The Business Model by Inc.

On this Founder Group Chat, we’re looking at three very different companies: A food truck for dogs, kid-coded cereal for adults, and yet another craft beer brand.     Any of these ideas could get you laughed out of the room during a pitch meeting. Still, the founders of these companies managed to build successful brands in the wildly saturated food and beverage space — while having some fairly out...

Leaders from Salesforce, SaaStr, and Asymbl discuss how fast-growing businesses are using AI to sharpen decision-making and scale smarter.  The gap between where a business stands today and where it could be is often driven by manual processes, disconnected tools, and inefficient workflows. Inc. correspondent Shibani Joshi moderates a panel featuring Adam Alfano, president of global SMB and emergi...

Almost every founder goes through a humbling experience when they launch their brand, and these founders in the food and beverage industry are no strangers to that.   In today’s Founder Group Chat, we’re talking origin stories with three founders:  Ron Holloway’s Woofbowl: A food truck for dogs serving up delicious dog treats  LeAnn Darland’s TALEA Beer Co.: New York City’s first women-owned brewe...

After nearly 15 years, Snapchat’s parent company is still chasing profitability. Co-founder Evan Spiegel is still at the helm of Snap Inc. An activist investor demanding change, a controversial layoff of 1,000 employees, and an over $3 billion bet on augmented reality glasses raises the question: Is Spiegel still the right person to lead Snap?  On this episode of The Business Model, David Lidsky,...

Back when Chad Janis was in graduate school, his little gummy bear company was the butt of his Stanford classmates’ jokes.     Now, nobody’s laughing. Except maybe the wise few who invested early in Grüns and saw their money multiply by 100x.     Janis’ gummy bear supplement brand, Grüns, was recently acquired by Unilever for a reported $1.2 billion. Close listeners to The Business Model feed will...

The AI cloud-computing company CoreWeave is at an inflection point. It's brought on ex-Amazon executive Jon Jones as its chief revenue officer to hyperscale the company. But can he deliver?     For a recent Inc. story, senior staff writer Melissa Angell chatted with Jones to learn more about his strategic approach. On this episode of The Business Model, Angell joins Inc. staff reporter Chloe Aiell...

It can feel impossible to get the word out about your company. Social media audiences are fragmented. Email can feel as old-school as a TV or radio commercial. Plus, advertising anywhere is so expensive, you can’t afford to get it wrong.   If you’re not sure where to go, you’re not alone. But this week’s Founder Group Chat gets some answers from Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and...

Many people are familiar with private equity, but private credit is largely unknown. Award-winning business journalist and author Bethany McLean recently investigated the private credit boom and reported why she’s worried about what she discovered.     On this episode of The Business Model, Bethany joins Inc. staff reporter Ali Donaldson to explain what private credit is, the incentives that prope...

If you want to scale your company and get in front of new audiences, there are two cheat codes: Brand collaborations and retail partnerships.   However, these are some of the trickiest deals to land.  On this Founder Group Chat, we learn how from three founders who have figured it out: Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and Hugh & Grace’s Sara Jensen.  As you’ll hear, sometimes the s...

The biggest threat to the human resources status quo is a podcast.     Not just any podcast, though. The HR Besties podcast is hosted by three HR veterans — Ashley Herd, Jamie Jackson, and Leigh Henderson.     The three have built an audience by telling the oft-hidden truth that HR professionals see inside corporate America. It led to HR’s most powerful trade group asking the court to issue a gag...

What do a fashion label, a hair care brand, and a wellness retailer have in common? Supply chain woes, of course!   On this Founder Group Chat, Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and Hugh & Grace’s Sara Jensen explain how they have scaled their companies.   While their companies are more cult-favorites than household names, they face the same challenges that bigger companies do. From...

Schoolhouse made a name for itself selling vintage-styled lights from its headquarters in Portland. It then expanded from three employees to 150 with storefronts in New York and Pittsburgh, selling home hardware, furniture, and textiles in addition to lighting.     All the while, its motto was “work hard and be nice to people.” Then came private equity.   Freelance journalist Yelena Alpert joins h...

Anybody can have a good idea. It’s taking the next step that gives people more trouble.   On this Founder Group Chat, we have three founders who have turned their big idea into eight-figure-revenue businesses:  Paakow Essandoh of clothing brand Mizizi  Sara Jensen of wellness company Hugh & Grace  Allison Conrad of hair care brand Arey  Each of these founders has a personal story that inspired the...

At the beginning of this year, you may have noticed a dip in the valuation of tech companies. It’s not all tech companies, but software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies specifically. But why?     Inc. staff writer Brian Contreras recently investigated this phenomenon and spoke with several industry experts to better understand exactly what’s happening with these companies. It’s what the industry is c...

If you’re a founder who’s early in your journey, or maybe you haven’t even started yet, this is the podcast for you.   Inc.’s Sarah Lynch gets advice on all kinds of topics — from fundraising through building company culture — from three successful founders, in three very different industries.   It’s time for the final installment of our Founder Group Chat with honorees from Inc.’s Female Founders...

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...