How Bookshop’s Founder Raised M+ for Small Businesses

How Bookshop’s Founder Raised $39M+ for Small Businesses


When Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, followed his lifelong passion for books into the publishing industry in 2009, he noticed an unsettling shift: The bookstores that had defined his childhood and communities were going out of business — rapidly losing market share to Amazon.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Bookshop.org. Andy Hunter.

The number of U.S. bookstores decreased more than 50% in the span of about two decades, falling from 12,151 in 1998 to 6,045 in 2019, according to data from the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon, which initially focused on selling books online, in July 1995. Today, book sales make up roughly 10% of Amazon’s profit at an estimated $28 billion; in 2020, the House Judiciary Committee found that the ecommerce giant controlled over 50% of the total print book market and more than 80% of the ebook market.

Related: Why Purpose-Driven Marketplaces Are the Antidote to Amazon

“Bookstores are advocates and activists for the importance of reading in all their communities.”

Amid Amazon and ecommerce’s quick, concurrent growth, Hunter realized that bookstores were “facing an extinction event.”

“It is really like the environment, where you can have coral reefs, and when the coral reefs die, then everything is hosed,” Hunter explains. “Bookstores are advocates and activists for the importance of reading in all their communities. As those start to die out, the importance of books in our culture also starts to recede.”

Hunter built his career in publishing for more than a decade, during which he co-founded literary websites Electric Literature and Literary Hub and the independent publisher Catapult.

Related: 5 Books Every Small Business Owner Should Read

Over the years, Hunter waited for someone to acknowledge what was happening to the nation’s bookstores, for “some champion to come along” and save them. Then, at a dinner in 2018, Hunter sat next to a member of the American Booksellers Association’s board of directors who pointed out that Hunter had internet expertise — could he help with the organization’s online sales strategy?

That’s when Hunter came up with the idea for Bookshop, the online book seller that funnels profits back to independent bookstores across the country. If shoppers choose a specific local store to support, that small business receives 100% of the sales profit; otherwise, 33% of the profit is distributed among all of the bookstores on the platform.

“Fortunately, it did succeed — and it actually succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

“ It was kind of a Hail Mary,” Hunter recalls. “At the time, I was like, Well, this almost certainly won’t succeed because I’ve never done anything like this before, and the odds are completely against us. Nobody wanted to invest in it. But nothing is going to get better if you don’t do anything about it, so at least [we were] going to try to do something about it. And, fortunately, it did succeed — and it actually succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

Bookshop launched in January 2020, and in the early days, the “very small, very scrappy” startup didn’t have a customer service team and saw modest sales. That changed when the pandemic hit about eight weeks later. Hunter says that Bookshop’s daily sales grew from $10,000 to $50,000 to $150,000 in short order. In the same period, the number of bookstores on the platform increased from 250 to more than 1,500.

Related: Why Your Business Should Be a Benefit Corporation, or B Corp

Now, Bookshop is a certified B Corp that has raised more than $39 million for independent bookstores to date.

“Our profit is not huge because if our profit is huge, then it’s off of our mission.”

The startup’s explosive growth began to wane in 2022, as customers returned to buy in-person at their local bookstores, Hunter says. Bookshop was profitable in 2020 and 2021, then lost money every year through 2024.

 ”This year, we’re profitable again,” Hunter says, “but we’re really lean. Our expenses are less than 13% of our total sales. We have something like $1.5 million of revenue per employee. We stay super lean because we are trying to always give the maximum amount to the bookstores. Even when we are profitable, our profit is not huge because if our profit is huge, then it’s off of our mission [to] support local bookstores.”

Earlier this year, Bookshop tackled its next frontier: ebooks. The goal was to build a “really easy to use” application that would function across devices in the U.S. and other countries, Hunter says. The initiative, launched in January, has been a challenge for the small company, which lacks the substantial financial backing of competitors. Digital reading subscription service Scribd has raised more than $100 million; Bookshop raised $2.3 million to support its ebook platform.

Related: Why (and How) Amazon Created the Kindle and Changed the Book Industry Forever

“ So we’re talking about a platform that has competitors that are 50 times better funded,” Hunter says, “and that doesn’t even go into Amazon and how much money Amazon has spent on the Kindle. So we are a scrappy, ragtag band of hopefully talented enough people to be able to pull us off.”

Additionally, because Bookshop gives so much of its profit to independent bookstores, it doesn’t have a large digital marketing budget. Bookshop spends about 2% of its revenue on advertisements and marketing. In contrast to the direct-to-consumer brands that saw major growth during the pandemic and spend 15% to 30% of their topline revenue on digital marketing, Bookshop relies heavily on word-of-mouth and referrals, Hunter says.

