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50 Articles

When You're the Client

I'll confess. I wouldn't have this job, which as I've said before is the best job, if it weren't for my business partner. I owe it all to him. Yup, if it weren't for the fact that that clown drove me crazy—and right out of the startup we had spent two years building, not to mention into unemployment—I might not have been free when Inc. came calling and asked me to be its editor-in-chief. Who knows what would have happened to me! And that's the thing about partnerships: You never know how they'll turn out. They're hard. Not all of them work. Friendships, romantic partnerships, business relationships. Maybe especially business relationships. We all know what happens to so many marriages—the current stat is that 35 percent end in divorce. I've read that number…

When You're the Client

Notes From a Unicorn Hunter

Ten years ago, Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee was looking for the right metaphor to describe hypergrowth software companies that hit—or surpassed—a valuation of $1 billion. She coined the term unicorn, and on the following page tells Inc. how the business landscape has changed in the years since. Insider Expert advice from Inc.'s inner circle “When I started Cowboy in the summer of 2012, I made a list of companies that would have been great investments 10 years earlier. I put together a blog post with some of those insights and, in the fall of 2013, published it as a guest post on TechCrunch. Basically, it was about U.S. companies that were less than 10 years old and had grown to be worth more than a billion dollars in public or private…

Notes From a Unicorn Hunter

One Founder's Path to Six Figures in Funding

Follow the Money Brianna Arps is a grant gogetter. The founder and CEO of Moodeaux, the St. Louis-based fragrance company, has raised more than $200,000 in nondilutive funding since her 2021 launch. “You've just got to keep applying,” Arps says. “All it takes is one that can take you to the next level.” Here's how she landed five of her key grants and what she did with the money. —Sarah Lynch 1 JUNE 2021 Pitch Please! Competition Pull Up for Change and New Voices Foundation With the prize money from this pitch competition for Black women-owned beauty brands, Moodeaux secured enough capital to launch its first product, a dry oil perfume called Worthy. That launch helped the brand catch the attention of Credo Beauty, its first retail partner. $25,000 2 MAY 2022 Silver & Riley Women Entrepreneurship Grant This “small…

One Founder's Path to Six Figures in Funding

A Hard Pill to Swallow

✕ THE problem “When we got our first batch of product from our manufacturer, it seemed great. But when we tried the capsules, they tasted a little funny and a little chemical-y. A little bit like plastic. That was not wdiat we expected. “We panicked. All our money was in this batch-we're talking about $100,000. We bought ingredients for upwards of $400 per kilo. This was all self-funded. We thought we had two choices: either accept it as is—which was not really an option—or throw it out, start again, and find the funds to manufacture a new batch.” ✓ THE SOLUTION “When we pointed out the problem to the factory, they went back to their capsule supplier to show us that the product was actually safe. They didn't understand why the capsules…

A Hard Pill to Swallow

Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method Products, Olly, and Welly Health, answers: How do you expand a business into new categories?

“I've learned that more companies die from indigestion-taking on too much-than they do from starvation-not having enough capital and growing too slowly. When Method launched air fresheners, we put so many resources into creating a new product division. The same thing happened at Olly, when we launched protein bars and powders a few years into our gummy line. In both instances, our margins got diluted, and the expansions added complexity to the brands. Diverting resources into new categories was a mistake, and those businesses ulti mate ly exited those categories. “When I started out as an entrepreneur, I was very anti-process—it was the enemy of creativity. But I learned that if you use process the right way, it opens up time and resources. After I left Method, I learned to use…

Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method Products, Olly, and Welly Health, answers: How do you expand a business into new categories?

“This was one of the first business books I read,” says Amanda Baldwin (above), who in 2016 became president and in 2021 CEO of the SPFfocused brand Supergoop! Blue Ocean Strategy sold her on founder Holly Thaggard's unlike ly vision to build a brand around sunscreen as a daily essen tial—not just a spritz for sunny days. “It says that if you compete where everybody else is competing, you can create only incremental change. Instead, you want to find the white space—red ocean versus blue ocean. When Holly told me about a lifestyle brand dedicated to sunscreen, the light bulb went on. Today, we're focused on finding the thing nobody has done. Running a business requires constantly going back to the idea that you can always do things differently.” Blue Ocean…

The Right Way to Fail

ADMIT YOU GOT IT WRONG “When you fail, you need to admit it to yourself and your audience. When you've really messed up, that might be the only way to win back trust. In 1985, the Coca-Cola Company made one of the biggest blunders in business history when it discontinued the original Coke formula and replaced it with New Coke, which was slightly sweeter. Obviously, Coke fans freaked out. There were letter-writing campaigns, demonstrations, even protests outside the company's Atlanta headquarters. After three months, Coca-Cola held a press conference at which its president apologized for the decision and announced he'd bring back the original formula. The rollback worked, and further solidified Coca-Cola as the beverage industry's market leader.” REFOCUS ON YOUR AUDIENCE “Many of our items are from companies that were preoccupied with…

The Right Way to Fail

What's Your Company's Mantra and Why?

