Oct-Nov 2021
FEATURES
100 Women of Impact Our annual celebration of the women leading today’s most influential, innovative companies, and changing lives while they’re at it.
P. 32
Highlights 34 Eva Longoria forges new paths for Latinas.
36 Naomi Osaka champions mental health on big stages.
40 Fearless Fund cofounder Arian Simone has one goal: financing Black female founders.
COV ER A ND T HIS PAGE PHOTOGR A PH BY BROOK E NIPA R
45 Cityblock Health cofounder Toyin Ajayi redefines healthcare for marginalized communities.
54 Ann Mukherjee, CEO of Pernod Ricard North America, challenges her industry.
58 Wondery CEO Jen Sargent pushes podcasting’s boundaries.
61 The women leading COVID-19 vaccine development are quite literally saving the world.
→ KICK-STARTER
“You only learn by doing,” Eva Longoria says. “Whatever you want to do, just start.” P.34
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October-November 2021
→ CARE FULL
Felicity Yost and Carolyn Witte (from left) are reimagining women’s healthcare.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TIA
P.39
22 Get Out of Your Head
EDITOR’S NOTE
BUSINESS UNUSUAL
8 The Value of Change
11 Michael Dell’s Billion-Dollar Lessons
27 Turn That Monitor
He built Dell into a tech giant. But he still keeps mementos from past failures in his office.
See more of what you’re working on with a screen that rotates vertically.
by JASON FEIFER
by CHYELLE DVORAK
14 Better Off Without?
28 Don’t Compete. Differentiate!
To make the hardest decisions, you must see them through someone else’s perspective.
4 TIPS for Creating the Most Productive Workspace Imaginable
by JASON FEIFER
The process can be painful, but the goal is profound: Find something new that you’d never want to lose. by JASON FEIFER
Six entrepreneurs reveal the expenses they’re happy they cut.
16 Turn Your Team into Intrapreneurs It’ll help you boost morale and innovate into the future. by FRANK THEODORE KOE
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Want to scale? Stop worrying about the competition, and focus on these three areas instead. by ADAM BORNSTEIN
PA G E 3 0
Now employees do their own payroll. After all, they’ve earned it.
Visit paycom.com/entrepreneur to learn more.
October-November 2021
FRANCHISE 63 Franchisee A family has fun with their Urban Air Adventure Parks.
→ MATCHMAKER
Julia Estacolchic helped develop the largest dating app for Latinx singles. P. 49
by CHLOE ARROJADO
66 Franchisor How Dream Vacations is leading a tourism industry comeback. by CHLOE ARROJADO
68 Go Local with Social Hyper-local social media drives real business. Don’t miss out. by KAREN SPAEDER
72 Why All the Consolidation? The franchise industry is full of acquisitions and conglomerates. And there’s a good reason. by NATE HOPPER
85 The Top 150 Franchises for Veterans Who offers the best support. by TRACY STAPP HEROLD
CLOSER 104 What Inspires Me At age 11, I learned the most important rule of sales. by JEAN WRIGHT
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“Business was a whole new world to me. I served in the military prior to becoming an entrepreneur. In 2017 we had seven employees and about $5M in annual revenue. I was passionate about what we were doing, but I was a fish out of water. I knew I had to surround myself with people who had ‘been there and done that’ — who were further along in their business journey. That’s why I joined Vistage. The relationships and connections inform, energize and inspire me. One guest speaker session gave me a whole new framework that changed the way we run our business. Today we have over 100 employees, and we hit $50.4M in annual revenue in 2020. I am fully supported. I am a more efficient and confident leader. I’m Ryan. I live a life of climb.”
Ryan Hogan Co-founder & CEO, Hunt A Killer Seattle, WA Vistage member since 2017
Climb with Vistage Vistage is the world’s largest executive coaching and peer advisory organization for CEOs and owners of small and midsize businesses. We help executives at all levels make better decisions and get better results. Learn more and join the climb at vistage.com/iclimb.
Where Change Leads You The process can be painful, but the goal is profound: Find something new that you’d never want to lose.
I BELIEVE WE experience change in four phases: panic, adaptation, new normal, and “wouldn’t go back.” The first three are about being forced to make changes we wouldn’t have previously considered. That last phase is when we realize how valuable these changes were. We start to say, “I wouldn’t want to go back to the way it was before.” As I’ve talked to entrepreneurs over the past year and a half, I’ve heard many “wouldn’t go back” stories. People found new opportunities and embraced new experiences. They reconsidered what they once believed was impossible. This is a powerful process but also a humbling one. I’m learning that for myself right now. Some background: My wife and I live with our two little boys in a small apartment in Brooklyn. But last March, as the pandemic raged in New York, my parents urged us to move in with them in Boulder, Colo. They had more space, and we agreed a break could be good. I felt out of place in Boulder, which is snuggled up against the mountains. I’m a creature of New York; I love its aggressive energy and grind, and I struggled to connect with Colorado’s laid-back locals. “Our people aren’t in Boulder,” I told my wife. But we were
fortunate to get our kids into full-time school there, which wasn’t available in Brooklyn, and that meant staying longer. One day, I saw a neighbor go on a midday bike ride. At first I scoffed at him; I’d never slack off in New York! Then I thought, I won’t always live here. Maybe I should take advantage? A few days later, I put the computer down, got on a bicycle, and went out into the mountains. I worried about the work I wasn’t accomplishing, but I enjoyed the feeling of movement. When I got back, I discovered that nothing bad had happened. So I went biking the next day, too. Soon I was going regularly, and hiking, and my career advanced unabated. I sold a book. I landed some big new projects. And I did it while working fewer hours and treating myself better. This, I now realize, was me moving from one phase of change to another. I’d left panic and entered adaptation. Meanwhile, my wife and I started meeting more people. Some were like the workobsessed New Yorkers I knew back home, but many were not. Either way, they became some of our most treasured friends. I thought back to that thing I said about how our people weren’t in Boulder. It turns out they were. The implications of that were confus-
8 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
ing. Who were our people now? Who were we now? And where did we belong? As I’ve spent the past year and a half writing about other people’s “wouldn’t go back” moments, I’ve thought a lot about what my own will be. What form will it take? Is it about the place we choose to live, or the way we spend our time, or something else entirely? My wife and I decided that, before making any big changes, we should go back home—so that’s what we just did. I’m settling in as you read this column. What comes next is unknown, but I’ve come to an early conclusion: Change doesn’t always look like change. Sometimes change is simply being given permission to do things differently. Maybe my “wouldn’t go back” moment is what I learned about myself in Boulder: that I am more flexible than I thought,
that I can be happy in many different environments, and that success takes many forms (and maybe even requires fewer hours). Now it’s up to me to do something with all that. I must take the best of what I knew before, combine it with the best of what I’ve learned, and create something even more powerful for the future. Maybe that’s what “wouldn’t go back” moments look like— for you and me and everyone. They’re never what we expected. But they’re what we needed.
Jason Feifer jfeifer@entrepreneur.com @heyfeifer S U B S C R I B E : entm.ag/subscribe
Photograph / N I G E L P A R R Y
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DELL TECHNOLOGIES
Lessons That Are Worth Billions How did Michael Dell build one of the most valuable technology companies in the world? By being willing to try, fail, and learn. b y J A S O N F E I F E R
October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 11
Q&A
→ DELL AT DELL ON DELL
Michael Dell delivers a keynote at a Dell virtual event from its office in Round Rock, Texas.
I
n 1984, Michael Dell told his parents he was going to drop out of college to sell computers. They were concerned, to say the least. The gamble worked out, of course—his namesake company became one of the largest players in the computing space, then went public and made him a billionaire. But when, in 2013, Dell announced that he was going to take his company private, industry insiders and the press were even more skeptical than his parents back in the ’80s. That didn’t bother him. “I think most people are careful and risk-averse,” Dell says. “They don’t achieve their full potential because they don’t want to fail. And I think a big part of my success is that I wasn’t, you know, 50 percent smarter than everybody else or something—I was just willing to take more risks and experiment and learn and ask questions.” In his new book, Play Nice But Win, Dell details his career origins and the long saga of taking his company private. Here, he talks about the hard lessons learned along the way, and why he still appreciates his failures from long ago.
12 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
You seem to be very aware of your critics. Throughout the book, you quote what naysayers said about you in places like the Times and the Journal. How do you make bold decisions while also listening to the people who say you’re wrong? Going private was an epic media extravaganza. I developed a bit of a Teflon skin, because, you know, people are always criticizing you. When you’re leading a company, if things are going really well, greatness is ascribed to you way beyond what you deserve—but the reverse is also true. You’re the front person. So you just learn to not take
things personally and to stay focused on the long-term plot. Do you have advice for people who struggle with that? Teflon skin does not grow naturally. The first question to ask is “Is there anything that can be learned constructively from this, or is it just people spewing off nonsense?” You know those parks in London where they have little boxes and the crazy people stand up and say all this nonsense? Well, before the digital world, you’d walk by and say, “This guy’s bananas; I’m not going to listen to him.” So why would you listen to somebody online? Don’t waste your time on that. Maybe there are things to learn from feedback, but most of it doesn’t really matter. As you say, criticism sometimes can be correct. And leaders must constantly evolve as their companies grow. Did you do a lot of work on yourself as Dell grew? Oh, no question. As a business goes from a million dollars to 10 million to 100 million to a billion to a hundred billion, everything has to evolve, including how you lead. If you’re not able to do that, you’re going to have challenges. Now, I do think there are principles and values and beliefs that should be consistent. The role of the leader is to understand and comprehend all that and figure out what is needed, then to inspire and motivate and drive the business forward. Of all the mistakes you made as a young leader, what was the hardest to learn from? It’s people, and the importance of who you surround yourself with, and how you develop tal-
ent in the organization. When you’re growing like a total maniac, it’s super hard to find people who can grow as fast as the company is growing and are willing to be crazy enough to join you. When I started, it wasn’t obvious that this was going to be as successful as it turned out to be. The risk was super high, so we attracted mercenaries. As we became more successful, we attracted more talent—but boy, the focus on developing talent and really spending time nurturing and ensuring that we have the right talent is something I wish we’d focused more on in the first decade of the company. Right—because as you’d written in the book, the people to get you from A to B are not
Does it get easier? It does, actually, after you’ve done it a few times.
you realize you’re not happy unless you have balance. You’ve got to figure out how you manage your time, your energy, and your resources so you’re happy and can sustain it over a long period of time. Anybody can sprint. I’ve been in situations where you just have to go all out for a short period of time. I get it. But you can’t do that forever. If you want to keep running marathons, you’d better have a sustainable pace.
Perhaps that’s because, as you’ve said of yourself, you’re great at compartmentalizing. I don’t know how you could do a job like this without compartmentalization skills. There are just so many things going on, and of course, you’ve also got the rest of your life. You
In your office, you keep mementos from failed Dell projects. Why? There are always valuable lessons learned. We had a time back in the late ’80s where we took on a massive engineering project. It turned out to be too ambitious, and it failed. But
you would do it? Hopefully you’re not doing it every day, because you’re talking about some pretty monumental decisions. But if you’re growing rapidly, and if the business is changing or struggling, I think you’re doing that relatively frequently. We probably had to do that 10, 15 times over 37 years.
YOU’RE NOT HAPPY UNLESS YOU HAVE BALANCE. YOU’VE GOT TO FIGURE OUT HOW YOU MANAGE YOUR TIME, YOUR ENERGY, AND YOUR RESOURCES SO YOU’RE HAPPY AND CAN SUSTAIN IT OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.”
necessarily the people to get you to C and D. I pretty much went through the whole alphabet as the business kept evolving and changing. The way to think about change is to say, “We’re going to walk out of the building and walk in like we’re the new leaders of the company. What needs to be done right now? We don’t care about anything we did in the past. And we’re willing to question anything. Nothing is sacred.” How often should a leader of a growing company step back and assess like that? Were there milestones when
want to be a husband, a father, a brother, a friend, etc. I’ve met many entrepreneurs who struggle with that, and their relationships suffer as a result. What’s your advice on separating work from life? The first thing is time. You must recognize that there’s a diminishing return to the number of hours against any task. Trying to work 18 hours a day, 20 hours a day? Forget about it. You’re not going to be physically well. Your family is going to be a wreck. I slept at the office when I started, but I was 19 years old. Nobody cared! After a while,
we learned a lot, and we had a lot of great capabilities we built as a result. The lessons we learned in terms of how far to push the envelope, and what levers to push and pull, were tremendous. I try to share those lessons throughout the company so we don’t have to relearn them over and over. That’s a nice way of thinking about it. If you survived a failure, then something valuable must have come out of it. Absolutely. That painful lesson helped us develop a tremendous capability that propelled us way further than we’d ever imagined.
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Six Ways
1/ Build business before buzz. “It’s enticing to spend on sexy things like PR and events. But while awareness is great—and needed—you want to make sure you have the distribution set up to fully take advantage of the awareness. Early on, we spent on those things to build buzz, but we didn’t have enough retail distribution to support it. We jumped the gun a bit when we should have waited to make sure our full ecosystem was in place.” —JENNIFER ROSS, cofounder, Swoon
2/ Say bye to the office. “We anonymously polled our employees about the return to office post-COVID, and every single person was either neutral or against going back full-time. The pandemic has proven that productivity doesn’t suffer when you’re working from home. Also, as a company based in L.A., where traffic is horrendous, employees get back the time they would spend commuting.” —GRACE LEE, cofounder and CEO, Birdy Grey
3/ Know your size. “As a DTC startup, we have tried some social listening software and tools that I thought would give us a good measure on sentiment and brand equity. But they haven’t been as useful as I anticipated for a business our size. We’re always open to trying different platforms, but I have realized tools that are insightful for larger businesses may not be necessary for our nimble team.” —ABBY MORGAN, cofounder and CMO, Cuup
4/ Ditch the merch. “In the beginning, I got so excited about putting our logo on T-shirts and anything else I could find. But who really likes wearing a corporate brand? Once I discovered Giftology, by John Ruhlin, it opened my eyes on how to think about gifts and do it right.” —MARC BACHER, founder and CEO, Stuga
5/ Downgrade Zoom. “This might be controversial, but we got rid of our Zoom subscription. The free version works fine—and in fact, it actually forces us to keep all meetings under 40 minutes. You will be amazed how much more efficient you can be in a meeting when there is a time limit. Everyone’s time is extremely valuable, so forced shorter meetings have created a habit of getting right to the points that matter.” —ARIE HEFTER, cofounder and CMO, Noshinku
6/ Expand your digital horizons.
What Did You Cut? To stay agile, business owners must often rethink what they truly need. We asked six entrepreneurs: What expenses have you realized your company is better off without?
“Before March 2020, we budgeted more than $1 million to bring 20 trainers and 1,500 instructors together in multiday intensive training sessions across the globe. The pandemic forced us to move the sessions online, and it wasn’t easy. But it worked! And because our trainers didn’t have to travel all over, they weren’t burned out by the end of summer. Plus, we saved a lot on travel-related costs and were able to deliver high-quality training with nearly the same results as our in-person sessions. We will likely keep training our staff online in the future, and we’ll get better and better at it.” —PETE INGRAM-CAUCHI, CEO, iD Tech
14 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
Illustration / P E T E R YA N
The Big Idea
Innovation Comes from Intrapreneurs Employees say they’re unhappy. Companies are struggling to navigate massive change. The solution to both? It’s creating a culture of intrapreneurship. b y F R A N K T H E O D O R E K O E
A
s you read this, many of the people on your team may be plotting their escape. A recent Gallup poll found that 54 percent of workers are “psychologically unattached to their work and company”—and that makes them very hard to rally to your cause. Across the American economy, those disengaged employees translate into billions of dollars of losses.
Why are they disengaged? Take your pick from a host of explanations. The pandemic inspired many people to reconsider their lives. Meanwhile, millennials are projected to make up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, and they have been known for a hyper focus on meaningful work that aligns with their beliefs (which isn’t something every job offers). Now Gen Z is entering the workforce and exhibits strong
16 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
entrepreneurial ambitions; when EY Ripples and JA Worldwide surveyed nearly 6,000 members of Gen Z who participated in JA programs, for example, it found that 53 percent say they aspire to run their own business within a decade. In short: People want more control. They want to engage in more nonlinear thinking that allows for an expansive and creative way of finding solutions to problems. And if
leaders want to engage these inspiring workers, and harness their energy and ideas, they will need to pursue a concept that is decades old—but that still hasn’t made its way into many company cultures. It is intrapreneurship. The term intrapreneur was coined in 1978 by Libba and Gifford Pinchot, the married founders of the consulting firm Pinchot & Company, and appeared in a white paper they wrote at the time. Today, a more Illustration / V I K T O R K O E N
The Big Idea
concise definition has been offered by Sir Richard Branson: “An employee who is given freedom and financial support to create new products, services, and systems who does not have to follow the company’s usual routines or protocol.” Of course, each company will define “freedom” and “usual routines” for itself, but the overall concept remains the same: Intrapreneurship is a license for employees to think boldly. The importance of this is also near-universal. As companies grapple with how to grow and innovate in rapidly changing industries, they’ll find that experimenting and testing new ideas has never been more needed. Many iconic innovations were inspired by individuals within companies—and not necessarily because they were tasked with the job. For example, the product conglomerate 3M has a policy of “permitted bootlegging,” in which employees are encouraged to develop pet projects. Famously, in 1968, a 3M scientist named Spencer Silver accidentally created a reusable adhesive that clings to many surfaces. He spent years promoting it inside 3M until a colleague finally suggested an application: bookmarks. The idea evolved into Post-it Notes. Similar stories led to the creation of Sony’s PlayStation, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works— which developed the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft—W.L. Gore’s Elixir guitar strings, and more. But here’s where things get tricky. Intrapreneurship cannot simply be about giving employees permission. It must also be about restructuring a company’s leadership to take
those employees seriously, and a willingness to pivot when an employee discovers something transformative. Consider how the management of the Eastman Kodak Company responded to Steven Sasson, a 24-year-old company research engineer who invented the first digital camera. By not wanting it to interfere with sales in other areas, Kodak placed the company’s future in jeopardy by not capitalizing on Sasson’s revolutionary development. It was not until 1991 that Kodak finally introduced its version of the
ment that might be called “the force of circumstances.” As a company feels threatened by its competition or changes in its industry, it may be forced to look at things differently— and that company’s staff could be a wellspring of new ideas just waiting to be tapped. The consequences of not doing this are steep. Only 52 U.S. companies have remained on the Fortune 500 since 1955— which is to say that change may be difficult, but becoming irrelevant is worse. Top management must exhibit an inventive spirit and
people and create a motivating onboarding experience that underscores how the company innovates and rewards its workers by using actual examples from current employees. None of this will be easy. It’s difficult to scale and will constantly butt up against organizational structures and bureaucracy. Additionally, leadership, particularly at large companies, may feel threatened by offering some independence to subordinate workers. But times are rapidly changing. Consider this: Thirty-four percent of Amer-
AS A COMPANY FEELS THREATENED BY ITS COMPETITION OR CHANGES IN ITS INDUSTRY, IT MAY BE FORCED TO LOOK AT THINGS DIFFERENTLY—AND THAT COMPANY’S STAFF COULD BE A WELLSPRING OF NEW IDEAS.
digital camera—16 years after it could have had a huge head start. Kodak was simply not structured to address the development of new products or see where they may lead. How can a company do better? It begins with structure. Rather than have a pyramidal business model with layers of bosses, intrapreneurial businesses embrace a “flatter” system. That means, in part, reducing or restructuring middle management to limit the breakdown of communication that often makes employees feel disconnected. But, of course, placing these and other elements into practice is easier said than done. Change on any level is challenging, and it may be difficult to get buy-in from your entire organization. That’s why champions of intrapreneurship often lead with an argu-
18 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
lead by example, demonstrating trust and flexibility when workers show initiative. Leaders must be willing to tolerate some degree of failure and create a sense that employees share ownership in their work. They must also remember that highly valued employees will leave a company if their work is not recognized. It’s not difficult to let an employee know they are important, even in ways that are nonfinancial. Singling out a worker in a company newsletter, for example, can have a positive effect and go a long way toward making a person feel valued. Rewards that encourage relaxation, like spa treatments, can be used to acknowledge productive employees. Intrapreneurial companies don’t just mine their current staff for ideas—they also proactively hire entrepreneurial
icans feel underutilized by their employer and 47 percent wished their company would try to understand their skill set better, according to a report by the HR startup Gloat. That’s a lot of talented people who might leave for somewhere they’re more appreciated—and they will be more than happy to help that next employer beat out their old employer. The companies that adopt a startup mentality will be rewarded. Leadership now is about creating the conditions for innovation to flourish. Not everyone will start their own company. But we’ll all be better when more people are empowered to create, no matter where they are. Frank Theodore Koe, Ph.D., is a teaching professor of engineering entrepreneurship at Penn State University.
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Problem Solvers
Facing a Hard Choice? Get Out of Your Head When we look at a decision through someone else’s eyes, change becomes a lot easier to make. by JASON FEIFER
so personal. We don’t escalate commitment to an already chosen course of action. We can see the pros and cons more clearly.” The next time you’re grappling with change, Milkman offers these three headescaping strategies. Tactic 1/ Copy and paste. “If you’re thinking about How do I make a change? or What’s the right change?” Milkman says, “try to think, Is there information I can gather from other people who’ve pursued a similar path? And what can I copy and paste that worked for them?’” Copying the strategies that were successful for others sounds obvious, but Milkman says people rarely do it because of something called the “false consensus effect”— people’s belief that everyone thinks the way they do. As a result, we fail to realize how much new knowledge is stored in other people’s minds. Her research validates the method. For example, she and a collaborator ran an experiment on students in which one group was told to make a simple plan for increasing their exercise. The other group was told to identify someone who had good exercise habits, ask them what their strategy is, and then simply copy that strategy. The students who copied strategies had improved outcomes.
22 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
Tactic 2/ Give advice. If you’re feeling lost, you may not feel suited to give someone else advice. But in fact, you are exactly the right person to give advice. Research out of Wharton found that when people give advice to someone facing a similar situation, they become better able to tackle the problem themselves. Why? Giving advice builds confidence and forces us to think more deeply about our own issues and needs. “Once we suggest something, we start to believe it,” Milkman says. “We start to feel hypocritical if we don’t do it ourselves. It’s this magic sauce where you get yourself to get behind a risk that you wouldn’t necessarily be comfortable telling yourself to take. Then you convince yourself to take it.”
Tactic 3/ Pre-mort. Most people have done a “postmortem”—examining a project that just ended. Milkman suggests doing a version of this before any change. For example, you might ask yourself, If I regret this decision later, why would that be? Every change brings some discomfort, but a pre-mort can help you gain clarity about the obstacles you’ll face and what risks you’re willing to tolerate.
Now think back to the Intel story. To Grove and Moore, ditching memory chips must have felt insane. But by getting out of their own heads, they were able to make one of the hardest—and best!—decisions of their careers. That’s success. Hear Milkman on our podcast Problem Solvers.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SHUT TERSTOCK/STUNNINGART
I
ntel nearly failed in the 1980s, but its survival became a classic success story. The short version goes like this: Intel’s memory chip business was struggling, and its leaders, Andy Grove and Gordon Moore, felt lost. One day, Grove asked Moore: “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would we do?” Moore’s response: “Get out of the memory business.” That made their path clear. They laid off more than 7,000 people, shut down plants, pivoted into microprocessors, and saved Intel. Katy Milkman loves this story because it captures a key strategy for making change. She should know. She’s a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and she researches how to change behaviors in positive ways. (She also wrote a book called How to Change.) If someone must make a change in their business or life and they cannot decide what to do, Milkman suggests doing what the Intel guys did: Get out of your head. “There’s a fair amount of research suggesting that taking an outside perspective can make you more dispassionate, a clearer thinker, a better observer,” she says. “When we’re thinking about someone else’s problems, they don’t feel
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What’s Next?
The Longest Scroll Need to see more of what you’re working on? Get a screen that turns vertically. by CHYELLE DVORAK
→ VIEW FROM THE TOP
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DELL; LG; LENOVO
Like a smartphone, the LG UltraFine orients its image horizontally or vertically.
