Many startups now have shoes-off policies

Working at a startup isn't for everyone, and is often more fast-paced than a run-of-the-mill job

Some argue that ideal startup employees have to be better than the average worker at managing uncertainty, acting with an "ownership" mindset rather than being a cog in the machine, and pushing limits.

See a website that tracks layoffs

A startup founder has been tracking tech layoffs since 2020. In 2025, 124,201 tech employees were laid off, per the website.

Many startup founders pull out-of-the-box stunts to get their businesses off the ground

Do you know Airbnb’s founders used cereal (yes, as in the breakfast food) to secure their initial round of funding? Or that PayPal’s founders once gave out free money to get people to sign up for the platform? These stories might be crazy, but they’re not uncommon.

WeWork marketed itself on community

In a new era of work where many millennials wanted to work for themselves in offices with exposed brick, cold brew on tap, and casual dress codes, WeWork realized these entrepreneurs and startup workers didn’t want to do it alone.

The Y Combinator startup directory includes every company YC has funded

The startup accelerator has funded more than 5,000 companies over the years. This YC-specific search engine lets you look up any company to find out if it's a YC alum.

When your 9-to-5 becomes optional

You've seen the headlines. But what would actually happen if everyone's 9-to-5 became optional? We dug into the data. Traced automation philosophy back thousands of years. Examined what happened when elevator operators disappeared. Looked at Alaska's 40-year experiment paying every citizen. And investigated the Philippines, where 89% of call center jobs are now at risk. What we found was more positive than bleak. This video explores three questions: What does the data actually show? What does history tell us about this kind of disruption? And what happens when work becomes optional?

Theranos and Pets.com are among some of the biggest startup failures ever

You might have heard of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes’s one-time blood testing company that landed the founder in prison for more than a decade after she was charged with fraud. The rest of the startups on a list of five of the biggest startup failures ever might not be as famous as Theranos, but they were met with similarly disastrous fates.

Remote work offers a way for companies to save money on office space

Before the pandemic, real estate costs were between 3% to 9% of the typical S&P 500 company's budget (with the exception of companies in the energy industry). Eliminating some or all of a company's expensive office leases is one way that companies can save money by adopting work-from-home models. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

See a list of 2024’s top 10 VC firms

A list of the top 10 VC firms, like Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, ranked by assets under management shows how those two firms stack up against their competitors—and what kinds of companies those competitors invest in.

Smaller companies’ IPO information can be hard to track down

This calendar keeps you updated on the current IPO dates and pricing from different companies. You can search for upcoming and future IPO dates and see which companies withdrew from the IPO process.

See a real-time list of the most shorted stocks in the US

Every two weeks, the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange release the stocks with the most short positions. Some of the companies with the highest short positions as of early 2026 were Hims & Hers and Groupon.

Some Nike shoes are actually making runners too fast

In 2018, Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge lowered the world marathon record to 2:01:39 in a pair of Nike Vaporflys. The unusually thick running shoes sparked controversy around the shoe regulations for professional runners.

Beanless 'coffee' is an eco-friendly alternative

As we consider the role of agriculture in climate change, many people are seeking alternatives to the most resource-hungry crops—coffee included. Are new synthetic alternatives the answer? Startups are exploring beanless “coffee” made in a variety of ways.

The crypto city home to biohacking experiments

The DIY nature of biohacking gives the work an entrepreneurial feel, as seen by the emergence of community labs, at-home testing kits, and corporation-backed cities that don't necessarily require government-approved testing standards. Próspera, Honduras, created by a business of the same (first) name, was born from legislation that allowed international businesses to shave off a slice of the country to establish their own micronations.

How companies track you around the internet, explained

Being able to track how users behave on websites is a massive opportunity for companies to hone their products, target their ads, and more. Dozens of trackers are on the average website you visit, depending on how you deal with that site's cookie policy, and Google is the chief tracker of them all. Learn about these companies and what they are tracking with this informative blog visualization.

A list of major companies that accept cryptocurrency as payment

Have a fistful of Bitcoin? SpendMeNot provides a fascinating infographic that shows which companies currently accept the cryptocurrency. If you want to know where you can engage in Bitcoin transactions, this extensive resource directs you to the right merchants. Food, jewelry, banks, travel services and more are all represented here.

Shoelaces 101

This website is a comprehensive resource dedicated to shoelaces, offering tutorials, photos, and information on various aspects of the overlooked everyday item. Optimize your lacing technique, read through the history, and learn other new things.

Interview with a pay transparency expert

Maybe you’ve seen one of Hannah Williams’ videos on social media. On her viral “Salary Transparent Street” accounts, Williams stands on the street with a microphone and asks passersby to tell her how much money they make per year. This podcast interview with Williams details what she’s learned about pay transparency in the process. Listen to it here.

‘Eureka Park’ is CES' startup hub at Vegas’ famed Venetian

For years, new ventures looking for funding and a network appeared alongside established bigwigs like Microsoft and Sony at CES. In 2012, CES created “Eureka Park,” a part of the convention where startups could congregate (some viewed it as being sidelined at the time). Producers of hit reality show “Shark Tank” scout new startups in the park every year.

A rundown of some of the wildest new tech inventions around the world

The US Patent Office approves roughly 300,000 new patents every year. Among these are some fascinating tech inventions, from high-profile robots and automated bike garages to kaleidoscopic shelves and laser-projected directions for scooters. Check...

Steve Jobs founded NeXT while on a break from Apple

While Steve Jobs was on a hiatus from working at Apple, he founded a company called NeXT and helped lead the release of its operating system NeXTSTEP. The operating system was used to create the first app store of sorts, as well as the first web browser.

The business plan for Blue Ribbon Sports came from a Stanford assignment

Nike cofounder Phil Knight’s original idea was to begin selling Japanese shoes, which were cheaper and just as light and durable as the leading German shoes from Adidas and Puma, at a lower price in the American market. His last assignment in business school at Stanford became the original business plan for Blue Ribbon Sports.

In 2025, AI detected a previously unknown geothermal reservoir

Utah-headquartered startup Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals found it beneath a part of the western Nevada desert using an AI trained on previously known blind sites—reservoirs with no visual evidence for their existence. The discovery represents the first industry-discovered blind site in more than three decades.

Your feet can expand—permanently—due to pregnancy

A hormone called relaxin loosens tissues in the body to allow them to expand during pregnancy, affecting muscles and body parts—including the feet. The structural changes that occur in the foot as it expands are sometimes permanent. This article states that researchers have found as many as 61% of new moms did not have their foot sizes return to their prepregnant state. (Some users may encounter a paywall.)

Many of the projects major consulting firms work on are kept secret, some firms provide a few examples of real-world client work

A list of client work examples from McKinsey includes a case study on how the firm helped Starbucks design more inclusive stores, and many more.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

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

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

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

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

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

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

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

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%.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

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.

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

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.

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

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.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.