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.

By Way of Introduction

DINO DON’S BEAST MARKET • A journalist turned his curiosity about prehistoric creatures into a very modern enterprise.

Do Your Employees Need to Like You? • The acerbic style of Away CEO Steph Korey prompted an employee tempest that led to her (temporary) resignation. We asked two founders to comment on the importance of the boss’s popularity.

The Jargonator • Swatting the buzzwords of business since 2014.

Why Direct to Consumer Has Worked • In 2012, an outfit called Dollar Shave Club posted a wry video of co-founder Michael Dubin strutting around a fake factory bragging about “f*cking great” blades. The idea of $1 razors seemed a little crazy. But in 2016, Unilever spent $1 billion—crazy money—to buy the company. I wrote Billion Dollar Brand Club to chronicle the DTC phenomenon, which has also yielded Warby Parker, Glossier, and Casper. Here are what I find to be the book’s most compelling details.

Place of Business INDIANAPOLIS • Affordability, a new rapid transit line, and a business-friendly government are helping this Midwestern city become a hotbed for B2B startups.

Exit Interview

DEFEAT THE TROLLS • Despite some legal losses, patent trolls are as active, and adaptive, as ever. Are you prepared to play defense against them?

Remaking a Classic PACKAGING DESIGN • The 13-egg carton was a design exercise for Randy Ludacer. Then an egg farmer called.

Material Matters • While everyone scrambles to ditch plastic straws, some com panies are finding customers by ditching the plastic that’s common in other products—like sunglasses, which contribute to the 6,000 tons of annual waste produced by the manufacture of eyeglasses. Finding few high-end options for ecoconscious consumers, Stacey Gorlick and Craig Gonsenhauser saw an opening. In March 2019, after a year of research and a $180,000 friends-and-family funding round, they launched Just Human out of their West L.A. home.

The Real Workforce Impact of HR Technology • From automating basic administrative tasks to attracting more talented employees, HR technology has a lot to offer small and midsize businesses.

The number of Latinx startups is rocketing. Their funding is not. And the U.S. economy suffers • Unless we solve the “scaling gap,” we’re missing out on the opportunity to grow employment and GDP.

Even Tech Companies Win When They Take Time to Scale • Shopify’s $50 billion valuation shows that slower can be a better way to go—and a better way to live.

Tips for Better Team Building • Company outings can improve employee satisfaction, collaboration, and productivity. The trick: They need to fit your company’s culture as well as your budget.

Survive and Shine • AMBER LEONG CIRCADIAN OPTICS She spent 20 days in the hospital fighting for her life, months after emigrating alone from Malaysia. Her experience gave her the courage to start a company. Her story made her a Shark Tank darling.

Waco Then the World • How Chip and Joanna Gaines turned a modest Waco, Texas, house-flipping operation into one of the most powerful new brands in entertainment, publishing, and retail.

Home is where the brand is. • The Gaineses transformed the modern farmhouse aesthetic of their own home into a lifestyle empire.

Welcome to Waco • First, Chip and Joanna renovated houses. Then, an entire city.

INNOVATE OR DIE. OR … BOTH • A few weeks after Wilhelm Röntgen discovered the X-ray in 1895, following experiments with cathode-ray tubes, he captured an image of his wife’s left...