J
ason Alvarez-Cohen spends hours a day coding, and this summer was his crunch time. He was redesigning his app Popl, which helps people share their contact information digitally with others. As he sat at his desk working, he wanted to see as much of his code in front of him at once. That’s why he loves using a monitor that, to some, might look like it’s been accidentally tilted 90 degrees—which is
no accident. “Having the vertical monitor to manage the code on Visual Studio Pro is key,” Alvarez-Cohen says. Vertical monitors are not new, but many entrepreneurs are still discovering their benefits. “They lay out a document better than a horizontal monitor does,” says Rob Enderle, principal analyst and owner of the Enderle Group. Top monitor manufacturers are increasingly catering to this need. Dell, Lenovo, and LG all offer monitors that can
turn vertically. Prices range anywhere from $325 (for the Dell UltraSharp 24 Monitor) to $700 (for the LG UltraFine 32UN880/LG 32-Inch UltraFine Ergo Display). The Dell UltraSharp has a borderless edge around the screen, ideal for dual monitor setups. The Lenovo ThinkVision uses a portrait setting, which converts everything on your display to the vertical view. The extra screen real estate means you can view more emails in Apple Mail or scan Slack messages without scrolling. If you normally use a dual monitor, turning your second screen to “portrait” frees up desk space. But experts offer a word of caution. “As soon as you have to look slightly upward at your screen, your neck and shoulders go into what’s called neck extension,” says Kevin Butler, ergonomist at Steelcase. “This leads to all kinds of problems down the road.” To avoid that, your screen should always be an arm’s length away, with the top of the computer below eye level. “These [ergonomic issues] are addressed through having a monitor with an adjustable stand,” says Jay Chou, analyst at IDC. “You can change the height or tilt the viewing angle of the monitor.” In other words, a good monitor setup is much like entrepreneurship itself: Success requires shifting perspective.
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Lenovo ThinkVision T32p-20 Monitor Cost/ $611 Best feature/ The swivel and tilting capabilities of the stand allow you to place the screen at almost any angle.
October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 27
What’s Your Problem?
HAVE A PROBLEM WE CAN SOLVE FOR YOU? TELL US AT HELPME@ENTREPRENEUR.COM
Don’t Compete. Differentiate! Want to scale your business? Stop worrying about the competition, and focus on these three areas instead. by ADAM BORNSTEIN
What are innovative ways to scale a business that most people don’t discuss? —DIANA, CHICAGO
THE FIRST RULE of scaling a
business is “Don’t worry about the rules of scaling a business.” If you’re copying others, then you’re always following their lead, which means you pick up breadcrumbs instead of getting the loaf. Instead, look for the leverage only you can create. That requires an innovative strategy on three fronts: positioning, pricing, and people.
Let’s start with positioning. Look at your three biggest competitors and make a list of the problems they solve and why they exist. Now add yourself to the list, but don’t think about how you’re better than them. Think instead about how you’re different—because remember, you don’t want to be competing. Positioning yourself as dif-
28 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
ferent creates two unique opportunities that are important for scale. First, you control the narrative—which means you don’t have to use the same marketing language as everyone else. You see a problem differently, create a new approach, help people solve problems they didn’t know they had, and therefore define the problem and solution. Because you’re doing this, your earliest customers are likely to be your most passionate. They aren’t windowshopping and comparing you to everyone else. They are your customer because you struck a nerve. They’ll give you more feedback, support your journey, spend more money with you, and—if you deliver on your value proposition—they’ll spread the word to others just like them. The next issue is pricing. It is often viewed as an art, but it is much more scientific than people believe. If you want to scale, your product should be informed by your pricing strategy (and not the other way around). Before you even create your product or service, you should know what people will pay for it. This isn’t solely about the total dollar amount, which is important. It’s also a way to determine how you charge and people’s willingness to pay. Think of it this way: Netflix didn’t take down Blockbuster just because the company defined a new category
(streaming and subscription). It was because Netflix’s value proposition was radically different from Blockbuster’s. Once that mattered to consumers, they were willing to pay a monthly fee for it. To assess your price, run some tests. Identify your target market, pitch your product at a specific price, and ask about their willingness to pay. (You can do this in person, or with online surveys.) People’s responses will give you clarity about your company’s value and perceived worth. The final aspect is people. In this case, we’re talking about your team. Just like in sports, the best teams win championships. If you want to scale faster, invest in expertise and strengthen your weaknesses. That can be costly; you may need to give up some equity or find a way to out-pay the competition. But if you do it right, and get the people who understand opportunities and efficiencies, you can potentially speed up your process by years. When you start looking at different ways to scale as a competitive advantage, that’s when you’ll likely find your leverage. And if you execute well, growth should soon follow. Adam Bornstein is the founder of Pen Name Consulting, a marketing and branding agency, and a cofounder of two12, a mentorship experience for entrepreneurs. Illustration / F E D E R I C O G A S TA L D I
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out new tools means employees will be less stressed and will
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Keeping company apps, data, and desktops in a centralized,
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2. Securing devices and data.
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32 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
Women Of Impact
Our annual celebration of the women leading today’s most influential, innovative companies, and changing lives while they’re at it.
R E P O R T I N G by Chloe Arrojado, Dan Bova, Amanda Breen, Liz Brody, Frances Dodds, Jason Feifer, Kenny Herzog, Kim Kavin, Britta Lokting, Matthew McCreary, Raquel Reichard, Emily Rella, and Jessica Thomas
Women Of Impact
Eva Longoria became famous as an actress, but her real mission was to be the boss—and then give opportunities to women who might never otherwise get them.
by R A Q U E L R E I C H A R D
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directorial film debut, a biopic called Flamin’ Hot, about the Mexican-American janitor who invented the popular Cheetos flavor. As an entrepreneur and an activist, Longoria has also expanded beyond the bounds of Hollywood—cofounding the nonprofit Eva’s Heroes, which enriches the lives of people with intellectual special needs; cofounding the Latino Victory Fund to raise Latino voices at every level of government; cofounding a digital platform called Poderistas, which aims to empower Latinas to transform their lives and communities; and in September, launching Casa Del Sol, a luxury sipping tequila that has philanthropic initiatives and a predominately female leadership team. Through it all, she says, she’s become up front that her mission must always be larger than any one project she works on. “There are bigger things at stake than TV ratings and box office of your movie,” Longoria says she often tells potential partners. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to fix in the world—and that’s going to need your help.” Here, she talks about how she transformed her career and how she thinks women can make powerful, lasting change in their industries. How did you prepare yourself for this transition from actor to producer-director? It’s about being resourceful. It’s a lesson my mom taught me. I remember I was 6, and I was like, “Mom, I’m hungry.” And she said, “Well, you’d better figure it out.” And I did. I pushed the chair up to the stove, I turned
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it on, and I cracked an egg. I remember feeling so empowered by it. I did this, and I did it by myself. Everything I wanted to do—like becoming a cheerleader or going to college— my mom told me I needed to figure it out, and it taught me that you have to be resourceful in life and that there’s a solution to everything. That’s how I approach everything. When I wanted to produce, I read books on it. I wanted to get the terminology right. I read a book about budgets and about getting an agent. I also asked a lot of questions. I wanted to be a sponge. Once I had success with acting, I used all of that as my film school. I spent nearly a decade on one show, Desperate Housewives, and you learn stuff if you’re paying attention and asking questions. I thought, When am I ever going to get the opportunity again to be this close to something I really want to do? I was lucky to have some great mentors and lucky that they entertained all my curiosity and questions. So between being resourceful and asking a lot of questions, you learn a lot. Oftentimes, you were learning as you were doing. What were the benefits of that approach? I think people, especially women, let perfection prevent progress. We think, I’m not ready. I don’t know enough. I don’t know if I could do it. But you only learn by doing. It doesn’t matter where you start. Start with a feature, start with a short film, or start with TV. Whatever you want to do, just start. I didn’t know how to direct. I got versed in it
PHOTOGR A PHS BY BROOK E NIPA R
nce Eva Longoria became famous for starring in the TV show Desperate Housewives, she also became overwhelmed with pleas for her charitable support. “I was getting, like, 1,000 requests a week for, you know, dolphins in Japan and AIDS in Africa and sex trafficking in Thailand,” she says. “All of that is important to fix, right? But I learned quickly, I couldn’t do everything. And I wanted to stand for something.” A mentor pushed her to define where she wanted to make the most impact, and she realized it was in helping the Latina community. She didn’t want to just highlight the barriers women like her have faced; instead, she wanted to zero in on the ways they overcame. “How do we repeat success?” she says. Entertainment was the obvious place to start. On the Desperate Housewives set, Longoria spent her free time interviewing the producers, directors, cinematographers, and screenwriters about their jobs. She wanted to learn how things were made so she could repeat them on her own terms. She launched her production company, Unbelievable Entertainment, in 2005, where she has been intentional about creating fresh projects and hiring new talent that widens representation for marginalized communities in front of and behind the camera. “As a producer, you assemble everybody, you hire the best people, and you create the jobs. That always intrigued me,” Longoria says. She has since produced and directed a wide range of TV shows; in August she wrapped filming on her
and educated myself as much as I could, and I still don’t know everything about directing. But I didn’t wait until they let me know everything about directing before I began. If you do, then you’ll never get started on anything. Are there any inherent skills you have that you think prepared you to succeed as an entrepreneur, a producer, a director, and a philanthropist? I’m a woman, which means I’m a multitasker. I don’t know why studios don’t hire more women. We’re natural directors over our lives. We’re problem solvers, and that’s what directing is. I have a great work ethic. If things have to get done, they get done. There’s no, “Well, who’s going to do that?” You are. There’s no job too low for me to do. I’ve touched every rung on the ladder, from being an extra to being a production assistant to being a director. I think that has given me skills to understand all the jobs on set. Don’t be afraid to work your way up that ladder, and then don’t be afraid to create your own ladder. As someone who is self-taught, and a woman of color in an industry where women and people of color aren’t widely represented, did you ever experience impostor syndrome? Yes! I faked it till I made it. I still get terrified every first day of filming. Every time when I’m behind the camera, I have butterflies in my stomach. I’m like, They’re going to realize I don’t know what I’m doing. But the irony is that I do know what I’m doing. I am great at my job. I am talented. I just use that anxiety, those butterflies in my stomach, to fuel and energize my goals. How are you able to turn anxiety into productive energy? I meditate a lot, and that centers me. If I walk out of my house saying, “I’m going to do my best today,” it really changes how I approach the day. Words matter, especially the words you use to talk to yourself. And so I’ve changed my vocabulary a lot, too. Instead of saying, “I’m so busy,” I’ll say, “I’m so productive.” Instead of saying, “I have to go to this meeting across town,” I change it to, “I get to go to this meeting.” Usually everything in your day is filled with stuff that’s going to lead to what you’re trying to achieve. So I think when that anxiety kicks in and the impostor syndrome creeps up, you talk to yourself and be kind with yourself. It keeps you honest with yourself, and that’s who you need to convince with the impostor syndrome: yourself.
Through your production company, Unbelievable Entertainment, you have made it your mission to find and support new and underrepresented talent. What’s your strategy? That’s the whole reason I started a production company: to be able to have the power to hire who I want and give those opportunities to people who wouldn’t normally have them. I hate when people say the talent is not out there. The talent is there, but we don’t have a pipeline of experience so we can support the people who are ready for that next step. Whether it’s a writer’s job or directing or acting, our community doesn’t have the body of experience to show they could do that work, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do it. Part of the problem is building that pipeline of talent in front of and behind the camera. How are you building that pipeline? I’ve built it into my deals; there’s a little bit of a carte blanche with my budget. I want to be able to use this money and spend it on a writer or director I believe in. We just made our first film with Viacom with a Latina director, a female director of photography [DP], and a Latina lead. And Viacom fully supported it. They were like, “Go for it.” They didn’t ask how much experience the director has. They trusted my vetting process. And my director was in tears. It’s her first feature. So now when she goes to the next job, she can say she has done a feature. It’s the same in television. I’ve hired many Latino writers, and now they’re getting promoted because their résumé says they did a show. Now they can move on to the next show and continue to build upon the opportunity we provided for them. You have to start somewhere. It sounds like you’re really intentional about how you use your hiring power. Yes. Instead of unconsciously ignoring women and people of color, I am consciously hiring them. I think one of the mistakes studios make is that they’re just unaware. I remember when I was producing Grand Hotel and I wanted a female DP, but they sent me Tom, Dick, and Harry. I had to then ask for a female DP, and they shared some with me, and I hired one. I really think they’re unconsciously ignoring us most of the time. They’re not plotting in their offices going, “Let’s not hire women and people of color.” They’re just thinking of the Tom, Dick, and Harry they worked with on the last three projects they did. So it’s just fresh in their mind. For me, what’s fresh in my mind are women and people of color. When
I suggest it, they do respond. And when I present people, they do respond. It’s about continuing to put more of our community in front of the right people. You often say that you aim to change culture through the media. Whether through your production company or the digital lifestyle community, Poderistas, you cofounded, is there a blueprint you follow to create transformative media? Artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez says cultural change comes before policy changes, and we can change culture through media. For example, look at when I Love Lucy was on TV and people welcomed Ricky Ricardo into their homes. Then when the Cuban crisis happened, there was a consensus that Cubans were great. It’s the same with marriage equality. Before the Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage, TV shows like Ellen and Roseanne got people comfortable with it. So, for me, I’m always thinking about the imagery we can be putting out that people who don’t interact with us will watch. I’m thinking about what I can show that will make them laugh, relate, cry, and be entertained and will also make them less hesitant or less scared of change. We have the power to change culture through television and film. You’re also astutely shifting the way communities think about themselves. Whether through inspirational films, like the upcoming Flamin’ Hot, or TV series that empower the historically disempowered, like Devious Maids, you show and celebrate communities just how they are, however they are. How is that an effective way storytellers can help shift cultural perspectives? I want to celebrate all the colors of our community in storytelling and show all the beautiful people in all walks of life. I remember when I made Devious Maids and was told, “Oh, you’re perpetuating stereotypes of Latinas always being maids.” First of all, it was the first TV series with an all-Latino cast. Second, three of the actresses’ mothers were maids, so they were very offended that people thought their mothers’ stories weren’t worth telling. And third, maids were the moral compass of the show. The show is about them. They weren’t peripheral characters. They weren’t caricatures of themselves. They were driving the story. Then I did Grand Hotel, about a wealthy Latino family who owned a hotel and had a staff of all races. We’re not singular. You can’t define us singularly as one thing. You can tell these different stories and still touch on and celebrate universal themes like family, love, and community.
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Women Of Impact
Naomi Osaka t’s been exciting—if sometimes uncomfortable—to finally speak up and do what my gut tells me,” says Naomi Osaka. For anyone who has been paying attention to the world’s highest-paid female athlete and No. 2 women’s tennis player, that should come as little surprise. This was the year that Osaka, 23, found her voice and started using it with all the power of her grand-slamming serve. She opened the Olympics, starred in a Netflix documentary, and was named cohost of the Met Gala. In May, after wearing seven masks at the 2020 U.S. Open, each with the name of a Black victim of racial injustice, she announced that she would skip her media obligations during the French Open because it messed with her confidence. When she was fined $15,000, she withdrew, revealing that she has suffered long bouts of depression and social anxiety since being in the limelight. “If organizations think they can…continue to ignore the mental health of the athletes who are [their] centerpiece, then I just gotta laugh,” she tweeted. Now Osaka is trying on a new cause, and a new role: CEO. This fall, after learning about skin cancer statistics in people of color, she is launching a line of sun protective products for melanated skin. In a nod to her bicultural heritage, the brand’s name, Kinlò, is a combination of kin in Japanese and lò in Haitian Creole. Both words mean “gold.” “I always wanted to carve my own path but was fearful,” she says. “It’s better to take a chance than to spend your life wondering ‘what if.’ ”
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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF KINLÒ
Founder and CEO/ Kinlò
Shiza Shahid Cofounder/ Our Place
Denise Woodard Founder/ Partake Foods bout five years ago, Denise Woodard’s 1-year-old daughter had an allergic reaction to a snack. “She turned blue in my living room and almost died,” says Woodard. “That drove home to me how serious allergies are.” Woodard was working at CocaCola at the time and was often the only woman and person of color at the table. She wanted to make more of an impact, so she left to start Partake Foods, an allergy-friendly cookie company. Between 2019 and 2020, revenue grew 900 percent, and distribution exploded from 350 stores to more than 7,000. Last fall, the company started the Black Futures in Food & Beverage fellowship for upper-level students at HBCUs. And this January, Partake raised $4.8 million from investors like Rihanna and Jay-Z’s fund Marcy Venture Partners, making it the first Black-woman-owned packaged food startup to raise more than $1 million.
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F C A N N O N B A L L P R O D U C T I O N S ( L E V E N S T I E N ) ; P A R TA K E F O O D S ( W O O D A R D ) ; O U R P L A C E ( S H A H I D )
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hiza Shahid came to the U.S. from Pakistan for college. Her partner is also an immigrant—born in Iran and raised in California. “We found our places in America by cooking and sharing food,” Shahid says. “People would come over and argue over whose cooking was better, and we realized there’s something really incredible about how cooking brings people together.” That realization led Shahid to launch Our Place in 2019, six years after she cofounded the Malala Fund to support girls’ education worldwide. Our Place is a “mission-driven kitchenware brand designed to reimagine products for the modern, multi-ethnic American kitchen,” she says. Its pots and pans come in dreamy millennial pastels, and the brand’s hero product is the Always Pan, which went viral on Instagram and was sold out for months at a time throughout the past year. The company has expanded into Canada and the U.K. and is about to launch the Perfect Pot ahead of the holiday season. Shahid says her team of 60 are mostly immigrants and first-generation Americans, and during the pandemic, Our Place partnered with Vote.org to encourage voter registration and created billboards that countered the narrative of immigrants being unwelcome. The company also partnered with Fuel the People to help nourish voters in minority communities, where polling-place lines can be hours long. “We were part of the groundswell of activists and change-makers and entrepreneurs who mobilized,” Shahid says. “We feel that’s always the right thing to do.”
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Kate Levenstien Founder and CEO/ Cannonball Productions n March 2020, when the event industry went dark, Cannonball Productions’ demise seemed imminent. Kate Levenstien, who started the company in 2013, was at a loss for what to do. Cannonball was known for throwing festivals like the Bacon and Beer Classic, which attracted thousands of revelers, but they’d become impossible. Then Levenstien had a revelatory conversation with her husband. “He said, ‘I just can’t wait for golf to be back. The structure of it is really safe for COVID.’ I looked at him and said, ‘That’s it!’ ” The company shifted from packed baseball stadiums to one-way golf-course-style routes that small groups of friends could follow together. This year, Cannonball is back, stronger than ever. “After spearheading a way for brands to activate in-person in the middle of a pandemic, we feel like we can really take on anything,” Levenstien says.
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Women Of Impact
T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Franchising
“Finding the right people. We are more focused on that than rapid growth— although, ironically, because we have found such incredible people, we are able to grow faster than we expected. We set up an incredible amount of support so franchisees don’t have to be professionally trained chefs; they just need to be kind and passionate, and to see our students for who they truly are—brilliant little humans needing a positive, joyful, supportive environment. That means more to us than anything, because we can train for everything else.”
—Felicity Curin Founder and president/ Little Kitchen Academy, a Montessori-inspired cooking academy for kids aged 3 to 19
“The biggest challenge is the lack of awareness by our nation’s leaders about the true value of franchising. We like to say that you go into business for yourself but not by yourself. But a negative perception of franchising has driven policymakers in Washington and elsewhere to push for legislation that would upend franchising—turning local franchise owners into corporations. Changing perception cannot be solved overnight or by one person, which is why we’re working together through the International Franchise Association to educate key stakeholders on the value of franchising.”
—Barbara Moran-Goodrich Cofounder and CEO/ Moran Family of Brands, an automotive repair franchise
“The pandemic intensified some of the biggest issues facing the healthcare sector and showed us how important it is to keep the most vulnerable safe at home. Earlier this year, we joined Moving Health Home, a new coalition aimed at changing federal and state policies that prevent the home from being an accredited clinical care site. The workforce shortage also impacts us—and as a result, many vulnerable adults could go without access to care. We need permanent legislation that permits affordable in-home care as an integral part of patient care. We also need to drive new policies that support the workforce, like access to affordable childcare.”
—Shelly Sun Founder and CEO/ BrightStar Care, an in-home care and medical staffing agency
“Labor shortages are the biggest issue right now. At FastSigns, we put a variety of solutions in place. For recruitment, our franchisees have access to CareerPlug to help streamline and automate the hiring process, and to McQuaig, a tool for assessing candidates’ strengths, weaknesses, and skills. We benchmarked every position in a FastSigns so that franchisees can compare an applicant’s profile to the ideal one for the position. We also recently partnered with the International Sign Association, paying for all franchisees’ memberships so they gain access to affordable association health insurance.”
—Catherine Monson CEO/ FastSigns, a global custom signs and graphics company
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“The biggest challenge now is the need for agile franchise operations. We’re in the midst of a revolution in the way we produce products, and the pandemic caused eight to 10 years’ worth of changes to happen in a few months. In the education space, 1.6 billion students were pushed into digital learning overnight! Customers expect not only newer and better offerings but also flexibility in how they receive those services. At STEM for Kids, innovation is key to our child-centric curriculum development and the business processes we maintain to stay agile for our operators worldwide.”
“More brands are using the franchising model as a vehicle for growth— and while that’s exciting, it means more brands competing for a small pool of potential franchisees, which puts a lot of pressure on franchise development teams to close deals at all costs. When a franchisee isn’t a good fit for the system, dissatisfaction is bound to occur. As an emerging brand, I believe that by getting clear on our core values, and saying no to folks who don’t have the Code Wiz DNA, our growth might be slower, but we will have a stronger, happier system.”
—Moni Singh Founder and CEO/ STEM for Kids, an educational enrichment company
—Ruth Agbaji Founder and CEO/ Code Wiz, a coding and robotics school for kids aged 7 to 17
“As the world’s largest restaurant company, with more than 51,000 KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill restaurants, we see an opportunity to activate future entrepreneurs by expanding access to a broader range of people. We recently created the Yum! Center for Global Franchise Excellence at the University of Louisville, part of our $100 million, five-year commitment to promote equity and inclusion, education, and entrepreneurship for employees, frontline restaurant teams, and communities around the world. The center offers multiple franchising education tracks and a pathway to successful ownership.”
“The biggest challenge is the ‘head trash’ preventing potential franchisees from moving forward. That can be the news, social media, politics, concerns about COVID recovery—it all instills fear and anxiety in potential franchisees, who wonder if they’ll be successful. The antidote to fear is clarity. Identifying what’s causing hesitations and addressing those issues is now more of a priority than ever. At FranFund, we work with aspiring franchise owners to identify the most efficient and effective capitalization strategy for each candidate based on their specific financial situation.”
—Tracy Skeans Chief people officer and COO/ Yum! Brands, a global fast food corporation
—Sherri Seiber COO/ FranFund, a franchise funding solutions company
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F L I T T L E K I T C H E N A C A D E M Y ( C U R I N ) ; B R I G H T S TA R C A R E ( S U N ) ; S T E M F O R K I D S ( S I N G H ) ; C O D E W I Z (A G B A J I ) ; F R A N F U N D ( S E I B E R ) ; Y U M ! B R A N D S ( S K E A N S ) ; F A S T S I G N S ( M O N S O N ) ; M O R A N F A M I LY O F B R A N D S ( M O R A N - G O O D R I C H )
As franchise leaders, what do you think is the biggest challenge facing the industry, and what are you doing to solve it?
Bertha González Nieves Cofounder and CEO/ Casa Dragones hen Bertha González Nieves met Bob Pittman, the cofounder of MTV, at a party in Brooklyn, she shared her idea for a tequila brand. González Nieves had worked as an executive at Jose Cuervo International for 10 years and was the first woman to be named Maestra Tequilera by the Academia Mexicana de Catadores de Tequila. As it happened, Pittman wanted in on the tequila business, too. “I didn’t know if it was bar talk or if it was real,” González Nieves says. “But it was as real as it gets.” In 2009 they cofounded Casa Dragones, a smallbatch tequila label based in Mexico and New York. Its first expression was Casa Dragones Joven, a blend of Blue Agave silver and extra-aged tequila. During the pandemic, Casa Dragones distributed $65,000 to bartenders, and last year, the company launched its latest expression, only its third—an añejo tequila. “We believe in the power of focus,” says González Nieves.
