My Uncle Lost $14M by Treating His Business Like His ‘Baby’ — Here’s the Lesson Every Founder Needs to Learn

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When I was growing up, my parents were in the hotel business. In fact, at one point, they owned three hotels. My dad died when I was quite young, and my mother continued operating the hotels. She did well, but she soon realized that the three hotels were too much for her, so she sold two of them.

She proceeded to invest heavily in the remaining hotel. She expanded the dining room and introduced “sizzling steaks,” which were a huge hit at the time. She completely renovated the “tap” room and introduced daily entertainment for the patrons. People were raving about what a great businesswoman my mother was! However, my mother never talked business with me. She kept everything close to the vest, and I never appreciated what she had done. But then again, I didn’t really care. I was too busy playing sports and chasing girls!

The second generation

It didn’t really seem as if the second generation was going to play a role in this business. My sisters got married and moved away. My brother became a lawyer and moved to Boston, and I decided to become an electrical engineer because they were receiving the highest salary upon graduation (not a good reason to become an engineer, as you will see). Somewhere between my sophomore and junior years, I got the urge to be an entrepreneur.

After some research, I contacted a tailor in Hong Kong and pursued importing some of their famous suits. I never implemented it because, in the final analysis, I couldn’t imagine myself measuring some guy’s inseam! By my senior year, I started thinking seriously about my mother’s hotel. One day, I returned from classes and learned that the hotel had burned down. So much for the hotel business!

My uncle as my mentor

My mother’s brother, Uncle Ken, had a very successful paper distribution business. In fact, my mother told me that in 1959, he was offered $14 million for his business. It was always a major event when Uncle Ken came to visit. He would pull up in his Cadillac, and I would carry his bags into the house. He would always give me $5, and that was a lot of money at the time.

When I graduated college and moved to Boston, I decided that I needed a business mentor if I was ever going to pursue my own business. My dad died when I was young, and my mother never talked business with me — so Uncle Ken was the answer. I called him and we started having dinner meetings every other month or so, and I would pepper him with questions about business.

One evening, I met him at his office and he asked me to wait while he finished a meeting. The office walls didn’t go all the way to the ceiling, and I could hear their conversation. They seemed to be talking about buying my uncle’s company. I heard one of the men say, “Your company is only worth your equipment, and we value that at $250,000.” I thought, “Wait a minute, it’s 1969, and 10 years ago, the company was worth $14 million — and now it’s worth only $250,000!”

The takeaway

This is a true story. As they say, “I can’t make this stuff up!” My uncle fell in love with his company. It became his “baby,” and he couldn’t give his “baby” up — with disastrous results. That five-minute “snippet” had a major impact on my business philosophy. But most business founders treat their companies as their “babies” and hold them far too long. Businesses, like everything else, have a life cycle.

The business lifecycle

Let’s talk about the classic lifecycle of a business. The number of years is highly dependent on the particular industry. In a fast-changing industry like high technology, the time from start-up to decay could be a few years, while a slow-changing industry like insurance might take several years.

Every company gets to a level (plateau) where, in order to get to the next level, they require a capital infusion. This usually happens between $5 and $10 million in revenue. The company may need new management as the business owner may not have the appropriate management expertise, and the company may require a CFO to strategically handle the financial requirements of growth. The company will need to increase marketing efforts and hire more competent salespeople. The company may need to open regional offices to tap new markets. The company will need more space to house the increased support and administrative staff.

Just before the peak of the bell-shaped curve, where the business growth has slowed (but is still growing), a decision has to be made on how to implement a new growth surge to get to the next level. If the owner has the ability, the energy and the motivation, she/he can find the capital, either through debt or equity, to fund a new growth surge. If the owner does not have the ability, energy and motivation, hopefully they have put the company in a position to find the “right buyer.”

If the owner waits until the company’s growth begins to decline, not only will it be more difficult to find the “right buyer,” but also more difficult to procure the funds for organic growth. I can only imagine what my Uncle Ken would have realized from the sale of his company if he had followed this strategy and not treated his company as his “baby.”

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When I was growing up, my parents were in the hotel business. In fact, at one point, they owned three hotels. My dad died when I was quite young, and my mother continued operating the hotels. She did well, but she soon realized that the three hotels were too much for her, so she sold two of them.

She proceeded to invest heavily in the remaining hotel. She expanded the dining room and introduced “sizzling steaks,” which were a huge hit at the time. She completely renovated the “tap” room and introduced daily entertainment for the patrons. People were raving about what a great businesswoman my mother was! However, my mother never talked business with me. She kept everything close to the vest, and I never appreciated what she had done. But then again, I didn’t really care. I was too busy playing sports and chasing girls!

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/the-dangers-of-being-too-attached-to-your-business/494106

How to Build a Team That Can Execute Your Vision

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In a recent team meeting, something became undeniably clear to me: Although I’ve got a bold, clear vision for my PR firm, not everyone on my team felt confident about stepping into it, either when I first hired them or even later, once they were an established staffer.

Some felt they lacked the education to connect their daily work to our broader purpose; others simply didn’t believe they were equipped to carry out that purpose. When they shared their thoughts with me, that’s when I realized where leadership meets reality. A vision without empowered people behind it is just a poster on a wall — it’s nothing but a framed motto in the office that no one pays attention to with their heads down at their desks.

As leaders, therefore, it’s our job to go beyond just articulating a mission. We must create the systems, the culture and the psychological safety our teams require to own it. Execution doesn’t happen because the boss demands it; it happens because people believe they have the capacity and capabilities to execute.

