July 2025

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Sterling gives you tailored stock recommendations, shows you which sectors are trending, and explains why a certain stock might be worth watching. Its “North Star” technology even tells you when to buy, hold, or sell based on real-time data. If you want to be more hands-on, tools like “Stock Rockets” highlight companies with strong growth potential, helping you spot new opportunities.

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It was the Coldplay kiss cam moment that caused cringes around the world.

The CEO of a unicorn tech company and his head of human resources were caught on camera in a not-so-work-appropriate moment that has since gone viral. Now the two executives, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot, are facing public (and workplace) backlash.

What happened at the Coldplay concert?

On Wednesday evening at Gillette Stadium near Boston, a popular segment of Coldplay’s show took an unexpected turn. The band’s camera crew singles out people in the crowd and puts them up on the jumbotron, and lead singer Chris Martin improvises a song. This time around, the camera landed on a snuggling couple who quickly tried to hide their faces. Martin quipped, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”

A video of the moment quickly went viral, and as the video spread, it revealed that Martin might have been on to something. The man in the video was Byron, and the woman was the company’s human resources chief, Cabot. The problem? Byron is married to someone else.

What is Astronomer?

Astronomer is a private data infrastructure startup that reached “unicorn” status in 2022 with a $1 billion or more evaluation.

According to the company’s LinkedIn page, “Astronomer empowers data teams to bring mission-critical analytics, AI, and software to life.”

Has Astronomer responded?

On Friday evening, Astronomer posted on X that Byron has been placed on leave.

Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy is currently serving as interim CEO given Andy Byron has been placed on leave.

We will share more details as appropriate in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/VfgWPnfycl

— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 19, 2025

Axios reports that Cabot was also placed on leave while the company investigates the matter.

Previously, an Astronomer spokesperson told Newsweek and the New York Post that a supposed apology from Byron, which had been circulating online, was fake.

The fake apology from Byron was posted on X, with the imposter writing that they wanted to apologize to his wife, family, and colleagues, and noted, “I am a Coldplay fan. And not just of the first two albums. I also like the recent stuff.”

Another fake post, attributed to Coldplay, read: “Starting with our next show, we’re introducing camera-free audience sections for people and their sidepieces.”

Related: IBM Replaced Hundreds of HR Workers With AI, According to Its CEO

How does a CEO scandal like this affect the workplace?

The incident creates potential legal troubles and a crisis of leadership for the company, David Rice, HR expert at People Managing People, told Entrepreneur via email.

“The big issue is the example that it sets. Obviously, a CEO should know better. But the fact that it’s with the chief people officer is even worse,” Rice wrote. “She should definitely know better, and that is going to lead to a complete mistrust in HR, no matter what happens next.”

“Both are on the hook here, and no online apology is going to make this go away,” says Rice, pointing out why companies need to have very clear HR policies about inter-office relationships and the consequences of not adhering to them.

President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act) into law on Friday in a live ceremony. The legislation sets regulations for stablecoins and was passed in a bipartisan vote of 308 to 122.

At the signing ceremony, Trump said he wants to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.” White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks said the law helps pave the way for American dominance in the crypto industry by “creating clear rules of the road” and updating “archaic” payment systems.

A stablecoin’s value is pegged to a fiat currency, in this case, the U.S. dollar. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not. The GENIUS Act makes it law that “permitted payment stablecoin issuers” must hold reserves for every dollar of stablecoins offered. A reserve can be “any government-issued asset approved by regulators,” such as bank deposits and short-term treasury bills.

“Congratulations to our GREAT REPUBLICANS for being able to accomplish so much, a record, in so short a period of time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.

Watch the ceremony, here:

Related: From Tom Brady to Kevin O’Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

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

Most solo entrepreneurs are stuck doing everything themselves — chasing leads, managing content and drowning in admin. But the ones scaling to six and seven figures? They’re using AI to build a business that works without them.

In this video, you’ll discover five AI tools that helped me turn my one-person operation into a self-sustaining business engine:

• The Automation Engine: Connect your systems and cut your task list in half — without writing a single line of code.
• The Research Companion: Replace browser tab chaos with an AI assistant that remembers, summarizes and handles your day-to-day decisions.
• The Strategic Advisor: Get instant clarity on what’s working, what’s not and where to focus — with your own AI-powered business consultant.
• The Memory Machine: Capture every meeting, extract insights and auto-follow-up — so you never drop the ball again.
• The Product Builder: Turn your ideas into real software or digital tools — without hiring a developer or writing a spec.

These aren’t shortcuts — they’re leverage. And when used together, they’ll help you reclaim your time, scale faster and stay focused on what actually grows your business.

If you’re ready to stop reacting and start scaling, this is the video to watch.