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F C A S A D R A G O N E S ( N I E V E S ) ; W A A B I ( U R TA S U N ) ; T I A ( Y O S T & W I T T E ) ; W O M E N . N Y C ( M A N N ) ; H E L E N A W O N G ( Z A K )
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Raquel Urtasun Founder and CEO/ Waabi
Felicity Yost and Carolyn Witte Cofounders/ Tia
’ve been working in AI for 20 years, and the more I worked on self-driving cars, the clearer it became that the tech industry has issues,” says Raquel Urtasun. Earlier this year, Urtasun left her job at Uber and started Waabi, a self-driving-technology company. She found it difficult to change the status quo from inside a big company with thousands of engineers. “The best way to do it is to build a company with the people you want to work with,” she says. In just two months, Waabi raised $100 million and hired 40 employees. With Waabi, Urtasun is focused on commercialization and long-haul trucking to deliver goods on a large scale. She admits there have been broken promises in the field and is focused on building trust in Waabi among regulators and potential users. Ultimately, her long-term goals for Waabi are to save lives and make transportation more equitable.
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Zanade Mann
Heidi Zak
Founder and managing director/ Black Women’s
ThirdLove
Cofounder and CEO/
Business Collective arolyn Witte (right) suffered for three years in her 20s before doctors diagnosed her polycystic ovary syndrome. She often shared frustrations with her friend Felicity Yost (left), whose mother and aunt endured their own medical struggles. “Women feel so alone when dealing with these things,” Witte says. So in 2016, she and Yost founded Tia as a modern medical home for women’s healthcare. For instance, annual well-woman exams aren’t just Pap smears; they include counseling for anxiety. Tia is based in San Francisco with services in New York City, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. But membership grew by 300 percent during the pandemic as the company shifted to online services. Its funding increased to $132 million, and Tia pushed to diversify its providers. “We now train all our providers through the lens of racial justice,” Witte says.
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anade Mann grew up on Staten Island, and when she was 22, she began mentoring girls in the New York City Housing Authority on entrepreneurship. She has done that kind of volunteer work ever since, and when the pandemic hit, she decided to launch Black Women’s Business Collective, a membership community of more than 3,000 Black and AfroLatina entrepreneurs that provides networking opportunities, business advice, and crowdsourced funding. At the time, corporations were pledging millions to support women of color, and Mann admits the groundswell is intimidating. “When I see companies giving millions in grants, my mind tells me I’m not doing enough, and I should let someone with a larger platform do it,” she says. “But I have this passion for it because I’ve lived it.”
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eidi Zak went to Victoria’s Secret in 2012 and bought yet another ill-fitting bra. “I got home that night and was like, Why am I still shopping at a brand that doesn’t relate to me as a modern woman?” The following year, Zak and her husband, David Spector, cofounded ThirdLove, a size-inclusive, San Francisco–based bra company. By 2015, ThirdLove had begun offering customers the option of wearing a bra for 30 days without paying up front. (It’s not currently offering this program.) And in 2021, after the pandemic increased the demand for comfort, the brand went from offering one wireless bra to 20. It has also expanded to include underwear, sleepwear, loungewear, and activewear. ThirdLove has donated more than $40 million worth of product to women in need, and it recently launched its first mentorship and fundraising program for early-stage female founders of color.
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$30 million fund with a portfolio of earlystage companies, recently landing a $1 million investment from Costco Wholesale as well as a fundraising partnership with Mastercard. Simone has also developed the Fearless Foundation, which distributed more than $200,000 in business grants during the pandemic, plus a weeklong event called Fearless Venture Capital Week, which debuted in August. “Venture capital doesn’t have the best reputation of getting money in the door when you really need it,” says Angela Benton, founder of Streamlytics, a tech company in Fearless Fund’s portfolio. “But Arian’s team truly understood the momentum our company had and brought their expertise and capital to the table when it was most impactful.” Even as a young girl in Detroit, Simone seemed destined for business. “My friends used to say I would sell my mother’s placenta if I knew it had value,” she jokes. She sold Christmas poinsettias as a kid and Mary Kay in high school, and opened that store in college—which ultimately shut down. Bad luck followed: Her next employer closed shop, and 153 job applications later, she was still unemployed. She ran out of money and lived in her car for seven months, trying to remain upbeat. “If I were to be depressed and upset, that wasn’t going to produce the desired result,” she says. “I’m very big on focusing on what that is and staying on it until it is manifest.” Finally, a break: Someone offered her work doing PR, which she’d never done. “I lived out of my office and showered at LA Fitness,” she says. Steve Harvey’s radio show was in the building, so she networked with everyone who came through the door and ultimately started working with the likes of Sony, Universal, and Disney. In 2018, after 14 years in Hollywood, Fearless Fund cofounder Arian Simone knows firsthand how hard it is she decided it was time to fulfill her origfor women of color to raise money. So after many setbacks and reinventions, inal goal. That was the year the shockshe transformed herself into the solution she’d been looking for. ing “.0006” figure—the percentage of VC funds going to Black female founders— surfaced. She created the Fearless Fund, harnessed her PR skills to promote it, and lined up institutional n college, Arian Simone launched a clothing boutique investors including PayPal and Bank of America. That enabled in a mall in Jacksonville, Florida—but when she went to her to make a meaningful impact: Initial investments run raise capital for it, she realized there were very few peobetween $250,000 and $500,000. ple to pitch who looked like her. “I was sitting on the The .0006 percent figure is now marginally better. In the floor before the grand opening,” she recalls. “And I said, first half of 2021, 0.34 percent of total VC funding went to ‘Arian, don’t you worry, because one day you’re going to Black female founders. Simone says only one thing will fix that be the business investor you were looking for.’ ” problem. “What’s going to move the needle is more Black and It took nearly two decades, seven months of homelessness, and Brown fund managers who have the ability to get capital and a few reinventions, but she kept that promise to herself. Simone deploy it,” she says. “More people like me to cut checks to more cofounded the Fearless Fund, the first investment fund run by people like me.” —Liz Brody women of color for women of color. Now it’s a $25 million to Women Of Impact
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF FEARLESS FUND
She Needed an Investor. So She Became One
Alex Morgan Cofounder/ Togethxr
Thai Randolph President and COO/ Laugh Out Loud Network Cofounder/ Sugaberry
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F R AV E N B . VA R O N A ( M O R G A N ) ; K E V I N H A R T ’ S L A U G H O U T L O U D N E T W O R K ( R A N D O L P H ) ; R E V L O N ( P E R E L M A N )
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hai Randolph is a big fan of vision boards, and years ago, she made one with Kevin Hart on it. “It’s funny because I didn’t know him back then and never thought I’d work in comedy,” she says. Randolph started out in marketing for brands like Facebook and Sony before becoming COO of Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud Network (LOL!), which has a portfolio of 22 original series and more than 300 stand-up specials that reach 100 million viewers across streaming platforms. She is also a cofounder of Sugaberry, a lifestyle brand for moms of color. “Supporting and amplifying creators of color, advocating for audiences of color—that’s been the through line of my career and what I am thinking about on any given day,” she says. Oh, and that old vision board? “I had Entrepreneur magazine on there, too! So this is a full-circle moment.”
saw a statistic that about 40 percent of all professional athletes are women, but they only receive 4 percent of sports media coverage,” says U.S. soccer star Alex Morgan. “That’s a big blank space.” So in March of this year, Morgan joined with fellow U.S. Olympians Chloe Kim, Simone Manuel, and Sue Bird to launch Togethxr, a media platform and commerce company centered on the stories of women athletes. Togethxr describes itself as a place where “culture, activism, lifestyle, and sports converge” by way of YouTube documentaries, written profiles, and Instagram posts. “It makes us jealous—in a good way!— that girls and women get to grow up now with a platform dedicated to women for and by women,” Morgan says of herself and her cofounders. “We never had this growing up.” Morgan did this interview during the Tokyo Olympics, where she won a bronze medal. When asked how she finds the time, she says, “My daughter keeps me going. I have an opportunity to show her that hard work does pay off, and your voice and actions can cause change.”
Debra Perelman President and CEO/ Revlon hen Debra Perelman got her first job at Revlon in the late 1990s, the beauty industry was dominated by men. “That really shaped how I think about leadership today,” says Perelman, who became CEO of the multibillion-dollar company in 2018. “Women make up about 50 percent of our executive team now, and I encourage all of our employees—regardless of gender or background—to participate fully and share their expertise and perspective.” Revlon is nearly a century old, and since Perelman rejoined the company—having decamped to MacAndrews & Forbes for 14 years— growing Revlon’s digital business has been one of her top priorities. By the end of 2020, e-commerce was 20 percent of Revlon’s total net sales, up from low single digits just a few years before. Recently, Perelman says her greatest focus has been on diversity and sustainability initiatives.
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T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Technology The pandemic changed so much about how consumers engage with tech. What do you think happens next, and where are the opportunities for tech leaders today?
“The pandemic showed us the power of community, and our ability to shift from in-person to digital and social engagement. Digital community accelerates the flywheel of education, facilitates fast information sharing, crowdsources knowledge, and is capable of highlighting and surfacing personal and authentic stories, at scale. Technology leaders can’t afford to not think about how to engage their community. This transformation will enable the next generation of great companies to be not only vendors but economic platforms of opportunity.”
—Linda Lian Founder/ Common Room, a customer journey platform
“I believe we’ll see continued transformation in technology that supports a 24-7 world. The pandemic upended our sense of time and so many of our existing routines. At Orum, we have seen great success with a workforce dispersed across the country and beyond, operating on async schedules. To us, it’s not acceptable for people’s financial lives to only operate on a 9-to-5 schedule, on weekdays, when banks are open. At Orum, we’re building the infrastructure for smart, real-time money movement to solve this.”
—Stephany Kirkpatrick Founder and CEO/ Orum, a frictionless financialinfrastructure platform
“Consumer shopping patterns have shifted, and so have expectations of the checkout-andpayments experience. When I first arrived in the payment processing industry, I was constantly told, ‘That is how things have always been done.’ That was music to my ears. I quickly discovered that merchants were lost in the wilderness of payments complexity. So we focused on building a customer service infrastructure that allows us to deliver personalized, proactive service that simplifies the complex payments environment.”
—Samantha Ettus Founder and CEO/ Park Place Payments, a payment processor supporting women reentering the workforce
“Just as a wave of fintech innovation followed the financial crisis, we are seeing the same with healthcare now. The pandemic dramatically accelerated tech adoption in the healthcare market as patients and providers relied on telehealth, online check-in, mobile registration, and more. These digital forms of healthcare drove operational efficiencies that we will undoubtedly continue to use. The pandemic shifted ideas about what was possible in everyday healthcare, and consumers love the improved access.”
—Heather Mirjahangir Fernandez Cofounder and CEO/ Solv, a same-day, next-day healthcare platform
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“During the pandemic, technology that was viewed as a nice-to-have became a need-to-have. In that transition, we learned how technology could bridge the gap and enhance real-life experiences, versus solely being a substitute. Moving forward, it is our responsibility, as leaders, to make sure technology facilitates meaningful experiences and does not take away from them. We need to ensure our products complement the in-person experiences consumers crave with the digital personalization and convenience they’ve come to expect. Technology should not cause barriers. It should break them.”
—Krystle Mobayeni Cofounder and CEO/ BentoBox, a restaurant website platform
“Consumers will not part with the newfound conveniences they’ve experienced. Businesses face rising expectations to deliver a perfect digital experience, every time. One in three consumers say they’d walk away from a brand they love after just one negative interaction. Tech leaders’ teams are more distributed, and under more pressure than ever. Today’s leader is agile, leveraging AI and data science. But with all this technology and convenience comes a need for empathetic, inclusive leadership, a clear purpose, and demonstrable social responsibility.”
—Jennifer Tejada CEO and chairperson/ PagerDuty, a digital operations management company
“COVID-19 catapulted our reliance on technology to stay connected with loved ones. The biggest opportunity for tech leaders is to build products that support deeper connections and strengthen communities. At Babylist, we leveraged technology to bridge the gap between IRL and virtual. We spearheaded virtual baby showers. We expanded video content and digital product discovery to replace in-store shopping. Looking ahead, tech companies will need to create easy-to-use products and services that facilitate meaningful connections across generations and geographies.”
—Natalie Gordon Founder and CEO/ Babylist, a baby-gift registry and parenting platform
“Online communities have proven themselves in a new way in the past 18 months. In times of uncertainty, they’re quick to respond to people’s needs and provide valuable information and positive emotional support. What’s more, it’s increasingly clear that the influence of online communities is going beyond the corners of the internet. They are driving real-world action and impact. Whether it’s rallying a group of underdogs to disrupt Wall Street or recommending the latest skin-care product, online communities are powerful drivers of action and an integral part of the consumer purchase path. That will only accelerate.”
—Jen Wong COO/ Reddit, a network of online communities
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Women Of Impact
Jessica Lessin Founder/ The Information or eight years, Jessica Lessin reported on the tech industry for The Wall Street Journal, and she saw a gap in coverage. “Publishers were chasing traffic and clicks and really diluting the quality of their journalism,” she says. So in 2013, Lessin left to found The Information, a subscription-based tech publication. She recruited top journalists, and eight years later, The Information has more than a million registered readers and 45 employees. This year, it launched three newsletters— about cryptocurrency, virtual reality, and the creator economy—as well as The Electric, an electric vehicle and battery publication. As The Information scales up, Lessin strives to keep her vision and team focused. Many subscribers are tech workers, so the publication continues to scrutinize big tech firms, particularly on how they’ve benefited from the pandemic. “These companies are only getting stronger,” says Lessin. P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F S O N YA R E V E L L ( T U C H M A N ) ; T H E I N F O R M AT I O N ( L E S S I N ) ; T H E C L E A R C U T ( L A N D A U )
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Olivia Landau
Founder and CEO/ The Clear Cut livia Landau’s parents ran an antique jewelry business and told her diamonds were a dying industry. But Landau couldn’t shake her love for the sparkly stones, and after college she attended the Gemological Institute of America. “I started working in wholesale and saw how antiquated the industry was,” she says. “Some of their practices hadn’t changed since my greatgrandfather’s time.” So in 2018, Landau started The Clear Cut, a New York–based jewelry company that prioritizes transparency and emphasizes e-commerce. That primed it for success during the pandemic, when sales doubled. Because younger consumers are more apt to shop online, The Clear Cut has fashioned itself as a leading industry voice on social media—like TikTok, where it has 51.3K followers. “We are focusing on technology we believe will be the future of the industry,” Landau says.
O Max Tuchman Cofounder and CEO/ Caribu ax Tuchman’s grandparents met in a Holocaust survivors’ camp before escaping to Cuba. “My family would always say, ‘The only thing you can take with you when you flee in the middle of the night is what’s in your head,’ ” Tuchman says. “You take what’s in your mind, your education.” In 2017, Tuchman launched Caribu, an app that brings families together virtually for educational playdates. “There’s an in-app library with thousands of books, coloring sheets, activities, and games,” she says. “Grandparents tell us they’d never been able to engage on a video call for two hours before.” In 2018 Tuchman became one of the first Latina founders to raise more than $1 million in VC funding, and in March 2020, Caribu’s user base grew 10 times in just 24 hours. Apple named it a Best of 2020 app, and today Caribu has nearly a million users in more than 200 countries and territories. “Families told us they felt like we were an essential business,” Tuchman says. “You needed Instacart to get your groceries, Zoom to do your work calls, and Caribu to keep your family together.”
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disparaging, and she had heard people label her that way. That was really profound for me, and it helped me formulate ideas about what it looks like to earn the trust of people we serve. It also started me down a path of trying to understand how chronic trauma shows up in people’s health needs.” That path led Ajayi to cofound Cityblock Health in 2017 with Iyah Romm and Bay Gross. By March of this year, the company, which provides healthcare for historically marginalized communities, had raised $500 million, surpassed a $1 billion valuation, and grown to serve more than 75,000 members. Cityblock contracts with insurance companies to take on some of their most costly patients—typically low-income Medicaid and Medicare recipients—for a fixed cost per year. It provides members with comprehensive, often home-based healthcare services, particularly important for those dealing with mental health and addiction issues. Cityblock takes on the risk that those patients’ care costs will surpass the annual fixed amount it receives from insurance companies. But if its model works correctly, it gives members a single resource for tackling health issues and helps them avoid costly hospital stays. Ajayi was born in Boston to Nigerian parents who worked in international development, and their family moved to Nairobi when Ajayi was 2. So Ajayi grew up with an awareness of healthcare disparities on a global scale. “I felt really fortunate as a kid who had access to great schools and lots of resources,” she says. “I felt an obligation to think about ways to contribute.” After college at Stanford, Ajayi worked with HIV patients in San Francisco, went to medical school in England, then worked in Sierra Leone. Finally, she returned to Working as a doctor, Toyin Ajayi witnessed how the the U.S. for her residency in Boston. “I kept healthcare system fails traumatized patients in marginalized bumping up against the ways our healthcommunities—down to the language it uses to describe care is broken,” she says. “Particularly in them. She started Cityblock Health to change the equation. ways that impact people who are marginalized, who are low-income, who struggle hen Toyin Ajayi, MD, began practicwith disabilities, who have mental health needs, who have ing family medicine in Boston, she experienced lifelong trauma—who have lived in a society with cared for a patient for several years. systemic racism and structural bias.” “She had a number of chronic physiWhile Ajayi might not have envisioned herself becoming cal health diagnoses and a long history an entrepreneur when she set out to study medicine, she of mental health challenges, and she says serving patients and leading a fast-growing startup was often hospitalized because she hadn’t taken her medicines,” aren’t so different. “Being an entrepreneur requires commitAjayi says. “One time, when I was following up with her after yet ment to a different outcome for a problem you’ve identified another hospitalization, she told me, ‘I just want you to know, and can articulate in strong, clear, compelling, and numeriI am not noncompliant and defiant.’ In healthcare we develop cally substantiated ways. Medicine teaches you a lot of that. language that is not person-centered, and is sometimes even It teaches you how to problem-solve.” —Jessica Thomas
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P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F C I T Y B L O C K H E A LT H
Noncompliant and Defiant
Analisa Goodin Founder and CEO/ Catch & Release
Kate Ryder Founder/ Maven Clinic ate Ryder had a miscarriage, then a C-section when giving birth to her first child. She found returning to work difficult. “All these things are very normal parts of family building,” she says. “But there were no services or support for them.” The way the healthcare system is fragmented, women often fall through the cracks in moments of need. So in 2014, Ryder launched Maven Clinic, an ondemand virtual platform with a holistic approach to fertility and family care. It offers support and services from preconception and pregnancy all the way through postpartum and pediatrics. Maven Clinic has raised more than $200 million, though Ryder had a hard time getting funding from male investors at first. “They thought women’s and family health was a niche business,” she says. Today, Maven supports more than 10 million families and serves more than 175 countries.
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F C AT C H & R E L E A S E ( G O O D I N ) ; M AV E N C L I N I C ( R Y D E R ) ; N E T F L I X ( N I S H I M U R A)
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fter Analisa Goodin got her MFA in art history and art theory, she stumbled into doing photo research for advertising agencies. Her work involved surfing the internet for “found content”—anything from YouTube videos posted by professional documentarians to random pictures on Facebook—and then negotiating licensing agreements. “I developed a pretty decent spidey sense about whether or not a piece of content could be licensed,” Goodin says. In 2015, Goodin decided to build a business around that spidey sense and founded Catch & Release. The company is a Pinterest-like curation platform that brands and creators can use to search the internet for images and videos to use for commercials. When they find something promising, Catch & Release assigns that content a “licensability rating,” considering questions like: Does the person posting own this picture? Do they know everyone in the picture, to sign off on the use of their image? Are there children in the image? If the prospects are good and the client wants to move forward, Catch & Release clears intellectual properties and handles all legal and financial aspects of licensing. The trend of companies seeking found content—as opposed to shooting new commercials or using stock imagery—shows no signs of slowing down. In 2020, Catch & Release surveyed 100 advertising professionals, and 87 percent said they expected to use more found content over the next year. Earlier this year, Catch & Release raised $14 million, and it has licensed content for commercials from Sephora, Facebook, Jeep, Samsung, Lysol, Walmart, Peloton, DoorDash, Budweiser, and more. “The internet can support any story you have,” says Goodin. “If it’s a high-production, glossy, cinematic story, the internet has that stuff. If you want something that looks like an Instagram post, to emphasize the layman’s experience, that’s there, too. What’s important is authenticity, whether or not it’s professionally shot.”
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Lisa Nishimura VP of documentaries and independent films/ Netflix ong before she worked on projects like Making a Murderer and Tiger King for Netflix, Lisa Nishimura had a job distributing music and film around the world, and she spent a lot of time talking with owners of mom-and-pop shops. “I remember shopkeepers in Eastern Europe and Latin America who were coming into economic stability for the first time,” she says. “Once they secured basic human needs, the very next thing they craved was joy and entertainment through music and film.” The notion that entertainment can cross borders to offer escapism and transformation still drives Nishimura, Netflix’s vice president of documentaries and independent films. “You might think, Who is this movie for?” she says. “But at any given time, a teenage boy in Ohio and a grandmother in Tokyo are probably watching and loving the same movie.”
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Women Of Impact
Sophia Wang Cofounder/ MycoWorks hen Sophia Wang cofounded MycoWorks in 2013 with Philip Ross, she knew they’d created something groundbreaking. MycoWorks processes the material Fine Mycelium, which can be used as a leather alternative. But both Wang’s and Ross’s backgrounds were in art and academia, and with no experience in business operations, they were not getting traction with investors.“What saved us is recognizing that we needed help,” Wang says. So they brought on an engineer with experience in the biotech space, and at the end of 2020, they raised $45 million. Now MycoWorks has more than 100 employees. The company launched its pilot plant this spring and partnered with Hermès to present the Victoria bag, the first object made with Fine Mycelium. Looking to the future, Wang is focused on fostering a diverse culture of innovation. “We have people working in a manufacturing capacity, engineers, scientists, and data scientists,” she says. “It’s this amazing microcosm of the world.”
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Julia Estacolchic Head of brand and marketing/ Chispa ver since Julia Estacolchic emigrated from Argentina 25 years ago, she has been focused on helping the U.S. Hispanic market. “It’s a big market,” she says. A year and a half ago, Estacolchic started building the Hispanic dating app Chispa— under the umbrella of Match Group—from the ground up. Since launching, Chispa has become the largest dating app for Latinx singles, with more than four million downloads. It has also gone beyond the traditional purview of a dating app. When the pandemic hit, it participated in fundraisers for Latinx workers impacted by COVID-19 and partnered with the White House on vaccination efforts in the Hispanic community. During the election, Chispa supported Voto Latino with a digital, in-app campaign that helped register 600,000 people.
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Veronica Garza Cofounder, president, and chief innovation officer/ Siete Family Foods or Veronica Garza, starting Siete Family Foods took a bit of familial encouragement. “My brother Miguel told me that if I didn’t do it and then saw one day that someone else had, I would be really upset with myself,” she says. “I pictured that moment happening in my mind, and I didn’t want it to happen in real life.” Several years before, Garza had struggled with autoimmune issues, and in solidarity, her whole family had adopted a grain-free diet. Though many of Garza’s symptoms improved, she missed the Mexican foods she grew up eating in the family’s home in Laredo, Texas. So she started tinkering in the kitchen to come up with an almond-flour tortilla recipe. “It was just something for my family’s diet,” Garza says. “But seeing their excitement, I realized there must be so many more people out there like me.” In 2014, Veronica, Miguel, and their mother, Aida, joined forces to cofound Siete Family Foods (named for the seven members of the Garza family). Now Siete is one of the fastest-growing Hispanicfocused brands in grocery and has expanded into grain-free seasonings, sauces, chips, and cookies. The company received a $90 million investment in 2019, and last year Siete hit $150 million in retail sales. “It really came down to my family saying, ‘We can do this together,’ the same way they helped me get through my illnesses,” Garza says. “If I had done it by myself, I don’t know if it would’ve happened.”
