Blog
Welcome to the Startup Pinball Machine
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you go about it can make all the difference.
The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Trampoline: Why Upstate NY's Scattered Startup Support Keeps Entrepreneurs Grounded
The entrepreneurship support ecosystem in Upstate New York represents a significant public and private investment. But investment alone doesn't guarantee outcomes. Without coordination, standardization, and growth-stage support, even the most well-intentioned programs risk creating fragmentation rather than the cohesive infrastructure needed to compete with established innovation hubs.
Until these springs are properly anchored, Upstate NY's entrepreneurs will keep bouncing—sometimes finding support, sometimes falling through gaps, but rarely achieving the height needed to attract the serious capital that builds transformative companies.
The abundance of organizations isn't the problem. The lack of coordination and consistency is. It's time to anchor the trampoline properly, so Upstate's entrepreneurs can finally jump high enough to reach the moon.
Reflections post NY State Innovation Summit 2025 Rochester
We attended the New York State Innovation Summit in Rochester at the end of October, organized by FuzeHub and supported by the Empire State Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation. With over 500 participants, the energy was palpable—entrepreneurs, investors, university leaders, and government officials all partnering to build something meaningful in Upstate New York.
We've been to many startup events on both coasts, and what strikes us most about Upstate NY is the collaboration. Partnerships run seamlessly between state government, universities, investors, and entrepreneurship support organizations. There's a genuine sense of community here that feels different from the competitive intensity I've experienced elsewhere.
But we couldn't leave Rochester without confronting the elephant in the room: the striking disparities between the Upstate NY and Bay Area startup ecosystems.
What 60+ 2025 Funding Deals Tell Us About Early-Stage Dynamics
At Startup IQ we reviewed over sixty 2025 pre-seed funding deals across AI, fintech, crypto, consumer and healthcare. We didn’t just catalog them, we ran them through a set of custom-based models designed to capture how early traction (MQLs, LOIs, ARR) and investor interest interact in nonlinear ways.
Insights into the Q3-2025 VC Funding Landscape: AI's Grip, Zombie Funds, and the Shift to Direct Investments
Family offices are filling early-stage gaps through co-investments and club deals (83% of their activity), offering more patient capital amid VC volatility.
In pre-seed stages, the emphasis is on de-risking: investors demand tangible traction, such as monthly recurring revenue ($10K-$20K in MRR) or proven customer validation.
Why Do Startups Really Fail? The Brutal Truth Most Founders Learn Too Late.
You didn’t leave your job, drain your savings, and pitch 47 investors just to crash and burn in year one. But 9 out of 10 startups do. And it’s almost always avoidable. Here’s why startups fail — and why you won’t get a second chance to figure it out.