If you want your team to execute your vision, start by making sure they understand it, see themselves in it and feel supported enough to take resolute steps forward. Vision becomes reality through confident action, and confident action begins with intentional leadership. Here are the guidelines I relay to my team to enable that.

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Step #1: Trust your judgment

Remind every member on your team that they were hired for their strengths and instincts. If you didn’t see in them characteristics that would serve both your own company objectives and their professional growth, you wouldn’t have brought them on. So counsel them to trust their own judgment — built on their distinct proficiencies and experiences — when they’re making decisions on behalf of your organization. The more they see that you have trust in them, the more they’ll trust themselves.

Step #2: Self-assurance counts

Even when your people feel a little trepidatious or unsure on the inside, you want your customers to feel assured in your company’s services or products. So I tell my staff to speak with confidence in their responses and communications, which sets our clients at ease and makes them feel well taken care of.

It’s fine to still be learning (to always be learning, actually); it’s okay to not always have the answers. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t present yourself as knowledgeable and resourceful in the interests of the company’s overall goals. Saying, “You know, I’m not 100% sure of that, but I’ll ask our marketing director and get back to you with an answer by the end of the day” is just as reassuring to the client as having the answer readily available on the spot.

Step #3: Mistakes are fixable

Mistakes are going to happen. People are going to mess up. Details are going to slip through the cracks. It’s inevitable. But you can make your staff feel vitally supported even when missteps occur by explaining that there’s nothing someone can say or do that can’t be corrected. Maybe it can’t be erased or totally remedied, but I can’t think of any company faux pas we’ve experienced that hasn’t been made better by a concerted effort to improve the situation.

We all grow by trying, not by being paralyzed by fear or giving in to anxiety. So make it part of your company ethos — make sure your people know that it’s okay to slip up and that you’ll be there for them to get them back on solid footing. By doing so, you’ll all continue to advance toward a vision that’s perfectly imperfect for your company profile.

Step #4: Be forward-thinking

A great way to effectively execute a company vision is to keep looking at it through your forward-facing windshield, not your rearview mirror. So I consistently encourage my team members to anticipate needs, plan next steps, devise solutions, sometimes even before there’s a need for them.

Part of this mindset is prompting your people to lead from where they are, to not wait to be led. When you allow this kind of autonomy and self-determination at work, it boosts your team’s morale, it builds their cumulative strength, and it shepherds them toward enacting their own informed choices. All of this feeds into your company vision positively, proactively and powerfully.

Step #5: Don’t wait for permission

On a related but separate note, you can nurture your team by permitting them to not seek permission. True, you don’t want people going rogue and implementing plans that could negatively affect your client base or that involve pricing. But if something falls squarely within their role and it aligns with the spirit and intent of your company’s values, let your team members roam free. Just be sure they’re well-versed on those values first!

Examples of this: I let my writers write the way they think is best for our clients. I let my publicists devise their own pitching hooks and press release themes. I let my operations manager manage operations without too much input from me, and I let my client representatives establish their own one-on-one personal relationships with their accounts. If things aren’t clear, they know they can ask questions. If they need authorization for something, they know who to go to. But mostly, I like to write out a lot of permission slips and see how far my staff can go on their own merits.

Step #6: Management has your back

If you’re grooming a team that can help you progress toward your overarching vision for your company day by day, it’s imperative that they feel wholly supported in their efforts. This means showing them — not just telling them — that leadership is there to guide, to bolster, to champion, not to micromanage.

Nothing will kill a company’s elan like looking over everyone’s shoulder every day and questioning their actions. Instead, management should embrace the role of being the team’s coach and cheerleader all in one, the buttress to lean upon when reinforcement is needed and the voice that amplifies their own rather than stymying it.

When you empower your team with all these ideas and ideologies, empowerment isn’t just part of your culture; it becomes your culture. And when you’re the wind beneath your team’s wings, not only will they fly, you’ll all fly strong and steady together toward the company of your dreams.

In a recent team meeting, something became undeniably clear to me: Although I’ve got a bold, clear vision for my PR firm, not everyone on my team felt confident about stepping into it, either when I first hired them or even later, once they were an established staffer.

Some felt they lacked the education to connect their daily work to our broader purpose; others simply didn’t believe they were equipped to carry out that purpose. When they shared their thoughts with me, that’s when I realized where leadership meets reality. A vision without empowered people behind it is just a poster on a wall — it’s nothing but a framed motto in the office that no one pays attention to with their heads down at their desks.

As leaders, therefore, it’s our job to go beyond just articulating a mission. We must create the systems, the culture and the psychological safety our teams require to own it. Execution doesn’t happen because the boss demands it; it happens because people believe they have the capacity and capabilities to execute.

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/how-to-build-a-team-that-can-execute-your-vision/494210

The Surprising Strategy Smart Leaders Use to Outpace Disruption

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Nothing tests a leader like turbulence. Just ask the thousands of executives watching AI disrupt their industries. ChatGPT was released just two years ago; OpenAI reports it now sees over 400 million weekly users, with more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies integrating its tools. By comparison, the internet didn’t reach this level of adoption until nearly a decade after its debut. That kind of acceleration isn’t just impressive — it’s disorienting. Nearly three-quarters of professionals globally say they feel overwhelmed by the current pace of change at work. So, how do leaders prepare for this level of disruption while managing the change required to unlock real value from new technologies?