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Women Of Impact
T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Diversity
“The murder of Mr. George Floyd was a tipping point for corporate America. But diverse people in general, and Black people in particular, are still having to deal with racism and toxic, hostile work environments. Startups can immediately diversify by creating an inclusive board or an advisory board. They can also partner with a community-based organization that serves people of color, invest in professional development training focused on bias and cultural competence, or consider the kind of ‘fractional’ chief diversity officer we offer at Diverse & Engaged.”
“We often talk about who is in the room making decisions—or who has a seat at the table, or any number of other clichés—but we rarely talk about who in the room has power. It isn’t enough to invite a person of color or an outwardly queer person to the table and expect them to magically have enough influence to create substantive change. (Not to mention, expecting one person to do all the anti-oppressive work of the organization is hardly equitable, is it?) DEI initiatives need to ensure that new leadership gets a seat, yes, but also a voice, a vote, and allies in the room.”
“A major blind spot is the myopic focus on equating DEI with hiring. It often won’t work unless you also create a culture where diverse talent can thrive. For startups, conducting a DEI audit is a first step. That can include talking to your employees, assessing their demographics against benchmarks, checking if your benefits support diverse needs, ensuring equitable development opportunities and promotions, and looking at hiring decisions. Once you’ve done an audit, you can develop concrete DEI actions to help your business be more innovative.”
“Startups have a great opportunity because the larger your business grows, the harder it becomes to course-correct. Recruit a diverse workforce and constantly evaluate your environment to ensure employees can grow once they arrive. That includes your executives. Observing someone ‘like me’ in a leadership role helps attract and retain talent and motivates workers to be ambitious. As you grow, remember, no one is a binary identity, so there isn’t a one-stop-shop policy that will help all women. Or all ethnicities. Or the entire LGBTQ+ community.”
—Dee C. Marshall CEO/ Diverse & Engaged, which helps businesses navigate diverse workforces and consumers
—Christen Brandt, Cofounder (left), with Tammy Tibbetts Cofounder/ She’s the First, a nonprofit fighting gender inequality through girls’ education
—Cynthia Owyoung
—LaFawn Davis
VP of inclusion, equity, and belonging/
Group vice president of environmental, social, and governance/ Indeed.com,
“How can we guarantee that women don’t stagnate at the entry level? Research in the Harvard Business Review shows that the feedback supervisors give to men tends to be more actionable than that given to women. For example, women receive comments like ‘You are often not on point during client calls.’ Men get ‘You missed the opportunity to convey X. Remember Y to prevent that from happening next time.’ Startups would do well to train their managers to deliver equally constructive and detailed feedback uniformly across all their reports.”
“It’s time to stop retrofitting the system and start reimagining it. Let’s evolve beyond the sponsorship model, which is filled with bias barriers, to our new model of ‘proximity-ship.’ This means sharing the mic and enabling all employees to have equal access to leadership so they can be seen and heard. One thing small businesses can do is to think differently when recruiting talent. When you hire your friends, you’re hiring people who think and look like you. Write your own rules—there is no legacy structure. For example, hire for passion and train for skill.”
“When retailers take our pledge, we conduct an audit of how many Blackowned brands they work with and how many are already on their shelves. This kind of audit is a concrete tool any business interested in becoming more inclusive can use. Startups can also hold themselves accountable for the diversity of their teams by releasing the information to their employees, partners, and, ideally, the public. On our career board, companies across industries can post job opportunities for historically excluded groups.”
—Nancy Wang
—Shelley Zalis
Cofounder and CEO/ Advancing Women in Tech, a nonprofit that empowers women leaders in tech
Founder and CEO/ The Female Quotient, which provides businesses with research and tools to advance gender equality
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Robinhood, a commission-free stock trading and investing app
—Aurora James Founder/ Fifteen Percent Pledge, a nonprofit that urges major retailers to dedicate at least 15 percent of their shelf space to Black-owned brands
a job search platform
“Sadly, in the cannabis and hemp industries, the issues are still there and getting worse. One particular blind spot involves the severe lack of capital offered to BIPOC businesses. If you’re a cannabis startup, diversify your supply chains and triple your commitment to Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities. Listen to entrepreneurs of color who require funding and equal partnerships to launch businesses. And if you’re a consumer, only buy from entities that are at least trying to do this work and/or from BIPOCowned businesses, which you can find on our InclusiveBase.”
—Mary Pryor Cofounder/ Cannaclusive, a collective that advocates for minority cannabis consumers
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F D I V E R S E & E N G A G E D ( M A R S H A L L) ; G A B Y D E I M E K E ( B R A N D T A N D T I B B E T T S ) ; R O B I N H O O D ( O W Y O U N G ) ; I N D E E D ( D AV I S ) ; C A N N A C L U S I V E ( P R Y O R ) ; C H R I T I A N C O D Y (J A M E S ) ; T H E F E M A L E Q U O T I E N T ( Z A L I S ) ; N A N C Y W A N G
Where are the major blind spots in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and what can small businesses do this year to address them?
Amany Killawi Cofounder/ LaunchGood
Joanna Smith Founder and CEO/ AllHere arly in her teaching career, Joanna Smith identified her biggest challenge. “It wasn’t lesson planning or behavior management,” she says. “It was making sure my students were in class.” In 2017, Smith decided to tackle the problem of chronic absenteeism by launching ed-tech company AllHere, a platform that uses AI chatbot technology to send personalized texts to students and families. The Boston-based company is now in more than 8,000 schools across 34 states, and the pandemic has only underscored the need for adaptable attendance solutions. By this June, the company had raised more than $12 million, and Smith is extending AllHere’s reach to areas like student health and academic support. “I get messages from families day and night,” Smith says. “They tell me, ‘Thank you— this is the most helpful resource we’ve had access to in a long time.’ ”
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F M A M A D I D O U M B O U YA ( S M I T H ) ; G E T T Y I M A G E S / B I L L P U G L I A N O / S T R I N G E R ( B A R R A) ; L A U N C H G O O D ( K I L L A W I )
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e’d bought one-way tickets, said our goodbyes, and were about to leave for Syria when a friend was like, ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ ” recalls Amany Killawi. “It was 9/11.” Killawi was 8 at the time, living in Detroit with her family, and that day changed the trajectory of her life. Instead of moving back to her parents’ home country, the family stayed in the U.S., and Killawi grew up in an era of intense Islamophobia. She was always looking for how she could change the narrative and give back to the world. Finally, in 2013, she found a way to do it. With Chris Blauvelt and Omar Hamid, Killawi cofounded LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform for the Muslim community that is on track to help raise $85 to $100 million—for both charities and startups—and bring in $7 million in revenue. The biggest challenge has been what Killawi calls “banking while Muslim.” In the past two years, LaunchGood has been off-boarded by three payment processors despite its stellar compliance process. “A lot of these guys are obviously afraid of terrorism funding, which is frustrating because that’s exactly what we’re fighting,” she says. But LaunchGood has managed by building a payment system with more understanding partners. Now Killawi’s goal is to raise $1 billion a year. “Why a billion? That forces us to think at a very different level,” she says. “And it helps us reinforce that Muslims are valuable, that we can do so much. We lost our mojo as a community, and we want to bring it back.”
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Mary Barra CEO/ General Motors his January, Mary Barra accelerated straight into the future— announcing GM’s commitment to selling light-duty vehicles that are zero-emission only by 2035. The company will also spend $35 billion to introduce 30 new electric vehicles, putting the rest of the car industry on notice. Barra has been steadfast in working toward this goal even during the pandemic, when GM added the production of masks, face shields, ventilators, and gowns to its manufacturing lines. In addition to its own brands’ electric vehicles, GM will partner with Honda to develop two electric cars and will offer Uber drivers special pricing on electric vehicles. It will also work with EVgo to build fast-charging stations. In August, Barra gave shareholders the rundown on GM’s lineup of new vehicles; the first Ultium-battery cars will launch this fall. “It’s just the start,” she said.
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Women Of Impact
T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Retail
“Gone are the days of ‘retail’ or ‘e-commerce’ shopping. Soon enough, if you see it, you can buy it—from scanning a sweater on a friend’s back to texting a number on a screen and buying your granola bar from the aisle. Technology and what we know as ‘distributed point of sale’ are evolving, so why do I have to go to a website or a store to purchase a product? Why do I need to enter my payment information every time? Looking ahead, we’ll move away from the traditional shopping experience, where browsing and perusing was the norm, to the one-click to purchase—from anywhere, through any platform.”
—Laura Modi Cofounder and CEO/ Bobbie, an organic infant-formula brand
“I find the opportunity lies in an understanding of the newly developed consumer habits and shopping behaviors that formed as a result of the pandemic. For many, COVID-19 provided a total reset. Purchasing online wasn’t just about convenience anymore; it was about safety. Seeking out value for money became more important in a shaky economy. Minimizing physical contact through QR codes became the norm. Businesses have had to navigate unprecedented challenges to survive, but as the economy rebounds and supply chains stabilize, brands that truly understand their new consumers are set up for success.”
—Georgina Gooley Cofounder/ Billie, a shave and body-care brand
“The best opportunities are discovered through a pain point that you’ve personally experienced. You ask yourself, How does this not exist? (In my case, it was candy I could feel good about.) It can’t be just slightly better than what’s out there today—it must have a radical value proposition for consumers. A powerful filter to ask yourself is Do I feel that the world can go on without this product/service? If the answer is no, that’s a good indicator that you should bring your innovation to life. And the insights you’ll gain on your adventure will lead you to more untapped opportunities.”
—Tara Bosch Founder/ SmartSweets, a low-sugar-candy company
“There’s much more value to be gotten from partnerships between DTC brands and retailers like Target and Walgreens than is happening now. Aligning on trending industry insights and strategies has been key for us—as when Tiny Organics launched Michelle Obama’s Veggies Early & Often campaign and partnered with retailers to bring it to market. For retailers, there’s a tremendous value add in DTC brands because their rich data ensures best-sellers are on the shelves and product launches are catered to customers’ needs. Such partnerships will position these retailers to lead in the digital-first world.”
—Betsy Fore Cofounder and co-CEO/ Tiny Organics, an earlychildhood nutrition company
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“Focusing on what’s next can be paralyzing because you are attempting to compete with some version of yourself or a major entity that has endless capital. Sometimes it’s more valuable to re-ground in the things that have already made you successful and amplify those efforts. Being stripped and reworked by external variables like COVID-19 is a chance to reflect and love on every crevice that didn’t break. That’s what the future is to me. And that’s where you should start.”
—Bea Dixon Cofounder and CEO/ The Honey Pot Company, an organic feminine-care brand
“I think the answer, more broadly, is the Black female consumer. Across the globe, we are growing in population, growing in terms of spending power, and we share a lot of the same needs. We are tired of consuming products that were not made with us in mind. The future is Black and female, honey.”
—Mary Imevbore Cofounder and CEO/ Waeve, a beauty brand that makes trendy, high-quality wigs
“For e-comm, there is a big opportunity to leverage both art and science. This year we launched our TikTok channel, which is heavily creative and grew to more than 620,000 followers in six months. Our performance marketing team has asked our TikTok audience questions about new products, which helps us see what content is working—insights we use week after week to create ads on TikTok and other social platforms that drive customers to our site. Together, the data driving insights and creativity driving eyeballs help you grow while building a strong brand.”
—Ellen Bennett Founder and CEO/ Hedley & Bennett, a premium aprons business
“I believe we’re on the precipice of a seismic shift in online shopping with the application of AI. By allowing users to share preferences in an ongoing way, AI will make shopping much smarter and more adaptive to each individual. The Yes is using this approach for fashion. Spotify and Pandora paved the way with music years ago, but it’s taken commerce longer to get there. AI can also help retailers better predict demand. And some of the most fascinating applications are in robotics and optimizing delivery routes, which will cost-effectively speed an order from placement to doorstep.”
—Julie Bornstein Cofounder and CEO/ The Yes, a personalized, datadriven shopping platform
PHOTOGR A PHS COURT ESY OF BOBBIE ( MODI ); SM A RTS W EE TS ( BOSCH ); T HE HONE Y P OT COMPA NY ( DIXON ); HEDL E Y & BENNE T T ( BENNE T T ); T H E Y E S ( B O R N S T E I N ) ; WA E V E ( I M E V B O R E ) ; T I N Y O R G A N I C S ( F O R E ) ; B I L L I E ( G O O L E Y )
Where do you think the untapped opportunities in retail and e-commerce are today?
Amy Denet Deal Founder/ 4Kinship my Denet Deal spent decades living in big cities around the world, designing clothes for major labels like Disney, Puma, and Reebok. But over time, her work started to feel at odds with her Native American heritage and values. “I realized I was not living authentically,” Deal says. “I had more to offer beyond design.” In 2015, Deal founded 4Kinship, a sustainably upcycled “artwear” brand that reconstructs or restores existing clothing and textiles. In 2019, Deal moved herself and the company to New Mexico to reintegrate with her Diné tribe. When the pandemic hit, she raised more than $800,000 for relatives on Navajo Nation, while supplying more than one million servings of food and distributing more than one million masks. Next spring, 4Kinship will help build Diné Skate Garden Project, a space for youth in the remote Two Grey Hills Diné community of Navajo Nation.
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F E M I LY R ATA J K O W S K I ; D I L L O N S A C H S ( D E A L) ; M I K M A K ( T I P O G R A P H )
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Rachel Tipograph
Founder and CEO/ MikMak hen Rachel Tipograph was 24, she became Gap’s global director of digital and social media— the company’s youngest-ever director. But as an LGBTQ executive, she struggled to find a mentor she related to, and the pull of entrepreneurship was strong. So in 2014, she left Gap to found an e-commerce software, called MikMak, that helps consumer packaged goods brands improve conversion rates, shorten the online buying journey, and give them insights into their customers. MikMak works with clients like Unilever, L’Oréal, and Lego, and since the onset of the pandemic, MikMak has quadrupled revenue and headcount. “We now have employees in 22 states and two countries,” Tipograph says. “That wouldn’t have happened if we kept geographical constraints in New York, and it’s been incredible for diversity.”
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Emily Ratajkowski Cofounder/ Inamorata hen I was 25, I would always get the question, ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years?’ ” says Emily Ratajkowski. “I didn’t do well with that question, because I didn’t know.” At the time, Ratajkowski had plenty to keep her busy; she was one of the most sought-after models in the world. But as she gained more experience with brand partnerships and licensing deals, she started paying closer attention to the levers of power. One day she had an epiphany: “These companies were relying on me heavily for creativity—it wasn’t just my image but my way of selling things using Instagram. And I realized, Wait; if I’m making this much money from 4 percent of the profits, then what are they making?” That revelation led Ratajkowski to found swimwear brand Inamorata with her best friend, Kat Mendenhall, in 2017—and in the years that followed, she became increasingly outspoken. On Instagram, Ratajkowski curates an artful, provocative, and political feed for 28 million followers. She has faced criticism for her brand of “sexy feminism,” but last year she penned a viral essay for New York Magazine called “Buying Myself Back,” in which she detailed her years-long battle to reclaim ownership of photos of herself taken by men who profited from her image. The essay catapulted her into a new dimension of feminist dialogue, and her book of essays, called My Body, which promises to take an unblinking look at culture’s simultaneous obsession with and contempt for women’s sexuality, is out in November. Ratajkowski says that the root of her success, whether in business or championing feminism, comes down to one insight: “People’s bullshit detectors are so high. So if you are trying to do anything, you need to be authentic.”
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October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 53
seat at the table to make change, you’ve got to walk into the fire.” Mukherjee is an Indian American woman in a white-male-dominated industry, and she credits Alexandre Ricard, chairman and CEO of Pernod Ricard, for bringing her in and embracing the kinds of changes she envisioned. It is not every day you see a CEO actively warning customers about potential abuse of their products, but that’s exactly what Mukherjee did with the #SexResponsibly campaign, which directly addressed the issue of consent and the role that irresponsible drinking has in sexual assaults. “Like anything, it started with a business problem,” Mukherjee says of the campaign. “Our iconic Absolut brand was having some business trouble and had kind of lost its way. It has always been a brand about provoking cultural issues—they were talking about gay rights before anyone else was—so we said, ‘OK, what’s relevant today for Absolut to be talking about?’ ” After #MeToo, Mukherjee wasn’t going to tiptoe around the elephant in the room. “A lot of people use alcohol as a weapon, and as an alcohol company, we felt it was important to say that that’s not acceptable.” Mukherjee’s point of view was informed by her personal experiences, and she says that’s the kind of connection consumers and employees are looking for. They want to know what a brand stands for. “A paycheck is not enough for today’s employees—you have to earn people’s energy,” she says. Mukherjee believes in the servantleadership model, with CEOs at the bottom of the pyramid. “CEOs are here to serve,” she says. “We’re here to remove obstacles. We’re here to help Pernod Ricard North America owns many of the world’s most recognizable people realize their whole self and alcohol brands. Its CEO, Ann Mukherjee, lived through alcohol-related bring all that to work.” personal tragedies. In her opinion, that’s why she’s right for the job. For those just starting out in their careers, or looking to make a big change, Mukherjee advises they not be afraid of taking chances. “Most of my successes come lot of people ask me, ‘Why would you from failures,” she says. “So I always tell people, ‘Turn your be the CEO of an alcohol company?’” breakdowns into breakthroughs.’ ” But first, she implores Ann Mukherjee says. It’s a fair question. everyone to have an honest conversation with themselves Mukherjee, 56, is the chairman and CEO of about their strengths and weaknesses. And then, very imporPernod Ricard North America, the wine and tantly: Don’t try to change them. “Weaknesses are the things spirits powerhouse with brands that include that make your strengths your strengths! If a company doesn’t Absolut, Jameson, and Avion. When she was 14, Mukherjee understand its strategic advantage, how are they going to be saw her mother killed by a drunk driver. She was also a victim differentiated and make a profit in the world? It’s the same of sexual abuse in which alcohol played a part. So why would thing with people. Know that, embrace that, and love Mukherjee want this job? “I know what that pain is like,” she all of yourself.” —Dan Bova says. “I don’t want others to go through it. If you really want a Women Of Impact
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PERNOD RICARD
Want Change? Walk into the Fire
Nicky Goulimis Cofounder and board director/ Nova Credit hen Nicky Goulimis immigrated to the U.S. from England in 2014 for Stanford business school, she couldn’t get a cellphone plan. The U.S. credit system didn’t acknowledge her English borrowing history, which meant rejections by credit card companies, six to 12 months’ rent up front at apartments, and exorbitant interest rates for student loans. “Talk to anyone who has moved to the States from another country and they’ll tell you the various duct-tape solutions they’ve employed to get a foothold in the financial system,” Goulimis says. So in 2016, she cofounded Nova Credit with Loek Janssen and Misha Esipov, immigrant students with similar experiences. They knew that to make real change, they’d have to build a whole new infrastructure. They bushwhacked through thickets of regulatory red tape, inched toward trust with huge financial institutions, worked with credit systems around the globe, and developed a platform to help financial institutions serve immigrants they would otherwise turn away. “We were sandwiched between giants who are not the fastest-moving players in the world, so it was a challenging space,” Goulimis says. But she’d identified a problem everyone wanted to solve and VCs wanted to invest in—to the tune of $70 million. After all, Nova Credit not only helps immigrants; it gives financial institutions a whole new population to lend to. The company has hired nearly 80 people and this year is launching internationally to serve people moving to other countries. Beyond that? “With all the talk about space exploration, maybe interplanetary credit data,” Goulimis says, laughing. “Give it a little time.”
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F N O VA C R E D I T ( G O U L I M I S ) ; N U D E B A R R E ( C A R P E N T E R ) ; F O O D 5 2 ( H E S S E R ) ; H B O M A X (A U B R E Y ) ; G I M L E T ( P O L G R E E N )
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Erin Carpenter
Amanda Hesser
Sarah Aubrey
Lydia Polgreen
Founder/ Nude Barre
Founder and CEO/ Food52
Head of original content/ HBO Max
Managing director/ Gimlet Media
hen Erin Carpenter was a teenager, a dance teacher told her to dye her beige ballet tights and cake her shoes with makeup to match her skin tone. “I did this into my professional career and thought it was ridiculous and unfair that artists of color had to do this,” she says. So in 2009, when no one else had come up with a solution, Carpenter founded Nude Barre. The New York–based company makes undergarments and bodywear in 12 different skin tones. Carpenter started the company with $3,000 in savings and last October closed a seed round of $1.4 million with investors like Serena Williams and Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd. Carpenter’s longterm goal is to change the perspective around the color nude. “With so many products, whether it’s Band-Aids, flats, or heels, ‘nude’ is typically beige, to represent white skin,” she says. “And I feel nude should be more personal.”
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fter college, Amanda Hesser had a dream and a problem. She wanted to go to cooking school and apprentice in European restaurants and bakeries, but she needed money. So she asked the women’s culinary organization Les Dames d’Escoffier to fund her dream. “Miraculously, they said yes, and I spent the next two years in Europe,” Hesser recalls. “I didn’t realize at the time, but that was my first fundraising pitch.” Some 13 years later, Hesser founded Food52, a website that offers products, recipes, and ideas, and reaches more than 25 million people a month. The pandemic—with so many people cooking at home—doubled Food52’s revenue, and in May the company bought the homeware brand Dansk. The staff is 78 percent women, and half of leadership is women of color. “We’re holding our vendors and partners accountable for prioritizing diversity,” Hesser says.
hen Sarah Aubrey was growing up in Texas, her role models were larger than life. Her mom was president of the Planned Parenthood board in Austin, and her dad, well… “I’m pretty sure he was a noncom officer in the CIA,” Aubrey says, laughing. “I’m not kidding.” As the head of original content at HBO Max, Aubrey has seen plenty of adventure herself. HBO’s answer to Netflix launched in May 2020 and has since gained 47 million subscribers. Anticipated projects are the Sex and the City reboot and superhero franchise projects with creators like James Gunn and Matt Reeves. Aubrey has built a diverse team that reflects their target younger audience. “An equitable workplace begets equitable programming,” she says. “Every single day on every single project, we’re asking, ‘What are we doing to represent our audience?’ It’s not just a moral imperative. It’s a business imperative.”
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or me, journalism was always about getting people to think differently about the world, and it has become harder and harder for traditional journalism to achieve this,” says Lydia Polgreen. “But the intimate experience of audio, which worms its way right into your brain, reaches people in a different emotional register.” That, in a nutshell, is why the veteran reporter left her job as editor in chief of Huffington Post last spring to oversee content at Gimlet Media. The Spotify-owned podcast pearl makes hit series like Heavyweight, Science Vs, Crimetown, Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel, and newcomers like Resistance, which Polgreen is particularly proud of. “When a group of producers pitched me Resistance, I felt this flutter of excitement,” she says. “This wouldn’t be a show about victimhood or the ennobling nature of suffering. It would be a living, breathing blueprint of how to make change happen.”
October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 55
Women Of Impact
T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Investing
“VC firms need to promote women. As of February 2020, only 13 percent of decision-makers were female. Women investors are more likely to invest in female founders, and data shows that private tech companies with womenled teams generate a 35 percent higher ROI than teams led by men. We should protect policies like California’s Senate Bill 826, which requires publicly held companies to have a certain number of women on their boards. Finally, let’s use our purchasing power to support women-founded brands. When their companies do well, they will be more attractive to VC firms.”
—Nikki Eslami Cofounder/ New Theory Ventures, which invests in women-led personal-care brands
“Give womxn checkbooks. To help turn more womxn into funders, this year we launched our Operator in Residence, a full-time, paid, one-year appointment for candidates interested in venture capital. If more womxn are writing VC checks, they’ll encourage their female founders to prioritize their own health and well-being, as we do. In turn, these leaders will be more effective in running their organizations and we’ll see more successful companies with womxn in the driver’s seats.”
