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EDITOR’S NOTE

08 How to Get Honest Feedback

Sometimes, people need permission to tell you what they really think. by JASON

FEIFER

BUSINESS UNUSUAL

10 Why Your Brand Needs a Face

The cofounder of Angie’s List knows people just like people. by JASON

FEIFER

16 What Makes an AllStar Employee

Six leaders share the one trait they look for in a new hire.

18 When Your Brilliant Product Needs Explaining

No product sells itself, particularly the most innovative ones. by FRANCES

DODDS

22 How Much Will You Pay for Sustainability?

Customers say they care, but their buying habits don’t always show it. by KIM

KAVIN

24 A Productive Roast

I wanted my team to share mistakes, so I started a “Fuckup of the Month” meeting. by GARIMA

SHAH

26 Lean On Your Partners

Often we put on a brave face when we should just be honest. by JASON FEIFER

28 Nearly 60 Years of Change

Even historic restaurants like mine must evolve to survive. by MARY QUILLIAN

32 Make Life Easier

Tech to streamline your day. by MARIO ARMSTRONG

→ MOSSAPPEAL

Moss Pure’s real living walls needed the right story to tell. P.18

May-June 2025

FRANCHISE

68 The Top New and Emerging Franchises

If you want to buy a hot new franchise, consider these brands.

by TRACY STAPP HEROLD

82 When to Buy That Struggling Business

Jason Stucky bought his local Color Me Mine studio when he saw room for improvement. by CARL

STOFFERS

→ ROWDY GOOD TIMES

It’s hard to picture a more fun work environment than Boston’s Pizza Restaurant & Sports Bar, one of our top food franchises. P.96

84 From Refugee to Top Franchisee

When Orhan Veli’s family came to the U.S., failure wasn’t an option. That ethos is how he stays on top at Saladworks. by CARL STOFFERS

86 The Economy Falters, But Franchising Stays Strong

As president and CEO of the IFA, I see our industry’s strengths now more than ever. by MATT HALLER

88 Franchising 101

If you’re thinking about buying a franchise, here’s your no-frills guide to the basics.

96 The Top Food Franchises

Love feeding people? Check out these profitable culinary concepts. by

TRACY STAPP HEROLD

CLOSER

112 What Inspires Me

This souvenir from my old life reminds me that “plans” can blind us to bigger opportunities. by KAITLYN

ALLEN

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Why You Don’t Get Feedback

Here’s a simple way to build stronger relationships and improve your customer service.

IF YOU’RE a manager, your team might hesitate to give you updates. If you’re a founder, your customers might not give valuable feedback.

This is awful, right? You don’t think of yourself as intimidating! But here’s the problem: You haven’t given them permission—because you didn’t think you needed to.

When you fix this, you’ll become a better friend, leader, and partner. So let’s start by looking at the power of permission, and then extend it to you.

My friend Jenny Wood is a former Google executive, and the author of a great new book called Wild Courage. She recently got into a Lyft that was freezing cold—but she didn’t feel comfortable asking the driver to turn the heat up. So she suffered silently.

Then Jenny saw a sign the driver had hung in the back seat. It said: “If you need anything, feel free to ask.” So she did! “The sign gave me permission,” she told me. “It’s permission I didn’t even realize I needed.”

In theory, if people want something from us, they should just ask. Right?

But let’s deal with reality: They probably won’t ask. They may fear being a burden, or don’t want to hurt your feelings, or worry that their request isn’t welcome. That’s why Jenny didn’t speak up in the cab at first—leading to a worse experience for everyone.

If people are not asking you for what they want or need, that’s inhibiting your ability to build stronger connections and become a better leader, friend, and partner. So whether you like it or not, it is your job to continually create the opening. You must give others permission, just like that Lyft driver did, and then reinforce it over and over again.

Maybe you think you’ve already covered this. If you’re a manager, you might tell people you have “an open-door policy.” You might tell your friends, “I’m here for you anytime.” But as time passes, people forget. Or they worry that your offer expired.

I asked Jenny: Did she ever create permission while at Google, running a large organization with many direct and indirect reports?

“Yes!” she said. “People on my team were nervous to meet with me. They weren’t sure what would justify taking my time.”