There’s a saying: You don’t lose your job or your business to AI (or any “new technology” for that matter); you lose it to the person or competitor who learns how to use it better than you do. As AI drives unprecedented speed and efficiency, the real competitive threat isn’t the technology itself, but the leaders who harness it first.

One thing is clear: Companies that can’t adapt fast enough fall behind, no matter how brilliant their product or loyal their customer base. The key difference between the brands thriving through AI disruption and those scrambling to stay afloat? Leadership agility.

Agile leaders don’t simply absorb change — they anticipate it, build for it and move through it with intentional speed. The good news? You don’t need a C-suite full of technologists to lead this way. Here are three ways you can foster business agility right now:

1. Anticipate what’s next, not just what’s now

Reactive leaders chase problems. Proactive leaders predict them and pivot early enough to turn friction into advantage. This kind of leadership doesn’t just respond to change; it creates the conditions to meet it strategically, before urgency takes over — especially as new AI-driven tools, old competitors and new market entrants can change the market landscape in weeks, not years.

One example: Zoom, once known mostly as a conferencing tool, anticipated that hybrid work wasn’t going away. Instead of coasting on its pandemic-fueled popularity, it expanded into virtual collaboration, AI note-taking and whiteboarding. That foresight helped the brand stay essential even as competitors caught up.

Similarly, leaders who recognize that AI can offload repetitive tasks, such as scheduling, data entry or note-taking, free their people to operate at the top of their license. In other words, by pushing repetitive, more tactical work to machines, humans can spend more time on strategic, creative or relationship-driven activities.

In executive coaching, for instance, senior coaches can now dedicate more time to meaningful conversations with clients because AI-powered summaries handle the note-taking. Or take nursing in hospitals and add in AI-video-based fall-risk detection. Now, nurses can spend less time watching patients and more time “top of their licenses” caring for them. These kinds of shifts allow teams to deliver more value, faster and at lower cost. And if your competitors embrace this before you do, they’ll pull ahead.

The takeaway? Market signals rarely whisper for long. Pay attention closely, anticipate and move while you still have the advantage. Think about your industry, company and people. How might AI improve or replace some (or all) of what you do in the future? Then find ways to leverage new technology to level up what you do.

2. Strengthen your tech foundation before it’s tested

Agility doesn’t come from reacting faster. It comes from building infrastructure that can flex under pressure, not crack. Too many businesses delay adopting new technologies until something breaks, opening themselves up to downtime, security threats and operational standstills. And in an AI-enabled environment where new platforms evolve rapidly, that lag can make the difference between staying relevant or falling behind.

Technical debt — the accumulation of outdated systems and patchwork fixes — can quietly slow a company to a crawl. But it’s not just technology that creates drag. Procedural debt, or the tendency to keep doing things the “old” way simply because that’s how it’s always been done, can be just as dangerous. Legacy processes layered with workarounds become a hidden barrier to speed and innovation, trapping organizations in patterns that no longer serve their goals.

By confronting both technical and procedural debt early, leaders clear the path for true agility. This proactive approach ensures their teams and systems are ready to pivot, scale and seize opportunities without being held back by outdated tools or entrenched habits.

As Thomas Koll, CEO of Laplink Software, puts it: “Forward-thinking companies are moving away from reactive tech upgrades and instead building resilient, adaptable infrastructures that support continuous AI adoption — including AI PCs — as part of an ongoing evolution. This empowers professionals to experience fewer technical disruptions, be ready for new AI tools right on their desktops and focus on innovating and streamlining business workflows.”

Building a resilient, AI-ready organization isn’t just a technical necessity. It’s a strategic move to empower your team to do higher-value work. When leaders implement systems that incorporate AI thoughtfully, they enable employees to focus on tasks that require human judgment, emotional intelligence and creative problem-solving. This sets a new standard for productivity and innovation that competitors will quickly match (or exceed) if you don’t move first.

Strong tech foundations aren’t about shiny tools; they’re about keeping your people and systems ready for the next pivot, before it’s forced on you.

3. Build an agile organization that frees your team to innovate

Agility isn’t just about having the right technology and processes. It’s about creating an organizational structure that keeps teams flexible, focused and forward-looking.

Rigid hierarchies, overcomplicated approval chains and outdated workflows weigh down progress. Leaders who prioritize process agility create space for innovation by reducing daily friction. This might mean empowering teams to make faster decisions, rethinking how information flows or eliminating bottlenecks that slow execution.

Spotify offers a compelling model. As the company scaled, it pioneered the use of squads: small, cross-functional teams with end-to-end responsibility for a feature or product area. Each squad operates like a mini-startup, empowered to make decisions independently, experiment with ideas and release updates without getting bogged down in centralized approvals. By combining autonomy with a shared mission, Spotify’s squads keep collaboration tight and innovation fast, helping the company respond quickly to user needs and industry trends.

Leaders who clear these kinds of roadblocks give their teams room to solve problems before they become crises and room to experiment before competitors do.

Agility is a mindset, not just a model

In a market where AI is accelerating change faster than ever, agility isn’t optional. The most successful companies aren’t the ones that dodge disruption altogether. They’re the ones whose leaders build the muscle to adapt and empower their teams to stay ahead.

Remember: AI adoption isn’t about replacing people, but about amplifying them. By delegating lower-value tasks to AI, you unlock your team’s potential to operate strategically and empathetically — capabilities no algorithm can truly replicate. Companies that seize this opportunity will position themselves to innovate continuously, while those who hesitate risk being left behind by faster, more adaptive competitors.