So far, Bookshop’s word-of-mouth marketing strategy is paying off: The company is about a year ahead of its projections for ebook sales, which already make up 5% of total sales.

“For us, winning is, we got 5% of Amazon customers to switch to independent bookstores.”

Of course, getting Bookshop’s ebooks on Amazon’s Kindle devices could bring even more significant growth. Although the Kindle supports some third-party applications like the library reading app Libby, ebooks from other platforms, including Scribd, aren’t available on the device. Access requires Amazon’s permission, and the request letter that Hunter sent to the company about four months ago has yet to receive a reply.

Bookshop is doing roughly three times the total independent online bookstore sales in 2019, Hunter says — and he’s determined to grow that number.

“ Amazon is really powerful and has tons of resources,” Hunter says. “They’ve got Prime and a lot of ways to lock in customers. So we try to be realistic, but for us, winning is not beating Amazon. For us, winning is, we got 5% of Amazon customers to switch to independent bookstores — that would be a huge lifeline for independent bookstores.”

Related: A Beloved 130-Year-Old Small Business in California Is Seeking a New Owner — and It Won’t Sell to the Highest Bidder: ‘Everybody’s Talking About It’

The good news is that independent bookstores appear to be making a comeback.

“ For the past five years, every single year, more bookstores have opened than closed,” Hunter says. “And there are now, from a low of about 1,900 independent bookstores in the American Booksellers Association in 2019, about 2,800 independent bookstores in the American Booksellers Association.”

The American Booksellers Association, which advocates for independent bookstores, reported 2,433 bookstore companies in 2,844 store locations in 2024, an 11% increase in membership year over year. Bookshop currently hosts more than 2,200 independent stores on its platform.

“The cost is ultimately what kind of society we’re creating.”

Hunter encourages everyone to consider the future they want for themselves and the next generation — and how the small decisions we make every day will shape it.

“Convenience has a cost that isn’t apparent to everybody at the face, and the cost is ultimately what kind of society we’re creating,” Hunter says. “[People should] make the effort of making good choices because they’re going to be living in the world that those choices created.”



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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Now as Wealthy as Warren Buffett

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Now as Wealthy as Warren Buffett


Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, 62, has reached the same amount of wealth as Warren Buffett.

Huang and Buffett have been ping-ponging back and forth for the No. 9 and No. 10 richest people spots with around $143 billion to $144 billion in wealth each, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

Related: Nvidia Pulls Ahead of Apple and Microsoft to Become the World’s First $4 Trillion Public Company

Huang, who has been selling Nvidia stock as part of pre-arranged agreements, has gained $28.7 billion in wealth this year alone, per the Index. He unloaded $36.4 million worth of stock on July 8, per an SEC filing.

Earlier this week, Nvidia became the world’s first-ever $4 trillion company, flying past Microsoft and Apple. Huang has sold more than $1.9 billion in Nvidia shares to date, per Bloomberg.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has been leading it ever since. He owned about 3.5% of the AI chipmaker as of March.

CNBC reports that Huang still has more than 858 million shares of Nvidia in various trusts and partnerships.

Related: ‘Decade of Autonomous Vehicles’: Nvidia CEO Predicts Major Growth in Robotics, Self-Driving Cars



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10 AI-Proof Jobs With Highest Pay, Fastest Growth

10 AI-Proof Jobs With Highest Pay, Fastest Growth


Is AI coming for your job?

Goldman Sachs predicted in a 2023 report that AI could replace 300 million full-time jobs. McKinsey wrote in the same year that 375 million workers may be displaced by AI by 2030.

As workers increasingly face the threat of automation, researchers at the career resources platform Resume Genius looked at the top professions with the lowest risk of being replaced by AI. In a new report released Thursday, the researchers found 10 roles that met the criteria: high pay (at least $49,500), high job growth (above 10% for 2023 to 2033), and a low automation risk (below 50%).

The researchers evaluated various professions using pay data and projected job growth rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They also assessed automation risk using a probability calculator.

Related: ‘Fully Replacing People’: A Tech Investor Says These Two Professions Should Be the Most Wary of AI Taking Their Jobs

All of the careers that met the challenge are in the healthcare and applied science industries.

“AI can write code and crunch numbers, but it can’t comfort a patient or make a call in a crisis,” said Resume Genius lead career expert Eva Chan. “The safest jobs right now are the most human ones. The fastest-growing work today depends on care, judgment, and presence, which are all things AI still can’t do.”

The median annual salaries for these jobs range from $62,580 to $149,910.

