From the Ground Up

As the Trump administration closes out its first 100 days, significant changes have taken place. The Small Business Administration has cut at least 20 percent of its workforce, while Trump has tasked the agency with managing student loans. Meanwhile, the IRS is in turmoil, as some 7,000 employees have been laid off, and it’s at risk of losing tens of thousands more. In addition, we have witnessed...

Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of Kind Snacks, is perhaps best known for his appearances on Shark Tank. But much of his focus these days is on expanding his Builders Movement, the initiative he co-founded that aims to bring together “builders” from around the world to help replace extremism with practical problem-solving. Lubetzky is trying to counter the political polarization that is taking over o...

Over the past 13 months, venture capitalist Arian Simone has been tested. A federal court case against her Fearless Fund, which backs under-resourced entrepreneurs such as women of color to ensure they have the support they need to succeed in business, became one of the most closely watched anti-DEI lawsuits in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action. Those month...

Former finance executive Cate Luzio founded and self-funded the professional-network platform Luminary in late 2018 with the mission to uplift, upskill, and propel women and allies forward through all phases of their professional journeys. Luminary is a gender inclusive B2C and B2B global professional education and networking platform. Today the company has more than 15,000 members globally across...

Babba Rivera, the founder and CEO of clean-beauty company Ceremonia, is a cover subject of Inc. magazine’s 2025 Female Founder issue. Her heritage is both an inspiration and a driving force for her brand.  When Babba Rivera was growing up, her Chilean family moved to Sweden to escape the brutal Pinochet dictatorship. She spent her early career working at startups in both Sweden and the U.S., at Ub...

Half of Americans live in child care deserts. For many more, child care is unaffordable. Paid leave for parents is far from universal. Reshma Saujani is on a mission to change all this.  Reshma is best known for having founded Girls Who Code in 2012 during her run for the U.S. Congress. She has raised $100 million and taught 670,000 girls programming skills over the past decade. Now, Reshma has tu...

In this episode, Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom and editor-at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin host a roundtable discussion with some of the reporters who contributed to Inc. magazine’s 2025 Female Founders issue. They are joined by freelancer writer Issie Lapowsky and senior editor Rebecca Deczynski to discuss how the state of female entrepreneurship is rapidly changing in this political momen...

The serial founder says the legacy pasta brands have made their beds. So she made a new one.   Jen Zeszut’s mac and cheese brand, Goodles, is designed not just to stand out in the aisle—with rainbow-hued packaging amid a sea of beige and blue—but also to carve out a new customer for the classic pasta recipe: young adults who like convenience, but who aim to eat something healthier than your standa...

To kick off our fourth season of From the Ground Up, Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom and editor-at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin are speaking with founders who will be appearing on Inc. magazine’s Female Founders 2025 list. Our first guest is serial entrepreneur Jeni Britton.   She’s best known for rethinking flavor creation in ice cream, and is the founder of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, whic...

This is a special segment in collaboration with our partner at Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Inc. Editor-in-Chief Mike Hoffman spoke with Smarsh Founder Stephen Marsh about his remarkable journey, the legacy he has built, and the honor of being the first recipient of the inaugural Legacy Award presented by Glenfiddich at this year's Inc. 5000 gala.

Ah, 2024. So much to say! For our last episode of the season, we analyze the biggest small-business and workplace topics of the past year and highlight what’s on the horizon for 2025. Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom and editor-at-large Chrsitine Lagorio-Chafkin sat down with senior editor Tim Crino, and staff writer Sarah Lynch to discuss the annual changes that have taken place here at Inc., t...

If you grew up in the ’90s, the “¡Yo quiero Taco Bell!" chihuahua commercial was inescapable. Remember the vital-to-surfers sunscreen Sun Bum? Both of these memorable branding moments were created by serial entrepreneur Tom Rinks.   Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom sat down with Tom for this episode of From the Ground Up to discuss his unusual path to becoming a branding whiz—and what he’s learn...

Honing one's craft. Dedicating many, many hours to perfecting a skill set. Entrepreneurship can, in some ways, resemble the work life of a professional athlete. Ayesha Curry is certainly focused on her burgeoning lifestyle and culinary brand, Sweet July, and the multiple businesses within it—but that’s where she might say the similarities she has with her husband, NBA star Stephen Curry, end. Wher...

