Latest from Ben
202 articles
The most digital companies in the world are opening coffee shops
The AI industry runs on GPUs, APIs and Discord servers. So why is an AI insurance startup valued at $4 billion signing a lease…
The empty startup area: why tradeshows fail at startup sales
Picture this. A strategy director at a major exhibition calls with six weeks to go before the show. The brand new startup area has…
10 things founders can do during the summer event break
The event calendar goes quiet in July and August. Deadlines don’t. This article assumes you’re an early stage founder, pre-seed or seed at most,…
The hidden costs of events: Why founders get the math wrong
Most startup founders treat events like they’re going travelling: count the days, block the calendar, done. But event tickets don’t come cheap, and the…
US Expansion Isn’t Dead — and 5 Insights to Help European Startups Cross the Atlantic
Index Ventures’ book ‘Winning in the US: The Founder’s Guide to Building a Global Company from Europe’ explores U.S. expansion as a pathway to…
From aircraft seats to sustainable materials: Ben Saada shares Fairmat’s story
The Selected podcast caught up with Fairmat founder and CEO Ben Saada at JEC World 2025.
Plan A for a Greener Future: How Lubomila Jordanova is Shaping the Climate Narrative
Talking to the Selected podcast at Slush 2024, Lubomila explained why she speaks at events so often and the message she’s there to convey.
Meet OpenOcean: From MySQL Roots to Backing Tools That Help Enterprises Adopt AI
Now a general partner at pan-European VC firm OpenOcean, Finnish investor Tom Henriksson has been involved with venture investing and startups since the mid-nineties,…
From Bootstrapping to AI Powerhouse: How Persistence Propelled Picsart to Empower Creators
Picsart co-founder Mikayel Vardanyan talked about his journey and lessons learned with the Selected podcast.
5 things to know about Carrefour’s approach to venture capital
In an interview with the Selected podcast during SIAL Paris 2024, as Carrefour’s Innovation and VC Funds Director Hélène Labaume talked about her dual…