Related: Amazon CEO Tells Employees AI Will Replace Their Jobs in the ‘Next Few Years’

AI industry experts have been sounding the alarm about AI replacing jobs for months. Geoffrey Hinton, called the “Godfather of AI” for his pioneering AI research, stated in an interview last month that “AI is just going to replace everybody” in white-collar jobs. The Nobel Prize winner said on an episode of the podcast “Diary of a CEO” that “a person and an AI assistant” would be able to replace the jobs that “10 people did previously.”

Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in May that within the next five years, AI could cause unemployment to rise 20% as the technology wipes out half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs.

To avoid the impending job cuts, here are 10 AI-proof jobs, according to Resume Genius.

1. Computer and information research scientist

Median salary: $149,910

Estimated job growth: 26%

AI job takeover risk: 31%

2. Physician assistant

Median salary: $133,260

Estimated job growth: 28%

AI job takeover risk: 0%

3. Nurse practitioner

Median salary: $132,050

Estimated job growth: 40%

AI job takeover risk: 0%

4. Veterinarian

Median salary: $125,510

Estimated job growth: 19%

AI job takeover risk: 7%

5. Medical and health services manager

Median salary: $117,960

Estimated job growth: 29%

AI job takeover risk: 16%

6. Speech-language pathologist

Median salary: $95,410

Estimated job growth: 18%

AI job takeover risk: 9%

7. Operations research analyst

Median salary: $91,290

Estimated job growth: 23%

AI job takeover risk: 42%

8. Epidemiologist

Median salary: $83,980

Estimated job growth: 19%

AI job takeover risk: 7%

9. Logistician

Median salary: $80,880

Estimated job growth: 19%

AI job takeover risk: 38%

10. Wind turbine technician

Median salary: $62,580

Estimated job growth: 60%

AI job takeover risk: 39%

For the full report, click here.

Is AI coming for your job?

Goldman Sachs predicted in a 2023 report that AI could replace 300 million full-time jobs. McKinsey wrote in the same year that 375 million workers may be displaced by AI by 2030.

As workers increasingly face the threat of automation, researchers at the career resources platform Resume Genius looked at the top professions with the lowest risk of being replaced by AI. In a new report released Thursday, the researchers found 10 roles that met the criteria: high pay (at least $49,500), high job growth (above 10% for 2023 to 2033), and a low automation risk (below 50%).

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Learn Up to 56 Languages for Just

Learn Up to 56 Languages for Just $35


Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Entrepreneurs are five times more likely to favor flexibility than the potential to generate profits, according to business insurance specialist Embroker. So, if you’re planning to expand your business internationally or you enjoy working remotely from anywhere, it would be very handy to develop conversational skills in the foreign language of your choice.

Lucky for you, a lifetime subscription to all 56 languages in Qlango Language Learning is available through July 20 for only $34.97, which is 71% off the original $119.99 subscription price.

Not everyone learns the same way, and Qlango adapts to the way you learn best by letting you choose from multiple-choice style, words or sentences, matching, translation, dictation and more. You can also learn at a pace that is best for your lifestyle; simply set a weekly goal that suits your schedule.

Qlango uses a spaced repetition technique that is scientifically proven to help you retain new words more effectively by reviewing them at increasing intervals. The platform poses questions until you provide the correct answers to ensure that you’re really learning. However, it also includes a built-in hint system so you don’t get stuck.

Every language contains over 6,500 of its most commonly used words, plus two example sentences for each word, so you’ll develop a strong vocabulary. You can click on a word to hear just that specific word, as many times as you like, to improve your word recognition and pronunciation.

Best of all, Qlango helps to make learning new languages fun by turning it into an engaging game. Smart suggestions in each of the six difficulty levels help to create a personalized learning experience. It’s easy to see why Qlango has an amazing rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on the App Store.

Until July 20, get a lifetime subscription to all the languages in Qlango Language Learning for just $34.97, a 71% discount off the original $119.99 subscription price.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Entrepreneurs are five times more likely to favor flexibility than the potential to generate profits, according to business insurance specialist Embroker. So, if you’re planning to expand your business internationally or you enjoy working remotely from anywhere, it would be very handy to develop conversational skills in the foreign language of your choice.

Lucky for you, a lifetime subscription to all 56 languages in Qlango Language Learning is available through July 20 for only $34.97, which is 71% off the original $119.99 subscription price.

Not everyone learns the same way, and Qlango adapts to the way you learn best by letting you choose from multiple-choice style, words or sentences, matching, translation, dictation and more. You can also learn at a pace that is best for your lifestyle; simply set a weekly goal that suits your schedule.

