Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. is the only major brand dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies, with the aim to deliver real solutions for today’s innovative company builders.

Inc. Magazine

Founders Helping Founders

In Praise of Friction • Do founders win or lose when much of the pain of starting companies is removed?

Fast on Her Feet • In July, Flavors Culinary Group founder Samia Bingham won the Small Biz Challenge in Los Angeles by wowing Shark Tank’s Robert Herjavec with an improvised pitch using a slide deck she’d never seen before. “Samia didn’t have a single ‘um’ in that pitch,” says Herjavec, who judged the contest, which was hosted by Inc. and UPS. Below, six quick facts about our contest winner.

The Jargonator • Swatting the buzzwords of business since 2014.

Hot New Startups, Cool Older Looks

Should You Conduct Formal Performance Reviews? • Industry giants like Adobe, General Electric, and Accenture have given up formal annual reviews in favor of providing feedback throughout the year, and startups around the country have followed suit—but is that as effective? Inc. asked two founders to weigh in on the best way to give feedback.

MAKING BUSINESS SCHOOL PAY OFF

Boston • Boston’s frigid winters can’t stop its piping-hot entrepreneurial scene, thanks to an endless supply of top-shelf talent from area colleges. Here’s the tea on Inc.’s No. 15 Surge City.

Home Is Where the Money Is • The real estate business is finally getting renovated, as a new wave of startups build property-technology platforms that improve or simplify the complicated process of buying, selling, renting, or owning a home. And VCs have been more than willing to open their checkbooks: Since 2013, annual investment in U.S. proptech companies has grown at a rate five times that of investment in all U.S. businesses. In 2019, investment in U.S. proptech is on pace to exceed $10 billion. Here’s where some of this year’s money has gone.

EVANGELISTS OF PROGRESSIVE WEB APPS • Allowing time for innovation yields client apps that inspire

One-Man Conglomerate • To build his $5 billion hospitality and gaming empire, Tilman Fertitta had to teach himself how to be a great business owner. Now, as part of Inc.’s ongoing Founders Project, he and other veterans are sharing their secrets.

Hire Learning • Lyfe Marketing’s founders have been growing their startup at breakneck speed—and now their hiring strategy is showing signs of wear. So fellow Atlantan and Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein shared some of the cultural knowhow that made his $1 billion company one of Inc.’s Best Workplaces two years running.

SMALL BUSINESS Meet the Technology Advisors

What the Founders Project has meant to these mentees • + Great advice on handling big brand partnerships, pushy VCs, and chaotic hiring strategies

Show Her the Money • Kindur founder Rhian Horgan wants Baby Boomers to leave their retirement planning to her platform. Anu Duggal, founder and CEO of the $33 million Female Founders Fund, offers expert advice on a crucial issue: earning customers’ trust.

Your EAT Is What You Are • No matter what kind of company you are—tech startup or food truck—Google’s acronym should guide you.

Styled for Storms • In 2005, David Kahng felt that the umbrella market wasn’t getting the attention it deserved. So the Tufts engineering grad, along with his business partner, Ben Tai, founded Davek out of his New York City apartment with nothing but a round of financing from friends and family. Today, the company’s eight-product line, which includes the Alert, a sleek, sturdy, $135 contraption (shown here), sells in 350 stores across the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and Europe, including Neiman Marcus,...