• Investor highlights the rising need for better founder education and realistic expectations in a shifting global economy

New York, US, 22nd January 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Venture capitalist and hedge fund operator David Crownborn is calling for greater awareness around the pressures facing new entrepreneurs and the growing need for realistic guidance in early stage business building. Drawing from his own experiences across London, New York, and global markets, Crownborn is advocating for a more grounded understanding of success that focuses on learning, timing, and mental clarity.

In recent comments, Crownborn noted that many founders carry misconceptions about what success looks like in the early years. “Most success comes from small steps that grow over time. It is not about one moment. It is about careful progress and patience,” he said. His message comes at a critical time. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of new businesses fail within the first year, and nearly 50 percent fail within five years. Crownborn believes education and mindset play a major role in these numbers.

He pointed to his own early ventures in London as an example. “I ordered too much inventory and had no idea how to market it. I learned fast that success is built on steady learning and not on perfect execution,” he shared. His message encourages founders to embrace curiosity as a tool for long term growth. Research from Harvard Business Review supports this idea. Companies that score high in curiosity-driven culture show better decision making and stronger innovation.

Crownborn also stressed the importance of timing, something he learned from a failed early investment. “We pushed a product before the market was ready. The idea was strong, but the timing was wrong. That experience taught me to respect market conditions,” he explained. Studies from CB Insights show that 35 percent of startups fail because there is no market need, making timing one of the most critical factors for survival.

Beyond strategy, Crownborn wants founders to understand the role of personal balance. “Travel and music keep me centered. When I am grounded, I make better decisions. Entrepreneurs need to build habits that protect their clarity,” he said. Mental health concerns are rising across the startup world. Data from Startup Snapshot shows that 72 percent of founders report struggles with mental health. Crownborn believes that grounding practices help leaders stay focused and avoid burnout.

What People Can Do Today

Crownborn is urging entrepreneurs, students, and early career builders to take simple steps to strengthen their path forward:

• Study the timing of your market. Look at real demand, not just interest.

• Break goals into smaller tasks. Crownborn credits this method with helping him stay calm during high pressure stages of his early career.

• Ask tough questions about your idea. “Good ideas stand up even after you question them from every angle,” he said.

• Build your own form of balance. Whether it is music, travel, or quiet time, Crownborn says clarity improves decision making.

• Stay curious. “Curiosity is the strongest guide you have. It shows you what matters,” he said.

About David Crownborn

David Crownborn is a venture capitalist, hedge fund operator, and entrepreneur working across New York, Atlanta, Miami, London, and Sydney. Born in London, he began building businesses early in life and now focuses on long term investing, founder guidance, and market strategy. His work centers on helping ideas grow through patience, analysis, and clear thought.

• Michael J. Carrozzo, an attorney based in Santa Barbara, California, is introducing a time-boxed legal readiness plan designed for individuals with limited time and attention.

California, US, 22nd January 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Santa Barbara, California, January 9, 2026 – Attorney and legal educator Michael J. Carrozzo today announced a practical legal readiness plan aimed at people who feel overwhelmed by paperwork, forms, and life administration but still want to protect their families and future.

Carrozzo has spent decades working in immigration law, criminal law, military justice, and legal education. He has seen how often small, unfinished tasks around documents and decisions create bigger problems later.

“Most people do not need a perfect legal file cabinet,” Carrozzo said. “They need a simple plan that fits into the life they already have.”

The plan focuses on short, structured blocks of time that individuals can stick to even with heavy work and family demands.

“Once you give people a clear 10-minute checklist, they stop feeling guilty and start making progress,” he added. “The goal is to lower the barrier so action feels realistic, not stressful.”

According to recent surveys and industry reports:

• Nearly 60% of adults do not have a basic will or estate plan.

• About 40% of households say they would struggle to find key documents in an emergency.

• More than half of adults have not reviewed beneficiary designations on accounts in the last five years.

• Roughly 70% report feeling overwhelmed by legal and financial paperwork.

“Legal readiness is not just for people with complex estates,” Carrozzo noted. “It is about making sure the basics do not fall through the cracks when life moves fast.”

Below is the three tier plan he recommends.

The 10-Minute Plan: One Micro Task, Every Time

Purpose: Create a starting point so legal tasks feel manageable, not impossible.

Steps:

1. Pick one place to store important information

   • Create a single folder on your computer, phone, or in a physical drawer labeled “Important Documents.”

2. Capture your emergency contacts

   • Add at least two trusted contacts in your phone under “ICE” (In Case of Emergency) and share your folder location with them.