We'll take it! “It helps us give credit to all the small wins. For a long time, we hoped for that viral moment or the big deals. Turns out, when you celebrate all the small wins, and you look back at the whole, you get a giant list of things to be excited about.” —Beth Fynbo, founder and president, Busy Baby, 2023 Inc. 5000 honoree Do the ordinary extraordinarily well. “If we pay attention to the details and do all the little things that add up with the same enthu si asm, attention, and care, the big things take care of themselves.” —David Regn, co-founder and CEO, Stream Companies, 16-time Inc. 5000 honoree (2006–2023) Don't be a d*ck. “That's Wheaton's law. And, yes, that's in our employee handbook.” —Denny Cherry, principal, Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting, five-time Inc.…

What's Your Company's Mantra and Why?

World Traveler Wellness

“Since I was a kid, I've been a Type A perfectionist who overworks, overthinks, and is always stressed and burned out. “Once I adopted a nomadic lifestyle, I had to learn how to be more efficient. How do I run a business with no more than two to four hours of meetings per day? I have learned that I can develop passions and rest and play—even on weekdays—and still get all the important work done. “My first stop when I became a nomad was Ikaria, Greece, in June 2021. The island's culture emphasizes the common good over materialism and money. I was like, ‘This is the mindset I need.’ I prefer to live in different cities around the world for at least three weeks at a time to get to know the…

World Traveler Wellness

Scaling a Meaningful Message

LaDonna Welch believes in the power of positive words. They're her daily motivator as an entrepreneur and compose the very core of her business's mission. In June, Welch won $25,000 to advance that mission even further at the Small Biz Challenge hosted by Inc. and The UPS Store. That money will help expand her Bossier City, Louisianabased business, Ebony Notes, a daily affirmation app for the Black community. During Welch's presentation at the competition, the word care came up again and again, says Kimberly McGlonn, founder and CEO of the Philadelphia-based sustainable apparel brand Grant Blvd, who judged this year's competition after winning it in 2021. “That's something small-business owners have to lean into to build community, both within and outside of their enterprises,” she says. Welch has always loved positive affirmations. They've…

Scaling a Meaningful Message

Tapping Third-Party Expertise Helps SMBs Attract the Best Employees

Compensation has been pivotal in the employer-employee relationship since the onset of the Industrial Revolution. What has changed in recent years is the nature of compensation—a mixture of salary, bonus, and benefits—and the importance today's workers place on each component. Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) face unique challenges on this front. “Since the pandemic, more workers recognize how fragile health can be and now place more value on health care benefits, mental health support, and schedule flexibility,” says Tina Wang, division vice president of HR for ADP's small and midsize business services and Canada. “Small businesses cannot always compete on salary alone, so offering and advertising all the components of your compensation and benefits package in job posts can help to differentiate you in a still-tight job market.” Rising employee expectations The tight…

Tapping Third-Party Expertise Helps SMBs Attract the Best Employees

Don't Mistake Your Knowledge for Wisdom

WISDOM SNUCK UP on me. I wasn't looking for it. It didn't amiounce itself. And, quite frankly, I thought for a long time that knowledge and wisdom were twins. I've come to learn they're cousins. In 2013, when the three young Airbnb founders approached me about becoming their “modem elder,” they brought me on for my knowledge. I, too, thought my greatest asset would be my understanding of and experience with the travel industry. Little did I know, my insight into that industry was only one of the benefits I brought to the founders and their team. Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky has an insatiable appetite to learn. So, in 2011, when the company was dealing with the aftermath of the trashing of a host's home by an Airbnb guest (which…

Don't Mistake Your Knowledge for Wisdom

How One Firm Wants to Disrupt the Traditional Private Equity Model

Inc. Founder Friendly Investors First Investment 8+ Years Ago Assets Under Management $2.7B+ Employees 42 Add-on Acquisitions 220+ In the private equity world, most deals are handled by a bank or third party that manages and facilitates the sale of a company. Access Holdings, a Baltimore-based, middle-market, private equity firm, is upending this industry norm. Kevin McAllister, founder and managing partner of Access, says that in a traditional auction process, timelines and interactions are tightly policed, and value is based primarily on today's headline price. This process ignores the value that can be created through a purposeful partnership. “Auction processes are limiting and don't enable potential buyers to fully engage with owner-operators to explore what they could build and grow together,” he says. Instead, Access takes a different route with a cone philosophy: “We buy what we want to own versus…

How One Firm Wants to Disrupt the Traditional Private Equity Model

Unpack What Your Company Does for You Before It Does You In

THE DAY MY executive career landed me in the emergency room was the moment I knew I wasn't being true to myself. There I was in a hospital gown, staring at the ceiling and listening to the whir of machines monitoring my vital signs. Out of the corner of my eye, on a chair near my bed, I saw my favorite coral blouse, which had been cut open by EMTs less than two hours before. I was 34 years old, working in Simi Valley, California, in early 2011, and I had just taken on a new role at my company, a major banking institution, in business development and brand management. I was sitting at my desk when I started to slur my words and felt my blood pressure spike. While I…