Whether you’re refining your tech stack, streamlining how your team works or scanning the horizon for what’s next, every decision you make sets the tone for how your business handles change. Lead with agility, and your company won’t just survive the next shift — it’ll shape what comes after.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/the-surprising-strategy-smart-leaders-use-to-outpace/494436

I Took My Side Hustle Full-Time and Made $222,000 Last Year. Here’s How — and Why Sometimes I Work Just 10 Hours a Week.

This as-told-to story is based on an interview with Seattle, Washington-based tutor Carter Osborne, who owns college essay consulting business Carter Osborne Tutoring. Osborne started tutoring as a side hustle in 2017 to help with tuition payments while in graduate school. In 2024, Osborne quit his job as a PR director to take the business full-time. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Carter Osborne}

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I turned my tutoring side hustle into a full-time business in January 2024.

There was a push and pull for me in this direction: The push was that it became challenging to balance both my full-time PR job and my college essays, which I considered a side hustle at the time, although it had grown to the point that it took up as much time as my PR job. During the busy college application season, I was essentially working two full-time jobs, and it just didn’t work anymore.

Then the pull was that I love the artistic and creative aspect of working on college application essays. I find it so personal and enriching in a way that PR just didn’t quite match. So I was like, Okay, I have a connection to something here that is generating a lot of revenue, as much revenue as my PR job, but it’s more enjoyable day-to-day. I like working with the kids. I like working on storytelling. By the time I made the choice, it had become fairly obvious which one was right.

I had a vague idea that I wanted to increase my revenue by about double, thinking, Okay, I’ll have twice as much time and should be able to dedicate that to my business. I’d love to double my revenue. So I raised my rates, knowing that that was a stretch goal going in. Just because I’d freed up an hour didn’t mean I’d have that much more business. I had to go out and earn more clients and spend more time with them.

Between 2020, a few years into the side hustle, and 2023, I grew revenue from $58,000 a year to $114,250 a year. I had 37 clients in 2020 and 54 clients in 2023. When I took the side business full-time in 2024, I hit $222,000 in revenue with 66 clients. My business is highly seasonal. College application deadlines typically fall between November and January, so the second half of the year is the busiest. I made roughly 80% of my revenue last year between July and December.

During the busy season, I work 50 to 70 hours per week, depending on the month. October is typically the busiest as we approach the first major deadlines of the year, which fall on October 15 and November 1. During the off-season, I work roughly 10 to 15 hours per week, and I often step away entirely for vacations that aren’t possible during the busy season.

This industry runs on referrals; they’re the golden ticket. When parents want to hire someone to work with their kid on something as high-stakes as the college admissions process, frontline advertisements, social media marketing or other click-and-learn campaigns aren’t the way in for people because it feels a little too high-stakes and is often a multi-thousand-dollar commitment. Parents want to hear from their friend that they had a really good experience, and then rely on that barometer of trust to select a consultant.

So, the more clients I work with, the more referrals I get for the following year. It’s an exponential increase, so often in this industry, starting out is quite slow, which is why I ran the business as a side hustle for a long time. As word got out, my name got around at different schools and communities, and because I went full-time last year, I had a lot more time to put into actively working my network to generate more referrals. And I generated enough referrals to meet my revenue goals. I was actually more excited about the number of clients I worked with than the revenue that I saw last year, because I knew it would set me up for even bigger years this year and then the following year.

Additionally, referrals from other consultants play an important role in the business’s growth. Currently, there is far more demand for services within the college admissions industry than there are professionals to provide them, so that means folks like me typically are fully booked every year. Nearly everyone in my network has filled up for this year; I’ve almost filled up. So that means we don’t have to be cutthroat and competitive with each other. I’ll receive referrals from other consultants whom I know and who trust me to do high-quality work.

I’ve also found that sharing my story with media outlets has helped my business get some attention, but interestingly, those pieces more often lead to messages from people who want to start a tutoring side hustle themselves, versus paying clients. I’ve been able to have a lot of great conversations with aspiring tutors.

Since I’ve taken the side hustle full-time, one of the biggest challenges has been staying on top of the administrative workflow. Now that I work with a lot more clients, I’m answering a lot more emails and addressing small questions that a student or a parent might have after our meeting is over. I do a lot more scheduling and onboarding calls with people. Even the time I spend billing and invoicing has gone up. So there’s a lot around the margins that I’m trying to make as efficient as possible.

Down the line, I’d consider hiring someone to help with the administrative side, and by next year, I’d definitely like to hire tutors to work with me. I’d like to bring someone on to help with editing and a little bit of the at-home essay work that I spend a lot of my time doing. But I like to be hands-on with that and am hesitant to hand that off to anybody else whom I haven’t thoroughly trained, so it’ll be a long process to get the person I hire up to speed.

I’m looking forward to building a team around this business. Obviously, I worked for a large company during my PR days, but I’ve never built my own team before. You hear entrepreneurs talk all the time about how motivating and inspirational it is to build something yourself, and while I don’t necessarily know if I would call myself an entrepreneur so much as just a tutor who’s managed to find some success, the idea of building a team and expanding my services is really exciting for me.

I now work with students all around the U.S. and from around the world. Over half of my clients come from outside of Washington state. That is fundamentally motivating for me, to think I’m able to meet these people from all over, learn all these stories and help students who are in other countries work through the international application system. That is exciting in a way that I haven’t felt in another job before.

