Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2024/2025 i Inc. Magazine

“AllTrails is a funny case study, mostly because a lot of thought is put into designing something that isn't meant to be looked at all that much. That makes it refreshing.” Chris Gayomali It was kismet when Gayomali, a writer who has held roles at GQ and Fast Company and publishes the newsletter Heavies, started working on a piece about the hiking, biking, and running app AllTrails (page 70). “My family had recently used the app to plan a short, child-friendly hike with our toddler,” he says. “Whether he actually enjoys hiking is still unclear to me.” Allison Glock Award-winning journalist and filmmaker Glock learned from MNTN CEO Mark Douglas and its chief creative officer, actor Ryan Reynolds, how much fun it can be to build a creative business (page…

Jenny Nguyen isn't concerned about keeping trade secrets. The founder of Hello Human, a public relations firm catering to small businesses in the design space, has scaled her customer base by teaching clients how to do her job themselves. For a onetime payment of $299, furniture makers, lighting designers, gallery owners, and other creative-minded entrepreneurs can have access to her PR playbook. With prior branding and marketing experience and an edi to rial background as a contributing editor to Domino and Vogue Living, Nguyen has long understood how publicity can benefit brands big and small. The only thing was, the industry-standard retainer model—which can require six-month contracts and monthly fees into the thousands—isn't really affordable for many creative startups. To create a pricing structure that up-and-coming creatives could stomach, Nguyen…

Tyler Denk has a mi graine. His doctor says he's working too late, staring at screens too much of his day. Denk gets it. He's still figuring out an optimal work-life balance. But when that screen shows Beehiiv, his email newsletter platform, shooting past $1.5 million in monthly revenue, he doesn't feel like taking a break. He'd rather keep building. Denk has been a fixture of the email newsletter world since 2017, when his former middle-school basketball teammate Austin Rief hired him to lead engineering and growth efforts at the business-focused newsletter Morning Brew. Denk moved from his home state of Maryland to New York City for the job, just when the newsletter format was starting to gain popularity through outlets like the Skimm and Axios. Denk learned that newsletters…

Labor Day weekend, somewhere in upstate New York, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Brooklyn, where we live. A group of us—my wife, our toddler, and another couple—had rented a beautiful A-frame cottage in the woods. It's the kind of place that reinvigorates you, and makes you wistfully open a few Zillow tabs. On that morning, we wanted to sneak in an easy hike before lunch, so we fired up AllTrails, the go-to hiking app for outdoors enthusiasts. We wanted a specific set of conditions: a loop, preferably by a body of water, that was easy enough to do with a 2-year-old. After some swiping, we found a 1.4-miler with minimal elevation gain that was just 20 minutes away. One of us downloaded the map and off we went. The parking…

This past sum mer, Rob Acton was feeling stuck—and it worried him. The founder and CEO of Cause Strategy Partners has enjoyed steady success over the past decade. His New York City-based company works with clients such as Adobe and JPMorganChase to match their high-potential employees with nonprofit board work, helping give back to communities while developing emerging leaders. Since its inception, the business had been growing consistently and profitably, reaching 18 employees and $4 million in annual revenue. But, all of a sudden, Cause Strategy Partners seemed to lose momentum. “I felt it in my bones,” Acton says. “I remember saying to our COO, ‘It feels like we have some malaise in the company that I've not felt before.’” Acton started digging into the company's data and studying growth…

These 241 com panies and 17 business leaders—in industries including education, software, and financial services—had an outsize impact this year when it came to their product launches, client outcomes, community engagement, and all-around wins. ADVERTISING & MARKETING Autumn Communications PR & marketing Beverly Hills Awestruck Marketing Bethlehem, Pa. Bospar PR & marketing San Francisco The Brand Agency Communications Burbank, Calif. C-Strategies PR & marketing Chicago Dreamday PR & marketing Beverly Hills Elevate Communications PR services Boston Hello Human PR services New York City Highdive Advertising Chicago Ideas On Purpose Creative services New York City impact.com Affiliate marketing Santa Barbara, Calif. Integrate B2B marketing platform Seattle Known Marketing services New York City LINK Strategic Partners Communications Washington, D.C. Media Minefield PR services Minnetonka, Minn. MNTN Adtech platform Austin Monstrous Media Group…

