STARTUPS CENTRAL

The Journey of Mike Bausch He slept on a friend’s living-room floor to attend an industry show. Years later, he can't walk through that same convention center without people calling his name. Mike Bausch, the founder of Andolini’s Pizza, transformed a single shop into a wider hospitality enterprise and a distinctive public persona. He emphasizes that independent restaurateurs must rethink how they sell themselves if they want to grow. Bausch’s early trips to Pizza Expo were i

I built a luxury ecommerce business that sells to shoppers in 19 European countries, and one lesson kept repeating: national markets send their own signals about conversion, returns, checkout and regulation, and those signals matter far more than broad “Europe” strategies. Start where acquisition is cheap and the market tells you whether your product truly resonates before you try to win the major economies. Do that and you learn unit economics with less burn and fewer painfu

Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu, who formed a close alliance on the CBS reality series, are turning their partnership into a startup. The two announced Tuesday the launch of Paprclip, an app that pairs users to track progress on personal objectives through short video updates and collaborative tasks. The founders have opened a Kickstarter to raise an additional $40,000 to push the product through further development and early distribution. Fraser said his own post-show lif

A partnership between the pared-down Light Phone and Noble Mobile, the carrier launched by entrepreneur Andrew Yang, will put 500 Light Phone III handsets into customers’ hands right away — provided they sign on to a two-year Noble Mobile service plan that costs $50 a month. The arrangement spreads the phone’s cost across 24 monthly payments, totaling $1,200 for the contract, and includes a Light-specific plan that provides 5 gigabytes of data and the chance to earn up to $5

A year of unsigned posts about fast-casual operations and deal analysis grew into more than a newsletter of tips — it became a pipeline to investors and collaborators, and ultimately pushed the author to attach his name to the account. Starting out as QSR Guy, he used an unnamed identity to share bite-size observations that resonated with people who run restaurants and those who fund them. The kernel of the strategy was simple: honest, consistent posts that invited response.

Shipley Do-Nuts’ new operations chief walked into a business with little in the way of modern systems, and he says the route to rapid expansion starts with the people ringing up customers. By spending time in shops and addressing everyday headaches, he has redesigned the rollout plan with a goal of 750 outlets. He argues that technology should solve practical problems, not be implemented for its own sake. If ordering slows staff down, change the workflow. If owners need clear

A private-equity backed operator that ran Hardee’s outlets in nine states closed all of its units in December and this week moved to liquidate its business, leaving roughly 1,600 workers jobless. ARC Burger listed itself in court on Monday under Chapter 7, saying its obligations fall somewhere between $10 million and $50 million and that unsecured creditors should not expect recoveries. The filings follow the company’s abrupt December shutdown of 77 Hardee’s locations, a move

Growing an online business often means obsessing over ads and new products while taxes become an afterthought. That lapse can quietly erode margins and create expensive surprises. Owners who treat tax planning as an ongoing part of operations — not a single April task — protect more of what they earn. Below are five straightforward steps e‑commerce operators should prioritize now, with plain‑language guidance and practical next steps. Sales tax rules have changed and they can

Discover Adobe's latest innovation as Premiere Pro arrives on iPhone, offering powerful video editing on the go. Edit and export watermark-free videos with advanced features like 4K HDR support, automatic captioning, and AI-powered tools from Adobe Firefly to generate content from text prompts. Access Adobe's extensive stock library and use the 'Enhance Speech' feature for clear audio. Set to launch on September 30, this app marks Adobe's strategic expansion into the mobile c