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Entrepreneurship Is All About Innovation — and AI Can Help

Entrepreneurship Is All About Innovation — and AI Can Help


Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I’ve always been a tinkerer. If I weren’t, there’s almost no chance I’d be an entrepreneur.

When I released my first product in college, my goal wasn’t to make money — it was to build something for the sake of it. I saw a problem and decided to see if I could create a solution.

Turns out, I could. Not everything I’ve built has worked out the way I wanted it to, but that’s okay. The tinkerer mindset doesn’t require a 100 percent success rate. You might think that my love of experimenting would have been tempered once my business grew. But actually, I’ve only become more firm in my conviction that great things come from those who tinker.

Even better? Recent leaps in AI capabilities have only made tinkering easier. Here’s why.

Related: How to Prepare Your Small Business for the Next Wave of AI Innovation

Why experimentation is essential

If there’s one trait every founder needs, it’s a willingness to experiment. Great products aren’t born fully formed — they’re shaped by trial, error, feedback and iteration.

When I launched Jotform, I wasn’t trying to build a company. I was trying to solve a problem. That curiosity led to our first tagline, “The Easiest Form Builder.” I obsessed over usability and kept tweaking the product until it felt effortless to use. That mindset — build, test, improve — has guided every version since.

I often tell the founders I mentor: You don’t need to get it perfect, you just need to get it in front of people. The feedback you get will tell you what to fix, what to double down on and what to scrap.

My 50/50 rule — spending half your time on product and half on growth — is built on the same principle. You’re constantly experimenting on two fronts: what you’re building and how you’re getting it into users’ hands. It’s a push-pull dynamic that inherently requires trial and error.

Why AI is a tinkerer’s dream

Here’s the thing about tinkering: It doesn’t work under duress.

Today, experimentation is easier and more accessible than ever thanks to AI. In the past, it was extremely difficult to carve out the time and space to be creative, because who has several uninterrupted hours just to play around with a project that may ultimately yield nothing? For me, early mornings and late nights were the golden times for working on my startup, when I didn’t have to focus on my day job or any other obligations nagging for my attention.

For many people, those precious off-hours are still the ticket to unlocking creative thinking. But instead of wasting them on exasperating tasks like debugging code, designing a UI or writing copy from scratch, you can offload those responsibilities to an AI assistant. Want to build a landing page, translate it and generate five headline variations? That’s now a 30-minute exercise, not a full weekend.

That kind of efficiency is a game-changer. It lowers the cost of experimentation, and more importantly, it removes the friction between idea and execution. You can move straight from “what if?” to “let’s find out,” which is exactly what tinkering is all about.

Related: Why Smart Entrepreneurs Let AI Do the Heavy Business Lifting

Amplifying creativity

There’s a misconception that AI will do all the work for you. It won’t. AI, at least not yet, cannot replicate human creativity and ingenuity. What it will do is eliminate the bottlenecks that keep you from doing your best work.

Recently, I returned from an eight-month break from my business. I’d had my third child, and I wanted to take the opportunity to spend time with my family. Once back in the office, I realized I didn’t want to return to the way I’d been working before, getting pulled in several directions at once and being too stretched thin to focus on what I cared about.

Instead, I decided to dramatically limit the areas of my business I would focus on. Recently, that’s meant working with our architect to design a new office space. It’s something I enjoy, but couldn’t fully commit to previously thanks to a pileup of other distractions.

In the past, I might have had to let it go — just because I wanted to be involved didn’t mean I’d have the bandwidth to do it. It was a project that interested me, but didn’t require my participation. That’s the thing about tinkering — most of it isn’t strictly necessary.

Since I’ve returned, I’ve been able to focus on blueprints and layout concepts for uninterrupted stretches of time. How?

One reason is that I have an executive team that has been able to take over many of the day-to-day functions that previously absorbed my attention. The second is because I’ve deputized AI to take on some of my most annoying, time-consuming busywork. For example, I’ve refined my already-effective email filtering technique even further with the help of an AI agent, which autonomously sorts and in some cases, even responds to routine queries so I don’t have to. That means less time fighting the onslaught of emails, more time investing my energy where it counts.

My goal isn’t to have AI figure out window placements for me, make hiring decisions or determine the strategic direction of my company. Instead, it’s to clear my plate of the time-consuming tasks that have distracted me from what I want to do.

For entrepreneurs, AI has afforded us more of the most valuable resource we have: the space to tinker. And in my experience, that’s where everything worthwhile happens.

I’ve always been a tinkerer. If I weren’t, there’s almost no chance I’d be an entrepreneur.

When I released my first product in college, my goal wasn’t to make money — it was to build something for the sake of it. I saw a problem and decided to see if I could create a solution.

