Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 10h

$𝟱𝗕+ valuations keep climbing — but exits aren’t.
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻e calls it “discipline.” It’s really delayed accountability.
The 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 isn’t founder ego — it’s investor denial.
At Ekipo, we map cultural risk 🚨 before it becomes valuation risk.

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 11h

🚀 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: Product–market fit is 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥. The real test is founder–market fit.
💼 𝗩𝗖𝘀: Stop chasing the next hot market. Start backing founders who can outgrow it.

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 3d

Founders glorify speed.
But speed without alignment is just chaos with better branding.

The real competitive edge?
Culture that scales faster than ego.
joinekipo.com/2025/10/17/p...

Part 1: The Hidden Culture Risks That Quietly Break Founders

The real competitive advantage isn’t product, funding, or timing — it’s culture that scales faster than chaos.

joinekipo.com

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 4d

𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲’𝘀 racing to ‘start their company.’
𝗙𝗲𝘄 are building one worth finishing.
𝗖𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 isn’t your fuel — it’s your engine.⚡

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 4d

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝙫𝙞𝙗𝙚.
𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁.
𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲.
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 compounds returns.
𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 discounts them — every time.

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 7d

Startups fear missed revenue — but turnover kills valuation faster. 💀

Revenue recovers. Culture erosion doesn’t.

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 10d

Everyone’s racing to “AI efficiency.”
But efficiency without trust isn’t progress — it’s panic.
Read or listen: The AI Hype War: Founders Are Losing the Battle for Trust
joinekipo.com/2025/10/10/t...

The AI Hype War: Founders Are Losing the Battle for Trust.

Startups aren’t collapsing because of what AI can do, but because of how their leaders react to it. Panic-driven decisions are replacing trust faster than automation is replacing jobs.

joinekipo.com

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 11d

Laugh of the week:
“We’re like family.”

Sure — until payroll gets tight.

Startups don’t fail from bad ideas. They fail when trust breaks faster than revenue.

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 13d

If the desert can thrive without rain, your startup can survive without hype.
Don’t build culture for boom times — build it for the droughts.

Culture isn’t perks or parties.
It’s how you treat people when the funding dries up. ☀️

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 14d

Most founders chase product-market fit.
Few consider culture-investor fit. 💡
If a VC audited your culture like your books… would you still raise? 💭

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 17d

𝗧𝗵𝗲 $𝟭𝟬𝟬𝗞 𝗛-𝟭𝗕 𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 — 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱.

Startups lose talent. Founders burn runway. VCs eat portfolio drag. Big Tech wins. The rest of us don’t.

Wrote more on 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴 — curious what you think.

joinekipo.com/2025/10/03/1...

$100K H-1B Fees: A Death Sentence for Startup Talent

The $100K H-1B fee isn’t immigration policy, it’s an innovation tax—shrinking talent funnels, fracturing culture, and killing startups before they scale.

joinekipo.com

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 19d

If your team can’t even agree on how to “show up,” scaling won’t fix it.
Culture isn’t a vibe. It’s infrastructure.

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 20d

Founders—let’s cut through it. A $100K H-1B fee kills your ability to hire, scale, and sustain culture.

This isn’t policy—it’s sabotage.

In the global talent war, the next unicorn won’t be built here. 🌍

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 21d

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀: culture doesn’t drift into greatness.

It drifts into chaos.

𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — or let it quietly default until it costs you.

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 24d

I hear founders brag: “Seven companies in three years.”

But each reset leaves behind culture debt that compounds.

The question isn’t how many you’ve started—it’s whether your team would follow you into the next one. 🧭

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 25d

When founders chase hype, culture drifts. And when culture drifts, execution collapses. 🚨 Meta’s smart glasses are just the latest reminder: VCs don’t lose money on bad products — they lose it on fragile cultures. joinekipo.com/2025/09/25/c...

#VC #VentureCapital #Startups #Founders #culture

Culture Drift = Execution Risk: Why Meta’s Smart Glasses Are a Red Flag for VCs

Founders over-index on branding and vision, while investors mistake polished ads for proof of cultural readiness. The gap between commercial hype and consumer adoption isn’t just marketing fluff — …

joinekipo.com

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 27d

🔥 The real bubble isn’t AI or rockets — it’s founders thinking culture scales as fast as product.

When culture drifts, investor confidence tanks, and valuations pop. 🚨

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · 28d

Hot take: your “execution risk” slide is meaningless without culture. If your board doesn’t see it, they’re flying blind. 🚨
#startups #workplaceculture #founders #leadership

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 19

When ‘authenticity’ has to be scheduled, you’re already scaling dysfunction. 🚩
#StartupCulture #FounderInsights #Leadership

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 18

Horse racing went from “sport of kings” to scandal-ridden decline. Why? Exploitation disguised as ambition.

Founders pulling 90-hour weeks + skipping junior talent for AI are repeating the same mistake. Burnout ≠ brilliance.

Are we betting on collapse? joinekipo.com/2025/09/18/t...
👉

The Sport of Kings, The Fall of Giants: A Culture Lesson for Founders

Founders who glorify grind culture are jockeys whipping their horses into collapse. Burnout isn’t brilliance—it’s fragility. The startups that endure will be the ones that pace their horses, protec…

joinekipo.com

John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 15

Hot take: Burn rate isn’t the biggest killer.
Culture drift is. 👇

#StartupCulture #FounderLife #VentureCapital #CultureDebt

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 15

Hot take: Founders fear running out of cash.
They should fear running out of trust.
Financial debt is recoverable.
Culture debt? That’s terminal.
#Startups #VC #CultureDebt #VentureCapital #Founders

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 12

Your walls tell the truth your values deck won’t.
👉 Layout + artifacts = culture signals.
Are you fueling resilience—or fast-tracking burnout?
#startups #VCs #workplaceculture #startupculture

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 11

Oracle’s stock just went vertical in 2025. 📈
Founders—culture works the same way.
Build alignment + trust early and you don’t just grow… you compound. 🚀
Is your culture set for slow gains—or a breakout spike?
#Startups #VentureCapital #FounderLife #WorkplaceCulture
#Leadership #ScalingUp

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John-Miguel Mitchell @jmitchell38.bsky.social · Sep 8

🔥 $15B for talent isn’t a win—it’s a warning.

Culture > cash in the talent wars.

VCs, back founders who build it early or pay later.

#CultureDebt #VC #workplace #Startups

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