I genuinely love working with these students on their personal statements. Most people are very stressed out by college essays. I am not at all. To be fair, it’s easier when you’re not the one writing it. But I love working with the kids on these essays. I never cease to be amazed by the thoughtfulness and insight that high school students can bring to these essays. We often think of them as people in development, but that’s not true at all. When you read these personal statements, you realize that they see the world in a different way than we do, and often it’s in a very rich and constructive way. The more students I get to work with, the more creative and inspiring stories I get to come across in the future, which I find to be enriching in my own life as well.

For anyone considering taking a tutoring side hustle full-time, my first piece of advice is pragmatic: Map out the finances. Use constructive negative thinking and assume that it won’t work, then ask yourself, What would happen if this totally crashed and burned? Do I have a backup option? Can I handle it financially for 10 to 12 months? Try to give yourself a cushion just in case.

I was part-time for six years before I transitioned to full-time, so when I made the leap, I was fairly confident I had enough support to make it happen. You have to suss out the environment to know if going full-time is really right for you.

Also, think critically about what working independently means. Often, we glorify independent work as a sense of freedom. You don’t have a boss. You don’t have performance reviews. You don’t have any externally imposed deadlines. The flip side of that is that everything is on you. If I’m going to generate a dollar of revenue, I have to go out and find it myself. If I make a mistake, there’s no one to shift blame onto, and I need to take responsibility. The safety rails are taken away, and for a lot of people, that doesn’t work. That’s not a commentary on their work ethic; it’s just not the style of work that they enjoy. For me, it is — I like that independence.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/starting-a-business/i-took-my-side-hustle-full-time-and-earned-222000-last/494769

Netflix Co-CEO Says the Company Used AI on a TV Show for the First Time: ‘Completed 10 Times Faster’

Netflix used AI to shape one of its TV shows for the first time, marking a significant milestone in the technology’s involvement in film.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on Thursday that the company used footage generated by AI in the 2025 Argentine science fiction series “El Eternauta” (“The Eternaut”), a show that follows survivors of a toxic snowfall. For the six-episode show, which arrived on Netflix on April 30, Netflix’s visual effects artists tapped into AI to create a scene showing a building collapsing in Buenos Aires.

That visual effects sequence “was completed 10 times faster” than it would have with standard tools and workflows, Sarandos said in a conference call on Thursday after Netflix delivered its second quarter financial results. Netflix reported a strong quarter, with revenue of $11.08 billion, a 16% year-over-year increase, and $3.13 billion in profit.

According to Sarandos, “AI represents an incredible opportunity” for creators and presents a chance to make movies and TV shows “better, not just cheaper.” The AI-generated scene in “El Eternauta” resonated with the show’s audience, he said.

“This is real people doing real work with better tools,” Sarandos said on the call. “The creators were thrilled with the result. We were thrilled with the result, and more importantly, the audience was thrilled with the result.”

^{Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Photo by David Benito/FilmMagic}

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters also mentioned on the call that Netflix is incorporating AI into other aspects of its business, including personalization, search, and ads. Netflix introduced a new AI-powered search tool in May that allows users to find shows using prompts like, “I want something funny and upbeat.”

Netflix also reported on Thursday that its subscribers watched over 95 billion hours worth of TV shows and movies through the platform in the first half of the year, a 1% increase from a year earlier. Non-English content made up one-third of overall viewing time.

What is the difference between CGI and Generative AI?

So, how is AI use in shows different from CGI? Movies have been using CGI, or computer-generated imagery, for decades, starting with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo. CGI is a tool that allows professionals to create content using computer software, giving them manual control over elements like textures and lighting.

CGI means that users create objects themselves. Generative AI, meanwhile, automatically generates objects based on a prompt. AI figures out on its own how to accomplish what is asked for in the prompt, making it less hands-on than CGI. This also means that the user has less control over an AI-generated output compared to CGI.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Netflix used AI to shape one of its TV shows for the first time, marking a significant milestone in the technology’s involvement in film.

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on Thursday that the company used footage generated by AI in the 2025 Argentine science fiction series “El Eternauta” (“The Eternaut”), a show that follows survivors of a toxic snowfall. For the six-episode show, which arrived on Netflix on April 30, Netflix’s visual effects artists tapped into AI to create a scene showing a building collapsing in Buenos Aires.

That visual effects sequence “was completed 10 times faster” than it would have with standard tools and workflows, Sarandos said in a conference call on Thursday after Netflix delivered its second quarter financial results. Netflix reported a strong quarter, with revenue of $11.08 billion, a 16% year-over-year increase, and $3.13 billion in profit.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/netflix-used-ai-to-generate-a-scene-on-a-tv-show-thrilled/494822

ChatGPT’s New Update Can Create PowerPoint Presentations and Excel Spreadsheets for You

ChatGPT can now create a PowerPoint presentation or make purchases online for you — with just a prompt.

OpenAI released the new ChatGPT agent on Thursday, a general-purpose AI tool that can complete complex tasks on a user’s behalf, like searching the web, running code, and creating slideshows and spreadsheets. The AI agent can click, type, and submit forms on its own based on a natural language prompt, and users can interrupt it at any time. It’s part of OpenAI’s effort to make ChatGPT more of a tool capable of handling autonomous tasks instead of just a chatbot that answers questions. As of March, ChatGPT had over 500 million global weekly users.

ChatGPT agent can also act as a virtual assistant, connecting to apps like Gmail and Google Calendar to carry out tasks like drafting emails and making appointments. It completes tasks using its own virtual computer and shifts on its own between reasoning and action to carry out instructions.

OpenAI says the new tool can “analyze three competitors and make a slide deck” — the agent will chart out a course of action, go through websites, and create an editable slideshow.

