How to Start a Business
Play-Doh Was Never Supposed to Be a Toy
Most inventions don't start out as what they eventually become. Few examples make that point as clearly as Play-Doh, which began its life not as a children's toy but as a wallpaper cleaner. In the 1930s, coal furnaces left soot on walls throughout the winter, and a...
Nintendo Sold Playing Cards for 70 Years Before It Made a Single Video Game
Few companies illustrate the value of reinvention as dramatically as Nintendo, a name now inseparable from video games — but one that spent the better part of a century in an entirely different business first. Founded in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan, Nintendo's original...
3 Questions to Ask Before You Kill a Failing Product
Deciding whether to shut down a struggling product or service is one of the harder calls a business owner has to make, and it's a decision often driven more by frustration or sunk-cost attachment than by a clear-eyed look at the actual situation. Three questions tend...
8 Steps to Reinvent a Struggling Business and Find Success
A struggling business does not always have to shut down. Sometimes the better answer is reinvention. When a business model stops working, the most productive response is to understand why, make targeted changes, and remain flexible enough to try a new direction....
How Failure Can Become the Foundation for Success
Failure can feel like a sign that you are falling behind, but in business and in life, setbacks can become some of the most valuable turning points. Success rarely follows a perfect path. What matters most is learning from what went wrong and continuing to move...
9 Famous Entrepreneur Failures That Turned Into Legendary Comebacks
Failure is often part of the entrepreneurial journey. Many of the world’s most recognizable business leaders experienced financial losses, rejected ideas, failed companies, and major career setbacks before eventually finding success. Their stories show that a setback...
Buying a Business vs. Starting a Business: Which Path is Right for You?
You currently do not have an active AFE subscription. Some content and functionality will be unavailable. Either join AFE as a new member or visit your account page to renew your subscription.Owning and operating a business is a dream for many people, but one question...
The Film Company That Decided It Wasn’t a Film Company
Fujifilm and Kodak watched the same asteroid coming. One is a $22 billion healthcare and semiconductor business. The other filed Chapter 11 in 2012. Every conversation you have with an AI model runs on silicon that was polished flat by a chemical slurry, applied in...
Feeling Discouraged Doesn’t Mean Your Business Is Failing
Every entrepreneur hits a stretch where the motivation that got them started seems to disappear. The excitement of the early days fades, progress feels slower than expected, and self-doubt creeps in. It's tempting to read that discouragement as a sign something is...
Ask These 3 Questions Before You Pivot Your Business
Deciding to change direction is one of the highest-stakes calls a founder can make. Pivot too quickly and you abandon a strategy before it had a real chance to work. Wait too long and you burn resources chasing a plan the market has already rejected. Before making the...
Entrepreneur Magazine
- 7 AI Tools That Build a One-Person Business in a Weekend — No Staff. No Code. No Stress. September 19, 2026See seven AI tools in action, with practical workflows for research, email, app building and automation — and how to choose the ones your business actually needs.
- How to Figure Out What Your Business Really Looks Like Online — and Make It Even Better September 18, 2026Before a customer contacts you, they've already met you online and formed an opinion. Here's how to make your first impression unforgettable.
- This 27-Year-Old Left Wall Street to Create a Product That ‘Gives People Time Back.’ It Hit $10,000 in Sales in 36 Hours. September 18, 2026Maria Cabral Menezes worked as a trader before deciding to risk it all and start her own business.