Founders
Bootstrap or raise? The 2026 math changed the answer
Expensive capital, cheap AI, and open distribution margins made bootstrapping viable in categories where it used to be suicide — and vice versa.
Tanya Brooks · March 13, 2026
Founders
Founders is a profile section about the people who started something and then had to run it. Pieces track the shift from building a product to managing an organization, the point at which a founder hires their first executive, disputes between cofounders, and the exits that follow. Reported, not as told to.
Founders
Second-time founders raise easier and exit smaller — sometimes
Serial founders do get better terms; the data on whether they build better companies is genuinely mixed, and the reason matters.
Tanya Brooks · February 18, 2026
Founders
Founders take the pay cut first now — and investors are watching
In the post-ZIRP reset, a founder's own salary became a signal investors read before the cap table.
Tanya Brooks · January 26, 2026
Founders
Solo founders fail less — and hit a ceiling — at the same time
The data says a lone founder is more likely to survive early years; a team is more likely to survive scale.
Tanya Brooks · January 4, 2026