Founder
VC behind ‘996’ work culture debate says 5-day weeks won’t build billion-dollar startups
Harry Stebbings, founder of 20VC, says billion-dollar firms aren’t built on five-day work weeks. 20VC Venture capitalist Harry Stebbings faced a wave of backlash in June after urging European startup founders to increase their work hours — but he now admits there’s some room for nuance when applying his mantra. Stebbings, founder of 20VC, a […]
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This millennial’s startup raised $120 million. He reveals what helped him succeed — and says it’s ‘more crucial’ than hard work
Desmond Lim, co-founder and CEO of Workstream. Courtesy of Desmond Lim Desmond Lim is no stranger to hard work. At the age of seven, he fell in love with basketball, but when his family couldn’t afford to buy him his own ball, he came up with the money by himself. “Money was always tight,” Lim […]
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‘I lost purpose’: At 27, he sold his company for $100 million — now, he says it’s changed his view on money
Jake Kassan, co-founder of MVMT Watches. Courtesy of Jake Kassan When Jake Kassan sold his company for $100 million at the age of 27, he thought the money would make him happy. Though it did temporarily, it eventually took away his sense of purpose and threw him into cycles of anxiety and depression, he said. […]
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He bought an abandoned tin mine in Phuket in 1984. Now, his hotel chain is worth over $200 million
Ho Kwon Ping is the co-founder and executive chairman of Banyan Group. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Growing up, Ho Kwon Ping didn’t think he’d become a businessman, let alone a hotel tycoon. “I had not always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” he told CNBC Make It. “It’s just that the few times where […]
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72-year-old hotel tycoon cautions against a major character flaw in successful people: ‘Never get caught by hubris’
Ho Kwon Ping, 72, is the executive chairman of Banyan Group. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Building a business is not for the faint of heart, and many of those who dare to take the chance share one trait: self-confidence. That’s according to hotel tycoon Ho Kwon Ping, 72, the founder and executive chairman […]
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This 36-year-old sci-fi ‘nerd’ quit his banking job to start a deep space startup that has raised $24 million
Rohit Jha, 36, is the co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial. Courtesy of Rohit Jha Rohit Jha calls himself a “huge nerd.” He developed a deep love for computers, space and ultimately science fiction in his early years. Jha spent much of his childhood and adolescence coding games on a secondhand computer, star-gazing through a telescope […]
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Black British entrepreneurs find new ways to land funding as diversity efforts are scrapped
Former Goldman Sachs executive Ayesha Ofori was confident that investors would be keen to fund her investment platform startup — then came the wall of rejections. Some of the venture capitalists who gave the cold shoulder to Ofori’s female-focused financial investment platform, Propelle, ultimately rejected her, citing her lack of experience. Ofori notes her background at Morgan […]
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Nominate a company for CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list
CNBC is now accepting applications for the 2025 Disruptor 50 list — our thirteenth annual look at the most innovative venture-backed companies using breakthrough technology to meet increasing economic and consumer challenges. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 10 at 11:59 pm EST. All independent, privately-owned companies founded after Jan. 1, 2010, are eligible, […]
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82-year-old billionaire CEO shares his advice for the younger generation: ‘Have a go, don’t stand around thinking about it’
Jack Cowin is the founder and chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, the company that operates Hungry Jack’s. Mark Evans | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images At 82, self-made billionaire Jack Cowin has a number of simple truths about life and business to share. “I didn’t come from [money] … I’m kind of self-made. I […]
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‘Many dark times’: How this startup founder overcame self-doubt and started a $100-million-a-year business
Jeffrey Tiong, founder and CEO of PatSnap. Courtesy of Jeffrey Tiong. Many entrepreneurs will say that building a successful startup is costly — both financially and emotionally. Just ask Jeffrey Tiong. The 40-year-old is the founder and CEO of intellectual property and research and development startup Patsnap, a Singapore-based unicorn company that has surpassed an […]
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