3. Make a one page “what I have” list

   • In plain language, list the types of documents you already have, such as “passport,” “driver’s license,” “rental or mortgage documents,” “insurance policies,” “retirement accounts.”

Expected outcome:
At the end of ten minutes, you have one clear folder, two emergency contacts who know it exists, and a simple inventory of your most important categories of documents. The next step becomes obvious instead of vague.

The 30-Minute Plan: Turn Loose Papers Into a Simple System

Purpose: Build a basic but usable structure around your core documents and decisions.

Steps:

1. Gather your current documents

   • Spend ten minutes pulling together physical or digital copies of key items: ID, insurance, lease or mortgage, one bank statement, and any existing legal documents.

2. Sort into three piles or subfolders

   • “Identity and ID”

   • “Money and accounts”

   • “Home and insurance”

3. Add one page of instructions

   • Write a short note that answers three questions:

     • Who should be called first in an emergency?

     • Where is your main bank or salary account?

     • Where is your primary health insurance information stored?

Expected outcome:
In thirty minutes, you move from scattered papers and files to three clear categories and a short instruction page that someone else could follow in a crisis.

“Thirty minutes is enough to move from chaos to a basic system,” Carrozzo said. “You do not need color coding or complex software. You just need everything to live in fewer places.”

The 2-Hour Weekend Plan: Take Care of the Heavy Lifting

Purpose: Use one focused session to reduce future risk and confusion for you and your family.

Steps:

1. Review and update beneficiaries

   • Log in to retirement accounts and life insurance if you have them and confirm or update your listed beneficiaries.

2. Check your legal basics

   • If you already have a will, power of attorney, or health directive, place copies in your “Important Documents” folder and note the date they were signed.

   • If you do not, schedule a consultation with a licensed attorney or clinic, or make a list of questions to bring to a future appointment.

3. Create a secure “summary sheet”

   • Prepare a two page summary that includes:

     • Key accounts and institutions (no full numbers, just names and contact info)

     • Where original documents are stored

     • Names and contact information for your primary medical provider and any lawyer you work with

4. Back up your records

   • Scan or photograph your most critical documents and store them in an encrypted drive or password-protected folder.

   • Ensure at least one trusted person knows how to access this in an emergency.

Expected outcome:

In a single afternoon, you will have beneficiaries checked, basic legal documents organized, a clear summary sheet, and a secure backup of your most important records. You will not finish every legal decision, but you will remove many of the surprises that cause stress later.

What To Avoid

Carrozzo emphasizes that the biggest risks often come from how people approach legal tasks, not just from the documents themselves.

“People either ignore legal paperwork completely or try to fix everything in one exhausting weekend,” he said. “Both approaches break down.”

Common pitfalls include:

• Waiting for a crisis before organizing any documents.

• Sharing sensitive information by email or unencrypted messaging without thinking about security.

• Relying only on memory instead of creating even a basic written summary.

• Letting perfection stop progress, such as delaying all action until a full estate plan is complete.

• Handing everything to one family member without making sure they have clear, written instructions.

Instead, he encourages a steady, layered approach that starts small and builds over time.

Carrozzo’s message is simple: start smaller than you think you need to.

“If you can give this ten minutes, you can change how your next emergency feels,” he said.

Readers are encouraged to begin today with the 10-minute plan, create their first “Important Documents” folder, and complete the one page inventory before the end of the day.

About Michael J. Carrozzo

Michael J. Carrozzo is an attorney and legal educator based in Santa Barbara, California. He has worked in immigration law, criminal law, and military justice, and has served as a judge advocate in the United States Army and as a Reserve officer. His career includes service in federal and county legal roles and extensive teaching experience in law, criminal justice, and business law at institutions in California and abroad.

• Jonathan Haber, based in Montreal, Quebec, shares a personal outlook on what will matter most for individuals working in early-stage software, collaboration, and product operations in the next year.

Quebec, Canada, 22nd January 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Jonathan Haber, a Montreal-based technology entrepreneur and business strategist, released his personal outlook for the next 12 months in the world of early-stage SaaS, collaboration tools, onboarding, and team operating systems.

The headline, in his view, is not a single new platform or trend. It is the accumulation of friction. John Haber points to a work environment where people are interrupted more often, asked to use more tools, and expected to move faster while staying aligned.

Microsoft reports that employees are interrupted every two minutes during core work hours, translating to 275 interruptions a day from meetings, email, or chat. Microsoft also reports the average employee spends 57% of time communicating and 43% creating, and 62% of survey respondents say they spend too much time searching for information. 