Unpack What Your Company Does for You Before It Does You In

A Private Equity Firm that Values and Nurtures Long-Term Relationships

Years in Business 17 Assets Under Management $531M Portfolio Companies 19 Employees 31 Private equity is sometimes known as patient capital. Taking a long-term view of growth away from the day-to-day can seem a luxury when there are so many more urgent matters to address. But it is essential for businesses to adapt and thrive. Boyne Capital knows patience pays off and fosters long-term relationships. Among the firm's portfolio companies is Greenrise Technologies, a stormwater management compliance company. Derek McDowell, Boyne's founder and managing partner, fifi rst met Greenrise founder Ray Derbecker in 2000 when the two invested in a commercial playground business together. This history led Derbecker and his co-founder Scott McGaughy to reach out to Boyne when they needed capital and support to grow a new venture, Greenrise. Boyne started as a minority shareholder…

A Private Equity Firm that Values and Nurtures Long-Term Relationships

Who Don't You Trust?

Rohit Bhargava INC.'S NON-OBVIOUS BUSINESS BOOKS The founder of the Non-Obvious Company, Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator and best-selling author of nine books. What if you were accused online of being a threat to humanity on a global scale? This disquieting realization fuels the opening pages of social scientist Dan Ariely's latest book, Misbelief, which explores the forces that cause rational people to believe irrational things. He starts with his disturbing discovery that dozens of conspiracy theories are blaming him for every thing from the spread of Covid-19 to illicit vaccine development. Ambitious guy. Ariely is an easy target. A wellknown academic and adviser to corporations and governments, he's been in many closed-door conversations with powerful people. He has also spoken publicly about the pandemic, mask protocols, health care, education, and other topics…

Who Don't You Trust?

Uncommon Knowledge

When like-minded founders gather to share experiences and insights, their businesses get stronger. This year, Inc. and UBS created a series of memorable, high-impact networking events to connect people who start and run fast-growing companies. In addition to making new connections, attendees also learned about UBS's unique resources for founders. Together, Inc. and UBS celebrate and support the innovative founders who are creating purpose-driven companies, building lasting legacies, and investing in a better tomorrow.…

Uncommon Knowledge

This Firm is Purpose-Built to Support Founders and Unlock Potential

Assets Under Management $2.5+ Billion Investments and Add-Ons 45 Employees 55+ HQ San Francisco, Calif. With a distinctive focus on investing in high-quality, founder-owned essential services businesses, Percheron Capital employs a repeatable approach that propels its partners to reach their full potential. The firm draws inspiration from the Percheron, a tireless, dependable workhorse known for its unwavering commitment to get the job done—a reflfl ection of the ethos that Percheron embodies in its partnerships. At the core of Percheron's philosophy lies profound respect for the experience, knowledge, and success that founders bring to the table. “Our partnerships start with gaining a deep understanding of why a founder designed their business a certain way; we are investing in great businesses, so that understanding is the basis for all future growth,” says Chris Lawler, co-founder of Percheron.…

This Firm is Purpose-Built to Support Founders and Unlock Potential

John Yarusi Makes an Iconic New Jersey Sandwich. Panera Founder Ron Shaich Has a Recipe for Growth

John Yarusi loved the 15 years he spent working in advertising in New York City, bringing campaigns to life for clients such as JetBlue, Mercedes-Benz, and Prudential. Then the Great Recession hit and things went south. The agency he owned went under, Hurricane Sandy devastated his hometown on the Jersey Shore, and he got divorced. At the age of 45, Yarusi moved into his mother's house and tried to pick up the pieces. A lover of all things New Jersey, Yarusi thought back to his childhood, when he would get breakfast sandwiches at the corner store on the way to the beach. They were always made with pork roll, a meat invented in New Jersey in the 1800s but barely known outside of the Garden State. “I had two little kids…

John Yarusi Makes an Iconic New Jersey Sandwich. Panera Founder Ron Shaich Has a Recipe for Growth

The Private Equity Firm Empowering Enterprise Software Founders

Assets Under Management $100B Vista Credit Partners AUM $7.2B PE and Credit Transactions 1100+ Year Founded 2000 One of the most powerful tools a private equity firm can provide is relationships, explains Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners (Vista), whose firm and credit strategy, Vista Credit Partners, were named Inc. Founder-Friendly Investors for private equity and lender, respectively. In addition to benefi ting from flexible capital solutions and the experienced teams at Vista, the companies Vista invests in benefit from relationships with one another. That's because Vista has created an ecosystem for connecting founders. Smith, an engineer by background, founded Vista as an enterprise software-focused investor in 2000 because of the massive productivity gains software brings to the world. With software reaching nearly every aspect of our economy, Smith believes…

