STARTUP JOURNALISM IS ALIVE AND WELL

AN ARTICLE AND VIDEO SERIES Worth CHECKING OUT

Always a great resource for interesting startup news and profiles, Fast Company has gone above and beyond in its coverage with its coverage of the famously intense and successful incubator Y Combinator with a 7 part article series entitled The Y Combinator Chronicles. Contributing writer Max Chafkin highlights the program - whose successful graduates include billion dollar behemoths like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe - in a unique way with each well written story.  

The first piece covers the oft discussed YC weekly dinners, where entrepreneurs from around the world share business plans, anxieties, and a hot meal side by side.  Other articles tackle the topics of tech diversity and growth hacking, which instantly become more interesting as they are analyzed against the backdrop of a grueling, intensive few months for many who have given up jobs, homes, and friends to be a part of the program.  Every year, Y Combinator famously concludes with a highly publicized demo day where its members try to convince press, investors, and eachother their companies are well on their way to become the next big company to come out of YC.

Meanwhile, Mashable puts a spotlight on two driven and likeable entrepreneurs looking to launch their business through their Setting up Shop video miniseries.  Stephen Roginson, a proud Detroit native building his microbrewer Batch Brewing Company, is a gritty and driven character bent on turning his passion for beer making into a business.  Out in San Francisco, Azalina Eusope learns quickly about the ups and downs of starting a business as she works to open her first brick and mortar in the Mid Market neigborhood.  The series focuses on themes like passion, location, and fundraising that all business owners become familiar with early and often.  Mashable makes the series work by simply letting the viewers get just a taste, or sip, of what getting a business going is really like.