The Business Model by Inc.

As workers worry that AI will automate their jobs away, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer, Aneesh Raman, argues something different: AI is going to remove barriers for entrepreneurship and help accelerate self-employment and ownership.    In a new segment on the Business Model, Ramen joins Inc. staff reporter Kayla Webster to talk about his take on AI and the job market and his new boo...

Move over, golf. The new sport of the business world is padel.   The racket sport has exploded in popularity among the Oura-ring-wearing, cold-pressed-juice crowd, as Inc.’s Ali Donaldson reports. Padel clubs are opening en masse across the U.S., providing an opportunity for founders to network and build new wellness-focused ventures.    Donaldson joins Inc.’s Ben Sherry on this episode of 1 Smart...

Many founders engage their customers with some type of membership or subscription model. But what’s perhaps more important is building a community.   On this episode of The Business Model, we present a Founder Group Chat of women who have made real relationships around their brands.  Inc.’s Sarah Lynch is joined by a trio of Female Founders 500 honorees who have done just that—Rachel Liverman, fou...

It’s been nearly a year since President Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs, making the markets go haywire and creating sky-high duties for all kinds of businesses.    “It was stunning for a lot of founders,” says Inc.’s Melissa Angell, who recently filed a deep report on the first year of Trump’s tariff agenda. While the Supreme Court eventually struck down Trump’s initial tariff slate, h...

Women manage $32 trillion in global spending and three-quarters of discretionary spending. Still, women are really dissatisfied with the products and services available to them, according to a 2024 BCG study.   This presents a unique opportunity for businesses founded by — and focused on — women.  On this episode of The Business Model, we’ve brought back three of this year’s Female Founders 500 ho...

If you’re an early-stage founder, striking the right balance between building a sustainable business model and raising capital to get there is one of the hardest challenges you’ll face.    Inc. editorial assistant Annabel Burba recently spoke with Tovala founder and CEO David Rabie about exactly that topic. Rabie opens up about how his startup nearly ran out of runway and how a series of pivots an...

Last year, female-founded companies got barely over 1 percent of venture capital investment. It’s a shocking statistic, but not a surprising one to this week’s Founder Group Chat.   For this round, our panel includes three of this year’s Female Founders 500 honorees: Rachel Liverman, founder and CEO of Glowbar; Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer of Little Spoon; and Priyanka Jain...

You’ve probably heard about Anthropic’s ongoing battle with the Trump administration. It started with disputes over the federal government using Anthropic’s technology to kill autonomously and spy on Americans en masse. Then Trump deemed the leading AI firm a “supply chain risk,” prompting a countersuit from Anthropic and a sea of questions from users of Anthropic products, like Claude.     On thi...

President Trump has ousted Kirsti Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary. The man tapped to replace her is Republican U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin.    Mullin has established himself as the most influential business owner in Trump’s Washington.     On this bonus episode of 1 Smart Business Story, our guest is journalist Issie Lapowsky. She’s been tracking Mullin’s ascent and just happ...

Whether you’re an Olympic athlete or a business leader, sleep optimization is key to improving performance. Inc. staff reporter Chloe Aiello recently spoke with performance coach Sam Neame, who shared six strategies for sleep optimization.    “Something I found interesting about Sam’s recommendations [was] that your best night of sleep actually starts first thing in the morning,” says Chloe.     C...

As a founder, chances are that you’re the best possible spokesperson for your brand. You’re its face and voice.  But you’re also in charge of running a business, managing people, developing the brand—the list goes on. How’s one person supposed to balance everything?    On this episode of Founder Group Chat, we’re giving you an insider’s take on how to do it all from three women who know how to do...

The next big thing in artificial intelligence probably won’t look like OpenAI or Anthropic.   "Companies aren't really attempting to make their own big, foundational AI models anymore," says Ben Sherry, lead AI reporter at Inc. “Where founders are at today is saying, 'I don't have the money to make an AI model because it costs billions and billions of dollars and months and months of time and thou...

When you’re a founder building your brand in public, things can get messy as the lines blur between your personal brand and your company’s brand. How do you keep them separate? When does it matter to do so?    Tough questions, but this Founder Group Chat has answers. Inc. senior editor Rebecca Deczynski gets the scoop from Dianna Cohen of Crown Affair; Sarah Paiji Yoo of Blueland; and Elly Ross of...