The Private Equity Firm Empowering Enterprise Software Founders

DEEPAK THE ETERNAL FLOW STATE OF DEEPAK CHOPRA

THE WHITE HOUSE was calling. They wanted Deepak Chopra, the famed alternative-healing entrepreneur and best-selling author, to join President Biden and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for a state dinner in June. Thanks for the invite, Chopra said, but he already had plans that weekend in England—“launching the Glastonbury Festival with Elton John.” Talk about an airtight excuse. It's not easy to get on Deepak Chopra's schedule these days, let alone find him. Except during the Covid pandemic, he's been in nearly constant motion for three decades. After Glastonbury, his itinerary would take him to Davos, Riyadh, Mallorca, and Ladakh, a Buddhist center in the mountains of northern India. “The only way to catch my dad,” his son, Gotham Chopra, has said, “is to catch up with him.” So I did, circling…

DEEPAK THE ETERNAL FLOW STATE OF DEEPAK CHOPRA

POWER PARTNER AWARDS 2023

Decisions. Who even knows how many the typical founder must make in a day, let alone in the course of starting a business? Steve Jobs reached for the same outfit every morning just to get a single quandary off his plate. When it comes to the business of selecting other businesses to help you run your business, it can be enough of a headache to make you wish for a closetful of black turtlenecks. After all, your decisions—like which ESG compliance company to hire, or which privacy and security firm should safeguard your sensitive customer data—have real-world ripple effects, on the livelihoods of your employees and on the business itself. How to make good ones? If you need a communication platform for your growing team, of course you know to kick…

POWER PARTNER AWARDS 2023

Arianna Huffington

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON IS a lot of things. She's bold, whip-smart, even regal. Most of all, she's prescient. She spawned her workplace well-being platform Thrive Global in 2016—years after reckoning with the kind of exhaustion perhaps only an entrepreneur could appreciate. (She'd once passed out from extreme fatigue while working 18-hour days building the Huffington Post.) The increas ingly popular view that forestalling burnout could also deliver productivity gains and fuel success only helped further her cause. Today, Thrive's physical and mental health agility tools have been used by tens of thousands of employees at more than 125 organizations. But Huffington is nowhere near done peddling her message of a better way to live and, well, thrive. 1 FUEL YOURSELF In the human operating system, downtime—taking time to refuel and recharge—is a feature,…

Arianna Huffington

“THAT WAS OUR FATE. LIVE OR DIE BY FACEBOOK”

Joe Speiser was looking for a place to hide. It was late February 2018, and he was sitting at his desk in Manhattan, preparing to share the news that would transform his company, LittleThings, from a Cinderella story into a cautionary tale. The problem was, there weren't many hiding places in the LittleThings office—a 30,000-square-foot open floor plan with few private rooms. Even Speiser, the company's co-founder and CEO, didn't have an office. When the good times were rolling, he liked it that way. LittleThings published feel-good videos—interviews with Real Housewives, cooking lessons with semifamous chefs, appearances by the “internet's most famous dogs”—all recorded on cheery sets, one of which included a backdrop of faux windows that ensured it was always a sunny day at headquarters. And for the most part, it…

“THAT WAS OUR FATE. LIVE OR DIE BY FACEBOOK”

The Mission-Driven Plan for Hyper-Growth

2018 Foraker helps O'Farm expand from 400 stores to 8,500. 2017 Foraker joins O'Farm; in a year, revenue tops $8 million. 2012 As CEO of Annie's, he leads its IPO, raising $90 million. 1994 In grad school, Foraker joins the organic food movement. “I LOVE SLACK. I GET MY PLATINUM MILES ON SLACK!” These words come from the mouth of Jennifer Garner. She's driving her black BMW south from Los Angeles to a location as seemingly unlikely as her adoration of workplace management tools: a high-pressure food processing plant. It's an hour's drive south of L.A. proper, in Buena Park. She's excited to show off the plant, which makes cold-pressed fruit-and-vegetable blends for her organic baby food company, Once Upon a Farm. When another driver pauses for her at a fourway stop, she waves a cheerful thank-you, despite being…

The Mission-Driven Plan for Hyper-Growth

For the past four years, Inc.'s FounderFriendly Investors list has served as a vital resource for entrepreneurs in search of investment firms that support founder-led companies. This year, we added a new type of capital provider to the mix: debt firms. Why? As private equity and venture capital investment activity has declined over the past two years thanks to rising interest rates, inflation, and recessionary fears, non-equity financing has become an increas ingly important source of funding for startups and small businesses. Need working capital to build out your sales team? Want to acquire a smaller competitor? Chances are, there's a debt firm for that. So what makes a debt provider founder-friendly? It's not about whether a firm approves a founder-led company for a loan; it's about how it responds when unforeseen…