If you ever find yourself in one of Paul Smith's colorful, art-stuffed stores, don't be surprised if the rangy, bespectacled clerk grabbing a suit jacket off a nearby hanger and slipping it onto your slightly befuddled shoulders is the brand's namesake himself. “Oh, I work every Saturday,” the London-based Smith told me one scorching October morning as he bounded around his shop in Los Angeles. “I just love it. You get the joy of people appreciating your work.” But don't let Smith's breezy temperament fool you—the designer has the acumen of a shrewd businessman. After all, he has endured—thrived, even!—for over 50 years in the notoriously fickle fashion business. Smith's company operates 130 stores across more than 60 countries, grossing about $254 million in sales this year, down 6 percent…

In the summer of 2020, as racial justice protests took over city streets in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, Erik and Pete Nordstrom made an urgent plea to a trusted confidant, Stacy Brown-Philpot. Like a lot of leaders across the country, the Nordstroms were grappling with how to respond to the fear and anger being felt not just by their customers, but by their employees as well. For Nordstrom, a retailer with a diverse workforce and hundreds of stores that were on the frontline of the protests, navigating that moment of social upheaval was both particularly fraught and urgent. The Nordstrom brothers, who run the company founded in 1901 by their greatgrandfather, wanted to create a space for their employees to deal with their outrage and engage in the…

Don't challenge Elizabeth Gore and Carolyn Rodz to a game of highs and lows. The Hello Alice co-founders will win—by a long shot. Over the past year, the Houston-based startup, which connects small businesses to resources and funding, confronted an existential legal attack, one that could have potentially shuttered the company and destroyed seven years of work helping entrepreneurs—particularly underrepresented ones like women, veterans, and people of color—scale their businesses. Even worse, if Hello Alice had faltered, the impact could have reverberated among other firms looking to tip the balance for traditionally disadvantaged communities. While fighting off a well-financed federal lawsuit, the fundingplatform founders became two of the most public faces of anti-DEI litigation. The lawsuits, filed by conservative groups, number more than 125 since the Supreme Court's decision to…

Courteney Cox may be an A-list celebrity, but she's also a proud homebody. “I'm one of those people who love design,” she says, referring to her seaside Malibu house of 17 years. “I redecorate all the time. I love my home so much.” It's only logical, then, that the 60-year-old actor's foray into entrepreneurship would involve a business that provides beauty products for the home. Two years in, the Santa Monica, California-based Homecourt, which makes and sells candles, room sprays, and various home-cleaning products, is on track to triple its revenue for the year, grow its product list to 140 SKUs, and, after redesigning its packaging, launch into 2025 with an ambitious retail strategy. “I want Homecourt to be a household name,” Cox said during an interview at this year's…

The transition into the workplace for Gen-Zers has been bumpy, to say the least. Roughly 60 percent of companies have cut Gen-Z employees they hired this year, according to education and career advisory platform Intelligent. Millennials also received plenty of grief as they entered the workforce, but have since ascended to managerial roles and forged their own paths in entrepreneurship. So, assuming that Gen-Z will shape the future workforce, what do employers need to know about working with this cohort? 1 HELP THEM PRIORITIZE Tenley Uttenreuther, 24, was laid offthis year. She says that she and many of her peers are hard workers, and that she said yes to too many projects at her former employer, often pulling all-nighters. Though she's still willing to work hard, she admits she could…

BAMBOOINSURANCE.COM NO 1680 2024 Ranking 309% 3-Year Growth $70M+ 2023 Revenue 130 Employees When most people think of home and auto insurance companies, they think of boring decades-old businesses—and they wouldn't be wrong. So, when John Chu, an insurance industry veteran, started considering what he wanted to do before he retired, he decided to try to disrupt the industry he had spent three decades working in. In 2018, Chu launched Bamboo Insurance, a company that, unlike others in the space, uses sophisticated technology to underwrite and price more accurately. While most home insurers collect five or six pieces of basic data, Bamboo ingests significantly more, including the condition of the roof, the life of the heating system, the quality of the cabinetry, and much more. “We're better at matching the…

As planning begins for the 2025 fiscal year, companies need their sales pipelines to be as robust as possible. Key to that is the need for sales teams to decipher whether they're hearing false promises from clients, and identify churn metrics they may have missed. To do that, Chantel George, founder of the membershipbased sales network Sistas in Sales, advises asking these questions. —S.Strauss Are we talking to the decision maker? Is there another solution they're considering? Do we have the person's phone number to text them? Do we know how many people behind the scenes have to weigh in?…