If the phrases “small business” and “email marketing” sound right for a company built in the past, think again.     Flodesk, which built a platform for small businesses and solopreneurs to create branded emails, has taken its idea to the bank. Once a Y Combinator reject, the company recently passed $36 million in annual recurring revenue and appointed co-founder Rebecca Shostak as CEO.    Shostak ...

It seems like there are endless options for platforms on which you can build your brand. Substack. TikTok. Email newsletters. LinkedIn. Instagram Reels. The list goes on. So, how’s a founder supposed to decide which one is right for them?     Inc.’s Rebecca Deczynski is back for another installment of Founder Group Chat with Sarah Paiji Yoo of Blueland, Dianna Cohen of Crown Affair, and Elly Ross ...

Testosterone is going mainstream. What used to be the stuff of bodybuilders is growing in popularity for everything from treating medical conditions to giving looksmaxxers an edge.     Now, big-name players like Hims and Rugiet are entering the testosterone space, which is rife with gray market providers — including some seemingly faceless, shady companies.     Inc.’s Sam Blum joins Chloe Aiello t...

The idea of getting in front of a camera is intimidating for many people, even nightmare-inducing.   But for many founders in today’s climate, building your brand in public can feel like a necessity. Especially if you’re bootstrapped, serving as both founder and face of the brand saves cash and makes sure you get it right (or as close to right as possible). Still, it’s a daunting job and one that’...

Long gone are the days of incessant cold calling or three-martini lunches to close a sale. A new crop of Gen-Z salespeople are turning to what they know better than any other generation: social media.   It’s a new tactic known as social selling. Inc. writer Annabel Burba explains to senior editor Rebecca Deczynski how the economy led to this, and the ins and outs of what makes a good social sellin...

One of the stickiest parts of leading a business into the age of AI is a human problem: How do you persuade your employees to adopt the new technology?   They might have fears about AI taking their jobs, or the big environmental consequences it has. They might have an ethical issue with AI, or just flat out have no interest in it.     While there are plenty of justifiable fears about AI, it’s hard...

This is a special presentation of an excerpt from a new short documentary from Inc. called "The Cost of Coming Back". See full video here: https://youtu.be/9DzxYFLnMzQ After the deadly July 4 flood in Kerr County, Texas, small-business owners face hard choices about debt, survival, and starting over. Inc. Magazine delivers advice, tools, and services to help business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs...

Most influencers and content creators don’t start making videos because they want to run a small business. But as the brand deals, ad revenue, and merch sales start to pile up, many creators run into a problem with their new reality: They haven’t a clue how to run a small business.   Enter a startup appropriately named Boring Stuff. Founded in 2024 and recently out of stealth mode, the outfit prov...

Artificial intelligence is no longer the domain of tech companies. Even traditionally analog businesses are implementing AI, sometimes in unexpected ways.   On this episode of The Business Model by Inc., senior tech editor Rob Verger kicks off a new Founder Group Chat with two unlikely advocates for AI:   Samuel Moses, founder of Sockrates, a custom sock company based in Florida  Natasha Miller, f...

We’ve heard the stories too many times. You’ve invested years in a corporate job, and then one day, a 10-minute meeting pops up on your calendar. Shortly afterward, your computer gets shut down, and you’re turning in your badge. It’s traumatizing and demoralizing. What do you do next?   Seasoned communication executive and author of “Meredith & the Media” Meredith Klein says that “layoffs have sen...

Launching and growing a business is rarely smooth sailing. These founders have been through it all and share their lessons on scaling their businesses, navigating hardships, and even making an exit plan. This is the first Founder Group Chat video marathon featuring Inc.’s Graham Winfrey and three founders:   Fany Gerson, founder of Mexican ice cream and sweets brand La Newyorkina   Sarah LaFleur,...

Safi Aziz is “grossed out” by the AI boom. “They’re promising to make the movie Her a reality, and they’re trying to do so with swiftness and with deliberation,” he told Inc.’s Ali Donaldson. “That scares me.”  So, Aziz started a company that would lean into something radically different: game nights.   On this edition of Circling Back, Donaldson joins Inc.’s Chloe Aiello to talk about her recent...