So she set out to fix that: She created a weekly block of time for “office hours,” and sent the invite to everyone. It said that anyone can book a 20-minute slot with her—and then, to alleviate any anxiety about what’s worth discussing, she provided conversation topics that included “a project you’re excited about” and “a skill you want to develop.”

She also included some frivolous topics, like “something fun you did this weekend,” to lower the bar for conversation.

also offered five-minute blocks. “She wanted to send a signal,” Jenny said, “that you don’t have to have some fancy presentation to talk to the big boss.”

Given that, here’s a challenge I hope you’ll take: Today, you should give someone permission.

→ Maybe it’s your team. Like Jenny, you could find a simple and lasting way to invite them in.

→ Maybe it’s a partner. You could ask: “Hey, it’s been a while since we’ve checked in. How are you feeling about the project? Any concerns we can discuss?”

→ Maybe it’s a friend. If they haven’t heard from you in a while, they might wonder if

RELATIONSHIPS are like bridges. Some are big and strong, like a friendship or partnership. Some are narrow and temporary, like a customer in your Lyft. But no matter what, most people will eventually wonder: Can I still cross that bridge?

It’s time to put up a giant, flashing, neon sign that says “YES!” When you renew people’s faith in the bridge, they will cross it. And you will both be stronger for it.

Jason Feifer jfeifer@entrepreneur.com @heyfeifer

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‘People Like People More Than Brands’

Angie Hicks has been the face of Angie’s List (now called Angi) for 30 years. It’s not a role she wanted, but she knows how important it is. by JASON FEIFER

Every company needs a “face.” It’s the person who represents the brand in public and builds relationships with customers. The face becomes the person that customers relate to—because it’s easier to relate to a human than to a faceless corporate entity.

Angie Hicks wasn’t thinking about any of that back in 1996, when her company was named Angie’s List. She had no interest in the spotlight; her team just thought that “Angie’s List” was a good name. But as the company grew, and then she began appearing in its marketing, she got a crash course in how to be the human embodiment of a brand. Now she believes it’s an incredibly important role for brand leaders to play.

Angie’s List was acquired by IAC in 2017, and combined with its HomeAdvisor brand. Now it’s a publicly traded company called Angi Inc.—and although Hicks isn’t as consistently public as she used to be, she’s still there, still the face of the brand, and still taking calls with customers. Here, she explains how she grew into the role, and what anyone who’s the face of a brand needs to know.

Before this interview, I told my wife that I was talking to Angie from Angie’s List. And she asked, “That’s a real person?!” You must get that all the time.

I do. And in fact, that’s why our marketing team wanted to put me in our commercials— because it was people’s most common question. “Is there an actual Angie?”

Founders don’t often realize the power that they have. As the face of a brand, founders are the ones that customers build relationships with. Did you appreciate that when you named the company Angie’s List? It was quite a journey for me. We started the business in Columbus, Ohio, and we called it Columbus Neighbors. No one understood the business. They always got our name wrong. So a year in, we went through this process of renaming.

That name was so limiting— but so many businesses make that mistake! They create a name that doesn’t scale, because they’re not thinking about what happens if their business grows and succeeds. Right! At the time, we had a few hundred members. There

part of me wants the limelight. Before I made this crazy leap into entrepreneurialism, I wanted to be an actuary. Spreadsheets, numbers—that was perfect for me. But now I say this: People like people much more than they like brands. You can relate to people, you can

comfortable telling my story, I had to actually tell the story. No spin. No extra frills. This became increasingly important. At first, the team would write content, and it would be under my byline, and then I’d go through the bank drive-thru and the teller would ask me a question about a story “I wrote” and I couldn’t answer the question! So I told the team, “I have to see every piece of content that goes out under my byline. You must operate within the realms of who I am, ’cause I can’t live this dual life.”

Founders often play a kind of “character” in public.They present themselves as an authority on a certain subject,or a cheerleader for a certain group of people.What did you do?

