April 1 2017

I KNOW, I KNOW: YOU CAN’T GET THROUGH the Oscars or the Super Bowl or even your Facebook feed without having to watch people take a stand politically. If you hoped to escape that here—well, I hate to disappoint. I’m about to tell you where Inc. stands. This has nothing to do with the Inc. staff’s personal persuasions. Like our readers, we cover the spectrum. What we all s

SAY “MISSION STATEMENT” AND most people think of a social mission company. But business mission statements have been around forever and, when crafted carefully, can be a powerful sales tool for nonsocial businesses, as Tina Aldatz and Margarita Flori

“I take eight hours, maybe as much as 12, and go immerse myself in a neighborhood that I know nothing about—see the culture, eat the food, drink the drinks. After three days of nonstop meetings in San Juan, I flew to Santo Domingo, where I hired a to

THE CULMINATION of Duncan Berry’s lifelong romance with the sea is available in more than 5,000 grocery stores around the country. Fishpeople Seafood, which employs close to 40 workers in-season, delivers for domestic consumption sustainable seafood caught in American waters by independent fisher folk. After 20 years of building fashion companies, Berry returned to the Ore

Ohanian, 33, became a multimillionaire at 23, when Reddit, the community discussion site he created with his college roommate, Steve Huffman, was acquired by Condé Nast. After taking a step back from Reddit for five years, he returned to the San Francisco-based company full time in July 2015. His public profile has risen tremendously since his days as a first-time, fresh-o

After 16 years as an entrepreneur, the co-founder of Method, Ryan, 44, is now CEO and co-founder of supplements company Olly, an operating partner at investing firm Encore Consumer Capital, and a single father. He’s also still involved in Method, the ecofriendly cleaning-products company he sold to Ecover in 2012. He does it all by keeping a solid wall between family and w

When Corcoran, 68, sold off her real estate firm, the Corcoran Group, in 2001, she reached a milestone that leads many entrepreneurs to call it quits. Seven years later, producers for Shark Tank came knocking. Today, she’s called on to appear at more events than ever before, while raising the family she and her husband started after she’d spent years hunkered down in the c

Seven years after the launch of Warby Parker, “the Netflix of eyewear,” Blumenthal and his co-founders are no longer fulfilling orders in a cramped apartment. Today, they’re running 49 retail locations across the U.S. and Canada and have built an iconic brand. That’s allowed Blumenthal, 36, more time to work on the company’s long-term vision and his role as father and husb

Most working moms barely have time to shove their hair in a scrunchy, but Minkoff, 36, mother of two, runs (with her brother Uri) one of America’s hottest fashion labels, and she is expected to look and act the part at all times. Her productivity hacks are part octopus, part Beyoncé, and totally geared to drive her company forward while giving her more time with her young

SOMEWHERE ALONG the way, most founders realize things aren’t going according to plan. This shouldn’t be a surprise—a startup is basically a double scoop of hopes and dreams, drizzled with uncertainty. You might update your road map hourly, but eventu

Identity theft doesn’t just happen to big companies; it’s a problem for small operations, too.

AS THE OWNER OF A SHIPPING company in Puyallup, Washington, Pavel Vosk didn’t realize how little he understood his demographic until he had to hire them. Some of the applicants his age—he started the company when he was 20—who sought administrative a

WHO ARE THEY? Suffused with praise from their Boomer parents, many Millennials got used to having their voices heard early on. And there are a lot of voices: 80 million of them. Inclusiveness is a must, served up in a collaborative setting. “Their rallying cry is ‘a win for one is a win for the team,’ which explains all those open-floor plans,” says David Stillman, a consu

“CAN I PICK YOUR BRAIN?” The question makes Derek Andersen cringe. “So many founders use the same zombie-sounding ask, but it’s generic and ambiguous,” he says. “No one wants to have their brain picked.” Andersen should know: As the founder of Startup Grind, a 200-chapter community for entrepreneurs, he has approached thousands of people for intel. And as his Redwood City,

