Inc. Magazine May/June 2022

NGL, or, as those with the energy to type it out say, not gonna lie: I feel, to be honest, a little sapped. No doubt, I have been in a better headspace. Things had seemed, before now—meaning this past month or so-a touch sunnier. They’d been not quite so little man at the bottom of a big hill, with sore feet, heavy legs, and not enough sleep. But then it’s not every day your family has to deal with the lingering effects of its second bout with Covid; six days and six nights without heat and hot water because of a service and parts shortage; a spouse’s broken kneecap and its recovery; and waiting, nervously, for that text or call about a dear father-in-law who is in the hospital with a…

Expert advice from Inc.’s inner circle AFTER MOVIEPASS FIRED co-founder Stacy Spikes in 2018, he got to work planning a Steve Jobs-style sequel. Sticking to his usual script, he’s been devising a new twist for an old industry, this time tackling the flicks before the feature film: “We’ve heard from the advertising world that the large majority of advertising is wasted, ” says Spikes. Figuring anyone who could change that paradigm would gain a competitive edge, he beta-launched PreShow Interactive in April 2021. The app lets users earn credits for watching branded content—while optional facial detection confirms they’ve paid attention. Spikes says the platform was inspired by, and complies with, data privacy laws like the E.U.’s GDPR. And early testing indicates PreShow’s model can hike engagement by 75 percent. The other big…

IN CASE YOU hadn’t heard, TikTok’s short-form videos are the latest and greatest way (until something else comes along) for businesses to showcase their brand and communicate with consumers—especially those of the Millennial and Gen-Z variety. Take, for example, Duolingo. The language-learning platform’s account took off toward the end of 2021, when many of its videos—which usually feature the company’s mischievous fuzzy green owl mascot—went viral. Now, 3.5 million TikTok users follow Duolingo’s account. But to emulate that success, you’ll need some strategies beyond boisterous mascots, so we’ve compiled advice from TikTok marketing experts to help you get some younger eyes on your brand. 1 Be Authentic “Throw out your brand book, ” advises Evan Horowitz, CEO of Movers+Shakers (No. 78 on the 2021 Inc. 5000). The marketing firm tells clients like…

“I’D JUST GRADUATED from college, in 2005, when Kiko Calendar, a startup I founded with Justin Kan, was accepted to Y Combinator’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, accelerator. There, I met Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator—and the man who would teach me how to think bigger, and to inspire others do to the same. Paul is the sort of person who can make you feel, after just one conversation, that your work is the most important thing in the world. That’s his superpower—along with an ability to reimagine ideas in ways others never would. One day, in Paul’s office in Cambridge, I was telling him about Kiko’s strategy. ‘You know what you should do?’ he said. ‘You should make Kiko a programmable calendar, so hackers can create custom event types, and triggers. That…

“WE GOT CAUGHT with our pants down, ” Poo-Pourri founder and CEO Suzy Batiz wrote in a 2013 email to her new customers. Batiz was owning up to a supply-chain snafu that reeked of poor planning, and briefly grounded company operations. The year prior, her odor-eliminating product had made $8 million in revenue. But Batiz had wanted more. So she invested $25,000 in a digital video advertisement—and that’s when the s--t hit the fan. In late summer 2013, Batiz was looking to bring Poo-Pourri to a wider audience. After seeing a hilarious Orabrush video on YouTube, she decided to ask company co-founder and CMO Jeffrey Harmon for help. They met in a sleepy Utah mountain town to brainstorm. In September 2013, Batiz’s video advertisement went viral, grabbing more than 10 million views…

AFTER TWO DECADES in fashion, Kristy Caylor was disheartened by the industry’s sustainability issues. Too much inventory and incentivized high consumption created so much waste. That’s why, in 2018, she launched For Days, which let customers exchange worn-out clothing basics for new products, while it upcycled the returns. Caylor thought her business model would solve fashion’s waste problem. But she’d gravely miscalculated. “Right after we launched For Days, we started hearing from customers that our subscription model made them feel pressured to get their money’s worth by using more clothing than they needed. My gut dropped—we’d hung our hat on sustainability; I was like ‘Oh, no. This is big. Like, this is not a little shift.’ I already had press, seed-round investors, momentum, customers, and revenue. I honestly considered moving forward…