All articles tagged with #entrepreneurship
Forbes unveils the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia class, spotlighting a diverse cohort of young founders, researchers, and changemakers across sectors who are driving innovation and social impact across Asia. The lineup highlights Asia’s fast-growing startup ecosystem and connects these rising leaders to Forbes’ global network, events, and opportunities to scale their ventures.
Allison and Stephen Ellsworth turned a home-made remedy into Poppi, grew it to over $500M in annual sales, and sold it to PepsiCo for about $1.95B. Bootstrapping with credit cards, loans, and a Shark Tank investment helped scale and rebrand, while COVID forced a $25M capital raise; now they manage their windfall by prioritizing family and experiences and are planning a new venture while mentoring other entrepreneurs.
A Bank of America Institute report shows April small-business profitability fell 1.3% (the largest decline in two years) as fuel costs surged after Iran’s conflict disrupted the Strait of Hormuz. Gas averaged $4.53 and was up 43% year over year, with gasoline expenses for small firms up 31%. Despite solid consumer spending, small-business sales are slowing. Separately, Americans continued starting new businesses at near-record rates in 2025 (about 470,000 monthly applications, roughly 66% above pre-pandemic levels), underscoring enduring entrepreneurial energy even as inflation and energy costs weigh on the landscape.
Julian Richardson, an eight-year Spirit Airlines flight attendant, was shocked by the shutdown despite years of rumors and is navigating unemployed status with no severance or clear final paycheck while pursuing a side-hustle and applying to other airlines. He plans to leverage his skills to find new flight-attendant work, values the travel benefits, and hopes to someday own his own business, viewing entrepreneurship as true job security.
A founder sold his company for $1.7 billion and then distributed about $240 million to 540 longtime employees, a bold post-exit gesture aimed at rewarding loyalty and supporting retention.
After being laid off at 55, Kristina Martinelli started coaigence, an AI consulting startup that leverages her corporate experience; she quickly became a prompt engineer, built a custom GPT sidekick named Raivyn, and uses multiple AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Grok) to serve executives, following an 80/20 human-to-AI approach while cautioning against costly tool subscriptions and encouraging others to embrace AI rather than fear it.
AI can dramatically cut the time, cost, and complexity of starting a business by handling legal setup, market research, financial modeling, branding, product prototyping, and supplier outreach. Solo founders can draft legal structures, test ideas, build forecasts, create branding, and prototype in hours rather than weeks, with human judgment, taste, trust, and resilience still determining long-term success.
The fifth King’s Trust Global Gala celebrated the charity’s 50th anniversary with a star-studded guest list, highlighting the organization’s mission to empower youth through education, employment, and entrepreneurship programs worldwide.
Billionaire Sergey Brin likened California's regulatory environment to Soviet Russia, criticizing what he calls heavy government interference that hampers innovation and business in the state.
Facing AI-driven disruption and a sluggish job market, many Gen Z graduates are opting to create their own opportunities—launching brands, apps, or side gigs and using low-code AI tools to accelerate progress. While some still seek traditional roles for stability and benefits, the shift toward ownership reflects a broader reevaluation of career ladders as startups and freelancing offer greater control and purpose.
Former Big Tech employees are quitting or reevaluating corporate life to launch AI-focused startups, driven by rapid AI advances, a tougher job market, and return-to-office mandates, signaling a broader entrepreneurship surge as people seek autonomy while weighing financial risks.
Roger Adams, who turned a garage idea into Heelys—the sneakers with hidden wheels—died at 71 of pancreatic cancer in Glenbrook, Nevada. From a Tacoma roller rink family and a psychology background, he launched Heelys in 2000, and the brand surged to millions of pairs sold and a peak market value near $1 billion after a 2006 stock offering, before stepping away in 2009. The shoe sparked safety concerns and regulatory scrutiny, but remained a cultural touchstone and is still in business under new ownership.
JPMorgan Chase announced the American Dream Initiative to boost U.S. small-business growth by expanding access to capital (aiming for $80 billion in credit over 10 years), increasing coaching from 87 to 150 coaches, and enhancing advisory services and community investments, as it seeks to grow the number of supported small businesses from 7 million to 10 million.
A 24-year-old forward-deployed engineer at Rippling explains how FDEs blend software engineering with direct customer work to tailor AI-powered solutions, a role pitched as the hottest in AI and popularized by Palantir. Success hinges on both technical coding ability and strong communication to understand client problems, with frequent context-switching between meetings, debugging, and product discussions. The path is seen as founder-bootcamp training for entrepreneurship, and the role is expected to persist due to growing enterprise AI demand even if overall profitability fluctuates.
Former IT pro Shahezad Contractor left his 24-year tech career to launch Cousin’s Burger in 2024. The halal-focused group now runs eight locations (burger, pizza, and BBQ) in PA, NJ, and DE, generating over $4 million in 2025 revenue with a plan to become a national/global halal fast-casual brand, despite high costs and rents.