TAX SEASON IS COMPLICATED enough without your having to worry about retirement planning. But if you want to maximize your future spending money, this is exactly the right time to review the taxes you’re paying—or not paying—on what you’re saving. Ju

A blown ulnar collateral ligament—the UCL, in the elbow—is among the worst injuries a pitcher can suffer. And it costs teams millions of dollars. Sparta Science, a leader in the growing sports-tech industry, has figured out the answer. It’s in the legs, not the arm. Founder Phil Wagner believes he’s uncovered other secrets for minimizing athletic injuries while maximizing

You wouldn’t mistake me for an elite athlete, unless a 40-year-old dad who hangs out on the internet all day could be called athletic. But I’m active enough, and vain enough, to see what the Sparta scan would say about my physical abilities and injury risks. THE JUMP The process began with an eight-minute warmup sequence, a series of lunges, bends, and jumps aimed at gen

SOMETHING’S BEEN BOTHERING me more and more over the past couple of years. It’s the notion that older entrepreneurs don’t have the skills and talent to compete with those in their 20s. It’s disappointing to me that the macrotechnology shift to a mobi

Kansas City, Missouri is renowned for its mouthwatering barbecue, classic jazz, and its World Series-winning Royals. But increasingly, it’s also gaining a reputation as an emerging epicenter for startup formation and incubation. “Kansas City is real

Payment apps are hot. How to know if they’re right for your business—and if they can strengthen bonds with your customers

The guys behind iFixit want to show you how to fix everything from your iPhone to your toaster—for free. By doing so, they’ve built a huge business. Even though Apple totally hates them.

Eight states are mulling legislation that would thrill iFixit—and anger Apple THE FIRST CAR I owned was a 1970-something Ford Maverick. When you opened up the hood, it was easy to do whatever you had to do—new plugs, new belts, oil change. Cars today are packed to the gills with circuitry and software. But that doesn’t mean they’re unfixable by anyone other than the manuf

EVERY YEAR, my extended family gets together for a picnic at which we always take a group picture. And every year, the shot is ruined by something in the background: a street lamp sticking out of my aunt’s head, strangers caught in the flash, cars in

Want your company to become more innovative? Hire talent who have never set foot in your industry

Greater loyalty “There’s a secret sauce in hiring a person who knows that I believe in him enough to take a chance,” says David Williams, CEO of Fishbowl, an inventory software firm near Salt Lake City. Williams has hired everyone from his electricia

UNBEKNOWN TO MOST, scientists working in computer labs have been growing diamond shards for decades. But in 2013, solar entrepreneur R. Martin Roscheisen decided to apply the technology to a product far more glamorous—fine jewels. Diamond Foundry, a

Diamond Foundry’s high-tech process is poised to bring lab-grown diamonds to the masses—but it’s hardly the first upstart to bet on manufacturing fine jewels. 1945: LAB-GROWN GEMSTONES ARE BORN Caltech grad Carroll F. Chatham’s San Francisco–based Chatham Created Gems & Diamonds pioneered commercial-scale lab-grown gemstones—rubies, emeralds, and sapphires. Today, Chatha

Tom Chappell built Tom’s of Maine into a $100 million business. Now he’s trying to create the next great made-in-America fashion company. Which turns out to be a lot harder than selling fennel toothpaste

“Slow fashion” is countering the cheap, disposable fast-fashion industry with sustainably minded apparel startups. EVERLANE Former VC Michael Preysman recruited talent from J.Crew, Gap, and Marc Jacobs to design a men’s and women’s apparel e-commerce company that turns “radical transparency” into a brand experience. That $88 silk tank dress? You can learn about the Hangzo

THERE’S NO SHORTAGE of lore about the importance of the elevator pitch. There’s the 1850s version, in which inventor Elisha Otis’s dramatic demonstration of his innovation—a safety brake that keeps elevators from falling during a cable failure—set a

In 2016, his company generated more than $200 million in revenue, but the founder of website-building platform Squarespace doesn’t spend a penny he doesn’t have to