It can also create editable Excel spreadsheets by taking in a prompt like “make a spreadsheet based on the San Francisco annual comprehensive financial reports (ACFR).”

The agent can also shop online for users, though it will always ask for approval before carrying out a sensitive action, like entering personal information or making a purchase.

OpenAI is embedding the agent within ChatGPT and allowing paying users to access it immediately by selecting “agent mode” in ChatGPT’s dropdown tool menu. The agent starts rolling out today for Pro, Plus, and Team users, with plans to become available to Enterprise and Education customers over the summer.

^{OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

OpenAI says the agent could help workers, like financial analysts, complete tasks more quickly.

“We think that this model is actually going to be quite good at low-level, first-, second-year, financial analysis type work that might have taken someone a night to do if they’re getting pinged by their boss late at night,” ChatGPT agent product manager Neel Ajjarapu told The Wall Street Journal.

ChatGPT isn’t the first AI tool to be able to make PowerPoint presentations, but it is the most mainstream AI product to offer the agentic capability. Other AI presentation tools include Microsoft Copilot, which is integrated into PowerPoint and can generate presentations from prompts, and Google Workspace add-on SlidesAI.io, which converts any text into a Google Slides presentation.

Meanwhile, other companies are leveraging internal AI tools to create slide decks. For example, McKinsey consultants are using an internal AI tool to create PowerPoint presentations, taking over junior employee tasks.

OpenAI was valued at $300 billion in March following a $40 billion funding round.

ChatGPT agent is a combination of two other agents OpenAI released earlier this year: Operator, which can browse the web to fill out forms and take action like a virtual assistant, and Deep Research, which searches the web for answers to research questions and presents the findings in a paper with citations — though it far exceeds the capabilities of both.

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ChatGPT can now create a PowerPoint presentation or make purchases online for you — with just a prompt.

OpenAI released the new ChatGPT agent on Thursday, a general-purpose AI tool that can complete complex tasks on a user’s behalf, like searching the web, running code, and creating slideshows and spreadsheets. The AI agent can click, type, and submit forms on its own based on a natural language prompt, and users can interrupt it at any time. It’s part of OpenAI’s effort to make ChatGPT more of a tool capable of handling autonomous tasks instead of just a chatbot that answers questions. As of March, ChatGPT had over 500 million global weekly users.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/chatgpt-agent-creates-slide-decks-spreadsheets-from-prompts/494771

Why Most Startups Fail to Get National Press — and What To Do Instead

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

When you’re launching a tech startup, it’s natural to want attention — the kind of media coverage that builds credibility, attracts investors and validates your vision. But for most early-stage founders, that kind of visibility remains out of reach.

The reality is this: for every breakout startup that gets wide recognition, thousands of others struggle to gain even a mention. Not because they lack innovation, but because they haven’t built the right foundation to get noticed.

So why do so many startups fail to earn meaningful media attention? And more importantly, what can they do about it?

Why startups get overlooked by the media

Many founders make the same early mistake: chasing high-level media exposure before they’ve clarified what makes their story relevant, credible or different.

Here are a few of the most common missteps:

No clear differentiation. In a saturated market, having a “great product” isn’t enough. Founders need to be able to clearly and confidently explain what sets their startup apart.
No media-ready narrative. Journalists aren’t looking to promote your product — they’re looking to tell a story. If you haven’t crafted a human-centered, problem-solution-driven narrative, your pitch likely won’t stick.
Poor timing. National news cycles are driven by relevance and urgency. If your story isn’t tied to something current, insightful or timely, it’s easy to be overlooked.

And finally, many startups skip the essentials: building relationships, starting with niche publications and establishing credibility over time. Big coverage rarely comes without smaller wins first.

What to do instead: a smarter PR strategy for startups

While national press may be a long-term goal, early-stage startups are more likely to gain traction through a strategic, incremental approach. Here’s how to start building visibility now — and set yourself up for bigger wins later.

Start with niche and local press

Instead of focusing only on broad national attention, identify local media outlets, vertical publications or industry newsletters relevant to your space. These are more accessible and often open to spotlighting new, compelling businesses.

Try this: Make a list of five local or niche outlets. Note which reporters cover tech or business and start tracking what kinds of stories they write.

Craft your origin story with intention

What inspired your startup? What problem are you solving, and why does it matter now? A well-framed origin story — one rooted in real-world challenges — makes your brand feel relatable and relevant.

Tip: Avoid overly technical explanations. Focus on the “why” behind your business, and make sure a journalist could retell your story in one paragraph.

Build real relationships with journalists

Before you pitch anyone, follow relevant journalists on platforms like LinkedIn or X. Engage with their posts. Share their work. Start showing up on their radar.

Media outreach is more effective when it’s built on familiarity, not a cold pitch.

Develop a clear thought leadership angle

Thought leadership builds trust and authority. Don’t wait for media attention to position yourself as a credible voice — start writing. Focus on lessons learned, market insights or founder perspectives.

Try this: Draft a short article titled “What I Learned Launching in a Crowded Market” or “How We Validated Our Startup Without Outside Funding.” Share it on your blog or LinkedIn, or pitch it to a relevant trade publication.

Repurpose and amplify every media win

Even small mentions count. A podcast interview, a quote in a trade newsletter or a well-performing LinkedIn post can all be leveraged for credibility.

Add these wins to your website, share them on social and use them to strengthen future pitches. Visibility compounds — and perceived momentum matters.

