Today we're diving into geopolitical tensions.

It's a big topic and a hot one. It deserves more context than usual, especially for a podcast focused on business insights for executives and founders.

Something has changed.

The world feels different now.

Think back 10, maybe 15 years. Yes, we had major crises between 2000 and 2016. The September 11th attacks, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the global financial crisis in 2008, the Arab Spring, which brought down regimes and contributed to the migration crisis in Europe.

And in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, although at the time that didn't dominate headlines in Western Europe or the US the way it might today, and maybe that's the reason for the later disaster.

However, for most people in Europe or the United States, those events felt somewhat distant. Disruptive, yes, but not destabilizing to everyday life.

That's changed. Over the past 7 years, the sense of stability has really started to erode. It began with the COVID pandemic in 2020, then Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the election of President Trump in 2024, a vote for the distrust in politics. A heavy distrust, almost like a rebellion by large parts of American society, completely ignoring the lack of morality and long term implications of their own alternative.

The unbelievable global sex traffic scandal around Epstein, which seems to give a signal that the rich and influential define their status by staying immune to accountability when disobeying the rules and the law.

And as we record this, an unprecedented, certainly illegal military attack by the United States and Israel against Iran, which as of now has not triggered the kind of global protest you might have expected, and which seems to emerge out of increasingly unchecked power by the US administration.

So the self-inflicted geopolitical tensions now feel almost absurd and certainly less predictable, less stable, and in many ways more fragile than at any point in the more recent memory.

And this isn't just my feeling.

In January 2026, the World Economic Forum ranked geopolitical tensions as the top global risk. That was before the recent escalation involving Iran. And surveys reported by Reuters a few days ago, this April 2026, show that central banks are more concerned about geopolitical risks than they've been in years.

In this episode, we'll explore what that all means for businesses, for startups, for innovation, and for the people building the future.

I'm discussing this with Claude, the AI from Anthropic. Claude's responses will be read by Charles and my parts by Daniel. All right, let's get into it.

All sources use from the World Economic Forum, Reuters, BCG and others can be found in the sharp10 under https://sharp10.com/app.

It's April 2026, and everyone is talking about AI, your colleagues, your LinkedIn feed, probably even your dentist.

But very few are asking the question that actually matters:

Where are the opportunities right now and in the next 10 years?

Because this shift is not just about better technology, it is changing who wins, who falls behind, and where real value is created.

For entrepreneurs and job seekers, it opens up entirely new career paths and business models. For investors, it creates a chance to move early before the market fully catches on.

And for policymakers, it raises a fundamental question, how do you stay competitive when everything is evolving faster than institutions can keep up? In this episode, we take a closer look at the opportunities emerging from this shift. Not the obvious ones, but the ones that are still early, still underestimated, and still within reach.

Sources:

**Find all other sources in the sharp10 app:

Imagine this:

You’re sitting with friends and someone says, “You know what someone should build?”

Ideas start flying.

Everyone has one.

Everyone feels like discovering the next big thing.

And the next day, nothing happens. The idea that felt so obvious at midnight looks a lot less revolutionary over breakfast.

Because having an idea is easy. It’s exciting. It’s safe. But building a company, that’s where most people stop.

And here’s the twist:

Somewhere else, someone has the same idea, and they actually start.

They build. They struggle. They figure it out.

And over time, they create something real.

That’s how companies are born, and that’s how economies move forward because without people who build, nothing really changes.

So the question isn’t, do you have a good idea?

It’s: Will you actually do something with it?

In this episode, we’ll show you how to go from an idea to a real company.

Let’s go!

Sources:

**Venture Capital: 14 Untold Lessons After Raising $45m (Guide)

**Find all other sources in the sharp10 app:

sharp10 Global Trends | Episode 2

Will AI take your job?

Or even more radical, will humans even matter economically anymore?

It’s March twenty twenty-six, and the headlines are getting tough to ignore.

UPS just laid off forty-eight thousand people blaming their new AI-driven network of the future.

Amazon has already cut another sixteen thousand this year on top of fourteen thousand last year.

Accenture, Citigroup, Goldman, Klarna, Lufthansa, one after another, companies keep saying the same thing: AI made us do it.

So what if humans just are not or less needed in the economy anymore? Who actually owns this new AI economy?

And if work stops defining us as humans, what replaces it?

Main data sources for this episode

About sharp10 (https://www.sharp10.com))

sharp10 is a speed learning app for executives who want to stay sharp on global trends and business strategy. Concise, data-driven insights you can fit into a busy schedule. The first month is free.

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All feedback and topic suggestions are welcome. Leave a comment below.

sharp10 Global Trends | Episode 1

The EU is one of the most criticised institutions in the world right now, by the US administration, by Silicon Valley, and by a growing chorus of voices inside Europe itself. Bureaucratic deadweight, they say. Falling behind. Irrelevant. Weak.

In this episode, Andrea Anderheggen sits down with Claude, an AI developed by Anthropic, to put that narrative to the test.

The conversation covers the EU's foundational achievements, quality of life across key indicators, the legitimate weaknesses the critics get right, five concrete reforms the European Commission could actually prioritise, the fiscal challenge of defence spending, and the future of European military technology.

The questions and editorial framing are Andrea's. The analysis is mainly Claude's based on the data sources below. Both voices are read by sharp10 voiceovers Daniel and Charles so you can focus on the content, rather than our accents.

The main data sources for this episode can be found in the sharp10 app.

Find the sharp10 app on the Apple App Store, Google Play, or at https://www.sharp10.com/.

All feedback and topic suggestions are welcome. Leave a comment below.