Turns out, I could. Not everything I’ve built has worked out the way I wanted it to, but that’s okay. The tinkerer mindset doesn’t require a 100 percent success rate. You might think that my love of experimenting would have been tempered once my business grew. But actually, I’ve only become more firm in my conviction that great things come from those who tinker.

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Why Waiting for Monthly Financial Reports Is Creating Blind Spots and Slowing Your Growth

Why Waiting for Monthly Financial Reports Is Creating Blind Spots and Slowing Your Growth


Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

We live in a time when numbers hit our inboxes faster than we can process them — forecasts, cash flow snapshots, margin breakdowns. But real leadership doesn’t happen in spreadsheets. It plays out in moments where you have to weigh risk, seize opportunity, and move — often with imperfect information.

That’s why financial intuition matters more than ever.

What does it mean to lead financially?

Financial intuition isn’t just about knowing the numbers. It’s the ability to connect the dots between what’s happening in your business and what those numbers are about to reveal. It’s the sense that something’s shifting — before the report confirms it.

This isn’t about gut instinct. It’s pattern recognition. And it’s built through experience, strategic questioning and curiosity.

You don’t need a finance degree to lead this way. But you do need a deeper relationship with the numbers — one that goes beyond interpretation and into anticipation.

Why it matters now

Markets are moving faster. AI, automation and real-time reporting have sped up how businesses operate. CEOs can no longer afford to wait for quarterly reviews to pivot or respond. By the time your spreadsheet confirms what your instincts suspected, your competitors may have already taken action.

The challenge today isn’t a lack of data — it’s knowing which data matters and when to act on it.

Leaders who operate with financial intuition don’t just read reports. They anticipate momentum. They don’t just measure metrics — they shape outcomes.

Related: 7 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Sharpen Their Leadership Skills and Drive Business Growth

From metrics to meaning

Too many leadership teams spend hours in meetings debating lagging indicators: what happened last quarter, what was spent last month. These numbers are useful, but they’re rearview mirrors.

What drives high-performance teams is a shift toward forward-looking insight. Leaders with strong financial intuition ask different questions:

  • “What does this margin shift signal about our pricing?”
  • “Is our cost increase a one-time event, or a trend?”
  • “Are we investing in tomorrow — or just maintaining today?”

These questions move the team beyond static analysis into strategic foresight. That’s how intuitive leaders transform financials from a report into a roadmap.

Translate numbers into stories

Don’t just ask for the numbers — ask for the narrative.

What’s improving, what’s slipping and why? A 2% change in margin doesn’t matter much on its own — but understanding what’s driving it might reveal a broader trend, one that requires immediate action.

By linking data to context, financial discussions become more meaningful. They stop being report reviews and start becoming strategy sessions.

Connect financials to strategy

Every financial conversation should point back to the bigger picture. That’s how leadership builds clarity and alignment.

Ask:

  • Is this expense aligned with our growth goals?
  • Are we under-investing in the areas that generate the most momentum?
  • What does this cash position mean for our hiring roadmap?

When financial thinking is embedded in decision-making — not siloed in the finance department — it gives leaders a clearer lens for risk, timing and opportunity.

Related: 5 Entrepreneurial Mindset Principles That Empower Financial Literacy

Focus on core indicators

Not all data is created equal. Many leaders try to track too many metrics and end up reacting to noise. Instead, build financial intuition around a few core indicators that reflect direction — early signs of velocity, margin health or customer engagement.

Think of these signals like a dashboard. You don’t need every detail — you need to see where you’re headed.

Listen to your frontline

One of the most overlooked sources of financial insight? Your own team.

Frontline managers often spot trends — operational inefficiencies, customer churn, supplier changes — before they ever show up in a report. Give them the context to understand the financial implications and the invitation to speak up.

When your people know how to connect what they’re seeing to what it means financially, your organization becomes more proactive, less reactive.

Don’t outsource — engage

Too many CEOs treat finance like a back-office function. But the most effective leaders use finance as a strategic tool.

A great CFO doesn’t just deliver the numbers — they help interpret them, explore scenarios and make smart bets. Whether you have a full finance team or a part-time advisor, treat finance like a thought partner, not a checklist.

You don’t have to be a spreadsheet expert. But you do need to engage in the meaning behind the numbers — and ask the right questions.

Make it part of the culture

Intuitive leadership is contagious. When the CEO frames decisions in terms of risk, return, and timing, the entire leadership team starts doing the same.

You’ll hear new kinds of conversations:

  • “If we stretch on this investment, what’s our cash cushion?”
  • “If this client churns, how does it impact our margin goal?”
  • “What’s the ROI if we reallocate resources toward retention?”