A New Credit Player

Power Finance co-founder and CEO Randy Fernando first pitched his company to the venture capital firm Fin Capital on the sidelines of the Money20/20 conference at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. It was 2021, and Fernando's New York City-based fintech startup was still in stealth mode, but Fin general partner Christian Ostberg loved the pitch: a digital service that would help companies issue their own credit cards. Fin, which focuses on businesstobusiness fintech companies in every stage of development, had been looking to invest in a company in the credit infrastructure space, and the timing was right: Apple's credit card was taking off and Wal mart was creating a financial app. In September 2022, Power announced a $16 million seed round led by Fin and co-investor Anthemis Group. Fernando was drawn…

A New Credit Player

As a Sapphire Ventures portfolio company, JFrog grew annual recurring revenue from $15 million to $300 million. $ 300M 2020 $ 15M 2016 Shlomi Ben Haim had gotten used to hearing the word no. After co-founding Sunnyvale, California-based software development and operations company JFrog in 2008, the entrepreneur spent five years pitching more than 150 venture capital firms before he received his first check. The problem was that JFrog's DevOps platform, which was pioneering a new way of helping developers build, distribute, and automate software updates more efficiently, was launched before DevOps was even a term, let alone a $10.4 billion industry. Most investors simply didn't understand what JFrog did. In October 2015, having raised $10 million from a handful of investors, Ben Haim met Jai Das, co-founder of Menlo Park, California-based VC firm Sapphire Ventures.…

The Glamping Gurus

$ 2018 5x As an SBJ Capital portfolio company, Under Canvas grew its valuation nearly 400 percent. $ 2017 Seven years after founding the glamping company Under Canvas, in 2009, Sarah and Jacob Dusek knew it was time to raise outside funding. The couple's safariinspired, luxury camping business had grown annual revenue to $8 million in 2016 from around $1 million in 2014 with just three sites, located near national parks in Montana and Utah. To expand to more sites, however, they would need more capital. Despite Under Canvas's rapid growth, which earned the company the No. 573 spot on the 2017 Inc. 5000 list, the co-founders struggled to find a like-minded investor. After rejecting an offer that Sarah called “predatory,” the Duseks were introduced to Tom Barber, the co-founder of private equity firm SBJ Capital, who…

The Glamping Gurus

A Smarter Supplement

As a North Castle portfolio company, SmartyPants Vitamins grew annual revenue from around $5 million to over $100 million. $ 5M 2015 $ 100M 2020 When Courtney Nichols Gould and Gordon Gould founded the children's gummy vitamins company SmartyPants Vitamins in 2011, they had no idea their product would soon be wildly popular among adults too. After SmartyPants rolled out adult gummy vitamins, the Goulds realized that generating meaningful growth would require raising capital. Getting investors excited about their Los Angele-sbased company, however, wouldn't be an easy sell. “At the time, no one invested in vitamins,” says Nichols Gould. At a trade show, the couple met Alison Minter, a managing partner at North Castle Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based private equity firm. Minter was impressed with the number of SmartyPants customers who subscribed to monthly shipments through Amazon. In…

A Smarter Supplement

A Gourmet Baking Empire

As a Levine Leichtman Capital Partners portfolio company, Nothing Bundt Cakes grew EBITDA by 400 percent. 2016 5x 2021 Dena Tripp's gourmet bakery chain Nothing Bundt Cakes was at a crossroads. Founded in 1997, the Las Vegas-based franchiser had grown to more than 150 locations, but after nearly two decades of expansion, Tripp's co-founder, Debbie Shwetz, wanted to move on from the business. So, in 2016, Tripp began looking for an investment partner that would buy Shwetz out while prioritizing the quality of Nothing Bundt Cakes’ products and its strong relationships with bakery owners. She found Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, which acquired a majority stake in Nothing Bundt Cakes for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 1984, LLCP invests in sectors including business services, education and training, franchises and multi-unit businesses,…

A Gourmet Baking Empire

EXPANSION: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

As any gardener can tell you, not all growth is good. After all, sunlight and water—the conditions that yield beautiful flowers and ripe veggies—also foster weeds that choke out healthy plants. And the pests you were able to manage on one plant will overwhelm an entire greenhouse before you notice they've crept in. That same dynamic exists in fast-growth companies: As revenue scales, so do problems. When order volume increases, the Excel sheet—the one you've used to track orders since launching—is going to crash. Now you need a new inventory management platform, but should it be out-of-the-box or custom-built? Either way, you're going to need an engineer to implement it—make that three, actually. In fact, you're going to need to hire a bunch of new people to tend your particular garden.…

