Guest commentary: How tri-county small business owners can kick off 2025 with confidence
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Melissa Macias and Brenda Cervantes Every new year brings an opportunity for entrepreneurs to evaluate the state of their business and adjust their strategies to prepare for success in the year ahead. Here in the tri-county region, Ventura County’s 2025 GDP is estimated to be markedly higher than in previous years according to a Read More →
Guest commentary: Entrepreneurs are not a good fit for the U.S. government
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Gerhard Apfelthaler In 1988, my former colleague at California Lutheran University, renowned entrepreneurship scholar Bill Gartner published a seminal article in the American Journal of Small Business titled “Who is an entrepreneur is the wrong question.” In the article, he argued that the focus on identifying the personality traits of entrepreneurs is misguided and Read More →
Guest commentary: IPO outlook for Central Coast depends on AI, national trends
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Scott Olmsted and Gabe Simon Despite successful IPOs from the likes of Ibotta, Reddit and OneStream, 2024 didn’t provide the influx of capital-raising opportunities that many late-stage tech startups and venture capitalists have been waiting for. Since highs last seen in 2021 — when 90 tech companies went public — the national IPO market has been muted, with Read More →
Guest commentary: Securing the future of our students and our university
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Richard Yao Since 2019-20, CSU Channel Islansa has experienced a 35% drop in enrollment — from 6,406 full-time equivalent students (FTES) in 2019 to 4,154 this Fall. As Ventura County’s only four-year public university, we have lost more than a decade’s worth of growth in just five years, having contracted back to our enrollment of 4,152 Read More →
Guest commentary: The mixed blessing of large group meetings
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Gerhard Apfelthaler Do you ever feel that you spend too much time in meetings where nothing gets done? You are not alone. In a 2019 Harvard Business Review Article, it is estimated that every day about 55 million meetings are held in the United States alone. Considering that a typical number of meeting participants in the Read More →
Guest commentary: The myth surrounding the digital natives
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Gerhard Apfelthaler In recent years, millennials and GenZ-ers have often been referred to as “digital natives” — a whole generation of people who excel in their command of computers, iPhones, digital platforms, media, and tools. Indeed, in an era where smartphones are ubiquitous and social media platforms dominate daily interactions, it is easy to assume that today’s youth are inherently tech-savvy. Read More →
Guest commentary: Sky-high consumer confidence is not a good omen for stocks
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy John Grace Consumer confidence is higher than ever, which is not good news for stocks. Higher consumer confidence is often a contrarian indicator. When consumers are as confident as they indicate today, “they may have already maxed out their discretionary expenditures like trading up homes, furnishings, and cars, etc.” says Harry Dent, an American Read More →