That cultural shift leads to better decisions. Teams align faster. Finance becomes a shared language, not a report you check at the end of the month.

The shift that changes everything

Over the years, I’ve worked with founders and executives who didn’t just want to keep the lights on — they wanted to build something transformational. The ones who made that leap stopped treating finance as a gatekeeper. They made it a core part of how they lead.

One CEO told me, “I used to feel like I was waiting for permission from the numbers. Now I’m ahead of them.”

That’s the power of financial intuition.

And it starts by moving past the report, into the story the numbers are trying to tell.

We live in a time when numbers hit our inboxes faster than we can process them — forecasts, cash flow snapshots, margin breakdowns. But real leadership doesn’t happen in spreadsheets. It plays out in moments where you have to weigh risk, seize opportunity, and move — often with imperfect information.

That’s why financial intuition matters more than ever.

What does it mean to lead financially?

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Why This Market Dip Is Your Chance to Accelerate Product Velocity, Win Customers and Own the Next Cycle

Why This Market Dip Is Your Chance to Accelerate Product Velocity, Win Customers and Own the Next Cycle


Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Crypto volumes have plunged from a post-Trump election surge of $126 billion to a mere $35 billion. Tech stocks remain sluggish compared to their former highs, even as the dollar hits a decade low. Venture capital feels like it’s collectively holding its breath, with top Silicon Valley firms pivoting their business models. This isn’t a collapse — far from it. It’s a rare, fragile pause. A “wait and see” moment of equilibrium that, like all market pauses, likely won’t last.

Behind the headlines, a far bigger story is unfolding. The United States and China have quietly reopened high-level trade talks aimed at easing the tensions that have defined the past five years of decoupling and protectionism. According to Bloomberg, these negotiations are among the most serious since Trump-era tariffs began reshaping global supply chains. At the same time, China is reportedly loosening capital controls and courting global investors again, which suggests Beijing views the current economic stall as too risky to endure.

If these talks produce breakthroughs — whether tariff rollbacks, a tech export détente or coordinated policy resets — investors can expect a market reaction not seen since early 2021. In short, this stillness may be the calm before the next global bull run. When capital floods back into high-growth sectors, it will do so suddenly and violently.

Founders should see this moment for what it is: a gift. The quiet between cycles is the rarest and most valuable time to build. Attention is cheap. Competition is minimal. Customers are more accessible. And though investors seem quiet, they’re watching closely for the teams that stayed focused while others lost steam.

Related: Today’s Biggest Companies Are Acting Like VCs. Here’s Why Startup Founders Need to Pay Attention.

For startup founders, the single most important mandate now is to increase velocity. This doesn’t mean grinding longer hours or chasing a vague idea of “hustle.” It means removing friction from your product cycle and delivering tangible features or updates to users every week. If your roadmap is quarterly, break it down into weekly shippable blocks. Tools like Linear and Notion help teams stay aligned without heavy process overhead. For UI or user-facing experiments, Figma remains one of the fastest ways to move from idea to prototype without slowing development. Founders must get hands-on with their products and focus on delivering value to power users.

Equally critical is user proximity. It’s easy to skip customer conversations when fundraising is tough and feature velocity slows, but that’s exactly when listening matters most. Even five brief conversations can reshape your roadmap. Ask simple questions: What frustrates power users right now? What features did they stop using, and why? This feedback doesn’t live in dashboards or pitch decks — it lives in the space between what users say and what they wish existed.

Another key use of this pause is building owned distribution. Paid channels are overpriced during market stagnation, and unless you’ve raised a mega-round, you can’t outbid incumbents. Instead, focus on organic reach and audience trust. Use content marketing tools like Substack or Beehiiv to grow an email list that’s immune to algorithm shifts. Invest time in SEO and keyword ranking. Record short product explainers or vision videos with Loom or Descript — not to “go viral,” but to humanize your build process and deepen audience trust through transparency. When markets heat up, people will remember the builders who kept showing up in the quiet— and say, “I’ve got the alpha on a hot project that’s about to pop.”

Macro signals are aligning. Long-term bond yields are starting to wobble, suggesting markets expect increased government stimulus or monetary easing. Chinese capital markets are showing signs of foreign inflows again, especially in ETF activity across Hong Kong and Singapore. Central bank rhetoric is shifting — from “containment” to “cooperation.” Once that shift becomes public and coordinated, markets will snap back, starting with high-risk, high-reward sectors like crypto, AI infrastructure, e-commerce and frontier B2B tooling.