The AI Success Kit is available to download for free, along with a chapter from my new book, The Wolf is at The Door.

Everyone’s heard the warnings: The world produces 450 billion tons of plastic waste every year. It’s polluting our oceans and landfills, and it’s even invading our bodies. But what if we didn’t just recycle or “reduce” plastic use? What if we could make plastic disappear entirely?

That’s the idea behind Timeplast. And investors have just a few days left—until July 31—to back the company.

Developed by chemical engineer and former PepsiCo executive, Manuel Rendon, Timeplast’s patented tech looks like plastic, acts like plastic, and works in everything from packaging to agriculture to 3D printing. But unlike traditional plastics—or even “bioplastics”—it doesn’t take 1,000 years to break down. It fully dissolves in water, leaving behind no microplastics, toxins, or residue, the company says.

Think of it like what Tesla did to combustion engines, or what Impossible Foods did to meat. A complete reinvention of plastic itself.

Here’s why you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to invest.

Timeplast says it is truly the first of its kind

Most so-called biodegradable plastics aren’t what they claim to be. They may “break down” under industrial composting conditions. Think: high heat, special facilities, and long timelines. But even then, they leave behind microplastics and chemical residues.

Rendon witnessed this firsthand while working in global sustainability at PepsiCo. Billions of dollars were being spent on packaging changes that still created pollution. He knew it would take a radical shift to solve the plastic problem.

So he spent the next 10 years developing a patented water-soluble polymer designed to behave like plastic, without the toxic afterlife.

There’s no material like it, and the world is taking notice.

They’re unlocking a $1.3T plastics market

Timeplast’s materials are already being tested and sold in multiple industries. More than 1,000 paying customers have used the product. And demand continues to build as manufacturers look for ways to hit ESG goals, reduce waste costs, or avoid new microplastic regulations taking effect in the U.S. and Europe.

The company is also expanding their product line, with the recently unveiled Pabyss™ reactor. It’s a modular system that is designed to eliminate plastic waste entirely by accelerating the dissolution process. Think of it like a recycling system, but instead of grinding and melting plastic, it makes it vanish, the company says.

Pabyss™ is an early glimpse at Timeplast’s long-term vision of a closed-loop ecosystem that prevents plastic pollution from the start. And that vision is starting to gain traction, just as the regulatory and public pressure to act reaches a breaking point.

With real traction, strategic IP, and a massive market tailwind behind it, Timeplast is now opening the door to investors.

The Timeplast investment window is closing soon

Right now, Timeplast is accepting public investments to help scale operations and meet demand. They’re already receiving attention from Fortune 500 companies and selling out of products.

But what’s next could be even bigger, because their applications aren’t limited to plastic alone. Their potential ranges across packaging, agriculture, consumer goods, and industrial manufacturing.

With so much opportunity ahead, it helps to have a CEO who was instrumental in shaping the sustainability policy at one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world.

Investors right now have an opportunity to back a systemic shift.

But the current investment opportunity ends July 31 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

With demand surging, new global partnerships forming, and a growing spotlight on microplastic pollution, many believe Timeplast is positioned to become a defining company in the next wave of sustainable tech.

The clock is ticking.

Learn more and invest in Timeplast while the opportunity lasts.

This is a paid advertisement for Timeplast’s Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.timeplast.com.

The tampon hasn’t changed much since it was invented over 80 years ago by a male doctor named Earle Haas. That might suggest the design was flawless — but ask the people who use them, and you’ll hear a different story.

“Period products are unreliable in critical moments,” says athlete and entrepreneur Amanda Calabrese. “For athletes, that could be sporting moments, but for a mom, it could be dropping your kids off at school, or running through the airport.”

Instead of accepting the status quo, Calabrese and her Stanford classmate and fellow athlete, Greta Meyer, set out to rethink the product entirely. In 2019, they created Sequel, the world’s first spiral tampon, engineered by and for people who actually use it.

Related: How This Tampon Company Overcame Investor Knowledge Gaps and Raised $11.2 Million

Engineering meets experience

The idea for Sequel wasn’t born out of a desire to make money — it was about solving a real problem. Calabrese and Meyer met at Stanford, where they both majored in mechanical engineering. But their connection ran deeper than academics. Both were high-level athletes: Meyer played Division I lacrosse for Stanford, while Calabrese is a six-time national champion in lifesaving, which is a whole other story.

“I’ve competed around the world wearing nothing but a star-spangled Team USA bikini, sometimes for 10-hour events on the beach,” Calabrese says. “You’re running, sweating, constantly going from wet to dry, and then add your period on top of that.”

Meyer had similar frustrations during her time on the lacrosse team. She and her teammates, often wearing white home skirts, frequently struggled with unreliable period products.