It was really about: How are we building out the message of the brand? I’m the connector, right? We run a marketplace— we have homeowners, we have pros. Like, I’m not an expert in home improvement. But I have the luxury of getting to talk to them all the time and being

I ALWAYS TOLD THE TEAM, ‘USING ME AS THE SPOKESPERSON CAN BE GOOD FOR THE BRAND. IT COULD ALSO BE LIMITING FOR THE BRAND.’ SINCE IT HAS TO BE MY AUTHENTIC SELF, THEY DON’T HAVE A LOT OF ROOM TO BE SUPER CREATIVE.”

was no reason to think that the name was a big decision. But then we grew and were debating new names. My cofounder Bill threw in at the last minute, “We should just call it Angie’s List. She’s the one that answers the phone.” So we decided to name it that.

I am incredibly shy. Like, no

understand their story, you can understand why they did what they did, and it gives you a reason to believe.

How did you handle the limelight?

For me, being the spokesperson was really about being super authentic. To be

able to give their expertise a voice, and give them the credit. It’s important to define what world you’re going to operate in, and what topics are good for you to talk about. Also, understand that you’re in the public realm, and people are going to see you as the spokesperson. You’ve got to be prepared for that.

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How did that responsibility change as you became more famous?

I viewed it as a privilege, and I needed to treat it as such—taking the time and being gracious with people. I would tell the team this as well: I have the luxury of being able to talk to all of our customers, because they feel like they can come and talk to me in person. I can collect all kinds of feedback, and it makes the business better.

I still spend a lot of time talking to our customers, because I think one-on-one conversations are incredibly valuable, and we don’t do enough of them.

So you identified the utility of your sudden fame. You thought: This is a business function, and I’m going to see it as a business function. Which, as an introvert, kind of gives this role a purpose. And it’s analytical. I’m learning a ton. I’ve institutionalized this process. I actually do office hours; anybody can sign up—pros, customers—for a 15-minute slot, where we’ll talk about anything you want to talk about. Those calls are incredibly valuable to us as an organization to help us learn.

It creates an incredible cultural moment as well: We can give people a level of accessibility where they’re like, “Yeah, you can talk to Angie.” The customers appreciate it. We’re working with small businesses, and they’re wearing many hats trying to grow a business. If they have a pain point that we can help solve, I want to hear about it.

There was a time when you stepped back from being a public face of the brand, and then you returned. Tell me

IT’S IMPORTANT TO DEFINE WHAT WORLD YOU’RE GOING TO OPERATE IN, AND WHAT TOPICS ARE GOOD FOR YOU TO TALK ABOUT. ALSO, UNDERSTAND THAT YOU’RE IN THE PUBLIC REALM, AND PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SEE YOU AS THE SPOKESPERSON.”

about those two decisions.

I always told the team, “Using me as the key spokesperson can be good for the brand. It could also be limiting for the brand.” Since it has to be my authentic self, they don’t have a lot of room to be super creative in how they think about their advertising campaigns and things like that. It was the right time for us to think about the brand standing independently.

But the brand is old enough, and I was so entwined with the brand, that there’s value in periodically bringing us back to our roots and making that connec-

tion. I may not be in absolutely every campaign anymore. But I think there’s value in sprinkling it in.

You’ve been playing this public role for a long time now. Does it ever feel repetitive? It’s kind of: How do you keep things fresh, and how do you reinvent yourself along the way? Because I think they go hand in hand. How are you learning new things? How are you thinking about things from a different perspective? You have to think about your messaging the same way. I

might be talking about starting a business for the thousandth time—but how am I making it different and unique so it can be intriguing and relevant? You want to incorporate a new tidbit, a different takeaway.

It sounds like you’ve identified the timeless message, and now you discover fresh ways to get there. Yes. How do we relate to people today? The homeowner today is not the homeowner from 30 years ago. How do we talk to them? How do we tell the story differently?

Delivering E-commerce Packaging with Purpose

with

How Go North Group is reducing waste and delighting customers with Amazon’s

Ships in Product Packaging Program

Go with the Now, with a portfolio of 33 is on a mission to deliver

Go North Group was founded in 2021, as an aggregator, bringing together small businesses on Amazon with the intention of improving and expanding them. Now, with a portfolio of 33 brands spanning home, animal, and lifestyle categories, Go North is on a mission to deliver “products with purpose.”