Have you ever wondered what happened to your favorite kettle chip brand or kombucha in your local supermarket? Don’t see your favorite cranberry sauce for the holidays? For this episode, Inc. executive editor Diana Ransom and editor-at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin spoke with editor-at-large Tom Foster about his recent article, “Why Are So Many Supermarket Brands Losing Shelf Space?” By the end...

You’ve seen the headlines: Gen-Z Getting Fired. Employers Avoiding Hiring Gen-Z Employees. Perhaps to understand the generational struggle in American businesses today, we need to look back to March 2020. Simon Sinek, the author and speaker on business leadership, says the emotionality and intensity of the early pandemic taught him a great deal about himself and his relationships—in and out of the...

It’s a young company, but its legacy spans generations. And thanks to Fawn Weaver, the story and legacy of her whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest, is becoming ever more expansive. Its most recent chapter: The company reached a $1.1 billion valuation in 2024. However, none of this would have been possible without Weaver, Uncle Nearest’s founder and CEO, who envisions herself as not just an executive and...

The shapewear brand that exploded onto the scene with the most famous pitchwoman in the business as a co-founder recently hit a major milestone: Kim Kardashian’s Skims is now a unicorn four times over. Writer Max Berlinger sat down to talk with Kardashian for his feature article in our September issue of Inc. magazine—so Christine and Diana sat down to talk with Max to get the behind-the-scenes. H...

Before Monte Deere joined Kizik, the hands-free shoe brand, as chief executive, he had zero experience in selling consumer products–—and no experience in footwear. Heck, he’d never been a CEO before. But Kizik’s Kizik founder Mike Pratt had worked with Deere previously– and took a bet on him. Deere was tasked with recruiting a dream team of executives with experience at brands such as Hoka, Conver...

Dilip Rao had what he would call “the perfect life” until he was in a car accident on July 5, 2014, in New York City. What followed changed his outlook—and his values. That same year, he founded Sharebite to change the way workplaces bring their employees together for, and show them appreciation through, meals. And he built in a mission that has helped bolster struggling restaurants—and combat foo...

This week, we kick off our Inc. feature coverage by exploring the making of–and proliferation of–cult brands. In this episode, executive editor Diana Ransom and editor-at-large Christine Lagorio-Chafkin invite Inc. staff writer Ali Donaldson to talk about an article she wrote that broke open a lot of consumer trends we’ve seen over recent years–and explained the anatomy of consumer-product viralit...

Ariel Kaye spent 10 years working in advertising and brand development in New York City before launching the Los Angeles-based home-goods brand Parachute. So she was equipped with insight into consumer purchase behavior and folks’ growing interest in comfort, quality, craftsmanship, and social responsibility—all of which are now tenets of the Parachute brand.   When it launched in 2014, Parachute...

Are you ready to take advantage of AI and the latest performance marketing tools to elevate your holiday sales? The explosion of AI tools in recent years has transformed key sectors like medicine and finance, but AI is also empowering small and medium-size businesses as they seek to elevate sales via online advertising. This impact is most evident during the all-important holiday season, when last...

Anu Duggal has funded the businesses of hundreds of women—and has seen multiple hundred-million-dollar-plus exits. Now, she’s trying to make a statement.   For our season opener, we sat down with Anu Duggal, the founding partner of Female Founders Fund, a seed-stage venture capitalist fund focused on providing early-stage funding for startups by women entrepreneurs. Female Founders Fund has invest...

Inc. editor-in-chief Mike Hofman and Salesforce's Adam Alfano talk about sales leadership and best practices based on an exclusive survey of Inc. 5000 companies.

Welcome to Inc's From the Ground Up Summer programming! While we’re hard at work on season two of the show, we wanted to keep bringing you astute conversations , courtesy of our live events throughout the year. In this segment we have Editor In Chief, Mike Hofman in a fireside chat with La Colombe Coffee Founder, Todd Carmichael at Inc's Founders House in Philadelphia. Carmichael transformed La Co...