Inc.

Inc. chronicles the fascinating world of entrepreneurship, providing business owners with the news, advice, and inspiration they need to lead their growing companies.

Inc.2 min read
A Window Onto America
There are lots of reasons to appreciate the annual Inc. 500 list. If your company is on it, it’s unparalleled recognition of your years of hard work and sacrifice. From an economic point of view, it’s a valuable tool for analyzing where growth and jo
Inc.11 min read
What It Takes
Gallup has identified 10 traits that best characterize entrepreneurs. In an exhaustive survey, Inc. and Gallup zeroed in on founders from this year’s Inc. 5000 who best embody them.
Inc.3 min read
In the Field
International shipping lanes. Downtown parties. Rural radio towers. The Inc. 500 travels—and connects—the world.
Inc.4 min read
No 1 HE REMADE HIS UGLY DUCKLING OF A COMPANY INTO A SWAN
Brad Hollister had an idea to revolutionize the excruciatingly complex world of shipping logistics. Then a call with his top customer made him realize he was going about it all wrong. Hollister had two kids and had already burned through his savings
Inc.3 min read
The Illusion of Agreement
How many times has this happened to you? You have a conversation with people on your team about building something. You arrive at an agreement about that vision. Then they go off to build that thing. A few weeks later, they come back to unveil what y
Inc.8 min read
Fitness Warriors
Annoyed by her lousy yoga class experience, Sarah Larson Levey created Y7 Studio. She’s part of the upward-facing boutique fitness movement.
Inc.3 min read
No 285 THEIR FORMULA FOR SUCCESS? BEING WAY TOO AMBITIOUS
They met on a jet in 1998. He was an assistant professor in Oklahoma with a PhD in sociology. She had a PharmD and a job in big pharma. The chemistry between Eddilisa Martin and Marcus Martin was instant; they married a year later. Their entrepreneur
Inc.3 min read
Beware the Optimism Trap
Many young firms, including Tesla, struggle with deadlines. You have to get real about setting production schedules.
Inc.3 min read
No 342 DISCOVERING THE BEAT OF A BUSINESS
Matt Fiedler was a product manager at a tech startup when he and his roommate, Tyler Barstow, had a very analog idea for a company: vinyl records. In 2013, they launched Vinyl Me, Please, now an e-commerce site that, for $29 a month, sends curated re
Inc.2 min readCooking, Food & Wine
No 354 A SUPERFOOD GROWS PROSPERITY IN AFRICA
Lisa Curtis and Jordan Moncharmont → KULI KULI FOODS Three-year growth 1,415.4% • 2017 revenue $2.2 million OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA • FOUNDED 2011 The moringa tree is common in West Africa. So is hunger. In 2010, Lisa Curtis, a young Peace Corps worke
Inc.3 min read
Win The Breakup
Few of us go into business with someone else and expect the relationship to end. But many founder breakups are inevitable. Partners can disagree over strategy or money or how fast the business should grow. Tension can develop between once-close frien
Inc.4 min readFashion
No 21 DIAGNOSIS: THE SCRUBS MARKET IS COMATOSE. THE CURE? ADD FASHION AND FUNCTION
Trina Spear first discovered the sleepy but lucrative scrubs market when she did a private equity deal for a large U.S. scrubs maker. Then a mutual friend introduced her to Heather Hasson, a fashion designer who was working on scrub designs that feat
Inc.11 min readCorporate Finance
Crusader. CEO. Change Agent.
Ellen Pao knows the startup world—and its skeletons—inside and out. The former venture capitalist and one-time CEO of Reddit is now the co-founder and CEO of Project Include, a nonprofit that advises tech companies on diversity and inclusion. Pao fir
Inc.3 min read
No 146 FROM DOOR KNOCKERS TO BUG BUSTERS
Insects don’t respect business hours, so pest-control companies hire Slingshot to handle sales and service calls day and night. Co-founder and CEO Taylor Olson’s unusual odyssey from Mormon missionary to bug-bomb scheduler.
Inc.2 min readFashion
No 56 QUICK: DROP YOUR SOCKS AND SELL SOME SHOES
Kory and Mallory Stevens → TAFT Three-year growth 4,794.6% • 2017 revenue $5.7 million PROVO, UTAH • FOUNDED 2014 Many business ideas have been hatched over dinner. Online shoe startup Taft actually launched one during dinner. Co-founders Kory and
Inc.3 min read
No 256 STRIDING PAST A BIG CHALLENGE
After a failed attempt at a tech startup in the early aughts, Debbie Madden and her husband, Rex, co-founded a consulting company that made the Inc. 5000 five times. They sold it to their partner and started Stride Consulting, with Debbie as its CEO.
Inc.5 min read
No 339 SLEUTHING OUT AN INSIDE JOB
Chuck Shirley and Relina DeDios-Shirley were recruiters when they started Hideit Mounts, a company that designs and sells device mounts that camouflage game consoles and cable boxes. Their online business was growing steadily, but when they did some
Inc.2 min readCooking, Food & Wine
No 287 SHE TRANSFORMS CHOCOLATE INTO ART
Maggie Callahan → MAGGIE LOUISE CONFECTIONS Three-year growth 1,702.9% • 2017 revenue $2.2 million AUSTIN • FOUNDED 2014 Maggie Louise Callahan grew up in a home suffused with color and exceptional access to artists’ tools and disciplines—her moth
Inc.3 min read
No 231 FINDING COMFORT IN THEIR OWN SKIN
Sartorial frustration—and some encouragement from her wife, Naomi Gonzalez—drove Fran Dunaway to launch a clothing line for women with a masculine streak. But when the couple noticed that it was boxer briefs—not button-up shirts—that were flying off
Inc.5 min read
No 156 HER LONG JOURNEY TO THE AMERICAN DREAM
Nancy Hua moved to the U.S. from China in 1989. She excelled in high school, got a full ride to MIT, went into finance, and became a star trader. But her mother’s illness led her to launch the tech company Apptimize—and shifted her thinking about wha
Inc.3 min read
No 272 A TRIBUTE TO THE WOMEN WHO MADE HIM WHAT HE IS
Jarrett Bauer co-founded Health Recovery Solutions with Rohan Udeshi and Dan Priece. It seeks to reduce hospital readmissions through a platform that helps patients, and family members, monitor their recoveries. What he learned from his grandma and m
Inc.3 min readIntelligence (AI) & Semantics
Why China Is Takıng the Lead in A.I.
Living in China in the early 2000s changed my perspective. I saw firsthand that the outside world’s view—China was good at copying but bad at innovating—was simply wrong. While many were focused on the low prices of Chinese imports and those eerily s

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