—Katelin Holloway Founding partner/ Seven Seven Six, a VC firm founded by Alexis Ohanian that commits 2 percent of its investment to founders’ personal needs
“Be consumer-centric. At Imaginary, we want founders who put consumers first and reach them through content, community, and culture—and women are very good at this. Female founders challenge the status quo of brands built by men, whether it’s size inclusivity to address the 70 percent of U.S. female consumers who are plus size, rethinking retail, or challenging the notion that skin only comes in one color. Women are also great at building teams, being cash-flow nimble, and delivering higher ROI, which leads to another fix: Investors need to support them with a strong bench of executives, the way they would a male founder.”
—Natalie Massenet Cofounder/ Imaginary Ventures, which invests in retail tech
“The greatest things we can do are to demystify the fundraising process, enable access to investors, and increase the number of female funders. Programs like All Raise’s new Masterclasses, which teach women about fundraising and pitching their businesses, are a start. I also recommend networking with other founders who have secured capital; investors are more likely to fund businesses introduced to them versus cold contacts. Finally, as more successful women become investors, more women-led startups will get funding and the expertise that fuels success.”
—Jenny Lefcourt General partner/ Freestyle Capital Cofounder/ All Raise, which supports women funders
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“We need to introduce girls to entrepreneurship and finance earlier. What about classes on a female being the leader in a room filled with men? In their teens, they need more examples of female owners, CEOs, women in politics, science, and sales. When I was young, I would have loved a workshop tailored to women. It’s great to feel the camaraderie, encouragement, and excitement of brainstorming ideas together—hearing what worked and what didn’t, the pitfalls and the rewards. The normalcy of many women dreaming and doing big things is key.”
“Although we see more women-led startups at the seed stage, they are not making it to the growth stage, where the recent trend of supersize rounds are going to predominantly male-led teams. To fix that, we need to increase the number of female investors at the growth stage, because these later-stage funds allocate two-thirds of all venture capital. At the same time, we need to help more female entrepreneurs ‘supersize’ their businesses for venture returns by giving them access to technology, distribution partnerships, and capital.”
—Twila True Cofounder/ True Family Enterprises, private capital investment firm Founder/ True Sioux Hope Foundation
—Abby Miller Levy Cofounder and managing partner/ Primetime Partners, which invests in startups that improve life for older adults
“Investors need to go beyond diversity mandates, which are great but are not a one-size-fits-all solution. At TMV, we invest in founders and ideas that have a real ability to create positive change. We know from experience and data that the best solutions to our most pressing issues stem from having different perspectives at the table. Female founders should also be building communities, whether that’s joining a peer group or starting one, where they can get the support needed to find investors who align with their mission.”
“In the process of starting Offline Ventures, I’ve learned that the problem isn’t just a lack of women VCs. We also need more female LPs [limited partners], the individuals and institutions that invest in venture funds. And we need more women to lead companies big enough to warrant VC dollars. Our new 10-week program, Selfmade, teaches women to start a business, while organizations like Ladies Who Launch and IFundWomen provide access to capital and other resources. The entire chain needs representation to make a real impact.”
—Soraya Darabi Cofounder and general partner/ TMV, which invests in purposeful companies Founder/ Transact Global, a virtual club of emerging fund managers
—Brit Morin Founding partner/ Offline Ventures, which invests in tech that makes life offline better
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F N E W T H E O R Y V E N T U R E S ( E S L A M I ) ; I M A G I N A R Y V E N T U R E S ( M A S S E N E T ) ; T R U E F A M I LY E N T E R P R I S E S ( T R U E ) ; P R I M E T I M E P A R T N E R S ( L E V Y ) ; B R I T TA N Y D A W N ( M O R I N ) ; T R A I L M I X V E N T U R E S ( D A R A B I ) ; F R E E S T Y L E C A P I TA L ( L E F C O U R T ) ; S E V E N S E V E N S I X ( H O L L O WAY )
Female entrepreneurs suffered setbacks last year, with investment in women-led startups dropping to just 2.3 percent of VC funding. How can we fix that?
Kim Perell
Swan Sit
Founder and CEO/ 100.co
“Queen of Clubhouse”/ Independent board director
im Perell’s first job was for a dotcom startup, and it went bankrupt after the bubble burst in 2000. She lost her job, her identity, and her livelihood. “I hit rock bottom,” Perell says. “I could barely afford my rent; the bills were piling up. I knew I needed to make a change.” So her grandmother loaned her $10,000 to start a digital marketing company, and two decades later, Perell is a serial entrepreneur, an angel investor, and a best-selling author. She sold her last company, Adconion Direct, for $235 million. In the past year, she founded her newest startup, 100.co, to reinvent how consumer brands are created using artificial intelligence. She also has a new book coming out, Jump: Dare to Do What Scares You in Business and Life, which she hopes will help people take a step forward in their professional lives. “I truly believe everyone is just one jump away from making a transformative life change,” she says.
PHOTOGR A PHS COURT ESY OF K IM PEREL L ; S WA N SI T (SI T ); S U M M E R S A LT ( C O U LT E R & C H A M B E R L I N ) ; M AV E N ( K A O )
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’m an accidental creator,” says Swan Sit. “I was thrust into the public eye without being ready for it.” Though when Sit says “the public eye,” what she really means is “the public ear.” The former executive is a breakout star on Clubhouse, the audio-only social media app that blew up during the pandemic. Forbes has dubbed Sit, who has 3.6 million followers, the Queen of Clubhouse. She has been a digital marketing executive at companies like Nike and Revlon and is now an independent board director at Edgewell, NovaBay, and Far Niente. Over the past year, Sit has leveraged Clubhouse to interview everyone from Floyd Mayweather to Paris Hilton and signed a contract with Vayner Talent. “Impostor syndrome is real, but when I get messages that I’ve changed people’s lives or helped them get through a rough spot, that makes it all worthwhile,” Sit says.
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Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin and Lori Coulter
Wes Kao
Cofounders (from left)/ Summersalt
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hen trying to get funding for their St. Louis–based swimwear and apparel business, Lori Coulter and Reshma Chattaram Chamberlin had to have a sense of humor. “We joked that the closest beach to us is the Mississippi River,” says Chattaram Chamberlin. But by focusing on growth instead of risk, they sold investors and launched in 2017. In 2020, the company saw 100 percent growth. “Our superpower is knowing where our customer is emotionally,” says Chattaram Chamberlin. Early in the pandemic, the company launched a text-based support hotline called The Joycast, where team members responded to inquiries with self-care ideas, puppy GIFs, or videos of Italians singing on roofs. “It’s the personification of brand as friend,” says Chattaram Chamberlin, “and brand as community.”
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Cofounder/ Maven es Kao was a good student. But traditional classroom learning always left her needing help from tutors. “I took a calculus class with 800 classmates where the professor never once turned around from the chalkboard, and I got a C,” she says. “But when I retook the course with only five students and an engaging professor, I got an A.” In 2020, to help similarly minded learners, Kao and Gagan Biyani cofounded microconsulting platform Maven. Since January, Maven has sold more than $1.5 million in courses featuring “creators” with expertise on everything from community building to cryptocurrency. In May, Maven closed a $20 million round of funding. “I’m most proud of how we’ve been able to help creators monetize their expertise,” Kao says. “They can charge a premium price and have near-unlimited room to scale their business. So they can focus on quality, not just quantity.”
It’s one of the reasons why, this past February, Amazon officially acquired Wondery for a sum reported to be around $300 million. The move transformed Wondery from an independent studio into a key asset in Amazon Music’s battle against Spotify. It also meant big things for Sargent, who was COO at the time of the sale but took over as CEO afterward. She has a lot of work ahead. The pandemic radically altered consumers’ podcast consumption habits, and the podcast space grows more crowded every day. But Sargent says her career journey prepared her for this moment of change. She began in investment banking at J.P. Morgan’s tech, media, and telecom group, later moved into advertising, got an MBA, worked in digital marketing, and then launched her own media company, called HitFix, in 2008—just as the recession set in. She managed to grow it anyway and sold it to Uproxx in 2016. “What I learned during the Great Recession is there’s a timidness and a hunker-down mentality that comes with certain types of externalities,” she says. “Entrepreneurs need to remember their business fundamentals but also have this willingness to adapt. If you can bring those two things together, you can actually grow and thrive during challenging times.” She is now applying that attitude to Wondery. For example, during the pandemic’s early days, advertising dried up and listenership dropped. But Wondery still pressed ahead with building its subscription app, Wondery Plus, which offers subscribers ad-free listening, early release for shows, and exclusive content. Wondery doesn’t release user data but says the app is growing “exponentially.” Meanwhile, the company is expanding globally with foreign-language versions of its hit shows, has more than a dozen TV or film adaptaAs the CEO of Wondery, Jen Sargent is in the business of tions of its podcasts in development, and making hit podcasts that push the creative envelope. But Wondery began developing books, music, games, is owned by Amazon, one of the most logic- and data-driven and merchandise. Amazon’s scale certainly helps those ambicompanies in the world. How does she make it work? tions, though Sargent says her new parent company’s notoriously data-driven mindset also presents challenges. “For brand-new things, especially content, it’s hard to quantify the ant to make a great podcast? The CEO risk,” she says. But she pushes her team to take risks anyway. of the powerhouse podcast network Wondery, Jen Sargent, knows a thing or “When there’s a lack of data, one of my favorite sayings I’ve two about that. learned at Amazon is ‘What do we need to believe to be true in order “Put yourself in the listener’s shoes,” for this to work?’ I love that because then it’s like, Oh, OK, I don’t she says. “Everybody is really busy, and have all the answers, but here’s what I think is going to be true.” you’re asking for people’s time, which is their most valuable asset. In that way, her outlook on building an influential podcast So why should someone listen? You’d better have a strong answer.” business isn’t too different from her advice for creating a Sargent’s team consistently produces strong answers in the great podcast: Why should someone listen? You’d better have form of hit shows like Dirty John, Dr. Death, and Business Wars. a strong answer. —Jason Feifer Women Of Impact
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PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF WONDERY
You’d Better Have a Strong Answer
Cathy Hughes Founder/ Urban One efore Cathy Hughes was able to buy her first radio station in 1980, it took her several years to secure a license and approval from the FCC. Once she got approval, she needed a million-dollar loan—and the bank charged her 28 percent interest. Seven challenging years later, her balance sheet turned black. “I called my accountant and accused him of making an error,” Hughes recalls. “He laughed and said, ‘No, that means you made money this month.’ ” Urban One is now the largest diversified media company serving African American and urban consumers in the United States. Urban One’s subsidiaries include Radio One, which owns and operates 55 broadcast stations in 13 markets. “At least 85 percent of our staff are people of color,” Hughes says. “Issues of diversity, race, and inclusion are not a fad that we picked up recently. It is at the core of who we are as a company because we are determined to be a voice for and to our community.” Each year, the company hosts Urban One Honors to celebrate people who make a meaningful community impact. Honorees in 2020 included Ala Stanford, a Philadelphia doctor who paid for more than 3,000 COVID-19 tests to help impoverished people of color, and Kim R. Ford of Washington, D.C.–based Martha’s Table, which distributed millions of pounds of food and more than $1 million to people in need. “The opportunity to spotlight women who were moving the needle and doing things that may or may not reach the news is very meaningful,” Hughes says.
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F O N E X S T U D I O S T E A M ( H U G H E S ) ; B L A C K F U T U R E S L A B ( G A R Z A) ; S U G A R W I S H ( V E Z Z A N I ) ; S P R I N G H E A LT H ( K O H ) ; H E L L O S U N S H I N E ( H A R D E N )
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Alicia Garza
Elisabeth Vezzani
April Koh
Sarah Harden
Cofounder/ Black Lives Matter Global Network Principal/ Black Futures Lab
Cofounder and CEO/ Sugarwish
Cofounder and CEO/ Spring Health
CEO/ Hello Sunshine
struggled with my mental health for more than a decade, mostly in college,” says April Koh. “Every failed treatment made me feel even more hopeless.” Koh’s experience—and background in computer science— inspired her to found Spring Health in 2016 with fellow Yale grads Abhishek Chandra and Adam Chekroud. There are more than 200 mental health diagnoses with more than 200 possible treatments, so many patients are misdiagnosed or mistreated the first time they seek care. Spring Health uses hundreds of data points like demographics, family history, and specific symptoms to help providers diagnose and treat mental health issues more accurately and quickly. Spring Health has raised more than $100 million, and its clients include large employers like Whole Foods, Gap, and Equinox. “I’m proud I persevered and found something that worked for me,” says Koh.
ecoming a CEO was a moment for sure,” says Sarah Harden. “I felt ready, but it was still humbling to have the chance to build—and hold—the trust that comes with being a leader of an organization.” Harden was named CEO of Hello Sunshine in 2018, two years after she helped Reese Witherspoon start the media company that has emerged as a cultural force in recent years—creating women-centric projects like Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, and Little Fires Everywhere. This summer Harden oversaw the company’s sale to a Blackstone-backed media company for $900 million. “Our vision is to use storytelling to change the way women—our partners, collaborators, audiences, and employees—get to walk through the world,” says Harden. “It’s the joy of my career doing that with Reese, our executives, and our team. I never take it for granted, and every day I’m learning to be a better leader.”
hen George Zimmerman was acquitted of Trayvon Martin’s murder in 2013, Alicia Garza, a community organizer in California, took to Facebook to say: “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter.” #BlackLivesMatter began trending, and a global movement was born. In 2018, after four years of overseeing the Black Lives Matter Global Network, Garza launched Black Futures Lab, which works in communities to build Black power at the local, state, and national levels. Last year, she debuted her first book, The Purpose of Power, and launched a podcast, Lady Don’t Take No. “The podcast medium has brought me so much joy,” she says. “Black people have always played a role in unlocking the promise of an America that has not yet been realized. If there was ever a time to tap into that power—it’s now.”
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o be a kid in a candy store!” Nine years ago, Elisabeth Vezzani set out to bring that classic childhood thrill to adult gifting. Today, a gift card from her company, Sugarwish, is sent every minute. Recipients are pinged by text, email, Slack, Teams, or social channels and directed to the Sugarwish site, where they can pick out their favorite candy, snacks, or dog treats. Back in 2012, way before personalization was a retail buzzword, Vezzani and her cofounder, Leslie Lyon, went to a holiday gift show to test their novel idea. “Our first client sent the very first Sugarwish from our booth,” says Vezzani. “And a few years later, he became an investor.” In 2015 the company launched a corporate gifting program, which now has more than 25,000 clients, including Facebook, Southwest Airlines, and Capital One.
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Women Of Impact
T H E R O U N D T A B L E ON
Sustainability
“Our first motto was ‘Saving the Earth, one fabulous bag at a time.’ To the world, it was tongue-in-cheek, but we meant it. Last year we commissioned a study to answer the question: ‘Does a Chanel bag ever end up in a landfill?’ What we found was that luxury handbags are not only owned longer but more likely to be resold than their fast-fashion and even mall-brand counterparts. In fact, luxury handbags are also cared for better and more likely to be professionally repaired when needed. So our biggest impact has been creating a market for a product that was already sustainable.”
“A business with the size and diversity of Amazon scales by creating mechanisms. In 2019, Amazon cofounded the Climate Pledge with Global Optimism, a commitment to netzero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. More than 100 companies have joined us, all committed to transformational action that can protect the global economy and help to preserve the natural world. We know crossing the finish line won’t be easy, and there’s still lots of exploring and inventing that needs to happen. But we believe we can build a better future together.”
“In 2020, we established a set of commitments that guide us toward decisions that benefit the planet. Since then, our Earthwise line of products has been a big focus, and defining what qualified as ‘earthwise’ was a task we didn’t take lightly. We did thorough up-front research, got feedback on industry standards, and looked to partners like B Corporation and Leather Working Group as a benchmark. From there, we built a clear framework that could expand as the industry makes progress. We started by actively listening to experts, and we are committed to making changes as we learn.”
—Sarah Davis Founder and president/ Fashionphile, a preownedluxury-handbag purveyor
—Kara Hurst Vice president of worldwide sustainability/ Amazon
—Amy Smith Chief strategy and impact officer/ Toms, a philanthropic footwear brand
“In an industry rampant with healthwashing and greenwashing, I’m most proud of our direct relationships with farmers, which enable us to tackle some of the systemic barriers to proper nutrition and sustainable agriculture. We know that organic farming is better for human and climate health, but only 1 percent of U.S. farmland is organic. It’s expensive, labor-intensive, and risky for farmers to transition. So we make the three-year conversion process a little bit easier. We started with one farm. Now we’re converting hundreds of acres and counting. Our goal is to make organic fruits and vegetables more accessible for all.”
“Since last May, we’ve introduced sustainable alternatives across existing categories, using eco-friendly materials like recycled nylon and polyester. With each launch, we’ve zeroed in on very specific areas: swimwear with eco-friendly outer fabric or inner lining, or remaking our bralettes, active leggings, bike shorts, and sports bras in sustainable materials. It’s tempting to overhaul the business overnight, but I know that’s impossible without compromising the quality and fit. So my solution has been complete transparency with our community on why it takes time for every component to come together.”
“As of 2021, all Briogeo product bottles, tubes, jars, and caps are 100 percent recyclable. We’ve also made the decision to make all of our HDPE [high-density polyethylene] bottles with a minimum of 25 percent PCR [postconsumer resin]. Some are even made with 100 percent PCR! One doubleedged sword we’ve encountered is that PCR is becoming more widely used. We’re thrilled so many brands are prioritizing Earth-friendly packaging, but we’ve had to sharpen our planning efforts and be extra strategic so we can continue sourcing recycled materials properly without putting pressure on the supply chain.”
“In fall 2020, we accelerated the target date for our 100 percent renewable electricity goal by 25 years. We also set goals to reach carbon neutrality by 2030. And earlier this year, we joined the United Nations–backed Race to Zero Campaign—aiming for net-zero carbon emissions across our value chain by 2045. We are already making strong progress. By the end of last year, more than half of our global electricity came from renewable sources, and we recently signed three new deals that will bring us to 100 percent renewable electricity in Europe by 2023. That includes 30 sites! I’m excited about this momentum.”
—Rachel Drori Founder and CEO/ Daily Harvest, a meal delivery service
—Michelle Cordeiro Grant Founder/ Lively, an underwear and swimwear brand
—Nancy Twine Founder and CEO/ Briogeo, a clean, natural hair-care company
—Paulette Frank Chief sustainability officer/ Johnson & Johnson
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“From the start, we’ve prioritized safety for the environment and the consumer. All of our bedding and bath products are Oeko-Tex–certified. We work with a manufacturer that operates its own solar and wind-power generation projects. Every material in our eco-hybrid mattress is nontoxic and sustainable. Our HQ donated returned items to Habitat for Humanity, embraced Meatless Mondays, started composting, and eliminated single-use plastics. We’ve brought in experts and established an internal task force to guide us in the process of making meaningful change— beginning with increasing our USAmade products to support heritage craft and reduce transportation emissions.”
—Ariel Kaye Founder and CEO/ Parachute, a premium-bedding business
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F F A S H I O N P H I L E ( D AV I S ) ; A M A Z O N ( H U R S T ) ; T O M S ( S M I T H ) ; P A R A C H U T E ( K AY E ) ; J O H N S O N & J O H N S O N ( F R A N K ) ; B R I O G E O ( T W I N E ) ; L I V E LY ( G R A N T ) ; D A I LY H A R V E S T ( D R O R I )
What change have you made at your company that has had the overall biggest impact on sustainability?
P H O T O G R A P H S C O U R T E S Y O F L E A N A W E N ; G E T T Y I M A G E S / B L O O M B E R G (J A N S E N ) ; N O VAVA X L A B ( P AT E L) ; G E T T Y I M A G E S / T I M O T H Y N W A C H U K W U ( C O R B E T T ) ; GE T T Y IM AGES/ST E V E PA RSONS - PA IM AGES (GIL BERT ); GE T T Y IM AGES/PICT URE A L L I A NCE ( T ÜRECI ); JOHNSON & JOHNSON (SCHUI T EM A K ER)
Kathrin Jansen, PhD
Nita Patel
Kizzmekia Corbett, PhD
Sarah Gilbert, PhD
Özlem Türeci, MD
Hanneke Schuitemaker, PhD
the most recent global data, only 32.7 percent of R&D scientists in North America and Western Europe are women, this is remarkable. We are fortunate these scientists were poised to lead the charge when our moment of crisis arrived. The very first vaccine to receive full approval in the U.S. was from Pfizer/BioNTech. The head of vaccine research and development for the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is Kathrin Jansen, PhD. Under Jansen’s direction, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration less than 11 months after the genetic sequence for SARS-CoV-2 was released. This vaccine was developed using a novel mRNA-based platform technology, one championed by the German biotech company BioNTech. BioNTech’s chief medical officer is Özlem Türeci, MD, a physician, an immunologist, and a cancer researcher. The other major pharmaceutical company utilizing the mRNA platform to produce the COVID-19 vaccine is Moderna. Moderna developed its vaccine in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health, where a scientific lead was Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett, PhD. Corbett’s team The pandemic has been devastating, but COVID-19 vaccine worked to deploy the vaccine for phase 1 clinical trials that development efforts have been heroic—and led by began just 66 days from viral sequence release. The third vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. is from women scientists. CNN medical analyst Leana Wen, MD, Johnson & Johnson. There, a Dutch scientist, Hanneke celebrates their accomplishments and hopes that a Schuitemaker, PhD, heads viral vaccine discovery and new generation of girls will see themselves in white coats. translational medicine and has been at the forefront of getting this one-dose vaccine across the finish line. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has many advantages in less welln just more than a year and a half, COVID-19 has claimed resourced settings, thanks to ease of storage and transport. It uses the lives of more than 630,000 Americans and more than the adenovirus vector technology, like the vaccine developed by the 4.5 million people around the world. It has wreaked havoc drugmaker AstraZeneca. The person leading the AstraZeneca vacon the global economy and caused untold pain and suffercine effort? Of course, it’s another female scientist: Sarah Gilbert, ing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have been tryPhD, a professor at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ing my best to provide guidance to Americans—on the air Finally, right here in Maryland, where I am, is Nita Patel, who at CNN, in my column for The Washington Post, and one-on-one is leading development of the Novavax vaccine with an almost allwith my patients—but the future was unknown and prospects women team. She told CBS News that this could be a silver lining to were often grim. I experienced uncertainty myself, giving birth the pandemic—that a new generation of women may be motivated during the pandemic and then caring for my family members to enter science. “Women often don’t recognize, you have incredible when they became infected with the coronavirus. strength inside you. It just needs the right moment to come out,” she Throughout all this, one thing has been clear: Our single pathway said. “I think in science, you can do this.” out of the most devastating public health crisis of our time was the I agree with her. There has been so much heartbreak and pain vaccine. And against all odds, in record time, scientists developed during the pandemic. But one bright spot has been the incredible colsafe, effective vaccines that protect against this potentially deadly laboration among scientists, and the innovation and success of the disease. What’s more: Women were and continue to be at the forebrilliant women leading the global effort to pioneer the vaccines. front of COVID-19 vaccine development. Given that, according to
A Silver Lining for Science
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PHOTOGR A PHS COURT ESY OF URB A N A IR A DV EN T URE PA RK
Franchisee
→ FAMILY AFFAIR
Urban Air Adventure Park franchisees Rachelle Nurse and Joseph Goodly with their kids.
The Fun of Franchising What’s it like running a business where all the customers are having a great time? b y C H L O E A R R O J A D O
October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 63
Franchisee
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achelle Nurse and Joseph Goodly were not having fun. They’re a married nurse and physician—yes, Nurse is a nurse— and they wanted to buy a franchise to create a new source of income for their family, but most brands were too risky, or just didn’t get them excited. Then, in 2016, a neighbor invited their daughter to a birthday party at an Urban Air Adventure Park— and once they arrived, they realized this fun zone might be a fun investment. Its appeal was twofold. First, they could manage it alongside their full-time work schedules. And second, it encouraged their now 10- and 13-year-old children to power off their video games and enjoy some face-to-face play. In 2018 the couple opened a Texas location, and in 2020 they added another New York location to the 153-park network. The pandemic complicated operations at times, but the couple has found that their customers are more than ready to fill their social void.