Here’s the truth most won’t say: you won’t have time to prepare when that happens. The winners of the next cycle won’t be those who waited patiently for conditions to improve. They’ll be the founders who treated this silence like a sprint, not an intermission. Then boom! Silicon Valley’s legendary VC, Tim Draper, wrote a social media post saying, “Slack transforms communication, Microsoft responds with Teams. Tesla enters the market, and suddenly every automaker rediscovers innovation. Progress happens in bursts of energy.”

Related: 6 Hidden Costs of Scaling Your Business Too Quickly

Being first to market matters. That means launching scrappy MVPs before they’re perfect. Writing landing pages before the product is done. Building waitlists and generating buzz, even if customer acquisition costs aren’t optimized. This isn’t the time for polish; it’s the time for presence. Investors remember who shipped, who listened and who made noise without needing a bull market to do it for them.

This moment in the cycle doesn’t feel urgent, but it is. The silence is a setup. The only founders who survive the surge will be those building now, shipping weekly, while the world isn’t watching.

Ship faster. Build deeper. Talk to your loyal users. Grow your content channels. Engage.

Because when capital returns, it won’t send a save-the-date.

It will kick the door down. And everything you’ve built in this quiet stretch will either stand or be swept away when the big players come in.

Crypto volumes have plunged from a post-Trump election surge of $126 billion to a mere $35 billion. Tech stocks remain sluggish compared to their former highs, even as the dollar hits a decade low. Venture capital feels like it’s collectively holding its breath, with top Silicon Valley firms pivoting their business models. This isn’t a collapse — far from it. It’s a rare, fragile pause. A “wait and see” moment of equilibrium that, like all market pauses, likely won’t last.

Behind the headlines, a far bigger story is unfolding. The United States and China have quietly reopened high-level trade talks aimed at easing the tensions that have defined the past five years of decoupling and protectionism. According to Bloomberg, these negotiations are among the most serious since Trump-era tariffs began reshaping global supply chains. At the same time, China is reportedly loosening capital controls and courting global investors again, which suggests Beijing views the current economic stall as too risky to endure.

If these talks produce breakthroughs — whether tariff rollbacks, a tech export détente or coordinated policy resets — investors can expect a market reaction not seen since early 2021. In short, this stillness may be the calm before the next global bull run. When capital floods back into high-growth sectors, it will do so suddenly and violently.

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Manage Clients, Projects, and Sales Without Leaving Your Dashboard

Manage Clients, Projects, and Sales Without Leaving Your Dashboard


Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Businesses and agencies juggle a lot — client websites, marketing campaigns, invoices, appointments, and the occasional fire drill. Sellful’s ERP Agency Plan aims to simplify all of that by putting every essential tool into one place. It’s a fully white-label enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform that covers everything from building websites to managing client communication, automating workflows, tracking sales, and beyond. Through July 20, you can score a lifetime subscription to Sellful on sale for $349.97.

Instead of stitching together separate platforms, you can use Sellful to keep all your useful tools right in front of you in one convenient place.

Some key highlights include:

  • AI-generated site creation, automated email and SMS marketing, social media scheduling, CRM tools, invoicing, and appointment booking
  • 10 white-labeled sub-accounts with unlimited contacts, pages, blog posts, users, and products per site
  • Built-in point of sale support, inventory syncing across physical stores, and compatibility with more than 20 payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Square (with no extra fees from Sellful!)
  • HR tools, payroll, time clocks, accounting, and team chat
  • AI chatbot, affiliate management, community building tools, and access to marketing courses and guides
  • Custom mobile app, setup wizard builder, and more than 5,000 third-party integrations

For agencies that want to deliver more to clients without bouncing between platforms, this lifetime Sellful plan offers a seriously flexible way to do it all from one dashboard — on sale for $349.97 (reg. $1,497) until July 20 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

Sellful – White Label Website Builder & Software: ERP Agency Plan (Lifetime)

See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Businesses and agencies juggle a lot — client websites, marketing campaigns, invoices, appointments, and the occasional fire drill. Sellful’s ERP Agency Plan aims to simplify all of that by putting every essential tool into one place. It’s a fully white-label enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform that covers everything from building websites to managing client communication, automating workflows, tracking sales, and beyond. Through July 20, you can score a lifetime subscription to Sellful on sale for $349.97.

Instead of stitching together separate platforms, you can use Sellful to keep all your useful tools right in front of you in one convenient place.

Some key highlights include:

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This  Lifetime Travel Hack Is Made for Remote Workers

This $50 Lifetime Travel Hack Is Made for Remote Workers


Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

Twenty-two percent of entrepreneurs prefer to choose when and where they work, according to data from popular accounting service FreshBooks. Of course, even people who work primarily in one location will sometimes travel for business or leisure. Fortunately, new users can save up to 60% on global flights and hotels, even after they’ve been booked, with a lifetime subscription to OneAir Elite. Better yet, it’s currently available to new users for its lowest price ever at $49.97 with promo code TRAVEL.

