreneurship
  1. Xavi Benjamin's new platform focuses on sharing thoughts on entrepreneurship, art, and building an empire.
  2. Xavi reintroduced himself after a break from writing online, expressing his rusty writing skills despite considering himself a writer.
  3. The publication is reader-supported, offering free posts and subscriptions with additional content available for paid subscribers.

Nonsense: Equal Equity Split Among Founders, Infinitely

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 11 Jul 19
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Initial equal equity split among founders is a good starting point but may not remain fair as the company grows and individuals contribute differently over time.
  2. Co-founders need to have ongoing conversations about equity split evolution and be transparent about their individual contributions to ensure fairness and alignment.
  3. Commitment, accountability, and results are key in determining the distribution of equity among co-founders as organizations evolve and grow.

For foreign investors willing to back startups in France

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jun 19
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. French entrepreneurs are increasingly talented and ambitious, with valuable experiences and learning curves.
  2. The growing startup environment in France is fostering excellence, velocity, and compounded effects, indicating a promising future for French startups.
  3. Foreign investors are showing increasing interest in French VC firms and startups, but many struggle with knowing how to engage effectively in the French ecosystem.

Irresistible to fund

Venture Prose • 0 implied HN points • 18 Jun 19
💼 Business Entrepreneurship
  1. Investors make decisions to back entrepreneurs based on patterns and moments of enlightenment during interactions.
  2. Founders who show talent, hard work, and consistent quality interactions can be irresistible to fund.
  3. People are the essence of any venture, and supporting individuals with big opportunities can lead to transformational impact.