The long game: start small, grow smart

Every founder wants recognition, but media success isn’t about luck, hype or chasing headlines. It’s about strategy, relevance, and consistency.

Start with what you can control: your message, your story, your presence. Focus on building meaningful relationships and sharing useful insights. Then use every small win to build momentum — step by step.

Big stories often start small. But with a focused, intentional PR strategy, they don’t have to stay that way.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/why-most-startups-fail-to-get-national-press-and-what/492988

Elon Musk’s xAI Is Hiring Engineers for Its Anime ‘AI Companions’ — With Salaries Up to $440,000 a Year

Elon Musk’s xAI is hiring two software engineers to develop AI anime “companions,” according to a job listing on the company’s website. The company is looking for a “Fullstack Engineer – Waifus” and a “Mobile Android Engineer – Waifus” to make “Grok’s realtime avatar products the best in the world” — and both pay up to $440,000 in compensation.

According to Dictionary.com, a “waifu” is a “term for a fictional character, usually in anime or related media, that someone has great, and sometimes romantic, affection for.” Business Insider notes that earlier this week, xAI released two AI “companions” for Grok, the company’s AI platform, and one of the “companions,” named “Ani,” looks like an anime character. There is also a red panda, “Bad Rudi,” who insults users when used, according to NBC News. A third male anime character is on the way.

According to the company website, xAI’s mission is “to create AI systems that can accurately understand the universe and aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge.”

The roles will make “Grok’s realtime avatar products fast, scalable, and reliable,” according to the postings, and “help push forward audio and gameplay research.”

The Fullstack Engineer role is located in the Bay Area, and tech skills needed include: Python, Rust, WebSocket, WebRTC. The interview process begins with a 15-30 minute phone interview with technical questions. After that, there are two other steps: a “deep dive coding challenge” and a meet and greet with the wider team. The salary range is $180,000 to $440,000.

The Mobile Android Engineer role has the same salary range and also will work on Grok’s real-time avatar products, but should have knowledge of Kotlin, Jetpack Compose and the Android View system, Coroutines, Flow, Android Studio, Gradle, Media3 or ExoPlayer, and Rust.

The interview process is also longer: a 15-minute phone interview with basic questions, then 3 technical interviews: a coding assessment in a language of your choice; a systems hands-on demonstrating practical skills in a live problem-solving session; and a project deep-dive presenting your past exceptional work. Finally, a meet and greet with the wider team.

“Our goal is to finish the main process within one week,” the post reads. “All interviews will be conducted via Google Meet.”

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Elon Musk’s xAI is hiring two software engineers to develop AI anime “companions,” according to a job listing on the company’s website. The company is looking for a “Fullstack Engineer – Waifus” and a “Mobile Android Engineer – Waifus” to make “Grok’s realtime avatar products the best in the world” — and both pay up to $440,000 in compensation.

According to Dictionary.com, a “waifu” is a “term for a fictional character, usually in anime or related media, that someone has great, and sometimes romantic, affection for.” Business Insider notes that earlier this week, xAI released two AI “companions” for Grok, the company’s AI platform, and one of the “companions,” named “Ani,” looks like an anime character. There is also a red panda, “Bad Rudi,” who insults users when used, according to NBC News. A third male anime character is on the way.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/elon-musks-xai-is-hiring-engineers-with-salaries-up-to/494759

Here’s How the CEO of the Biggest Bank in the U.S. Spends His Downtime: ‘This Gives Me Purpose in Life’

When he’s not leading the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, 69, spends his spare time reading, hiking, and traveling with family.

On an episode of the “Acquired” podcast released Wednesday, Dimon said that in his “hierarchy of life,” his top three priorities were his family, his country, and his purpose, which is working at the bank, in that order. Dimon, who has three adult daughters and seven grandchildren, said that one of his daughters recently told him to get some hobbies.

“And I said, ‘I do. Hanging out with you, family travel, barbecuing, wine,'” Dimon said on the podcast.

He also stated that he enjoys reading, learning history, and going hiking.

“I don’t buy fancy cars and stuff like that, but this gives me purpose in life beyond family and beyond country,” Dimon explained in the interview.

And some former hobbies must be kept in he past. Dimon said that he stopped playing tennis because of his back, and he doesn’t play golf — he can’t even picture himself playing the sport.

^{JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Dimon, who is frequently asked about his succession and retirement plans, also said on the podcast that he plans to keep running the bank as long as he has the “energy,” without giving a specific timeline. At JPMorgan’s Investor Day last year, Dimon said his retirement was “less than five years” away and that the company was looking into finding a successor.

Now, Dimon says on the podcast that when he is done leading JPMorgan, he will “teach and write” and maybe “write a book.”

“I have got to do something,” he said. “I’m not going to twiddle my thumbs and smell the flowers.”

Many Wall Street executives have hobbies. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has been a DJ since 2015, according to his Instagram account. He stopped taking DJ gigs in 2023, though, after Goldman board members expressed concern that the hobby would distract him from his CEO job.

Apple CEO Tim Cook enjoys cycling and rock climbing, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is famously into combat sports.

JPMorgan is the biggest bank in the U.S., with assets of $3.9 trillion. With a market value of over $800 billion, JPMorgan is worth more than its three biggest competitors, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Bank of America, combined. In the first half of the year, the leading bank achieved $30 billion in profit.

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When he’s not leading the largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, 69, spends his spare time reading, hiking, and traveling with family.