This AI-powered platform scans and tracks millions of flight and hotel prices to top global destinations from your home airport. Members receive instant mobile and email alerts as soon as the prices drop. Best of all, OneAir’s Smart Hotel Price Monitoring also tracks your existing hotel reservations and will automatically rebook at a lower rate if the price drops, then refund the difference. No effort or stress on your part, only guaranteed savings.

OneAir also has Smart Flight Fare Monitoring, which works in a similar fashion. Your ticketed airfares are also tracked continuously. If a significantly lower fare is found, OneAir calculates what your savings would be after change or cancellation fees, then guides you through the process of re-ticketing that flight at the lower price.

The company’s goal is to revolutionize the hotel and flight industry so that travelers will always pay the lowest prices available for flight and hotel reservations. It has contracts with almost every major hotel supplier, as well as multiple airline wholesalers and consolidators. This allows OneAir to offer wholesale prices to members that are not published to the general public.

You can save up to 60% on exclusive deals on more than two million hotels and resorts. You’ll also have exclusive access to airfares from over 700 top airlines that aren’t available on public travel platforms or even the airline websites. OneAir prices are always all-inclusive, with no hidden fees.

OneAir also offers real-time flight deal alerts so you can have instant notifications when deals on all flight classes become available from your selected airport. You can even earn up to 10% in cash awards on many flights, insurance and hotels that you can use on future bookings.

Get a lifetime subscription to OneAir Elite to save money on your existing hotel and flight bookings while it’s at its lowest price ever for only $49.97 when you enter coupon code TRAVEL at checkout.

StackSocial prices subject to change

Twenty-two percent of entrepreneurs prefer to choose when and where they work, according to data from popular accounting service FreshBooks. Of course, even people who work primarily in one location will sometimes travel for business or leisure. Fortunately, new users can save up to 60% on global flights and hotels, even after they’ve been booked, with a lifetime subscription to OneAir Elite. Better yet, it’s currently available to new users for its lowest price ever at $49.97 with promo code TRAVEL.

This AI-powered platform scans and tracks millions of flight and hotel prices to top global destinations from your home airport. Members receive instant mobile and email alerts as soon as the prices drop. Best of all, OneAir’s Smart Hotel Price Monitoring also tracks your existing hotel reservations and will automatically rebook at a lower rate if the price drops, then refund the difference. No effort or stress on your part, only guaranteed savings.

OneAir also has Smart Flight Fare Monitoring, which works in a similar fashion. Your ticketed airfares are also tracked continuously. If a significantly lower fare is found, OneAir calculates what your savings would be after change or cancellation fees, then guides you through the process of re-ticketing that flight at the lower price.

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How I Went From Side Hustle to 7 Figures Using These 4 AI Tools (No Tech Skills Needed)

How I Went From Side Hustle to 7 Figures Using These 4 AI Tools (No Tech Skills Needed)


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Most entrepreneurs are playing small with AI — cranking out blog posts, writing emails and hoping it moves the needle. But that’s not where the real leverage is.

The entrepreneurs scaling to seven figures? They’re using AI to run their entire business on autopilot — automating sales, marketing and operations 24/7 without hiring a single employee.

Inside this video, I’ll reveal the four AI agents that can transform your business:

  • The Revenue Agent: Automate lead qualification, book calls and handle follow-ups — it’s like having a full-time sales team working around the clock.
  • The Executive Agent: Eliminate inbox clutter and calendar chaos. This AI assistant manages your emails, schedules, travel plans and admin tasks — giving you hours back every week.
  • The SOP Agent: Record your workflows and turn them into step-by-step guides — automating onboarding and training without lifting a finger.
  • The Marketing Pulse Agent: Predict your campaign results before you hit send, audit your content and unlock data-driven insights — this agent alone tripled my sales in 14 days.

Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur or scaling a lean team, these four agents can cut costs, skyrocket productivity and help you grow faster — all without the stress of hiring.

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

Most entrepreneurs are playing small with AI — cranking out blog posts, writing emails and hoping it moves the needle. But that’s not where the real leverage is.

The entrepreneurs scaling to seven figures? They’re using AI to run their entire business on autopilot — automating sales, marketing and operations 24/7 without hiring a single employee.

Inside this video, I’ll reveal the four AI agents that can transform your business:

The rest of this article is locked.

Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.



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How I Went From Side Hustle to 7 Figures Using These 4 AI Tools (No Tech Skills Needed) Read More »