EXPANSION: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW

A Smart Approach to Risk Management and Innovation

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°1809 2023 Ranking 309% 3-Year Growth N°75 HR Industry Ranking $63M+ 2022 Revenue As a software company offering professional employer organization (PEO) services such as workers’ compensation coverage, payroll services, and HR management for small businesses, P.E.O.PayGo has a straightforward approach to acquiring clients. Its sister entity, OCMI Workers Comp, an insurance provider focused on workers’ compensation within the construction industry, generates a surplus of leads. Nevertheless, P.E.O.PayGo uses a deliberate approach to selecting the number of clients it onboards to avoid a common pitfall in the industry: growing too fast. “Hasty high-risk client expansions in PEOs often lead to business failures,” explains Oscar Montenegro, founder and CEO of both P.E.O.PayGo and OCMI Workers Comp. Montenegro emphasizes that his company's success is rooted in adept risk management, driven by proprietary in-house technology. P.E.O.PayGo's…

A Smart Approach to Risk Management and Innovation

The Marketing Agency That's Inspiring Social Movements

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°2679 2023 Ranking 201% 3-Year Growth 55 Laws Enacted 7M Community Members Iron Light, a full-service marketing agency with advocacy at its core, has had a big year. The agency earned inaugural spots on both the Inc. Regionals Midwest and the Inc. 5000. It also rolled out new divisions: Intelligence & Insights to improve data-driven audience targeting, and Impact Production to drive social change through filmmaking. For Iron Light, goals include getting an idea to trend online, activating advocates, and changing laws. Co-Founder and President Austin Berg started Iron Light in 2018 with Co-founder and CEO Ryan Green to support purpose-driven brands and nonprofit organizations breaking barriers—often those imposed by government. Using neuroscience-based approaches, the agency creates persuasive content and builds engaged communities that advocate for change. Iron Light's work has reformed 55…

The Marketing Agency That's Inspiring Social Movements

How a Destination Marketing Company Soared to No. 25 on the Inc. 5000

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°25 2023 Ranking 11,247% 3-Year Growth $12.1M+ 2022 Revenue 55 Employees When Ryan Sprance, Dave Marcy, and Nat Collins met for dinner in late 2018, they had no idea breaking bread would lead to the creation of one of the country's fastest-growing businesses: Awestruck, a results-driven destination marketing agency with a jaw-dropping three-year growth rate of 11,247 percent. At the time of their dinner meeting, Marcy and Collins were running a digital marketing agency whose clients included a large resort property. When the property announced it needed a social media partner, Marcy reached out to Sprance, whom he had worked with at World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Sprance was running a social media business and agreed to support Marcy and Collins’ client. The engagement went so well, the client—one of the largest hotel and…

How a Destination Marketing Company Soared to No. 25 on the Inc. 5000

A Better Matchmaker Between Corporations and Executives

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°640 2023 Ranking 915% 3-Year Growth $14M 2022 Revenue 85 Employees The old-school way of assembling a board of executives, directors, or advisers would often start with a conversation at a golf course or social club. “It was kind of a ‘who you know’ network,” says Martin Rowinski, who set out to modernize board recruitment when he co-founded Boardsi in November 2017. Rowinski knew from his attempts to expand his own role from business consultant to board member how difficult it was for board recruiters and ideal candidates to find one another. Except for nonprofi ts, organizations didn't usually list board openings publicly, and there was no major company offering a full-service specialty in board recruitment. So Rowinski and his business partners decided to start one. But when they launched Boardsi, they first…

A Better Matchmaker Between Corporations and Executives

Veteran-Owned Contracting Company Operates Without Debt

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°3635 2023 Ranking 134% 3-Year Growth 400 Employees 25 Locations Tina Wilson, founder and CEO of government contracting company T47 International, remembers winning her first federal contract in 2017. Until then, contracts tended to be less than $1 million. But this one was big: T47 landed a $7 million contract to provide housekeeping services to a part of the Tennessee Air National Guard. Getting the contract was one matter—fulfilling it was another. Wilson needed to find the resources to pay additional employees. At the time, T47 didn't have a line of credit, and staffing up was creating a cash flow crunch. But a government contracting officer understood the challenge her small business faced and allowed her to invoice every two weeks instead of the standard once a month. She also learned the importance…

Veteran-Owned Contracting Company Operates Without Debt

The Authority on Legal Technology Shares Universal Success Secrets

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°549 2023 Ranking 1065% 3-Year Growth 1100+ Businesses Use LinkSquares HQ Boston, Mass. Every business department has access to game-changing technology these days, from CRM platforms for sales teams, to Jira for engineers. But what about legal teams? Where is their tech revolution? That's the question LinkSquares Co-Founder and CEO Vishal Sunak has been asking—and answering—since 2015. LinkSquares, a Boston-based provider of award-winning legal technology and a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree, continually expands its offerings for legal teams by drawing on the latest-and-greatest artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, while keeping customer needs front and center. This year, the company surpassed the 1,000-customer milestone, and launched a new product and vision: the LinkSquares Cloud, a multi-solution platform designed to meet all the needs of a legal team. “The focus of our whole business is to…