“In the locker room, they were always talking about how they could improve the experience,” Calabrese recalls.

One day in a shared entrepreneurship class, Meyer approached Calabrese with an idea: why not build a better period product?

“She pointed out that we were both engineering students and athletes, and that this would be perfect for our Entrepreneurship project,” Calabrese says. “I was immediately on board.”

Calabrese and Meyer were so committed to the idea that they expanded it into their senior capstone. At Stanford, capstones require a working proof of concept. So the duo went above and beyond, raising $50,000 in grant funding to continue the project after graduation and prove its potential beyond the classroom.

While most college grads spent that first post-grad summer relaxing or traveling, Calabrese and Meyer traded in pool parties for manufacturing plant tours.

“We spent that summer refining our idea and learning through Stanford’s accelerator, StartX,” Calabrese says. “We knew we’d need funding to kick off R&D, so we focused on crafting our pitch, and not long after COVID, we closed a $1 million pre-seed round to get things off the ground.”

Related: WNBA Legend Lisa Leslie on Building Legacy Beyond the Game

From the lockeroom to the lab

Starting with a clear problem gave the co-founders direction, but there were more questions to be answered before they could start developing solutions.

“Now we had to ask: Why aren’t these products doing their job?” Calabrese asks. “And what exactly is the job they’re supposed to do?”

After conferring with countless female athletes, they determined that the primary issue was what the industry calls “bypass leakage.”

Upon deeper reflection, the duo realized this issue was the byproduct of a design flaw.

“Tampons have vertical channels that go top to bottom on the outside of the product,” Calabrese explains. “This effectively funnels the fluid away from the absorbent core and down the side of the product.”

Recognizing the mechanical inefficiency of this outdated design, the pair came up with the concept for Sequel’s masthead product: the spiral tampon. By introducing a spiral into the tampon’s construction, they created a horizontal flow path alongside the existing vertical channels. This design increases surface area, promotes even absorption and helps prevent premature leaks by disrupting the downward flow.

“We spent years testing the fluid mechanics behind the design,” Calabrese says. “I even have a video from our dorm room where we were illustrating those concepts.”

Eventually, they started hand-pressing prototypes.

“Greta was in a full cleanroom suit, manually applying heat and pressure to create and test each one,” Calabrese recalls.

The capstone goes courtside

Since then, Sequel has flourished, becoming the first tampon partnership in the history of the NCAA by sponsoring Stanford athletics. They’ve worked with Athletes Unlimited, USL and Unrivaled.

Now, the company is taking its next big step, partnering with one of the WNBA’s premier teams, the Indiana Fever. The founders reached out to Fever star Lexie Hull, who attended Stanford herself, and left with an NCAA national championship and a bachelor’s AND master’s in management science and engineering to show for it.

“Lexie remembered hearing about us as an example in one of her entrepreneurship classes,” Calabrese shares. “We reached out to her to be our first WNBA ambassador, and she was so excited.”

The partnership offers clear financial upside for Sequel, but for Calabrese, the intangibles matter even more. “These athletes are role models,” she says. “Thousands of little girls across the country look up to players on the Fever and see themselves in these athletes.”

She notes that the first period product someone uses is often the one they stick with for life.

“Getting to work with real-life superheroes like Lexie Hull means everything to the young audience we want to reach,” Calabrese says. “But beyond that, we’re normalizing conversations around tampons and period care, ultimately aiming for them to be seen as essential game day gear, just like soccer cleats.”

After six years of research, testing, development, and navigating FDA commercial standards, Sequel is beginning to make waves in an industry that hasn’t evolved in decades.

“We believe Sequel can dramatically improve the experience of athletes and fans everywhere,” Calabrese says. “From little girls playing softball to the moms cheering them on, everyone deserves better.”

With its spiral design and athlete-driven mission, Sequel isn’t just redesigning a product. It’s redefining the conversation around period care.

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.

Related: Here’s How Much a Typical Microsoft Employee Makes in a Year

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.

Related: Here’s How Much a Typical Nvidia Employee Makes in a Year

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.”

Related: This New AI Startup Led By a Former OpenAI Exec Is Offering $500,000 Salaries

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

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.

Related: AI Could Replace 200,000 Jobs on Wall Street, According to a New Report. These Are the Jobs Most at Risk.

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.

Related: ChatGPT Can Now Complete a Major Task That Would Take a Human Up to 30 Days. Here’s How it Works.

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.

Related: The CEO of $61 Billion Anthropic Says AI Will Take Over a Crucial Part of Software Engineers’ Jobs Within a Year

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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.

Related: 90% of Startups Fail—Here’s How I Made Sure I Was in the 10%

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.

