STARTUPS CENTRAL

Autonomous software that combines specialist capabilities, connected tools and company data is allowing firms to run campaigns end to end with fewer hands-on approvals. After a quarter-century working in marketing, I’m convinced that a new breed of AI-powered agents will change how organizations execute promotional work. Instead of only helping writers and designers produce assets faster, these systems are being built to carry out whole sequences of work — from research throu

Crumbl’s rapid rise has stalled, and the company’s chief executive has acknowledged the shortfall to franchise owners, saying the leadership must answer for recent missteps. An internal memo reviewed by reporters shows August revenue ran about seven-tenths lower than it did two years earlier, a dramatic reversal for a brand that boomed after the pandemic. Foot traffic data from location analytics firm Placer.ai indicate visits to the chain’s more than 1,000 shops fell by near

Borchers has spent recent years reshaping how he presents himself — trading in a purely social-media–driven persona for one built around collecting, travel and sartorial choices. He says the quiet moments he finds by the sea and on long voyages keep him centered, and he resists simply chasing whatever is currently popular. Instead, he’s worked to design a life and image that reflect his own judgments and tastes. Whether walking sandy shores in South Africa, cruising off Sardi

QuantBiotics is developing a method for designing targeted probiotic and synbiotic products by starting with the biological activities that need to be restored in a given condition, rather than picking familiar bacterial strains first. The company’s proprietary system, marketed as the Biome E.N.G.I.N.E., integrates disciplines such as integrative biological modeling, community microbiology, genomic comparisons, in‑silico simulations, machine learning and clinical studies to m

Social networks have refined how to trap our attention. The tougher test is whether they can track what keeps people returning to one another. For many users and product teams, time spent and total views are the trophies. But those yardsticks often reward consumption, not connection. An hour spent flicking through a hundred short clips can register the same against conventional dashboards as an hour spent in a single live room where someone recognizes your name, jokes about s

Younger adults are increasingly diverting money toward travel instead of saving for a house, driven in part by a growing sense that homeownership is slipping beyond their grasp. Data cited this year show the typical American now expects to buy a first home at about age 40, up from roughly 28 in the early 1990s. Among people who don’t own homes, more than one-half say purchasing a house feels out of reach, and the number of Americans identifying as digital nomads has more than

When leaders leave the stage, the tale of a company keeps unfolding — usually without them. That gap is where reputations are made or damaged. Companies that plan for absence shape conversations; those that don’t watch others fill the silence with reviews, gossip and competing narratives. Small-business owners and local executives need practical tools so a brand’s character can be conveyed by employees, packaging and everyday interactions long after founders step away. Start

Citi will now elevate entry-level investment bankers faster, cutting the analyst training cycle to two years so they reach associate ranks sooner. Citi, the New York-based bank valued at about $215 billion, said this week it will shorten the time analysts spend in its investment banking analyst slot from a three-year stretch to two. The move gives early-career bankers an accelerated route to higher pay and more responsibility and is aimed squarely at reducing defections to pr

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Many owners focus on sales and product but miss a handful of routine problems that chip away at earnings and, in some cases, threaten survival. Chief among them are poor cash management, dependence on a few clients, weak planning for leadership and staff turnover, and falling behind on technology and regulation. Those blind spots show up gradually — and then all at once. Cash squeezes are the most common early warning sign. One-third of smaller firms cite liquidity as their t

Publishers and major sites are imposing stricter rules on automated browsers, forcing AI companies to negotiate access or rewrite tools that fetch and summarize online content. A growing number of news outlets, e-commerce sites and membership platforms are introducing technical and commercial barriers that block software agents designed to browse and act on behalf of users. The move complicates efforts by startups and big tech firms to build assistants that browse for flights

The organizers published the detailed breakout agenda for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, promising a schedule packed with workshops, investor office hours and tactical panels aimed at early-stage teams and product builders. TechCrunch says the program includes dozens of smaller sessions across multiple tracks, designed to complement the main-stage presentations. Attendees will see a mix of topic-driven panels, hands-on labs and pitch forums that organizers say prioritize concrete t

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A rising number of readers are finding news pages that show nothing but vendor and cookie consent details instead of regular articles, leaving audiences unable to access stories and publishers scrambling for fixes. Large and small outlets alike reported that, in many cases, the page content is replaced by a long roster of consent vendors, storage settings and links to privacy policies. Site operators say the problems began after recent updates to third-party consent platforms

A check of the URL you supplied turned up only site privacy controls and third-party consent elements — the page stops before any headline, byline, body text or images appear. When our team attempted to access the link, the server delivered a notice area for tracking and cookie management plus lists of external vendors and data-handling options. The document cut off before usual article elements showed up, leaving no title, author or story paragraphs to grab. That kind of res