The Authority on Legal Technology Shares Universal Success Secrets

The Auto Transport Leader That's Built on Customer Service

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°3109 2023 Ranking 166% 3-Year Growth $170M+ 2022 Revenue 5x Inc. 5000 Honoree The automobile is most people's second-largest expenditure after housing. As such, shipping your car from point A to point B is nerve-wracking. You want to feel confident the process will go smoothly. Montway Auto Transport—a leading auto transport company that serves individuals and corporate clients—understands this. “When you're managing that level of value, that level of an asset, it's how you handle the experience that matters most,” says Montway Auto Transport Chairman and CEO Thomas Gartland. A customer-centric philosophy has allowed the company to differentiate itself from competitors, achieve steady growth, and reach two new milestones in 2023: more than 1 million vehicles shipped and five consecutive years on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies. BUILDING A BRAND…

The Auto Transport Leader That's Built on Customer Service

How an Accidental Entrepreneur Built an Inc. 5000 Company

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°2366 2023 Ranking 233% 3-Year Growth $2.5M+ 2022 Revenue 14 Employees When Sarah Cook-Raymond's boss asked if she would like to buy his company, she surprised herself by saying, “Yes.” A writer by trade, she had been working at Impact Marketing + Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based agency, since 2005. When the company lost its biggest federal contract in 2016, her boss contemplated closing the company altogether. Instead, he asked Cook-Raymond to take over. “I joke that I'm the accidental entrepreneur,” she says. “I never thought that I would be a business owner.” At the time her boss approached her, she and her husband were in the process of adopting their first child. “So, it was this big life moment of becoming a firsttime entrepreneur and a first-time mom at the same time,” she…

How an Accidental Entrepreneur Built an Inc. 5000 Company

Technology Fuels Growth for Propane Provider

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°488 2023 Ranking 1199% 3-Year Growth 35 Employees 37 States After Tankfarm founder and CEO Andrew Heaney ended a grueling and ultimately unsuccessful congressional campaign in Upstate New York during the 2016 election cycle, he was thinking about his next act. Still bound by a non-compete agreement after selling his heating oil distribution company a few years prior, Heaney looked to the propane industry. “I call it the working-class hero of the energy business, because it's such a useful fuel and can do everything from heating your home to powering your car,” Heaney says. “It's also clean burning and plentiful, so it's sold in every zip code of the U.S. and every country in the world.” Those factors have made the propane industry a $34 billion business in the U.S. alone. But despite its…

Technology Fuels Growth for Propane Provider

A Growth Odyssey: Navigating Digital's Uncharted Territories

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°405 2023 Ranking 1438% 3-Year Growth $16.7M 2022 Revenue 25 Employees When Matt Linder, Jocelyn Uhls, and Ethan Wright started working and sharing an office together more than 10 years ago, they knew they wanted to become business partners. If three people can thrive working in an 8-by-8 office together, they reasoned, there's a good chance they can build a successful company together, too. The trio went on to create Strand Marketing in 2019. Each had a specific area of expertise and brought different perspectives to their firm. Linder specializes in media strategy, Uhls in customer experience, and Wright in marketing operations. Relationships brought them together to start Strand, and relationships have been essential to growing their company. “Relationships and high-quality work are paramount for us,” says Linder, a managing partner. “We are not…

A Growth Odyssey: Navigating Digital's Uncharted Territories

A Vision to Modernize Insurance

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°229 2023 Ranking 2441% 3-Year Growth 4.9/5 Google Rating 97 Employees The Orion180 team was always confident they were onto something big. This belief was confirmed at a major insurance industry conference in 2022 when hundreds of attendees took the time to stop by the booth to tell employees how much they loved the company's system. Orion180 had done something few other companies had—made the process of quoting, binding (meaning selling), and managing customer insurance policies fast and simple. As a result, retail brokers were making more money by leveraging real-time business intelligence, while providing unparalleled customer support. Orion180's policy management platform MY180 made it possible. “Technology has been lagging in the business-to-business (B2B) insurance space forever,” says Kenneth Gregg, founder and CEO of insurance carrier Orion180. He would know, having spent 26 years…

A Vision to Modernize Insurance

Outside Perspective Helps Direct Support Agency Thrive

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°810 2023 Ranking 729% 3-Year Growth 721 Members 670 Caregivers When Kathy Lehmeyer's friend told her that individuals with intellectual and development disabilities “really need your heart,” the comment gave her pause. With a decade of experience in senior housing, Lehmeyer was no stranger to social services and knew the impact of empathy and care. However, the concept became more personal after her nephew was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, and her sister struggled to find proper resources. Driven by her research, Lehmeyer saw a support gap for these families, so she launched Kids Individual Developmental Services NW (KIDS NW), a direct support agency in Corvallis, Oregon, to help with activities of daily living, behavioral management, transportation coordination, family support, and other services. What started as a passion project in November 2018 became a full-time…