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You both come from the healthcare industry, where you work with seasoned pros. At Urban Air, you mostly employ young people. What has that been like? NURSE: Young people today have a different core work ethic and different expectations. They will challenge you. We’re able to say, “You made a mistake, but let me show you how we would do that.” GOODLY: To be quite honest, teenagers have very busy schedules. They have sports, various other activities, and family commitments. So we have to continually hire staff. That’s been a challenge, but it’s also been rewarding. It feels good to give these teenagers opportunities. It feels good to give back to the community, and give these kids their first jobs so they can get ready for the workforce. You’re in the business of giving people a good time. Does that make the business itself a good time? NURSE: Franchisees are so serious—whether it’s the operators and investments or making what you need in order to survive as a family. At the end of the day, sometimes we’ve just got to take a little step backward, smile, know that we’ll get through it, and not be so tough on ourselves. We’ve touched so many people. I remember a young family coming in and the father ran up to us because he knew that [COVID-19 restrictions] wouldn’t let us continue to be open in New York, and he said, “I need you to stay open because I lost my son a few months ago.” It was the first time his family had been out, and they had a blast. We have kids who come in here and just forget about all the other challenges in their lives.
Owning an adventure park sounds like a kid’s dream. How has owning a franchise impacted your kids? NURSE: If you ask our parents what they wanted for us, it was for us to go to college, to get a good job, and to work for somebody else for the rest of our lives. That’s not what we encourage. College is not optional for our kids—however, we do encourage innovation. We tend to have conversations about innovation and entrepreneurship, and when they come up with an idea, we ask: How do you patent that? How do you grow it? How do you market it? How do you get it out there to sell it to somebody? GOODLY: I tell our kids to get overexcited, scale an idea aggressively, and cover it with altruism. That’s how you make it in the world. So they’re already thinking of that.
AMERICAN FREIGHT FURNITURE • MATTRESS • APPLIANCE
DON’T SLEEP ON THIS OPPORTUNITY AVERAGE GROSS SALES PER STORE FOR TOP 25% OF STORES*
$4,734,945 $855,857 AVERAGE NET INCOME PER STORE FOR TOP 25% OF STORES*
"NFSJDBO 'SFJHIU JT B OP GSJMMT PS á VGG CVTJOFTT NPEFM XJUI HSFBU VOJU FDPOPNJDT *U JT SFDFTTJPO SFTJTUBOU FBTZ UP CVJME RVJDL UP PQFO BOE IJHIMZ TDBMBCMF
SINGLE AND MULTI-UNIT DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE AND IN HIGH DEMAND
AMERICANFREIGHT *This information reflects the Average Gross Sales and Average Net Income for the Top 25% of American Freight company-owned retail businesses which were open for more than a year as of fiscal year end 2020. Of these 43 retail businesses, 15 attained or surpassed the Average Gross Sales and 14 attained or surpassed the Average Net Income described above. We refer you to Item 19 of our Franchise Disclosure Document dated April 30, 2021 for additional information. A NEW FRANCHISEE’S RESULTS MAY DIFFER FROM THE REPRESENTED PERFORMANCE. This is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. Offerings made by prospectus only and in compliance with the applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your state. ©2021 American Freight®. All rights reserved.
Franchisor
Mapping the Route to Success The tourism industry is ready for a comeback, and travel agents are proving their worth like never before. by CHLOE ARROJADO
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How has the pandemic impacted demand for travel agents? The value of a travel agent had been increasing preCOVID—but when the pandemic hit, people were trying to get home, they were trying to cancel their flights, and they were spending six to eight hours on the phone trying to reach online travel agencies that didn’t have a real person they could talk to. I think people recognized right then and there: If I had a travel agent, they would have been doing that for me.
and they may not understand everything that’s needed in order to travel. In the beginning, we helped our agents talk to their customers in a way that wasn’t salesy or pushy but sent the message “We know you need to stay home right now, but when you’re ready, we’re here.” We created technology to help customers track future cruise credits and sent emails to those customers saying, “Hey, don’t forget you have a future cruise credit.” You want to make sure you’re staying in front of your customer in a way that’s very personalized.
How is the franchise capitalizing on this realization? Customers need to understand that the world has changed
What types of franchisees do you work to bring on? We definitely go after the vet market. We’ve been doing
66 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
Operation Vetrepreneur, which is a contest where we give away five franchises, for 10 years. Other types of people we attract are real estate agents and people in service industries. And a significant number of new franchisees came on board in the middle of the pandemic, when they had the time. While they don’t have the history of everything that happened over the past 18 months, they are going to be ready for the pent-up demand that’s coming. They’re already seeing a lot of success. Has the industry’s uncertainty affected the way the company
defines success for its current franchisees? We’ve pretty much thrown past metrics out the window because travel is so uncertain. But you have to look at every individual circumstance. It’s been more about how we get through and support customers, and less about metrics. One of my franchisees said to me, “It’s not about the cancellation. It’s about keeping the customer.” That’s been the most important metric—How do I make sure my customers stay with me? They might not be able to travel today, but when they’re ready to, they’re going to come back to me.
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F D R E A M VA C AT I O N S
ocked cruise ships, flight cancellations, tour refunds—when the travel industry went into free fall in March 2020, Debbie Fiorino saw the chaos up close. As the chief operating officer of travel agency Dream Vacations, Fiorino worked tirelessly to support the company’s more than 1,500 franchisees, who were scrambling to assist thousands of panicked clients with abruptly canceled plans. A year and a half of lockdowns later, those clients are ready for a vacation, and they’re returning to the agents who helped them in their time of need. With constantly changing COVID-19 testing and vaccine requirements, travel agents have become a vital source of information for many confused travelers. Plus, being stuck at home gave new franchisees time to set up shop. Fiorino discusses what it’s been like keeping Dream Vacations afloat and preparing for travel’s big comeback.
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Suppliers
Go Local with Social
W
hen franchisees buy into a system, they can generally rely on the parent brand’s name recognition and business processes. But here’s something a franchisee should not rely solely upon: the parent brand’s social media marketing. Why? Because doing so misses out on the real opportunity of social media. It isn’t just to build a brand—it’s to actively drive business and engage with customers. That must happen on a local level, with local social media accounts operated by local people. I’m the VP of communications at Rallio, a social media management company, and we see this mistake happen all the time. Franchisors typically create social profiles on behalf of their franchisees and syndicate corporate content to these pages. Franchisees then believe that their parent company’s social media content covers all their needs, so many don’t create social content of their own. As a result, franchisees’ pages mostly all look the same—with only corporate posts and no localized personality. Here’s what they don’t realize: These local pages could
be actively connecting with franchisees’ communities, building relationships with their followers, and giving people a reason to visit their establishment or pay for their service. In some cases, these empty pages mean more than just missed connections. Customers could be commenting on posts or submitting feedback, sending direct messages, or even inquiring about products or services. Franchisees who aren’t monitoring their pages may be neglecting sales opportunities, along with disgruntled customers. So how do you do it better? Think local. Many franchisees think there’s no way they can match their parent brand’s skill and frequency on social media. That may be true—most brands have in-house social media managers, or work with very large agencies, to produce a steady stream of content. But a local franchisee doesn’t need all that. Local social media management can be simple and quick. Start by taking out your phone and snapping pictures of staff members and customers (with permission) or capturing glimpses of life behind the scenes at your business. Team celebrations, events,
68 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
holidays, birthdays, video testimonials, how-to posts, even pictures of your dog— these are all ways to show the authentic personality behind your business, and to remind people that even though your business may be part of a larger franchise system, your location is run by you, and you’re part of the community. Stay relevant by addressing current events (the pandemic, for example) and topics of interest to your followers. Once you start posting regularly, you’ll get a sense of what your audience likes to see the most. When you have a popular post, you can spend a few ad dollars boosting its visibility and targeting people in your community. We’ve seen this strategy do well no matter the kind of franchise. For example, we recently worked with a pet supply franchisor to do social media for all its individual
franchisees. We filled those pages with localized content— including plenty of images of local cats and dogs!—and then also started using the social media accounts to introduce new services such as curbside pickup and delivery. This helped build awareness of how each franchisee was serving their community during the pandemic. We then paid to boost their most popular posts, budgeting about $5 to $20 per post. The result of all this: In 2020, localized social media drove more than $1.7 million in purchase conversions. Ultimately, these simple steps are what will inspire your followers to like, comment, follow, and share content—all of which creates greater traction in social feeds. Soon enough, you’ll have an audience that’s eager to not only see your content but frequent your business, too.
I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y S H U T T E R S T O C K / R A S S C O
National social media campaigns may drive awareness, but hyper-local campaigns actually drive business. Franchisees shouldn’t overlook that. b y K A R E N S P A E D E R
TURN A DESIRE TO HELP INTO
A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
OPEN A KUMON CENTER TO HELP LOCAL KIDS CATCH UP AND GET AHEAD
REGISTER TO ATTEND A FREE SEMINAR CALL: 855.586.6687
EMAIL: Franchise@Kumon.com
VISIT: KumonFranchise.com
For information on enrolling your child in Kumon, please visit Kumon.com or call 800.ABC.Math © 2021 Kumon North America, Inc. All rights reserved. This information is not intended as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy a franchise. We offer franchises solely by means of our Franchise Disclosure Document. The United States Federal Trade Commission and certain states have laws governing the offer and sale of franchises. We will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with all applicable legal requirements in your jurisdiction.
A Flexible Business Opportunity With more than 100 studios open across North America, StretchLab is one of the largest assisted stretching brands worldwide. Offering one-on-one stretch services v À > >}ià > ` w Ì iÃà iÛi Ã] -ÌÀiÌV >L vviÀà consumers more ways to reduce their risk of injury, Ài}> L ÌÞ] «À Ûi y iÝ L ÌÞ > ` À> }i v Ì ] and reclaim their freedom.
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Ranked in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Franchises and Top New Franchises in 2021 lists, StretchLab’s unique and innovative approach to assisted stretching has created a widespread and devoted following.
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BRING THE BOXING EXPERIENCE TO YOUR COMMUNITY Founded in 2017 in New York City, Rumble is L Ý } ë Ài` }À Õ« w Ì iÃà `ià } i` v À > iÛi à vÀ Li} iÀ Ì >`Û> Vi`° č {x ÕÌi] £ä À Õ ` vÕ L `Þ L Ý } E ÃÌÀi }Ì Ü À ÕÌ VÀ>vÌi` >À Õ ` ëiV > Þ `ià } i` Ü>ÌiÀ w i`] Ìi>À`À « ÃÌÞ i L Ý } L>}Ã] ,Õ L i `i ÛiÀà ÃiÀ Õà ÀiÃÕ Ìà > vÕ ] } i iÀ}Þ ÃiÌÌ }°
v Ì i }À Õ« w Ì iÃÃ Ü À `] > ` Üi Ài > V ÌÌi` Ì iÃÃ V iiÃÞ w Ì iÃÃ °-° > ` Ài >ÕÌ i Ì V ÌÞ° With a proven concept in some of the most competitive markets and exceptional, dedicated franchisee support, Rumble has extensive market potential in your portfolio.
,Õ L i à }À Õ« w Ì iÃà v À Ì i ` Û `Õ> ° 7i Li iÛi č } ` ÃÜi>Ì] Õ Ài> Û LiÃ] à V Li>ÌÃ] > ` > Ì i « ÜiÀ v V } Ì }iÌ iÀ Ì w } Ì v À > V >ÃÃ Ì i - bring Rumble to your market. V iVÌ Ûi } > ] LÕÌ Üi > à Vi iLÀ>Ìi Ü >Ì Ì i> Ã Ì Li Õ μÕi° ,Õ L i Ü>à VÀi>Ìi` Ì Ã > i Õ« Ì i À à / i>À Ài Û Ã Ì rumble.xponential.com
THE BIG ARE GETTING BIGGER Growth
Major acquisitions. Consolidations. Conglomerates. What’s going on in franchising? The answer says a lot about where the industry is heading—and what growth means going forward. by N AT E H O P P E R
72 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
Illustration / Z O H A R L A Z A R
Growth
E
ric Monroe had decided: He would not expand his business. He was fed up. Monroe owned a Martinizing Dry Cleaning franchise in Fort Worth, Texas, which was supposed to free him from the frustrations of being an employee. He previously worked in corporate regional sales, but in 2017 he decided to make the switch to franchise ownership. He knew he’d need lots of support, which Martinizing promised. After a short honeymoon, though, that support stopped. “The only person I consistently heard from was the lady who collected my weekly franchise royalty,” Monroe says. But this past April, that all changed— because Martinizing and several of its sister companies were bought by a competitor. The buyer was Lapels Dry Cleaning. When the deal closed on April 5, it went from having about 100 locations to more than 500. It suddenly possessed an array of brands that spanned from traditional retail storefronts and plants to pickup and delivery to locker-based services: Martinizing, 1-800-DryClean, Pressed4time, Dry Cleaning Station, and Bizziebox. They now all existed under one franchisor entity, called Clean Franchise Brands. This form of franchise consolidation seems to have grown more popular in recent years, though the trend spans decades. There have been the stalwarts in the traditional multi-brand franchisor spaces, like hotels and food service. Yum! Brands, for instance, traces its history back to PepsiCo’s purchases in the late ’70s of Pizza Hut and Taco Bell
and, in 1986, KFC. There are newcomers as well, like Inspire Brands, which was founded in 2018 when Arby’s bought Buffalo Wild Wings and Rusty Taco (and then bought Dunkin’ Brands in 2020, with plenty of acquisitions in between). But starting in the ’90s, consolidation began in more and more nontraditional markets too, according to Mark Siebert, CEO of the iFranchise Group, a franchise consultancy. This has been exemplified by what is now known as Neighborly, which started as a stand-alone carpet dyeing and cleaning brand in 1981 and now is a holding company for 28 brands, amounting to more than 4,800 franchises in nine countries. Nowadays, brand conglomeration is seemingly everywhere: in workout classes, hair salons, real estate, and, of course, dry cleaning. What is causing this steady rise of mega-franchisors? To understand that is to understand what drives the franchise industry today—including a shift in how it is financed, how big companies grow, and what franchisees want. For Monroe, this sprawling consolidation reached him just in time. The Monday after he’d gotten the news, communication with the Clean Franchise Brands team opened up—and the support he had been missing arrived in abundance. And he would need it. Within weeks, a freak accident broke both of his legs. He came to rely largely on the phone, and he called Clean Franchise Brands headquarters for advice so often that he began apologizing for it. “But every single time I do that,” he says, “they stop me midsentence and say, ‘Eric, that’s exactly what we’re here for.’ ”
74 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
AN INDIVIDUAL franchise may have dozens or hundreds of locations, and a conglomerate may have many thousands, but the basic value proposition remains the same: It is a systematic alternative to the messiness of individual business ownership. “I [first] opened a restaurant when I was 18 years old,” says Kevin Dubois, CEO of Clean Franchise Brands. “I think what happens a lot of times in small businesses is you have those visions of being very strategic. And then it’s very easy to open the doors and get stuck in running the business.” Franchising, in theory, should be less sticky. Franchise brands find what works, and they repeat it. When a franchisee buys into the system, they effectively buy access to that know-how. In turn, an economy of scale kicks in: Ingredients and materials become cheaper when purchased across an entire system, and efficiencies become easier to find—say, by using the same point-of-sale tech across hundreds of pizza shops. And if you just keep expanding a franchisor’s centralized functions across a conglomerate’s worth of brands, you can find that they can be tweaked to apply to several brands in a similar space, even if they do slightly different things. Digital marketing practices and search engine optimization, for instance, have applications across a respectable spectrum; a flooring company might find a customer similarly to how a carpeting one would. So that’s the first explanation for why brands are buying each other up: efficiency scales. But franchise insiders say there is a timelier reason as well. Acquisition acceler-
ates growth, and growth has become an even more essential part of the game. “Initially, we started brands up from scratch,” says Mike Bidwell, who became president and CEO of Neighborly in 1995. “But it’s just too slow.” Bidwell treasures speed to market. As he sees it, society changes too swiftly nowadays (especially when it comes to digital marketing) to be able to take one’s time building a new brand—at least if they’re aiming for scale. The five years Bidwell believes it takes to know whether one can expand their concept to another market no longer appeals to Neighborly. That’s why Neighborly has bought 16 brands in the past six years, each of which then presents its own franchising opportunities. “If you have one company that’s franchising, you can grow that at a certain rate of speed,” says Siebert. “If you’ve got 10 companies that are franchising, you can grow that much faster.” But all this leads to another question: Why so much growth? Sure, plenty of entrepreneurs begin with big visions. (Siebert says that many franchisors to-be aspire from the start to franchise multiple businesses—“and we say, ‘Let’s slow down. Let’s just do the first one.’ ”) The reason for this rate of growth, Dubois, Bidwell, and Siebert all say, has been the increasing interest from private equity in major multi-brand franchisors. Private equity firms prize growth while offering their own tier of expertise, pricing advantages, and, yes, funding for acquisitions. To Bidwell, this is good for the marketplace: Neighborly can pay an owner for the sweat equity they’ve invested for decades (possibly
Growth
for a higher price, given the increase in competition), then supercharge a business that may otherwise stagnate. To major franchisors, these purchases are a means of fueling the growth they desire; to smaller franchisors, it’s a new exit strategy, if they want it. Over the decades, Neighborly itself has climbed the private equity ladder, to larger and larger sponsors. In July, it announced it was being acquired by the international private equity giant KKR, which as of August had $429 billion in assets under its management, per Reuters. That ladder has also been supporting Lapels and now Clean Franchise Brands: Its April purchase of the five brands was in part fueled by its private equity partner, Greybull Stewardship, which invested in Lapels in 2018. “I was a little unsure of partners,” admits Dubois. “I’ve heard the whole ‘Partners are [only] for dancing’ theory, but they have been awesome.” WHEN A brand buys up many
other brands, it creates benefits both large and small. For Dubois and Clean Franchise Brands, the smaller-scale benefits looked like this: Different brands that do different things can now rely on one another, rather than duplicating infrastructure. For example, consider its Pressed4time franchise. It’s a pickup-and-delivery drycleaning service brand, and opening in new territories used to mean setting up relationships with local dry cleaners (or opening one yourself ). Now a new Pressed4time franchisee could more quickly launch and start using a preexisting dry-cleaning plant owned by a
local Lapels franchisee. Or a new franchisee could own both parts of that business—and more. Clean Franchise Brands offers five different options for franchising within its system, ranging from a delivery service (for a total investment that maxes out around $68,000) to a full plant with a retail store (total investment can be more than $700,000). And then there are the big advantages. On its own, Lapels struggled for years to create partnerships with national brands. But now that it is part of a national brand itself, a whole new set of partnerships becomes possible. Clean Franchise Brands services Disney on Ice and military bases across the country; it tested a locker program with Target and is connecting Airbnb to its laundry program. “We can have this one-stop relationship from the corporate entities,” Dubois says. For franchisees, the benefits of conglomeration are often more traditional—but still can be transformative. For example, franchisees gain access to new revenue streams that would be hard to wrangle on their own. In Kansas City, Jill Meyer, who started what was originally a Pressed4time service (and has since become part of Martinizing) with her partner in the late aughts, explored a potential new partnership with a company called Homebase. The startup helps service providers access people’s homes— so, for example, it enables Walmart to deliver groceries directly into people’s refrigerators instead of their front steps. Meyer wondered about picking up and delivering dry cleaning straight from people’s closets. For Todd Huston, who owned Lapels operations in Fort Mill and in Berewick, N.C.,
76 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
before the merger, the only big change has come in the form of additional optimism. He hopes the company’s greater scale will increase franchisees’ collective buying power, which will decrease his supply costs. “I think scale always brings to bear mostly good things in an operation,” he says. IF A DEMAND for growth has
created conglomerates, then a conglomerate’s next move is largely predictable: It will look to buy even more brands. When Neighborly considers buying a brand, it starts by looking at the business’s geographic coverage and its preexisting scale. Neighborly has a minimum number of locations it requires in order to consider buying a brand—and although Bidwell won’t disclose the exact figure, he says things start getting interesting in the 50 to 100 range. Beyond that, he says, he looks at what any company should when considering acquiring a business, including how it treats the customer, how its brand is perceived, how good it is at what it does, and how high its net promoter score is. (On a smaller scale, Clean Franchise Brands VP of operations John Powers also underscores that mom-and-pop businesses looking to sell should have their paperwork in order and understand their financials.) But as these mega-franchises grow, they say they’re also mindful of growing smartly— and creating harmony among the brands they own. That’s why Neighborly has instituted a review process: After a year or a year and a half, it will ask the leaders of the purchased company, “What did we do right, and what could we have done better?” But a bigger question Bidwell tends to ask
himself is How do we scale culture? He is blunt about that: “Ideally, you want to assimilate everyone, but it’s not always going to work.” It is important, he says, to identify the people who don’t fit quickly and not spend too much time trying to save them. And for those who would be a good fit—be they leaders or cashiers—there is some fundamental messaging that needs to be shared. “You have to explain to everybody in the business, ‘Why are you here? How do you fit into our plans?’ ” says Bidwell. That can be particularly important to franchisees— some of whom may have become a franchisee partly to escape a mishandled merger at their old job. In fact, that’s part of what inspired Eric Monroe, the formerly frustrated owner of a Martinizing Dry Cleaning business, to make his career change. “Everything you’ve done to build a personal brand is just basically tossed out the window,” he recalls of a past experience in another industry. Stanching that sense of devaluation is essential. Bidwell explains, “We want them to understand that they’re an important part of what it is we’re setting out to do and why their job is important, why their role is important.” Why is also the question Bidwell advises aspiring franchisors to ask themselves before they try to become a multibrand operation. “Why do you want to have multiple brands? What are you going to do with them once you do? What’s your thesis?” he says. “It’s great to cobble businesses together because you can get some type of financial return from doing that. But it’s better if there’s a purpose for doing it that benefits the customer.” His advice:
never do with 500 locations in nine countries. “My task is just to make sure that our field service reps are doing that same thing and having that same personal connection with the franchise owner.”
It’s often (though not always!) better to go deeper in your core business than to take on more overhead in another space. But there is a personal consideration an entrepreneur should make when seeking growth. As one scales their business and, eventually, delegates the day-to-day, their domain becomes less about people and more about those often abstract realms of systems and strategy. “I’m excited about that,” says Dubois, the CEO of Clean Franchise Brands. “But what I am missing is, when I got here 15 years ago, when we opened a store, I would be the guy out there hanging the banners or helping get the POS system set up.” He’s wistful about driving around to visit his 24 total franchise owners—something he could
IN HIS 2015 book, Entrepre-
neurial Insanity in the Dry Cleaning Business, Dubois and his coauthor write that “entrepreneurs do not go into business to get rich; they go into business to gain freedom.” The bigger the company, it seems, the more dreams of freedom can fit underneath it. Right now, Eric Monroe is in growth mode. He’s hoping to open a new store, add some technology, and make some capital investments—perhaps a new production facility. He is leaning on Clean Franchise
Brands for advice on what others have done in similar situations. And in three years, as his oldest child enters high school, he wants to be in a financial position where his wife won’t have to work and can focus on their family—if that’s what she wishes, of course. For Jill Meyer, freedom has meant adapting her schedule so she can raise her children, and making her business support the causes she believes in: hiring women, and spreading awareness for neurofibromatosis (a condition one of her daughters has), and the charity the company works with. Todd Huston is hoping that the expansion of Clean Franchise Brands will mean the expansion of its eco-conscious practices— a set of values that drew him to franchise with them.
As for Dubois, he has moved his corporate headquarters and his family to Naples, Fla.—a meaningful place for him and his wife, whom he started dating in the ninth grade, not far away. Although when it comes to the business, he perhaps surprisingly has no end goal. The next target after 500 locations seems to be 1,000. “But it’s not like, ‘Hey, we’ll get to 1,000, and we’ll sell it, and I’ll play golf every day,’ ” he says. “That probably would be great, but I think I’d be bored three days later.” This is a unique, if unconventional, and arguably wonderful, freedom Dubois has found in all his franchising success so far: to not have to play golf. Nate Hopper is a regular contributor to Entrepreneur.
