Product-market fit is achieved when a product strongly satisfies market demand

Startups follow a 'minimum viable product' strategy to determine demand

Michael Seibel, group partner for startup incubator Y Combinator, explains how to build a minimum viable product (also known as an MVP) for any startup idea. Using real companies that experienced the Y Combinator program as examples, he walks through how to determine an MVP feature set, how to present an MVP to potential investors, and more.

The 50-100-500 rule: when a startup is no longer a startup

According to startup expert Alex Wilhelm, a company cannot be considered a startup if it generates revenue exceeding $50M, employs more than 100 people, and has a valuation of $500M or more. However, Wilhelm modified the rule in 2018 to $100M in revenue, over 500 employees, and a valuation of $2.5B or more.

Elon Musk follows a five-step decision-making process when simplifying technology

He begins by determining whether how something has been previously done is—in his words—"dumb," or if a certain feature should even exist, let alone be optimized. This first principles method has helped him develop some of the most valuable companies in the world.

Market concentration and high markups don't always signal a monopoly

When regulators and economists evaluate whether a company constitutes an illegal monopoly, they often consider its overall market share or its relatively high price markups. This piece argues that the Olley-Pakes decomposition is a better measure, identifying whether customers within a market are switching to more productive companies.

Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model

Central to any understanding of the multifaceted nature of Amazon's business today is the concept of the "flywheel" at the heart of the company. Put simply, it's an idea that refers to a self-reinforcing cycle that drives the continuous growth of Amazon's various businesses, including its retail arm, its Prime subscription service, and more.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Google's early focus on simplicity and user experience drove its future successes

Google Search revolutionized information retrieval in 1998, but additional web-based products, including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and YouTube reinforced the company's core ad business while allowing it to aggregate the world's information. Forming Alphabet protected this business from riskier moonshot projects.

SpaceX successfully caught a rocket booster in mid-air

As part of the fifth test flight of its Starship system, the Super Heavy booster used high-speed navigation systems, grid fins, and Raptor engines to steer itself onto the mechanical arms of a tower called Mechazilla.

A guide to emotionally preparing to found a company

Founding a company comes with more than just logistical challenges—it's a daunting emotional task, too. In this article, a psychologist breaks down how first-time founders can prepare for the mental pressure of starting a company.

Listen to the pros and cons of owning a trademark as a small business owner

For many small business owners, it can be hard to decide when the time is right to file a trademark. This trademark lawyer says the decision often comes down to a product's branding, the size of the business, and how established the company is.

Meet six commercially available synbio products

An article exploring the science behind synbio products currently on the market, and projecting the products that can be expected over the next 10 years.

The Failure Museum is a curated collection of over 1,000 items representing failed products and companies

Sean Jacobsohn, a tech investor and founder of the Failure Museum, uses items from failed businesses to explain the six primary forces behind their flops, from a Theranos mug to a Blockbuster membership card.

Why does the stock market matter?

Open any newspaper, turn on your local TV news station, or listen to a daily business radio segment, and you’re bound to hear about how the stock market is performing. Netflix created a 17-minute (free) explainer that dives deep into the nitty-gritty of how we got here.

The 2024 US presidential election was a breakthrough moment for prediction markets

Founded in 2018 by MIT graduates, Kalshi won a federal appeals court ruling in October 2024 that allowed it to offer election contracts in the US. When prediction markets predicted President Donald Trump's win (more accurately than most polls), prediction markets were thrust into the public eye.

Mark Zuckerberg views Meta as a technology company—not a social media company

Despite Meta's core products being social media apps, Zuckerberg is adamant that Meta is a technology company that has built social media apps, but can build and is comfortable building other technologies—like AI-integrated glasses and virtual reality labs.

The prototype for Tinder was created during a 2012 hackathon

By August 2012, Tinder, which was originally called Match Box, had launched on the Apple App Store. Match Group merged Tinder into its portfolio in 2017, the same year it set its sights on acquiring Hinge. Experts say that Match has not been declared a monopoly in part because monopolies are "hard to prove."

Exclusionary ads can help win over customers, some marketers argue

Slogans like "if you don't like dark roast, this coffee isn't for you," also known as "dissuasive framing," can entice specific groups of customers, some marketers say. The shift comes from the perceived authenticity of a company admitting that a product is not perfect for everyone.

USP-verified label on supplements means a nonprofit confirmed what's in the bottle

The black-and-yellow USP-verified program seal on a dietary supplement bottle means that the nonprofit US Pharmacopeia tested a sample of the product and verified that it was made in a facility with good manufacturing practices and that it will dissolve in the body. Their certification also means they tested to confirm that the product contains the ingredients listed on the bottle at the specified levels, and that it doesn't contain harmful levels of certain dangerous contaminants.

The difference between marketing and advertising: Advertising is technically a type of marketing

While the terms are often used interchangeably, technically speaking, marketing is any effort to promote a product or service. Advertising, on the other hand, is any paid effort to promote a product or service. Learn more about the difference in this article.

The S&P 500 selection committee has strict rules around adding a company to the index

While the decision to add a company to the index is ultimately up to the selection committee, any prospective company has to meet some criteria to be considered. To join, the company must have been profitable for the last four quarters, must have a market capitalization exceeding $22.7B, and meet certain requirements around tradeable stock availability (or float).

A guide to the MBA admissions process

From taking the GMAT or GRE to securing letters of recommendation from academic and professional references, the business school application can be a lengthy one. This article from the Princeton Review highlights the key things you need to do to apply to most MBA programs in the US.

How to find happiness at work

Can someone be happy at work? Harvard Business School professor and co-author (with Oprah Winfrey) of “Build the Life You Want” attempts to answer the enduring question in this video. Brooks strays from measuring one’s power, income, or title and instead emphasizes the importance of believing in one’s work and positively impacting others.

A short squeeze happens when short sellers increase stock prices by buying shares back quickly

When short sellers realize their positions may be incorrect—usually triggered by increasing share prices—they often try to quickly buy back their shares in order to minimize their total losses. When this happens on a large scale, that buying activity can drastically increase to represent the seemingly high demand for that stock. The result is called a "short squeeze," which refers to short sellers literally being squeezed out of their positions by rising prices.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

Machine learning lets computers learn from data instead of relying on programming

ML is a core part of artificial intelligence and is foundational to applications like chatbots, fraud detection, and self-driving cars. Businesses are also adopting it to improve efficiency and identify patterns in data, though the latter may be inaccurate.

Explore the differences between private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds

Private equity firms focus on buying and improving private companies with the intent to sell them for profit or take them public. Venture capital is technically a form of private equity in which investors focus on startups and generally don't seek majority control of the company. Hedge funds are pooled investments for sophisticated investors that pursue a wide range of often complex strategies.

How energy drink company Red Bull makes money

Red Bull was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz and is one of the world's most successful energy drink companies. The brand's value comes from its aggressive marketing efforts among students, nightlife, and sports figures, equating the consumption of one of its cans with excitement and athleticism.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

In recent years a child anxiety expert has created and tested a novel phobia and anxiety treatment approach for children, focused on changing how parents respond to the fears.

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.