ARTICLES ABOUT MEANINGFUL STARTUPS

A struggling business is not necessarily a failing business. The absence of proof that it will succeed is not proof that it cannot. The challenge is to keep creating possibilities without ignoring reality or making others unknowingly carry the risk. “How do you see the future?” Sonja, who did our bookkeeping, had just shown me the numbers. According to her, we had already been technically bankrupt twice. Most businesses in our position would probably have closed their doors t

A young entrepreneur once told me during a conversation that he was still the central hub of his business. Almost every important decision ended up on his desk. Employees asked for his approval, clients wanted to speak to him and whenever uncertainty arose, everyone automatically looked in his direction. You could interpret that as an inability to delegate. But that would not have done justice to his situation. In just three years, he had grown from a one-person business into

Many people want to become entrepreneurs. They talk about freedom, passion, impact, scalability, personal branding, investors and maybe even purpose. All fine words, as long as there is something real behind them. Income. Because without income, you do not have a business. At most, you have an idea, a dream, a LinkedIn profile or a PowerPoint presentation. Entrepreneurship does not start with a brilliant idea. Entrepreneurship starts with the willingness to do something today

A woman I have known for quite some time recently started her own business. She is smart, capable and brave enough to take the step many people keep postponing, but when we had a short session about how things were going, I could immediately feel that the beginning was heavier than she had expected. Not because she was doing something wrong, but because starting a business for the first time is not just a practical move. It is a new identity, new decisions, new risks, new exp

Let me start with a sentence that quietly blocks more new businesses than any bad idea ever could: “I do not really know how to start, because I am not good enough yet. And if I am not good enough, I cannot be truly authentic.” I heard it again yesterday. This time from a coach, but it could just as easily have been a trainer, designer, consultant, therapist, copywriter, marketer, photographer, yoga teacher or tech founder. On the surface it sounds humble and responsible. “I

The Free AI Business Strategy Canvas Builder is more than just a tool; it is a strategic compass that guides you through the often overwhelming process of navigating business strategy. While traditional strategy development is often time-consuming and complex, this tool offers an innovative approach by combining the power of AI and the intelligence of Chat GPT with years of experience of Ben Steenstra in business frameworks. What makes this tool unique is the balance between

Entrepreneurial success is rarely the result of vision alone. Hard work matters. Talent matters. Courage, timing, perseverance and strategy all matter. But if we are honest, luck often plays a much bigger role in startup success than most entrepreneurs like to admit. Not because successful founders did nothing. Not because skill is irrelevant. But because success almost always happens in a context. You meet the right person. You are born in the right country. A market opens a

Uber was not conceived by a taxi company. WhatsApp did not come from a telecom provider. Airbnb was not founded by a hotel chain, and the first successful powered flight was not achieved by the best-funded scientist of his time. That is not a coincidence. Established experts are usually excellent at understanding, improving and defending what already exists. That is where their knowledge, experience, reputation and often their income are rooted. But for precisely that reason,

A founder from Amsterdam once booked a startup mentoring session with me. Within five minutes, it became clear that he had no time to find customers. He had been busy for months completing a course. His website had just been finished. A content agency needed direction. The logo still required some work and several service pages might need rewriting. He was also beginning to doubt whether the target audience was right. It was quite a workload. Almost everything he was doing co

How much money is needed to eradicate poverty worldwide? $100 million, $1 billion, $1 trillion? In 1983, a man in Bangladesh believed that $27 was enough to start making a difference. Now, nearly 40 years later, he hasn't solved global poverty, but he has made a significant contribution. This is the story of Professor Muhammad Yunus from Bangladesh, who founded the Grameen Bank. The bank, as they say themselves, is for the poor and was the initiator of microcredits. His motto

A few years ago, a friend who had helped me start my first company came to me with what I thought was a ridiculous idea. After a successful career as a CFO for international companies in Europe, China and the United States, he wanted to change direction and build a Sudoku game app. My first thought was that this sounded more like a midlife crisis than a business idea. But you take friends seriously. He had researched the market and, as you might expect from a CFO, his numbers

A startup almost always begins with possibilities. You see opportunities, customers ask questions and other entrepreneurs suggest collaborations. Before you know it, you are offering five solutions instead of one. Not because you lack direction, but because every new possibility looks like growth. I once called this Hocus Pocus Focus. As if focus were a magic spell that automatically made a startup successful. Of course it is not that simple. But focus does stop you from divi