Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Maria Zhang saw firsthand how AI could power recommendations, matching and personalization at companies like Tinder and Meta. Restaurants have opportunities hiding in plain sight. They just need to find the right AI tools to help with catering, answering calls and supporting staff in an effective way. Zhang sees AI as a way to handle repetitive work without distracting employees from the guests in front of them. When TikTok exploded, Instagram had a problem. Short-form video was changing how people consumed content, and Instagram needed an answer. Maria Zhang, now…

Published September 8, 2026 04:32PMMy eyes shot open two hours before my alarm, again, and the anxiety train that is my postpartum brain pulled out of the station right on schedule. I’m a journalist and Outside‘s former health history columnist, and I work full-time. I’m also a new parent. Naturally, my work hours and personal life are all over the place.Four months into motherhood, I find myself managing everything from moments of crushing anxiety to bouts of depression any time I question my parenting abilities. On top of that, as a runner and someone who loves to ski and do anything…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways AI has made building software dramatically easier, but the harder question is now “should we build it?” Building software comes with ongoing risks and costs — reliability, maintenance, security and the responsibility for failures that vendors would otherwise handle. Experiment and build for the things that are low-stakes and safely contained inside your own walls. The companies that get this right are the ones that encourage internal innovation within safe guardrails. I’ve had conversations with so many people who have built software in the past year, and I’m not just…

Key Takeaways America’s wealthy are no longer limited to a small class of tech billionaires or celebrities. Millionaires often live in plain sight as local veterinarians, contractors and restaurant owners. These familiar members of their communities often started from scratch. 50 years ago, Dick Portillo didn’t expect to become a millionaire. When he opened a hot dog stand in 1963 with $1,100, he didn’t even know how to cook a hot dog.  “I came from a poor family, and at one time thought I didn’t have anything to offer the world,” Portillo wrote in his memoir, titled Out of the…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Founders and business owners are increasingly looking toward private capital — not only as investors seeking returns, but as operators who understand firsthand what it takes to build enduring businesses. Investors considering the space should know that private investments should complement a portfolio (not dominate it) and that diversification matters as much in private markets as it does in public ones. They should also understand that complexity is part of the tradeoff and patience is often the real differentiator. For most investors, the “market” is whatever shows up on the…

Doug Leone’s decision to skip Novocaine during a root canal in order to not miss a meeting made for a great story. It’s also really bad advice, according to the American Association of Endodontists. The organization, which represents more than 8,000 root canal specialists worldwide, says severe pain isn’t something patients need to tough out. If a root canal hurts, they should tell their provider so they can get more anesthetic or a different approach. The story also touches on an old myth about root canals that the AAE wants to set straight. It used to be considered one of…

Elliott Disner got his start at Beyond Juicery + Eatery as a 16-year-old barista blending smoothies. Almost 20 years later, he’s opening his own location in West Delray Beach, Florida, using the same playbook he spent years helping write from the corporate side, reports QSR magazine. But knowing the system inside and out doesn’t fully prepare you for running it yourself. “What I didn’t expect was how differently you think when it’s your own capital on the line,” Disner says. “Same decisions I’d made many times, completely different weight.” He also learned there’s a limit to what any manual can…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Potential isn’t a destination. It’s not about reaching some predefined “best version of yourself.” It just means the capacity to become. The minute you decide what your potential is supposed to look like, you’ve also put a ceiling on it. But there’s no way to know what the future version of you will be capable of. Just because you can become capable of something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Because every expansion comes with a cost. More responsibility. More complexity. More decisions. Instead of asking “Am I living up to…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Universities are moving too slowly for the pace of AI-driven change. Traditional approval and hiring processes can take months or years, while workforce demand for AI skills is shifting within a single academic year. The “university intrapreneur” is the key change agent. This could be faculty, staff, administrators or students who identify problems and build solutions from within the institution — often before formal policies or funding exist. Name the role, then find the people already doing it, and name them where others can hear it. Build the channel before…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. According to the 2025 Google DORA report, 90% of developers now use AI daily and agree it makes their flow more efficient. Yet the same report says AI just amplifies what already exists in your business’ flow rather than making development stronger by default. When code becomes cheap, it’s so much easier to test each new idea without giving a proper quality estimation. That’s where product judgment becomes critical, picking the right problem to solve, testing the idea early, keeping the product lean, and knowing when to stop with new features. To…