At the same time, Jonathan notes that tool stacks keep expanding. Okta reports the average number of apps per company reached 101 in its Businesses at Work 2025 report.

This combination, he argues, is changing what “good” looks like for individuals and teams.

What changed recently

John sees three shifts accelerating over the last year.

First, the workday is stretching and fragmenting. Microsoft highlights the rise of the “infinite workday,” including more interruptions and more always-on coordination.

Second, the tool layer is heavier. Jonathan points to app sprawl as a daily reality, not an IT concern, as the average company crosses the 100-app mark. 

Third, the cost of miscommunication is harder to ignore. Grammarly estimates poor communication costs U.S. businesses $1.2 trillion annually, or $12,506 per employee per year. 

Jonathan Haber said, “The last year made one thing obvious: speed is easy to fake, but clarity is hard to build.”

What people are getting wrong

John’s view is that many individuals respond to overload by adding more communication instead of improving coordination. That usually looks like extra meetings, longer threads, and more check-ins that do not resolve ownership.

Asana reports that 60% of a person’s time at work is spent on “work about work,” and it estimates the average knowledge worker spends 103 hours a year in unnecessary meetings and 352 hours talking about work. Atlassian reports leaders and teams waste 25% of their time just searching for answers.

John Haber said, “If you are drowning in updates, the answer is usually not another update.”

Jonathan also flags a second mistake: treating onboarding and handoffs as secondary. He ties this to what he saw early in customer success and product operations, where churn and rework followed confusing setup, unclear first value, and messy internal handoffs.

Jonathan Haber said, “The fastest teams I see are not the ones that talk the most. They are the ones that leave a clean trail.”

What is likely to get harder

John expects focus to become scarcer. Interruptions are already frequent, and the amount of time spent communicating remains high.

He also expects tool complexity to become more personal. With more apps in the average stack, individuals will increasingly manage their own workflows across systems, even when they do not choose the systems.

Finally, Jonathan expects the penalty for unclear communication to keep rising, because the baseline cost is already enormous at a business level and is felt daily at a human level through rework, delays, and missed context.

John Haber said, “Next year will reward people who can protect attention and make decisions stick.”

What will work

Jonathan’s outlook emphasizes “decision hygiene” and “first value discipline.”

Decision hygiene means fewer floating decisions and more written decisions with an owner, a reason, and a next step. This is the same logic behind decision logs and operating cadence templates, which he has used across his work in product operations and enablement.

First value discipline means designing work so a user, teammate, or stakeholder can get to a clear win quickly. He frames it as the best defense against both churn and internal chaos.

Jonathan Haber said, “When the stack is noisy, your job is to make your work quiet and repeatable.”

He also points to collaboration costs as a reason to simplify. Atlassian has reported 25 billion work hours are lost annually due to ineffective collaboration.

3 scenarios for the next year

Optimistic scenario: focus becomes a competitive advantage

In this scenario, individuals carve out protected time and teams reduce noise. The upside is real because interruptions and searching costs are already so high. 

Best individual actions:

1. Block one weekly deep-work session for synthesis and documentation.

2. Keep a decision log for any meaningful choice (decision, why, owner, next step, date).

3. Reduce “search time” by keeping one source of truth for current work.

Realistic scenario: the workday stays fragmented, but you can control your lane

In this scenario, the average person still spends a large share of time coordinating, and the number of apps stays high. 

Best individual actions:

1. Set a daily “first win” target (one outcome delivered before noon).

2. Convert meetings into artifacts: notes, owners, and next steps within 24 hours.

3. Use lightweight weekly metrics for your role (one output metric, one quality metric).

Cautious scenario: overload increases and miscommunication gets more expensive

In this scenario, miscommunication and rework climb because the underlying cost drivers remain: interruptions, tool sprawl, and unclear handoffs.

Best individual actions:

1. Shrink your surface area: fewer active projects, clearer priorities, fewer open loops.

2. Use “one owner” rules for decisions and deliverables.

3. Create a personal operating cadence: daily review, weekly plan, monthly reset.

Call to action

Jonathan is encouraging readers to choose one scenario that feels closest to their reality, then follow the matching actions for 30 days. John’s recommendation is to track two measures: how often you revisit the same decision without new information, and how quickly you can move from decision to first executed step.

About Jonathan Haber

Jonathan Haber is a technology entrepreneur and business strategist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. John is the founder and CEO of Haber Strategies Inc. and has held roles in customer success, product operations, product enablement, and startup leadership, including co-founding LatticeDesk.