GET RESULTS WITH HUNTINGTON A PROVEN SYSTEM WITH PROVEN RESULTS
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Huntington franchisees earn over 46% more than the closest competitor* by delivering outstanding tutoring and test prep results – and profits follow. In 1977, our founders Dr. Raymond and Mrs. Eileen Huntington founded what became the first tutoring franchise in the country. Guided by the mission to give every student with the best education possible, we have grown to approximately 300 locations nationwide. These results are enabled by our world-class systems and unparalleled training, marketing, operational and technology support.
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Call 1-800-653-8400 or visit HuntingtonFranchise.Com This is not an offer to sell a franchise. This franchise is offered only by our delivery of a franchise disclosure document to you in compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s rule on franchising and various state franchise sales laws. *Data are based on each company’s Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD) for all franchise centers open in 2020, except for Sylvan, which are for centers open at least 24 months. We estimate Kumon revenue from its 2020 FDD and a 2015 survey of its centers as average center enrollment multiplied by an average monthly enrollment charge of $120, plus registration fee of $50 and materials fees of $30 for half of its enrollments.
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About PuroClean
PuroClean Facts
The Road to Rookie of the Year T
his is how one franchisee earned one of PuroClean’s top honors in less than 2 years of opening his business: For many, the dream of opening their own business is just that—a dream. For Sadiq Isu, it was a personal, attainable goal, one for which he worked very hard to achieve. Originally from Nigeria, Isu relocated to the United States in 2014, to enroll in school DQG FRPSOHWH KLV 0%$ 2QH RI KLV ÀUVW experiences as a homeowner was having WR GHDO ZLWK WKH DIWHUPDWK RI ÁRRGLQJ GXH to a burst pipe. Through this unfortunate situation, Sadiq was exposed to the brand that would support him to accomplish his goal of starting his own business. A RISING ROOKIE After opening his PuroClean businesses
in Columbus, Ohio, in 2019, Isu was awarded one of PuroClean’s top honors at the brand’s international Convention held this year in Hollywood, Florida: The Rookie of the Year Award. For an owner from a network of more than 360 RIÀFH ORFDWLRQV DFURVV 1RUWK $PHULFD ,VX accomplished a level of success that even seasoned entrepreneurs can only dream of for their businesses. Isu was named the 2021 PuroClean Rookie of the Year for having the highest reported revenue his ÀUVW IXOO PRQWKV LQ RSHUDWLRQ FRPLQJ LQ well ahead of his peers. A PROVEN BUSINESS MODEL At PuroClean we say, “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” PuroClean’s commitment to its franchise network
elevates young entrepreneurs like Sadiq to reach milestones that can feel distant and overwhelming for business owners working without the support of a franchisor. ONE TEAM, ALL IN When franchise owners like Sadiq succeed, the whole network wins too. At PuroClean, active collaboration is key. Sadiq’s recognition of Rookie of the Year was awarded to his business in Columbus, OH, for achieving the highest sales revenue, notably located in a neighboring service area of the 2018 Franchise of the Year recipient. At PuroClean the spirit of collaboration allows owners to grow in tandem. By supporting one another, all IUDQFKLVH RZQHUV EHQHÀW³DQG VR GR WKHLU communities.
For PuroClean Information: Elizabeth Hawkins, Director of Franchise Development Marketing ehawkins@puroclean.com (954) 379-5830
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Camp-Run-A-Mutt Fast Facts INITIAL INVESTMENT: $336k - $685k FRANCHISE FEE / ROYALTIES: $35k, 6% royalty, 1% brand fund
Love Your Dog, Love Your Career, Love Your Life! MAKE YOUR PASSION YOUR LIFE Think about the happiness and joy your dog brings you. Now multiply that times, let’s VD\ VL[W\ ,PDJLQH WKDW JUDWLÀFDWLRQ QRW RQO\ being a part of your personal life but your FDUHHU WRR 7KLV LV WKH DWWLWXGH WKDW GULYHV XV DQG KDV PDGH &DPS 5XQ $ 0XWW D VXFFHVVIXO DQG IDVW JURZLQJ FRPSDQ\ IT STARTED WITH ONE DOG ,Q 'HQQLV 6HYHUQ DQG 0LNHO GLGQ·W intend on running a nationwide business in ten years, they just wanted to play with dogs DQG FUHDWH D GRJ GD\FDUH WKDW KDG HYHU\WKLQJ WKHLU GRJV ZRXOG ORYH $IWHU UHVHDUFKLQJ WKH\ ZHUH VXUSULVHG WR ÀQG WKDW ZKDW WKH\ HQYLVLRQHG ZDV VRPHZKDW XQFRPPRQ Industry standard was to drop your dog off WR EH FDJHG SDUW RI WKH GD\ RU LQ VRPH FDVHV DOO GD\ 2SHQ VSDFH DQG IUHH UDQJH SOD\
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GROWTH & STABILITY: Listed Inc. 5000 2017, 2018, & 2019 Doubling locations by 2023 OPPORTUNITY: Established locations grossing over $1 million annually
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For Camp-Run-A-Mutt Information: Dennis Quaglia dennis@camprunamutt.com www.camprunamutt.com/franchise (888) 978-6268
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About Pillar To Post Home Inspectors®
Pillar To Post Home Inspectors® Facts
This Navy Veteran Who Inspected Submarines Now Inspects Homes With Pillar To Post Home Inspectors® O
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it be? 6FRWW (GZDUGV FHUWDLQO\ ÀWV WKH SURÀOH Edwards’ background and depth of experience (pun intended) is truly unique. He was a United States Navy Deep Sea Diver for 21 years. “As a Navy diver I inspected billiondollar U.S. submarines and warships below the waterline in some of the ocean’s toughest environments,” Edwards said. “I know I can provide that same attention to detail for homebuyers, sellers and agents.” To say the least. Edwards serves homebuyers, sellers and agents throughout Asheville, Hendersonville, and a large portion of western North Carolina. “I joined the Pillar To Post Home
Inspection® team because I did my due diligence and found out they are Number One in the Home Inspection category for good reasons,” said Edwards, “not the least of which was the recent rollout of some pretty amazing technologies. I could not join any franchise system that wasn’t state-of-the-art in techniques. Coming from my world in the United States Navy, where everything is so advanced, this was a must.” One of these technologies, the PTP360 tour, is a great new innovation that was fast-tracked to completion for COVID-19 response, where it proved to be invaluable. Long term this, and other like technology programs from Pillar To Post Home Inspectors®, play a huge role in the lives of busy, professional Realtors, saving time,
better serving their seller, and giving prospective buyers a far better experience. Pillar To Post Home Inspectors® has achieved the highest standings in various rankings of “Best in Category,” “Top 20 Franchises to Buy,” “Top 10 Global Franchises” and “Top Franchises for Veterans” in addition to achieving 5-Star status with VetFran, a program offered by the International Franchise Association that provides discounted franchise fees to veterans. “Aside from my inspection experience in the Navy, Pillar To Post Home Inspectors provided a path for me to use my leadership skills I learned while on active duty and apply them toward owning my own business,” Edwards said.
For Pillar To Post Home Inspectors® Information: (877) 963-3129 franchise@pillartopost.com www.pillartopostfranchise.com
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About Your CBD Store® Enjoy the perks of owning your own successful business while also making a difference through partnerships, community, education, experience, and only the highest quality products. Our franchise and affiliate model is the easiest entry into the hemp extract industry. We have a proven track record of success with an established network of owners and marketing professionals who support your growth.
Your CBD Store® Fast Facts Franchise Fee - $5k Typical Investment - $65,200 - $80,450 Marketing, Education and Dedicated Support 500+ Locations USA and 5+UK
Join the Largest Network of Hemp Extract Retail Owners Worldwide our CBD Store® began with one woman, one story, and one store. Today, we have countless success stories and over 500 stores nationwide. We believe in providing the most transparent and dependable CBD products that utilize natural plant synergies. That is why we have rigorous standards for quality and consistency and harvest only the highest-quality hemp products, grown in the U.S. We are dedicated to our community; earnestly providing contributions to our local and national partnerships. Our deeply committed focus on customer needs helps us provide an environment where our customers can feel safe enough to show or discuss their concerns in order to obtain relief and ultimately share their personal stories. To that end, our mission remains at the core of everything we do: to empower and help our customers regain a quality of
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life so that they too, can illuminate. At every Your CBD Store, customers enter a comfortable, safe, and inviting environment to learn about hemp-derived products and try samples. With a collection of award-winQLQJ SURGXFWV FXVWRPHUV FDQ IHHO FRQÀGHQW making an informed decision on the best cannabinoid formulation for them. Backed by SunMed™’s extensive research, third-party laboratory reports, and customer-driven product development, Your CBD Store continues to offer the most sophisticated hemp-derived products on the market. Your CBD Store franchisees and DIÀOLDWHV KDYH DFFHVV WR D VWDII RI H[SHUW leaders in all areas of business, science, and marketing support. With over 500 VWRUHV IUDQFKLVHHV DQG DIÀOLDWHV FDQ H[SHFW a protected territory around their store. To take our support an additional step further,
you can participate in our internal social media platform to engage with and learn from other store owners and their successful strategies and practices. Owners First is Your CBD Store motto! We invest all our time, energy and resources in supporting you.
For Your CBD Store® Information: franchising@cbdrx4u.com
www.cbdrx4u.com
(727) 235-0720 * Disclaimer - Your earning capability depends on several factors. Naturally, as in any business venture there is no guarantee of your success or profitability.
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About Casa de Corazón
Casa de Corazón Facts
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The List
The 150 Top Franchises for Veterans P H O T O G R A P H B Y S H U T T E R S T O C K / G E R A S I M O V_ F O T O _ 1 74
Which brands provide military veterans with the best incentives? Here’s our annual list.
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compiled by T R A C Y S TA P P H E R O L D
eterans’ leadership skills and ability to think on their feet and adapt quickly make them great candidates for business ownership. And their comfort with following proven systems and procedures makes them particularly suited to channeling that entrepreneurial spirit into franchise ownership. Perhaps that’s why veterans account for 14 percent of all franchisees, despite making up only 7 percent of the U.S. population, according to the International Franchise Association’s VetFran program. And franchisors are keen on growing that number even further, with many offering incentives (usually franchise fee discounts) to encourage veterans to join their systems. Almost 600 brands that offer such incentives applied to be considered for our annual ranking of the top franchises for veterans. We determined the top 150 from those candidates by evaluating a num-
ber of factors, including the incentives each company offers, how long it has offered those incentives, how many veteran-owned units it has, any franchise giveaways or other contests geared toward veterans, and more. We also factored in each company’s 2021 Franchise 500 score, which is based on an analysis of more than 150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. Please note that this list is not intended as an endorsement of any particular franchise or its programs for veterans. No matter what incentives are being offered, always do your homework before investing in a franchise. Read the company’s legal documents, consult with an attorney and an accountant, and talk to as many existing and former franchisees as you can to find out if the opportunity is right for you. October-November 2021 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 85
The List
1
6
Travel agencies
Postal, business, printing, and communications services
Dream Vacations STARTUP COST
$1.8K–$21K FRANCHISE FEE
$495–$10.5K TOTAL UNITS
The UPS Store
STARTUP COST
$185.3K–$474.2K FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$29.95K
1,489/0
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
30 percent off franchise fee; training fee waived or reduced for business partners and associates; marketing assets
5,359/0
2 Budget Blinds
7 Cruise Planners
Window coverings, window film, rugs, accessories
Travel agencies
STARTUP COST
$2.3K–$23.7K
$125.6K–$192.9K FRANCHISE FEE
$19.95K
VET INCENTIVE
$10,000 off franchise fee, including 50 percent off initial application fee
STARTUP COST FRANCHISE FEE
$695–$10.99K TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
2,658/1
1,320/0 VET INCENTIVE
15 percent off initial franchise and territory fees
3 Snap-on Tools Professional tools and equipment STARTUP COST
$169.2K–$382.2K FRANCHISE FEE
$8K–$16K TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
27 percent off franchise fee; free training; $200 marketing credit; $60 design credit; marketing assets; 1-year free errors and omissions insurance
8 Grease Monkey Oil changes, preventive maintenance, brakes, light repairs STARTUP COST
$185K–$444.4K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
4,577/192 VET INCENTIVE
$20,000 off cost of startup inventory
FRANCHISE FEE
$39.9K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
249/120 VET INCENTIVE
Mechanics’ tools and equipment STARTUP COST
$76.6K–$275.5K
$14,900 off franchise fee; rebates on royalty fees for first two years
9 Baskin-Robbins
$5.6K–$8K
Ice cream, frozen yogurt, frozen beverages
TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$90.99K–$625.2K
1,894/1
FRANCHISE FEE
VET INCENTIVE
$12.5K–$25K
$10,000 off initial inventory
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
5 FastSigns Signs, graphics STARTUP COST
7,752/0 VET INCENTIVE
First-store franchise fee waived; 20 percent off franchise fee for up to four additional stores
Dunkin’/ No. 11 Franchisee/ George Hart
$233.6K–$307.3K
GEORGE HART SPENT 25 years in the Army and another 10 working as a
FRANCHISE FEE
Department of Defense consultant, and in 2015, he opened his first Dunkin’ in a familiar setting for him: the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He has since opened 10 more—including five Dunkin’/Baskin-Robbins combo stores—all on military bases and with at least half of the workforce composed of veterans or their family members. He plans to have more than 100 stores open in 10 years, with an ultimate goal of having a Dunkin’ on every military base in the country.
$49.8K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
756/0 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
86 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF DUNKIN’
4 Matco Tools
The pent-up demand for vacations is at an all-time high, and now more than ever, consumers are turning to travel agents to help plan their next getaway. Turn your passion for travel into your own home-based business. Dive in immediately with our virtual training and discover how you can start planning Dream Vacations today! RANKED #1
*
Get started for $3,500 down! • Offering 30% OFF for Military Veterans & Spouses
HOME-BASED TRAVEL FRANCHISE | LOW COST, HIGH VALUE
Chart Your New Course Today! www.DiscoverDreamVacations.com 800.822.6506 *Financing available for those who qualify.
The List
10
15
20
Staffing
Asphalt maintenance
Smoothies, healthful snacks, health products
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$137.7K–$233K
Automotive tools and equipment
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
Smoothie King
$55.1K–$125.3K
$268.9K–$858.9K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
PrideStaff STARTUP COST
22
Cornwell Quality Tools
24
Leadership Management International
$40K
$59.5K–$272.8K
Leadership and organization training and development
TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
26
Signal 88 Security Private security guard and patrol services STARTUP COST
$70K–$150K
$78.2K–$221.2K FRANCHISE FEE
$25K
$15K–$30K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$0
$20K–$27.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
80/3
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
117/8
1,289/60
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$15K
722/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
756/0
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$5,000+ off franchise fee
First-unit franchise fee waived
11 Dunkin’
20 percent off franchise fee
16 Maaco
Coffee, doughnuts, baked goods
Auto painting and collision repair
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$437.5K–$1.8M
$301.6K–$619.9K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K–$90K
$40K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
12,746/0
441/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee for first five traditional restaurants
12 Pillar To Post Home
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$724.5K–$2M
$40.4K–$49.6K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$30K
$24.5K
TOTAL UNITS
576/264
555/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
Franchise fee waived
$25K–$59.5K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,818/71
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
20 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
19 7-Eleven Convenience stores
Smoothies, salads, wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads STARTUP COST
$257.5K–$560.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$30K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
990/1 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off first-store franchise fee; $5,000 off franchise fee for additional stores
STARTUP COST
$25K–$42.5K
$709.3K–$1.2M
TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$35K
4,739/4
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
$2,500 to $7,500 off franchise fee
Music schools
25 Ziebart
STARTUP COST
$294.7K-$529.2K
Auto appearance and protection services
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
$297.8K–$469.1K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
FRANCHISE FEE
246/287
$36K
VET INCENTIVE
TOTAL UNITS
50 percent off first-unit franchise fee; reduced royalty fee for first year
375/12
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$40K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
40/10 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee; royalty fee waived for six months
VET INCENTIVE
Franchise fee waived
TOTAL UNITS
$25K
Cafe
FRANCHISE FEE
27 Bach to Rock
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
14 Tropical Smoothie
Seafood
80 percent interest-free financing on franchise fee
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$15,000 off franchise fee, reduced royalty fee for first year
$68.2K–$693.9K
VET INCENTIVE
Men’s sports-themed hair salons $246.3K–$394.5K
241/48
23 Captain D’s
477/0
18 Sport Clips
Auto repair and maintenance $127K–$253.6K
STARTUP COST
Interest-free financing on initial inventory purchase
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Auto Care
Fitness centers
VET INCENTIVE
Rally’s Burgers, fries
13 Precision Tune
21 Anytime Fitness
17 Checkers and
Home inspections
20 percent off franchise fee
50 percent off franchise fee
Royalty fee reduced for first two years
Inspectors
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
TOTAL UNITS
Sport Clips/ No. 18 Franchisee/ Doug Porter
STARTUP COST
$69.7K–$1.2M FRANCHISE FEE
Up to $1M
AFTER SERVING AS a Navy pilot from 1978 to 1985, Doug Porter spent 20 years
TOTAL UNITS
in the advertising and marketing industry before becoming CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland. So in 2017, when he began looking for a franchise to invest in, he felt drawn to brands that gave back to their communities. When he found one that supports veterans specifically—Sport Clips—that sealed the deal. Over the past seven years, the hair care company has raised $8.7 million for the VFW’s Help a Hero program, which provides scholarships to veterans and service members.
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
66,572/2,372 VET INCENTIVE
10 to 20 percent off franchise fee, up to $50,000; preferred interest rates and special financing
88 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SPORT CLIPS
Jet-Black/Yellow Dawg Striping
The List
Oil changes, tune-ups, brakes, and repair services STARTUP COST
$223.1K–$579.4K FRANCHISE FEE
$39.9K
33
PuroClean Property damage restoration and remediation STARTUP COST
$83.6K–$213.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$55K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
328/0
97/1
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
$14,900 off franchise fee; rebates on royalty fees for first two years
29 Crunch
34 Wild Birds Unlimited
Fitness centers
Bird-feeding supplies and nature gift items
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$670.5K–$3.3M
$185.2K–$311K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$25K TOTAL UNITS
$40K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
274/26
350/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise and royalty fees with purchase of 3-plus clubs
30 Pirtek
$194.8K–$401.9K
50 percent off first-store franchise fee
31 Children’s
36 The Cleaning
Lighthouse
Authority
Childcare
Environmentally friendly residential cleaning
$75K TOTAL UNITS
218/3 VET INCENTIVE
30 percent off franchise and territory fees
Health and safety products for businesses STARTUP COST
$244.4K–$344.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$90K TOTAL UNITS
37 Jiffy Lube Oil changes, preventive maintenance STARTUP COST
$207K–$422.7K FRANCHISE FEE
$17.5K–$35K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
86/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$20.9K
$20K–$65K
$40K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
457/105
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
239/0
217/1
845/3
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
50 percent off franchise fee
41 Batteries Plus
43 Line-X
TOTAL UNITS
50 percent off franchise fee
39 Kiddie Academy Educational childcare STARTUP COST
$402K–$5.97M FRANCHISE FEE
$135K
Batteries, light bulbs, related products; device repairs
Spray-on truck-bed liners, truck accessories, protective coatings
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$199K–$361.2K
$126.1K–$377.7K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$30K TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
45 Bruster’s Real Ice Cream Ice cream, frozen yogurt, ices, sherbets STARTUP COST
$264.5K–$1.6M FRANCHISE FEE
$35K
$39K
$15K–$30K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
279/1
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
584/0
189/1
614/99 VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
$25,000 off franchise fee
$10,000 off franchise fee
25 percent off franchise fee
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
$15K–$20K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Services
$150K–$366.9K
FRANCHISE FEE TOTAL UNITS
32 Enviro-Master
$93.4K–$245.8K
$76K–$169K
63/0 $25,000 off franchise fee
$32.7K–$39.99K
STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
$70.2K–$650.1K
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
VET INCENTIVE
$15,000 off franchise fee
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
89/6
$4.3M–$6.6M
STARTUP COST
$49.9K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
Staffing, HR solutions
Pearle Vision
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
Eye care and eyewear
Home inspections
Workplace training and development
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
540/7
44
Dale Carnegie
Experience
STARTUP COST
$20K–$50K
42
WIN Home Inspection
35 Beef Jerky Jerky, sausages, specialty foods and beverages
FRANCHISE FEE
40
Express Employment Professionals
15 percent off franchise fee
Hydraulic and industrial hose maintenance, repair, and replacement $201.4K–$869.3K
38
2,112/45 VET INCENTIVE
Franchise fee waived
PuroClean/ No. 33 Franchisee/ Tom Lanyon AT EACH ANNUAL CONVENTION, PuroClean honors its veteran franchisees and
employees with a PuroVet coin. This year’s coin was dedicated in memory of Tom Lanyon, who passed away last year. Lanyon was a Vietnam veteran, the recipient of multiple Purple Hearts, and the longest-running franchise owner in PuroClean’s system. He owned his business for more than 25 years and helped found and serve on the company’s advisory councils. His legacy with the brand endures today as his wife, Bonnie, and their children continue to run their franchise locations in Victorville and Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
90 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PUROCLEAN
28
SpeeDee Oil Change & Auto Service Center
Make Franchising Your Next Mission Connect with THE Leader in Home Services Franchising. We’re seeking values-centered leaders to join us in our next phase of growth. Franchise owners are the backbone of our organization, helping our premier brands flourish with their hard work and knack for service and commitment.
Franchising with Neighborly® gives you a blueprint for business ownership. • First-Hand Experience • Comprehensive Guidance • Desirable Territories • Faster to Market Regardless of your background before, during or after your military service, there’s a Neighborly brand perfectly suited to your particular skills and experience.
Learn more about Neighborly brands: go.nbly.com/2021Top500 Neighborly is a place hundreds of veterans have found to be a second home for their careers. Neighborly and each of its brands have a long and proud history of doing their best to serve those who have served our country. As the founding member of VetFran, it is always gratifying to be recognized as franchisors that offer great opportunities for all, especially men and women of our military. This advertisement should not be construed as an offer to sell any franchises. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a franchise disclosure document by or on behalf of one of the Neighborly brands 1010 N. University Parks Dr. Waco, TX 76707, 254-745-2444. In addition, certain states regulate the offer and sale of franchises. We will not offer you a franchise unless and until we have complied with applicable pre-sale registration and disclosure requirements in your state. The filing of an application for registration of an offering prospectus or the acceptance and filing thereof by the NY Department of Law as required by NY law does not constitute approval of the offering or the sale of such franchise by the NY Department of Law or the Attorney General of NY.
The List
46
ASP, America’s Swimming Pool Company
48
50
52
54
56
Replacement windows, doors, siding, roofing, and other exterior remodeling products
Coffee, specialty drinks, breakfast and lunch items
Packing, shipping, printing, signs, marketing solutions
Commercial cleaning
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
Residential and commercial appliance installation and repairs
$268.5K–$1.2M
$185.6K–$233.5K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K
$35.95K
$25K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
30/7
Window World
Swimming pool maintenance, repairs, and renovations
STARTUP COST
$123.8K–$330.1K
STARTUP COST
$84.3K–$201.2K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K–$90K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
206/0
319/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
60 percent off franchise fee
30 percent off franchise fee
49 Servpro
47 Phenix Salon Suites
Fire, water, and other damage cleanup, restoration, and reconstruction
Salon suites STARTUP COST
$493.6K–$1.5M FRANCHISE FEE
$52.5K
$4.2K–$56K FRANCHISE FEE
$2.5K–$44K TOTAL UNITS
Mr. Appliance
STARTUP COST
$78.9K–$157.6K FRANCHISE FEE
$53.1K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
681/0
10,476/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
35 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
51 MaidPro
53 Scooter’s Coffee
Residential cleaning
Coffee, espresso, smoothies, pastries, breakfast items
STARTUP COST
$57.6K–$222.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$20K–$80K
24-month interest-free financing on 50 percent of franchise fees of $8.1K or greater
55 Window Genie
$40.8K–$43K
FRANCHISE FEE
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
Inspections
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
57 National Property
FRANCHISE FEE
283/0 $3,000 off franchise fee and $12,000 in invoice credits
15 percent off franchise fee
$512.4K-$860.6K
$191.8K–$245.7K
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
Home and commercial property inspections
STARTUP COST
$104.9K–$187.5K
$70K
303/0
Residential window cleaning, window tinting, pressure washing
$40K
1,930/0
$19,500 off franchise fee
STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
Jan-Pro Cleaning and Disinfecting
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
302/6
PostNet
STARTUP COST FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
Ziggi’s Coffee
STARTUP COST FRANCHISE FEE
$40.8K–$43K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$36.5K–$79K
321/20
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
228/0
VET INCENTIVE
$20,000 credit toward first-year product
125/0 VET INCENTIVE
Expanded territory (15,000 additional households)
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
ESSENTIAL FRANCHISING OPPORTUNITY AWAITS $1,053,386 AUV*
*Based on avg unit volume of the top 50% of franchised owned Grease Monkey Centers for fiscal year 2020. This information appears in our 2021 FDD under item 19.