InnoActive Group, a full stack consultancy with a visionary leader, uses advanced data analytics and AI to show the construction industry a better way to operate. THEINNOACTIVEGROUP.COM NO 350 2024 Ranking 1,247% 3-Year Growth HQ San Francisco, Calif. 2017 Year Founded The construction industry is one of the last frontiers for data and technology, notes Sean Wahidi, founder at InnoActive Group, a tech-forward, data-driven consulting firm specializing in project management, software advisory and implementation, and data analytics for Fortune 500 companies and public agencies. The company stands out for its gamechanging approach, as well as for its visionary leadership. In 2016, when Wahidi and his wife, Lema Shah, founded the company, the idea of applying a data-first approach to an industry resistant to change was unheard of, Wahidi explains. But…

If I'm not structured, it's chaos. Writing things down helps me feel connected to what needs to be done. I have a journal for goals, which is basically my bible for work. It has everything in it, like lists, priorities, meeting notes—a leadership journal that is actually a Laurel Denise teacher planner, a Hobonichi journal for memorykeeping, and a reading journal. A couple of years ago, I took off two weeks during Christmastime and I just watched bullet journal videos.” Mandy Teefey Co-founder and CEO of mental health media company Wondermind, which she launched with her daughter, Selena Gomez, in 2022.…

The founder of Kidology is working with children to meet their developmental milestones and building a business, one pediatric clinic at a time. KIDOLOGYINC.COM NO 3718 2024 Ranking 3 Locations 66 Employees $2.5M 2023 Revenue A child of immigrants, Luba Patlakh Kaplun had a passion for people from a young age. She initially wanted to be in front of an audience, going into broadcast journalism, but in her early 20s, she decided to forge a new path, one in which she could use her gift of gab while also helping people and utilizing marketing skills. She came across speech-language pathology, also known as speech therapy, and from there, her career began to blossom. Over the next five years, she specialized in diagnosing and treating disorders related to communication and swallowing,…

You don't have to be Steve Jobs to change the world. Anyone can start innovating in six simple steps. —P.C. 1 | FIND THE RIGHT PROBLEM By observing the world, ordinary people can find unmet needs to fill. 2 | ASK WHY IT EXISTS Think about the root cause of the problem to understand why it matters to people, why it resists solution, and the flaws in existing solutions. 3 | BRAINSTORM SOLUTIONS Work in diverse teams to imagine a range of blue-sky solutions to the problem. 4 | BUILD PROTOTYPES Develop quick models that communicate efficiently to potential users how your solution meets their need. 5 | ITERATE Get feedback and try again. Use feedback from users on what works and what is missing to develop a new prototype.…

Inspiration struck Latham Thomas 22 years ago. That's when she found out she was pregnant with her son, Fulano. “He's the senior in college, right over there,” she says, pointing to a young man sitting alone at a table in a Brooklyn event space, her mouth breaking into a smile the moment her eyes land on him. Thomas was just a year out of Columbia University, where she'd studied visual arts and environmental sciences, when she learned she was expecting. She knew little about the level of care she needed, where to look for it, or how to plan for pregnancy and beyond. Few new parents do. That got her thinking. What if she could make the pregnancy and birth process easier to understand as well as “more blissful, comfortable,…

As an undergraduate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Eliyah Radzyner developed an unexpected passion: honeybees. While pursuing a degree in agroecology and sustainable agriculture, he began taking courses on beekeeping, keeping his own hives as a hobby, and growing increasingly fond of the humble creatures. “They're very, very similar to us. They have personalities, and they make decisions, and they regulate the temperature of the hive, just like we regulate the temperature of our body,” he says. “There are a lot of similarities, and that's what got me interested at first.” Upon graduation, he flipped his passion into a career as a commercial beekeeper. But in spite of his best efforts, Radzyner kept running into the same problem. His colonies were dying at alarming rates. “Every time you go…

2025 1 For your lungs Windmill Air Purifier, $299 Eliminate odor, smoke, allergens, and more from your space with a threein-one filter. 2 For your overall health Oura Ring 4, $499 Get a fuller picture of your well-being with 24/7 heart-rate monitoring, temperature tracking, and more. 3 For your wake-up Loftie Clock, $150 Start your day with a gentle two-phase alarm that won't wake you up with a jolt. 4 For your fitness Whoop 4.0, $298 with 12-month subscription Track your every move, whether you're asleep or on the go—so you can better understand your body's capabilities and needs. 5 For your ZZZ's Therabody Vibrating SleepMask, $99 Block out light and rock yourself to sleep with soothing, rhythmic vibrations, transmitted through a soft, padded mask. 6 For your mind Nowatch,…

