Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Data can help startups move beyond founder instinct and build a more disciplined path to growth. The key is knowing what to measure, how to turn insights into action and when to scale decisions through systems rather than guesswork. The startups that scale won’t just collect more data; they’ll build organizations where evidence improves judgment, experiments accelerate learning and better decisions compound into lasting growth. Every startup begins with a degree of guesswork. Founders launch products with limited information, make decisions on instinct and move quickly because they have no…

Key Takeaways Free streaming options are more popular than ever; Tubi, for example, has 100 million monthly active users. Disney is hoping to capture a larger audience by offering some of its streaming content for free. Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro said that there were a few strategic benefits of offering a free streaming option, including “expanding our reach” and growing ad revenue. Disney is looking into a free, ad-supported streaming service, CEO Josh D’Amaro confirmed during an earnings call this week.  “We’re exploring a free product for consumers, one that will allow us to accomplish several goals and hopefully do…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Your biggest competitive advantage doesn’t come from your product itself — it comes from everything that happens after customers purchase it. Customers are no longer paying only for what exists on the day they purchase a product. They are investing in what that product can become. Instead of asking, “How do we build a better product?” ask, “How do we make this purchase more valuable every month after the customer buys?” One of the biggest shifts I have observed over the past few years is that the product itself is…

Key Takeaways The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio launched COVE in 2017. COVE aims to lower workplace incidents and funnels revenue to the museum. The business’s workshop model and modules contribute to ongoing growth. What can a Fortune 500 company learn from an art museum? Quite a lot, it turns out.  The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio (TMA) has spent the past decade building its business, the Center of Visual Expertise (COVE), which educates employees on visual literacy, allowing them to spot and avoid hazards on the job.  In 2024, employers reported roughly 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries…

Sample Gates Management is a real estate investment fund with $12 million in assets and enviable returns. It’s run entirely by undergraduates. The group is unusual for student investment clubs because it doesn’t rely on school funding or donations. It raises capital from real third-party investors and puts that money into commercial properties nationwide, from apartment complexes to industrial parks, the Wall Street Journal reported. This summer brought the fund’s first exit. An Indianapolis warehouse development sold for a 65% gross profit after about 16 months. Tim Morris, a board member who signs off on the students’ investments, called it…

Key Takeaways Zach Dunn and Chason Rabitaille started Mad Hatter, a hat and apparel company, with $15,000 in 2020. Now the eight-figure business consistently goes viral on TikTok, leaning into funny, culturally relevant products. Dunn estimates that TikTok Shop comprises 65% of Mad Hatter’s revenue. Zach Dunn never set out to sell hats. He grew up in a one-stoplight town in rural Georgia, in a family of farmers and entrepreneurs who were never afraid to take a leap of faith and try different ventures.  In his early 20s, about a decade ago, he and his father walked into a bank…

Published August 6, 2026 03:54AMSometimes, thanks to work travel or a kids’ soccer game or some other conflict, I have to do my weekly tempo run alone. Most Saturday mornings for the last two decades, I’ve met up with a group of friends to perform this ritual. We chat and banter for a mile or two, then we lock in: an amoeba-like entity with 8 or 12 or 16 legs, united in purpose and moving as a single unit. What has always amazed me, on the days when I go through the same motions by myself, is how much harder…

Key Takeaways Direct admissions is a practice in which institutions admit incoming college students who never filled out an application. Once a niche strategy, direct admissions is now spreading quickly, with 215 partner schools using the technique through the Common App. Supporters of direct admissions state that this model widens the group of students considering a college. Didn’t apply? Many private colleges will still admit you to their incoming class — with scholarships. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Wingate University, a small private college outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, recently sent thousands of high school students an unexpected offer:…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways You might be asked if you’re SOC 2 compliant by potential customers. The process of becoming compliant can be costly and time-consuming. If your business isn’t ready yet, there are four things you can do now to reassure prospective clients. It usually starts with one email. A customer you’ve been courting for weeks writes back: “Before we move forward — are you SOC 2 compliant?” Then another customer asks. Then their purchasing department sends a security questionnaire with 200 questions and a deadline. You start Googling, and within an hour…

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Marketing and PR aren’t decorations added after growth — they’re the systems that made the expansion possible, and cutting them is the fastest way to strand the investment. When you go quiet, competitors get louder: it’s not the best who wins, it’s the best known. It’s a story that repeats itself over and over. A company makes a large-scale investment — a new building, a new location, an expansion into a new market, a big hiring push or a major capital upgrade — and then panics when cash becomes tight.…