$1,385,243 AUV*
*Based on avg unit volume of the top 50% of franchised owned SpeeDee Oil Change Centers for fiscal year 2020. This information appears in our 2021 FDD under item 19.
Grease Monkey Franchising, LLC
Grease Monkey Franchising, LLC
Ask us about our special Veterans Program! For More Information?
GREASEMONKEYFRANCHISE.COM SPEEDEEOILFRANCHISE.COM 800-364-0352
SpeeDee Worldwide, LLC and Grease Monkey Franchising, LLC are located at 5575 DTC Parkway, Suite 100 Greenwood Village, CO 80111
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF COLLEGE HUNKS HAULING JUNK & MOVING
College Hunks/ No. 82 Franchisee/ Grant Broom AFTER ALMOST A DECADE as an Apache
helicopter pilot in the Army, Grant Broom now sits at the helm of a very different vehicle—a College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving truck. The Bronze Star Medal recipient opened his first franchise in southern New Hampshire last May and quickly proved himself, breaking a singlemonth-revenue record in just his third month in business and earning almost $1 million in revenue in his first year. He has already started giving back as well, making monthly donations to Liberty House Veteran Transitional Living from the proceeds collected from reselling customers’ “junk.”
Join Our Ranks $29,950 FRANCHISE FEE WAIVED FOR 10 QUALIFIED VETERANS.* From Mail Boxes Etc.® to The UPS Store®, we are committed to veteran entrepreneurship. Visit theupsstorefranchise.com/veterans for official rules. *Offer valid through November 11, 2021 or while opportunity lasts.
The List
63
Meineke Car Care Centers
68
The Maids
Tailored Living
70
72
74
Residential cleaning
Home organization, storage, and garage flooring solutions
Signs, graphics, displays, digital imaging
Youth sports, school, and event photography
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$205.99K–$393.5K
$20.4K–$74.7K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K
$8.5K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
Preschool/educational childcare
Auto repair and maintenance
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$697.1K–$863.6K
$162.3K–$528.7K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$135K
$40K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
538/0
806/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
$20,000 off franchise fee
50 percent off royalty fee for first six months
59 HomeTeam Inspection Service Home inspections STARTUP COST
$50.1K–$76.8K FRANCHISE FEE
$35K–$55K
64 Postal Annex+ Packing, shipping, postal, and business services STARTUP COST
$167.8K–$247.9K FRANCHISE FEE
$83.5K–$147.95K $12.5K TOTAL UNITS
$19.95K
1,364/174
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
299/2
177/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
10 to 20 percent off franchise and territory fees
73 CMIT Solutions
75 Metal
IT and business services for SMBs
Supermarkets
Nonmedical/skilled home care; monitoring products and services
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$49.95K-$54.95K
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off initial territory fee
69 Christian Brothers Automotive Auto repair STARTUP COST
$454.3K–$582.4K FRANCHISE FEE
$135K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
238/4
202/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
10 to 15 percent larger territory
60 9Round Kickboxing fitness circuittraining centers STARTUP COST
$94.2K–$196.8K FRANCHISE FEE
$37.5K TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
STARTUP COST
$281K–$552K FRANCHISE FEE
$15K–$20K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
101/1 VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
Mosquito, tick, and flea control STARTUP COST
$73.9K–$96.4K FRANCHISE FEE
$35K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
113/4 VET INCENTIVE
$10,000 off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
10 percent off franchise fee
FRANCHISE FEE TOTAL UNITS
$228.5K–$437K FRANCHISE FEE
$39.5K TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$48.9K
246/0
96/9
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
315/0
10 percent off first-unit franchise fee
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$5,000 off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
STARTUP COST
$96.9K–$130.3K FRANCHISE FEE
$15.5K
593/7 VET INCENTIVE
10 percent off franchise fee; special training program for veteran employees
66 Aire Serv HVAC services STARTUP COST
$87.6K–$216.4K FRANCHISE FEE
$40K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
214/0 VET INCENTIVE
62 Mosquito Hunters
$97.1K–$139.3K
$122.6K–$165.5K
Metal stores
Mobile locksmith and security services
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Pizza, pasta, sandwiches
Home Care
65 Pop-A-Lock
TOTAL UNITS
61 Pizza Factory
71 Home Helpers
20 percent off franchise fee
665/6 20 percent off first-unit franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
20 percent off franchise fee
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
181/0 15 percent off initial franchise territory fees
$29.95K
303/0
FRANCHISE FEE
TSS Photography
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
$184.5K–$297.8K
Image360
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
67 Mountain Mike’s
Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning/ No. 121 Franchisee/ Sean Rotolo
Pizza Pizza, wings, salad bar, appetizers
SEAN ROTOLO SERVED IN the Navy from 2006 to 2020 and then transitioned to
STARTUP COST
the Navy Reserves in order to focus more on his family and his Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning franchise. He hit almost $250,000 in sales his first year in business, grew that by 36 percent his second year (in the midst of the pandemic), and is up another 50 percent this year. In addition to continuing to serve his country and his customers, he is helping other veterans as cofounder and president of Veteran Business Connection, a nonprofit that offers resources, mentoring, and networking for veterans interested in business ownership.
$225.8K–$596K FRANCHISE FEE
$30K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
242/0 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
94 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF OXI FRESH
58
The Goddard School
The List
76
78
80
General hobbies and supplies, toys
Residential and commercial painting
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
Crime-scene, meth-lab, and hoarding cleanup; mold remediation; house buying
HobbyTown
$201.4K–$387.9K
$133.3K–$169.5K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$15K
$57.5K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST
$88.5K–$140.4K FRANCHISE FEE
$10K–$45K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
109/0
373/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
77 Wireless Zone Wireless devices, services, and accessories
• Monday to Friday Business-to-Business Hours
Spaulding Decon
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$5,000 off franchise fee
FASTSIGNS has opportunities for new growth!
CertaPro Painters
10 percent off franchise fee
79 FirstLight Home Care
STARTUP COST
Nonmedical home care
$160K–$414.5K
STARTUP COST
FRANCHISE FEE
$113.3K–$197.9K
$1K–$25K
FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
$49.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
430/0 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise or transfer fee
TOTAL UNITS
Junk removal, moving, and labor services STARTUP COST
$108.7K–$273.2K FRANCHISE FEE
$40K–$60K TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
153/3
10 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
81 Lawn Doctor Lawn, tree, and shrub care; mosquito and tick control STARTUP COST
$102K–$127.1K FRANCHISE FEE
$35K TOTAL UNITS
202/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
20 percent off franchise fee
College Hunks Hauling Junk & Moving
30/1
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
82
606/0 VET INCENTIVE
$10,000 off franchise fee
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$7,500 off franchise fee
83 Restoration 1 Water, fire, smoke, and mold restoration STARTUP COST
$87K–$195.6K FRANCHISE FEE
$54.9K–$59.3K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
259/0 VET INCENTIVE
$7,000 off franchise fee
• Low Staffing Requirements • Professional Business Clientele • Attractive Margins
Franchise Fee for Veterans and First Responders
HomeVestors/ No. 139 Franchisee/ Jeff Hotz JEFF HOTZ HAS THE DISTINCTION of serving in three branches of the military as
For More Information: mark.jameson@fastsigns.com 214-346-5679
www.fastsigns.com
a trumpeter and a drum major. He joined the Marine Corps out of high school and spent six years there, followed by another seven in the Navy, and finally became an Army reservist and joined the 338th Army Band out of Columbus, Ohio, in 2013. That’s the same year he became a HomeVestors franchisee. “Operating a We Buy Ugly Houses franchise has been exceptional for me because everything we learn in the military directly transfers over,” says Hotz.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF HOMEVESTORS
50% OFF
84 Concrete Craft
89 Gotcha Covered
Decorative concrete coatings
Window treatments
STARTUP COST
$75.95K–$94.2K
$150.1K–$241.1K FRANCHISE FEE
$19.95K
STARTUP COST FRANCHISE FEE
$64.9K TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
116/0
76/0 VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
$10,000 off franchise fee
15 percent off initial franchise and territory fees
85 The Little Gym Child-development/fitness programs STARTUP COST
$223.4K–$466.5K FRANCHISE FEE
90 Mr. Rooter Plumbing, drain, and sewer cleaning STARTUP COST
$79.98K–$187.1K FRANCHISE FEE
$40K
$59.5K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
290/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
358/0 VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
50 percent off standard territory franchise fee
86 BurgerFi Burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, sides, custard, craft beer, wine STARTUP COST
$629.9K–$1M
91 Signarama Sign products and services STARTUP COST
$119.7K–$313.8K FRANCHISE FEE
$49.5K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
FRANCHISE FEE
$45K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
104/21
706/0 VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
87 1-800 Water Damage
92 Mr. Electric Electrical services STARTUP COST
$106.1K–$244.5K FRANCHISE FEE
Property restoration
$42.5K
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
$57.6K–$191.99K FRANCHISE FEE
$24K–$59K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
176/0 VET INCENTIVE
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
151/0 20 percent off franchise fee
93 Destination Athlete
88 The Grout Doctor
Equipment, apparel, fundraising, and performance solutions for youth, high school, and college sports teams
VET INCENTIVE
Grout, tile, and stone restoration, maintenance, and products
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$20K–$50K
$20.6K–$33.7K
$28.3K–$93.6K FRANCHISE FEE TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$12K–$16K
173/0
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
83/0 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
15 percent off franchise fee
The List
94
103
108
113
118
Retail specialty foods, catering, cafés
Moving, storage, and junk removal services
$36.4K–$107.4K
Printing, marketing, mail, signs, promotional products
Staffing, recruitment, and employment-related services
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
Environmentally friendly commercial cleaning and disinfecting
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
$292.9K–$567.6K
$148K–$347.5K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
You’ve Got Maids Environmentally friendly residential cleaning STARTUP COST
99
Allegra MarketingPrint-Mail
$6.99K
$125.8K–$378.2K
TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
The Honey Baked Ham Co.
Spherion Staffing
$30K
$26.3K–$35K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$45K
84/0
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
209/200 VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
$2,500 off franchise fee
277/1 VET INCENTIVE
95 Papa Murphy’s Take ’N’ Bake Pizza Take-and-bake pizza STARTUP COST
25 percent off franchise fee
100 Navis Pack & Ship
$25K
Packing, crating, and shipping of fragile, large, awkward, and valuable items
TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$99.7K–$172.8K
$296.1K–$534.7K FRANCHISE FEE
1,228/59 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
$220.6K–$407.6K FRANCHISE FEE
$18.5K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Concepts/More Space Place
FRANCHISE FEE
$39.5K–$44.5K TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
410/0
26/6
VET INCENTIVE
$5,000 off franchise fee
15 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
110 Aroma Joe’s Coffee
115 LunchboxWax
Specialty coffee
Body waxing
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
105 Five Star Painting Residential and commercial painting STARTUP COST
$74.7K–$184.3K FRANCHISE FEE
$45K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
224/0 VET INCENTIVE
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
$275.5K–$708K
$363.9K–$510.1K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$15K
$49.5K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
120 Molly Maid Residential cleaning STARTUP COST
$110.2K–$160.2K FRANCHISE FEE
$14.9K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
75/2
50/2
496/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
20 percent off franchise fee or development fee
111 Benjamin Franklin
116 Beef O’Brady’s
Plumbing
Family Sports Pub
Residential and light commercial plumbing services
Family sports restaurants
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
15 percent off franchise fee
37/3 VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
Bakery cafés STARTUP COST
106 Ductz Air-duct cleaning, HVAC restoration, dryer-vent cleaning STARTUP COST
$69.5K–$197.3K FRANCHISE FEE
$34.9K–$74.9K TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST
$133.9K–$311.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$40.9K
VET INCENTIVE
TOTAL UNITS
10 percent off franchise fee
430/13
Management
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
20 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
346/0
$437.5K–$631K
VET INCENTIVE
FRANCHISE FEE
$25K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
348/42 VET INCENTIVE
50 percent off franchise fee
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
30 percent off first-unit franchise fee
112 Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services Commercial cleaning STARTUP COST
$67.5K–$112.2K FRANCHISE FEE
$35K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
117 Postal Connections/ iSold It Postal, business, and internet services STARTUP COST
$62.2K–$240.3K FRANCHISE FEE
$33.9K TOTAL UNITS
10 percent off franchise fee
122 Security 101 Commercial security systems STARTUP COST
$130.1K–$235K FRANCHISE FEE
$59.5K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
41/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
147/0 VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
98 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
$46.5K–$76.4K FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
Pizza, subs, salads, breads, wings, dessert
STARTUP COST
256/10
256/10
107 Jet’s Pizza
$37.5K
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
FRANCHISE FEE
Carpet, upholstery, hardwood floor, tile, and grout cleaning; odor control; home disinfection
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$18.8K–$37.5K
VET INCENTIVE
$806.8K–$1.3M
Cleaning
$43K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
86/2
STARTUP COST
121 Oxi Fresh Carpet
TOTAL UNITS
98 Real Property
15 percent off franchise fee
$156K–$257.8K
15 percent off minimum franchise fee
FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
104/0
72/5
$59.9K
STARTUP COST
Indoor cleaning and restoration
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$145.5K–$585.8K
FRANCHISE FEE
International Restoration
Residential landscape, architectural, holiday, and hospitality lighting
10 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
Café by Chip
$111.5K–$166.96K
Perspectives
272/0
VET INCENTIVE
STARTUP COST
119 Rainbow
TOTAL UNITS
56/8
Property management
114 Outdoor Lighting
TOTAL UNITS
102 Nestlé Toll House
50 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
$19.9K
$30K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
109 Safe Ship
2,418/0
10 percent off franchise fee
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
FRANCHISE FEE TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee; free office technology package; $1,000 marketing product credit; sales training workshop
$49.5K
$95.8K–$499.9K
$81K–$339.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
FRANCHISE FEE
101 Closet & Storage
$3.6K–$69K
VET INCENTIVE
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
FRANCHISE FEE TOTAL UNITS
$29.95K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$4.5K–$79.8K
311/3
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
198/0
$120.4K–$123.8K
STARTUP COST
Stratus Building Solutions
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$59.9K
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
$80K–$143.1K
$8,500 off franchise fee
Soft pretzels, dipping sauces, beverages
$30K–$85K
STARTUP COST
VET INCENTIVE
97 Ben’s Soft Pretzels
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
Residential/commercial closet and storage systems; Murphy beds
115/15
Residential and commercial repair, maintenance, and improvement services
$100K–$585K
$117.5K–$154.1K
Subs, wraps, salads STARTUP COST
104 Mr. Handyman
STARTUP COST
Packing, shipping, freight, office supplies, notary services
47/0
96 Port of Subs
$10,000 off first-store franchise fee
Two Men and a Truck
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
46/0 VET INCENTIVE
10 percent off franchise fee
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The List
123
128
BrightStar Care
Biggby Coffee
Tutoring and test prep
Medical/nonmedical home care, medical staffing
Specialty coffee, tea, smoothies, baked goods
STARTUP COST
Huntington Learning Center
132
137
HouseMaster Home Inspections
142
146
Pizza, Italian food
Residential and commercial painting
Rosati’s Pizza
Fresh Coat
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
Home inspections and related services
$147K–$266.1K
$105.7K–$170.5K
$202.5K–$418.7K
STARTUP COST
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$61.1K–$107.7K
$30K
$36K
$50K
$20K
FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
$42.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
151/8
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
271/14
339/3
262/0
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
311/6
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off first-unit franchise fee
$5,000 off first-unit franchise fee
50 percent off franchise fee
VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
124 Mosquito Squad
129 AdvantaClean
133 Rent-A-Center
143 Fyzical Therapy &
147 Right at Home
Restoration
Home care, medical staffing
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
Rent-to-own furniture, electronics, computers, appliances
Balance Centers
Outdoor pest control $107.97K–$167.2K
$166.2K–$260.1K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$40K
$19.95K
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
245/1
182/1
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
30 percent off franchise fee
125 Critter Control Wildlife management, pest control STARTUP COST
$70.9K–$199.5K FRANCHISE FEE
$54.9K–$91.9K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
84/23 VET INCENTIVE
5 percent off franchise fee
126 Tutor Doctor Tutoring STARTUP COST
$84.3K–$128.99K FRANCHISE FEE
$44.7K–$59.7K TOTAL UNITS
15 percent off initial franchise and territory fees
STARTUP COST
$355.2K–$559.8K FRANCHISE FEE
$35K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
302/2,012 VET INCENTIVE
$5,000 off franchise fee
130 Bactronix Mold, bacteria, and virus testing and treatment; air-duct and dryer-vent cleaning
134 AlphaGraphics Printing, marketing communications, signs and graphics
10 percent off franchise fee
139 HomeVestors of America Home buying, repair, and selling
$49.5K TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$49K
643/20
TOTAL UNITS
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
FRANCHISE FEE
381/50 VET INCENTIVE
25 percent off franchise fee
25 percent off franchise fee
148 Tint World
144 HomeWell Care
Auto accessories, mobile electronics, security, window tinting, appearance services
Services
STARTUP COST
Home care
$229.95K–$339.95K
STARTUP COST
FRANCHISE FEE
$96.9K–$224.8K
$39.95K–$49.95K
FRANCHISE FEE
TOTAL UNITS
$49.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
14/1
264/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
1,154/0
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
97/0
10 percent off franchise fee
$10,000 off franchise fee
10 percent off franchise fee
131 Window Gang Window, gutter, roof, and dryer-vent cleaning; pressure washing; chimney sweeping
135 Rocky Mountain
$60K
STARTUP COST
$72K–$431.3K FRANCHISE FEE
$34K–$75K
VET INCENTIVE
10 percent off franchise fee
140 The Spice & Tea
VET INCENTIVE
20 percent off franchise fee
149 Golden Chick
145 Remedy Intelligent Staffing
$915.4K–$1.4M
$186.5K–$476.8K
Spices, teas, related products
Staffing
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$30K
$188.7K–$389.3K
$152.2K–$258.7K
TOTAL UNITS
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$37.8K
$39.95K
Chocolates, confections STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
211/2
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
VET INCENTIVE
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
111/112
$10,000 off franchise fee
79/1
125/0
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
10 percent off franchise fee
136 The Dog Stop
25 percent off franchise fee
25 percent off franchise fee
Dog care services and products
141 Ace Hardware
TOTAL UNITS
85/0
Exchange
Chocolate Factory
STARTUP COST
$195.3K–$738.2K
Chicken STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
177/7 VET INCENTIVE
33 percent off franchise fee
150 The Tutoring Center Tutoring STARTUP COST
$106.4K–$180.2K FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
Hardware and home improvement stores
$49.5K
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
$292K–$2.1M
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
15/6
86/2
VET INCENTIVE
VET INCENTIVE
15 percent off franchise fee
$5,000 off franchise fee
129/0
$82K–$150.8K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
$48.95K
TOTAL UNITS
$35K–$45K
TOTAL UNITS
$138.8K–$361.5K
$2,000 off franchise fee
$30K
FRANCHISE FEE
FRANCHISE FEE
$65K
STARTUP COST
153/0
FRANCHISE FEE
VET INCENTIVE
$197.5K–$296.8K
FRANCHISE FEE
$44.9K
FRANCHISE FEE
$25K
STARTUP COST
$103.9K–$147.5K
FRANCHISE FEE
$263.7K–$363.3K
$80.9K–$118.3K
Auto repair and maintenance
STARTUP COST
$53.99K–$76.9K
$64.6K–$110.6K
727/0
Auto Care/ Mr. Transmission
Painting
Physical therapy, balance and vestibular therapy, preventive wellness services
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
127 Milex Complete
138 360 Painting
$136.2K–$1.2M
STARTUP COST
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$5,000 off regional territory franchise fee ($49,700)
15 percent off franchise fee
STARTUP COST
FRANCHISE FEE
$5K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
5,343/211 VET INCENTIVE
Franchise fee (affiliation fee) waived
$30K
98/0 VET INCENTIVE
$2,000 off franchise fee; $2,500 off initial royalty fees
A DVE R T ISE M EN T
OPPORTUNITY One of these opportunities could mark the turning point to owning a business of your own, realizing your personal dreams and securing true financial independence. So go ahead, make your first move by considerw ing all that they have to offer in this Opportunity Spotlight. Then make your first call.
OWN BOSS
BUY THE BOOK visit entm.ag/startyourownbusiness
Markets Available in All 50 States! Low up-front investment $1,177,191 Average Gross Revenue of All Locations* Over two decades of record-breaking growth Built-in demand and recession-resilient 24 months of hands-on on-boarding support and continued coaching Cared-4™ - The Most Comprehensive Care Program in the industry *This information appears in the Home Helpers® Home Helpers Disclosure Document 2021 Item 19*, your results will vary depending on how well you follow the franchise system.
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ignite
spark
a passion for learning
ideas for kid-friendly businesses
encourage VWURQJ ǔ QDQFLDO literacy and life skills
/HDUQ PRUH DERXW VSHFLDO RǓ HUV exclusive content, and exciting announcements and launches at entrepreneur.com/kids Buy today at entm.ag/socialmedia
by Jean Wright, sales consultant and writer
→ THUMBS UP
Wright holds a meaningful mug she won as a child.
M
WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Tell us about a story, person, object, or something else that pushes you forward, and we may include it in a future issue. And we may make you photograph or illustrate it, too. Email INSPIRE@ENTREPRENEUR.COM with the subject line “WHAT INSPIRES ME.”
104 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October-November 2021
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JAMIE TURNER
Making the First Sale
y sales career was almost cut short by my parents. I was 11, a member of the Girl Scouts, and preparing to sell my first Thin Mints. I had just participated in what I would later recognize as my first sales meeting, when our leader moms gave us our mission. “We get a lot of funds from our cookie sale so the troop can plan fun activities,” they said. Our goal was to sell at least 50 boxes each, which would make us eligible for the prizes. I did the math in my head. If I went to every house on my street and each neighbor bought at least one box, I would be halfway to my goal. Then I’d venture farther out, knocking on strangers’ doors and hoping to win them over. But when I handed my parents the permission slip to do this, they promptly handed it back unsigned. “No one from this house is going door to door to ask for money,” my dad said, and my mother agreed. They thought it was embarrassing that their child would ask neighbors for money. I pleaded my case: It was for a good cause! And the customers want delicious cookies! Didn’t they know that I was fulfilling people’s desire to have unlimited quantities of Tagalongs and Do-si-dos? Finally, they relented, and I hit the streets. Door after door, I found that the product basically sold itself—even to the strangers!—and all I had to do was add some extra charm with my green sash and beanie. The Girl Scouts rewarded me with a mug that had a thumbprinted yellow smiley face on it. It said, i’m thumbody. I felt recognized. I went on to have a long career in sales, including at a racetrack, a local Chamber of Commerce, and a TV station. Now when I look back on that first adventure, what I see is a young girl who instinctively understood the most important thing about selling. It isn’t about convincing others to part with their dollars, as my parents had seen it. It’s about providing a service—bringing them the things they want and need, so that, in the best of situations, any product sells itself as well as the cookies did. That’s why I still have that mug, which I keep as a reminder. When I or any colleague lands a sale, we’re the thumbody who makes a difference.
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