Related: 5 Reasons Startups Fail (and Why Each One Is Preventable)

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.

Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.

Who says business trips can’t be a family affair? While the idea of bringing your kids along on a work trip might sound overwhelming, with the right approach, you can transform these trips into unforgettable adventures. Yes, you can manage back-to-back meetings while still splashing around in a hotel pool or exploring a nearby zoo with your little ones. Sound challenging? Maybe. Sound worth it? Absolutely!

Take my upcoming trip to Anaheim as an example. I’ll be heading to the West Coast Card Show, one of the most epic events for card collectors. But guess what? I won’t just be catching flights and shaking hands; I’ll also be making memories with my family. Disneyland is just a few blocks away. Over the years, I’ve fine-tuned the art of blending productivity with parenting, and now I’m here to share my go-to strategies.

1. Look for hotels that are a kid’s dream

First things first, the hotel. Your choice of accommodation can make or break your trip. Look for options that don’t just check the “comfortable bed” box but also offer kid-friendly extras like swimming pools, game rooms or themed family suites. Find the places where relaxation meets entertainment.

For example, I once booked a hotel in Orlando with an incredible outdoor pool and nightly movie screenings. While I attended meetings all day, my son and husband were living their best lives watching movies under the stars.

Related: 8 Smart Ways to Save on Your Summer Business Travel (and Have Fun, Too!)

2. Pack entertainment like a pro

Long airport delays, layovers and endless waiting can test your patience — and your kids’ patience, too. That’s why I always pack a stash of multi-use entertainment essentials. Think tablets loaded with apps, puzzles, e-books and portable art supplies. My golden rule? Have more options than you think you’ll need, because boredom waits for no one.

Take our layover in Chicago last summer. I whipped out a travel-friendly card game and some coloring supplies. By the time we got on the plane, my son was still buzzing from our impromptu gaming session.

3. Turn business trips into family adventures

Carve out dedicated time for fun, no matter how packed your work schedule is. Research family-friendly attractions near your meetings and make those excursions a guaranteed part of your itinerary. Treat these moments like business appointments, they’re just as important!

Once, during a hectic schedule in San Diego, I found myself with four precious hours between meetings. Instead of sitting around, I whisked the family to the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.

4. Make travel educational (and fun!)

Every trip is a treasure trove of teachable moments. Incorporate sprinkle-sized lessons into your kids’ travel experience, and they won’t even know they’re learning. From geography and history to new cultures, every destination offers something cool for kids to soak up.

For example, during a trip to Washington, D.C., every cab ride became a brief sightseeing tour.

5. Scout out kid-friendly eats

Finding a great spot to eat in a new city doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are tons of family-friendly restaurants that offer excellent food and kid-approved vibes. Bonus points if they have games, outdoor seating or crayons to keep the kids entertained.

During a work trip to Austin, I uncovered a BBQ restaurant with live music and backyard games like cornhole. My son made instant friends and ran around with endless energy. It was hands-down one of the most fun and relaxing meals of our trip.

6. Snacks = parent superpower

Meetings and kids often mix like oil and water, but snacks can change everything. I bring snacks everywhere, think granola bars, chocolates or fun reward treats. A little motivation goes a long way when minutes stretch a bit long for little ones.

For example, during a quick coffee shop meeting in Seattle, I pulled out cookies I’d grabbed earlier as a tiny “thank you” to my son for his patience.

7. Recharge with outdoor escapes

After sitting through long meetings, kids can get pretty antsy (okay, adults, too). This is where outdoor activities save the day! Hit up parks, playgrounds or nearby trails to burn off steam and bring back those vibrant smiles.

8. Encourage kids to co-plan

One guaranteed way to keep kids excited about a trip? Give them a role in deciding what to do! Offer two or three activity options from your pre-research and let them choose. Their excitement will skyrocket when they feel like they’re part of the planning team.

Before heading to Long Beach, I asked my son to pick an activity. He voted for the Aquarium of the Pacific, and I fit it into our schedule.

9. Make the most of early mornings and evenings

Early mornings and evenings are golden for family bonding, especially on busy business trips. Use those quieter hours for shared meals, quick activities or even just cuddling in bed before the day kicks off.

On a whirlwind trip to New York, we started one morning with breakfast and a stroll through Central Park. Those peaceful moments set a sweet tone for the rest of a busy day.

Related: I Take 75 Business Trips a Year — These 10 Tips Save Me Time, Money and Sanity

10. Relax, adapt and enjoy

Business trips with kids don’t have to be intimidating or stressful. Instead, they can evolve into extraordinary opportunities to bond, explore and show your family that work and fun can coexist. Plan thoughtfully, get creative and lean into the chaos just a little. You might discover that the best memories are made when you least expect them.

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