Amy Neary never expected she'd need a hurricane-preparedness plan when she founded an intravenous nutrient therapy franchise in Colorado Springs, Colorado. But when Hurricane Helene struck more than 1,800 miles away in October, she had to act fast to keep Prime IV Hydration & Wellness's 150 locations up and running. The storm temporarily shut down the North Cove, North Carolina, plant of Baxter International—the largest manufacturer of IV fluids in the U.S.—and triggered a national IV shortage that forced medical providers to scramble. Spa franchises rank low on suppliers’ priority lists. Still, Neary's team found alternative manufacturers and implemented conservation protocols. “It was really all hands on deck,” she says. This kind of quick thinking has helped along Prime IV's rapid growth since its 2017 launch. The spa franchise logged…

“You spend a lot of time in Zoom meetings utterly distracted by your email, texts coming in, kids, dogs —there are a million distractions. A workout, it's just the two of us. The easiest way to get on my calendar is over a workout, because I need to put it in my day regardless, and I hate working out alone.”…

SPURRIERGROUP.COM NO 3278 2024 Ranking 2X Inc. 5000 Honoree 125% 3-Year Growth HQ Richmond, Va. Historically in advertising, the creative team—those tasked with conceptualizing and designing ad campaigns —operated independently from the media team—the folks determining where and when to run ads to reach the intended audience. That never seemed right to Donna Spurrier, who got her start in the 1980s at an automotive advertising company selling the Toyota brand to the American market. When she shared her desire to understand audience behavior and learn from the creative team, colleagues reminded her of how things had “always been done.” Ten years later, with a decade of advertising experience under her belt, Spurrier launched Spurrier Group, a woman-owned performance media marketing partner. Its mission is the same today as it was…

EntreMD helps physicians learn how to create profitable businesses so that they can live life and practice medicine on their own terms. ENTREMD.COM NO 458 2024 Ranking 979% 3-Year Growth $2.1M Annual Revenue HQ Lawrenceville, Georgia Before starting up EntreMD in 2018, Nneka Unachukwu—who goes by Dr. Una—was running a booming pediatrics practice, earning seven figures a year and working four days a week. But as traditional doctors’ offices faced increasing competition from providers such as urgent care centers, after-hours clinics, and pharmacybased clinics, she realized her financial success wouldn't last if she didn't adapt. “My thought was, If I could no longer earn a living practicing medicine as I was, what would I do?” she recalls. Several possibilities came to mind. As someone who had run a successful medical…

CURALINC.COM NO 1770 2024 Ranking 296% 3-Year Growth 4,200+ Clients 200+ Countries and Territories Served Employers are investing in workforce mental health benefits more than ever before, but many programs require tough trade-offs. “Employees shouldn't have to sacrifice a personalized provider match for a shorter wait time,” says clinical director Gladys Reyes, LCSW. “CuraLinc's approach eliminates those compromises.” CuraLinc differentiates itself from other workforce mental health providers through the flexibility it offers employees in how they access care, whether through the digital platform or a phone call with a licensed clinician. “We never push people to call or go online—the choice is theirs,” Reyes says. Core strengths enhance service While offering options for connecting to care is important, CuraLinc's success is driven by three core elements that together enable the…

“Can you make a website from scratch? For sure. But at the same time, you have all these tools you can use to quickly build a website, and then if you have the time or the capability, you can code,” says Jason Wingate, CEO and founder of marketing and holding firm Emerald Ocean. Wingate, who has coding experience, says he likes to use low-code platforms to build websites for his clients. We talked to Wingate and other CEOs who built websites for their businesses to source their favorite tips, tools, processes, and lessons learned. 1 | PICK A PLATFORM A website's functionality and the skill level of the creator will inform which site-builder is best to use. In many cases, platforms that enable site building also offer web hosting and…

(required by Act of August 12, 1970: Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code). 1. INC. 2. ISSN: 0162-8968 3. Filing date: 10/1/2024. 4. Issue frequency: 5 times per year. 5. Number of issues published annually: 5. 6. The annual subscription price is $19. 7. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK, NY 10007-2195. Contact person: Kolin Rankin. Telephone: 305-859-0063. 8. Complete mailing address of headquarters or general business office of publisher: 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK, NY 10007-2195. 9. Full names and complete mailing addresses of publisher, editor, and managing editor. Publisher, JENN HENKUS, 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK, NY 10007-2195; editor, MIKE HOFMAN, 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER, NEW YORK, NY 10007-2195; managing editor, JADA GOMEZ, 7 WORLD TRADE CENTER,…