Outside Perspective Helps Direct Support Agency Thrive

Fine Jewelry Dynamos Master Made To Order and Speed to Market

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°242 2023 Ranking 2290% 3-Year Growth 63K Orders to Date 42 Employees On the heels of a successful career as a product designer for Kate Spade, Mayle, Waterworks, and her own swimwear collection, Haverhill Leach returned to her roots designing jewelry. As a fifth-generation New England jeweler, she had grown up in the industry, but she felt it hadn't grown with the times. Leach applied the lessons she learned working for leading fashion brands and set out to create a direct-to-consumer business with deep personal connections to her customers. In 2013 Leach took her collection on the road, holding 160 trunk shows. At shows, she began hearing requests for pieces with birthstones, as a way to personalize them. When her husband, management consultant Andrej Strojin, came on board as her business partner and…

Fine Jewelry Dynamos Master Made To Order and Speed to Market

A Family that Acts Like a Business From Time to Time

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°4766 2023 Ranking 83% 3-Year Growth $25.9M 2022 Revenue 211 Employees By its fifth year of operation, Greensboro, North Carolina, business management consulting firm Cogent Analytics had grown 20-fold, from a staff of six to nearly 120. “Then we ran into the Covid wall, as many businesses did,” says Rob Braiman, senior partner and president of the firm, which is marking its fifth appearance on the Inc. 5000. “We went to a fully remote company for almost a year and had to completely reimagine our business model.” Caleb Connerty, Cogent Analytics partner and vice president of operations, adds: “Covid really forced us to reflect on what went well and what didn't and to innovate at the same time.” Those adjustments helped Cogent Analytics increase its revenue from $15 million to $25 million and add…

A Family that Acts Like a Business From Time to Time

Feed the Body, Nurture the Community

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°187 2023 Ranking 2868% 3-Year Growth $41M 2022 Revenue 125K Subscriptions Per Month The supplement market in 2018 was disappointing. At least, that's what the co-founders of Cymbiotika found. They were seeking products to support their health and didn't want the artififi cial ingredients or preservatives found in so many. Shahab Elmi and his wife, Durana Elmi, and their colleague Chervin Jafarieh knew they could do better. Together, they created Cymbiotika, a supplement company that combines scientific innovation with traditional Eastern medicine to produce high-quality, plant-based health supplements with no artificial ingredients. The team found a distinct need in a crowded market. By 2019, Cymbiotika produced its first million-dollar product. Today, the company has 38 supplements and grew to $41 million in 2022 revenue. Shahab, who is CEO, anticipates that the company's products,…

Feed the Body, Nurture the Community

Tech Consultancy's High-Touch Approach Creates Customer Value

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°1442 2023 Ranking 401% 3-Year Growth $10M 2022 Revenue 74 Employees Artisan is not a word typically associated with technology. It's more common with high-quality, hand-crafted products like bread. Some bakers get the job done but aren't high touch; the same is true with tech. When founding Artisan Studios in 2019, Tim Mitrovich envisioned a full-service tech strategy and solutions company that provided deep expertise and guidance—an “artisanal” consultancy. At its foundation was Mitrovich's quarter century of hard-earned software, technology, and leadership experience. The Artisan team thrives on solving problems in multiple industries. “We do a lot of product development, identifying antiquated practices and coming up with better ways of working,” says Mitrovich, Artisan's CEO. One solution was a mobile app to simplify a distribution company's process for drivers. Another was developing a…

Tech Consultancy's High-Touch Approach Creates Customer Value

Tax Credit Expertise Drives Growth for Accounting Firm

Inc.5000 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT N°75 2023 Ranking 6268% 3-Year Growth 200 Employees HQ Irvine, Calif. Omega Accounting Solutions, an Irvine, California-based accounting, finance, and tax credit company for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), entered 2020 with 80 regional clients and 20 employees. By the end of 2022, the firm served 5,000 clients across the U.S. with a workforce of 200. Primary growth drivers were focusing on pandemic-related tax credits, smart marketing plays, and strong leadership. Founder and president Jay Woods started the firm in 2007 and was “personally ready” for the growth spurt. “It was never ‘Jay's Accounting Shop’ for a reason,” he explains. “I didn't build it around me. This is why it was easy for me to scale so quickly. I didn't need to be in every conversation. I needed to cast a vision and…

Tax Credit Expertise Drives Growth for Accounting Firm

When Poshmark went public in January 2021, Tracy Sun never expected that her online fashion marketplace would again be a private company just two years later. But Poshmark, which Sun cofounded in 2011, received a compelling offer from Naver, a South Korean internet firm, and in January 2023, it was acquired for $1.2 billion. Sun now serves as SVP of seller experience at Poshmark, which this year rolled out live-selling events called Posh Shows. We sat down with Sun to discuss her brief tenure running a public company and her advice for anyone pursuing an IPO or an acquisition. Prepping for an IPO is so much more work than you think, and operating a public company requires a skill set I had to learn. You're focused on compliance and providing transparency…

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