On an episode of the “Acquired” podcast released Wednesday, Dimon said that in his “hierarchy of life,” his top three priorities were his family, his country, and his purpose, which is working at the bank, in that order. Dimon, who has three adult daughters and seven grandchildren, said that one of his daughters recently told him to get some hobbies.

“And I said, ‘I do. Hanging out with you, family travel, barbecuing, wine,'” Dimon said on the podcast.

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https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/jpmorgan-chase-ceo-jamie-dimon-shares-hobbies/494767

Does Your Business Feel Stuck? Here’s the Mindset Shift That Will Move It Forward.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

As a business owner, there is nothing more exciting than watching the venture that you built thrive. When things are going well, growth can feel effortless. This can be an exhilarating experience for an ambitious entrepreneur. But the real test comes when growth slows or the business becomes stagnant. New marketing campaigns aren’t working, your sales team struggles to convert leads, and your target consumer seems less excited about your products and services. When this happens, it’s easy to feel like a failure. No matter what you try, you can’t move the needle.

Business owners are naturally problem solvers. After all, businesses exist because their founder saw an opportunity in the market and delivered an effective solution. They know how to make incredible progress through out-of-the-box thinking, determination, hard work and a dash of luck. The challenge is that not every problem can be solved with brute force.

Our immediate impulse is to jump straight to finding a solution, such as deploying a new technology, replacing your management or injecting more capital. But this rarely works because it avoids the crucial step of truly understanding why things aren’t moving. Entrepreneurs are hardwired for action, often skipping the deep evaluation that might be necessary to find a true solution.

Instead, reframing your questions is the key to unlocking new strategic pathways. It forces you to challenge old assumptions, revealing hidden bottlenecks and sparking a wave of creativity. This shift in mindset empowers you to push past outdated approaches, re-energize your vision and stimulate growth when your business feels stuck.

1. Reframing your perspective with a question audit

Our brains naturally favor efficiency, leading us to ask questions that reinforce existing assumptions or focus on symptoms, not root causes. Entrepreneurs often jump to questions like “What’s not working?” or “How do we get more customers?” While these seem logical, they typically lead to superficial fixes.

For instance, if you’re struggling to find new customers, asking “How can we get more leads?” often just pushes you to double down on ineffective sales routines. It might increase raw lead numbers, but it ignores why current methods aren’t working. A better approach is to ask why current leads aren’t converting or if you’re even attracting the right types of leads. This opens the door to truly innovative solutions.

The goal is to shift your questions from blame to ownership, reactive to proactive, and vague to specific. Sit down and list your top three to five business challenges, and then reframe each question to be more open-ended, proactive and solution-focused.

2. Start with a blank slate

When your business feels stuck, you’re often looking at problems through the lens of existing structures and past decisions. Break free of these assumptions by imagining that you’re starting your business from scratch today, armed with all your current knowledge. This powerful thought experiment is effective because it frees your mind from ingrained assumptions.

Instead of asking, “How can we improve our existing marketing channels?”, you might ask, “What would be the most effective way to reach our ideal customer if we were just launching this product today?” This radical shift helps identify fundamental changes or entirely new directions your current thinking might miss.

3. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes

As business owners, our deep immersion in day-to-day operations can create blind spots. We often view problems internally. To uncover new insights, step out of your own shoes and into your customer’s by imagining their daily challenges, anxieties and their experience interacting with your brand.

Instead of asking how to reduce customer service calls, a customer-centric question would focus on understanding the underlying frustrations leading customers to call support in the first place and how to proactively address them earlier. By empathizing deeply, you’ll discover crucial gaps and identify friction points you might otherwise overlook, leading to truly customer-focused solutions.

4. Envision your successful future

Stagnation can force entrepreneurs to fixate on immediate problems, hindering foresight. A powerful technique is to fast-forward to what you believe your business would look like if it were successful and thriving three to five years from now. From this successful future, look back to the present. What actions did you take? What critical decisions were made? What pivotal questions did you ask that led to this renewed success? This isn’t wishful thinking; it’s reverse-engineering success. This approach pulls you from reactive problem-solving, forcing strategic and aspirational thinking that identifies big, impactful levers for change.

Overcoming business stagnation isn’t about one magical solution. It’s about a continuous, iterative cycle of inquiry and improvement. The questions you ask are your compass. It’s critical that you repeatedly ask the right questions, act on the insights, assess the results and adapt your approach. This iterative process of slow, steady refinement is the true engine of sustainable growth. By consistently reflecting on what to improve or change, you’ll avoid getting stuck and keep your business moving forward.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

As a business owner, there is nothing more exciting than watching the venture that you built thrive. When things are going well, growth can feel effortless. This can be an exhilarating experience for an ambitious entrepreneur. But the real test comes when growth slows or the business becomes stagnant. New marketing campaigns aren’t working, your sales team struggles to convert leads, and your target consumer seems less excited about your products and services. When this happens, it’s easy to feel like a failure. No matter what you try, you can’t move the needle.

Business owners are naturally problem solvers. After all, businesses exist because their founder saw an opportunity in the market and delivered an effective solution. They know how to make incredible progress through out-of-the-box thinking, determination, hard work and a dash of luck. The challenge is that not every problem can be solved with brute force.

Our immediate impulse is to jump straight to finding a solution, such as deploying a new technology, replacing your management or injecting more capital. But this rarely works because it avoids the crucial step of truly understanding why things aren’t moving. Entrepreneurs are hardwired for action, often skipping the deep evaluation that might be necessary to find a true solution.

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/why-your-business-feels-stuck-and-how-to-move-it-forward/494386