“Our customers have, and we that customer Ryan Looysen, CEO at Go North Group.“ Customers want to receive their items without the hassle of excess cardboard and

“Our products each solve a problem our customers have, and we keep that customer focus in all aspects of our business, including packaging,” says Ryan Looysen, CEO at Go North Group.“ Customers want to receive their items safely without the hassle of excess cardboard and plastic to dispose of.”

In November 2023, the allows the and save on Amazon

In November 2023, the company collaborated with Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging program (SIPP), which allows sellers to ship items to customers in their own product packaging without any Amazon-added material. The program helps sellers reduce packaging, improve the unboxing experience for customers, and save on Amazon fulfillment fees.

For Go “Within a year, we’ve in the program and saved approximately $280,000 in fulfillment-related expenses,” on the environment

For Go North, the results have been tremendous. “Within a year, we’ve enrolled nearly 230 products in the program and saved approximately $280,000 in fulfillment-related expenses,” Looysen says. “This helps us reduce our impact on the environment and reinvest funds to develop better, more meaningful products.”

Here are two ways Go North is engaging with and delighting customers, thanks to purposeful packaging.

Here are two ways and customers, thanks to

Innovating product packaging for e-commerce success

Go North’s Baby Playpen required a little creative thinking to get the packaging sturdy enough to withstand e-commerce fulfillment without the need of an Amazon overbox. Go North not only redesigned the product packaging—it redesigned the product.

Go North’s little to the Amazon overbox. Go the

Instead of one long rod to hold up the side paneling of the playpen, Go North divided the rod into two shorter pieces and made the packaging more compact. “SIPP’s guidelines promote a shift in thinking about product packaging, with the goal of environmental responsibility and improved customer satisfaction,” says Alvaro Claure, Inventory Manager at Go North. “Now our playpen fits securely in a box with less risk of it bouncing and getting damaged during shipping. It also is easier for customers to store and travel with.”

Engaging customers through custom design

Instead of one the divided the rod and made the of and improved customer at Go North. “Now our with less risk of it also is through custom

With SIPP, sellers in their Mammoth blanket

With SIPP, sellers can ship products in custom packaging that puts their brand at the forefront of the delivery experience. Go North designed their Woolly Mammoth blanket packaging with product messaging that highlights the quality, durability, and longevity of the blanket.

the and that we are intentional in every detail,” says Lovisa Ahlm, Head of Marketing at Go North. customers purchase from our brand and leaves a positive impression.”

“Participating in SIPP shows our customers that we are intentional in every detail,” says Lovisa Ahlm, Head of Marketing at Go North. “This helps reinforce why customers purchase from our brand and leaves a lasting positive impression.”

Ahlm says Go North’s upgraded product packaging is indeed resonating with customers. “Amazon shoppers are very vocal when they do not like something,” she says. “In terms of SIPP, out of hundreds of thousands of items shipped, we have only seen positive comments. That is a true testament to it being a good solution that benefits everyone.”

Ahlm says Go North’s is indeed customers. vocal not like “In terms of SIPP, out of seen solution to and enhance the Amazon’s in

Visit amazon-packaging.com to learn how to reduce packaging and enhance the customer experience with Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging program.

Six Ways

The Perfect Employee

What makes for a truly standout team member?

We asked six leaders to share the most valuable trait they look for in a hire, and how to know if a candidate has it.

1/ An ability to manage up

“I look for the ability to manage up and anticipate needs. I try to take the first in-person interview at a coffee shop, and intentionally arrive five minutes late. Theoretically, they arrive on time, and it’s interesting to see what they do with the time. Have they gotten a table? Are they pacing around outside? Have they gotten their own coffee or waited to see what I may want? We’re looking for self-motivated candidates, and you can learn a lot.”

—SARAH DOGGETT EVENSON, founder, Marie Oliver

2/ Work ethic and cultural fit

“I look for two things: work ethic and cultural fit. So I ask questions that aren’t just about what someone did, but why they did it. Like: ‘Tell me about a time you had to work harder than you thought possible—what drove you?’

To assess cultural fit, I focus on how candidates interact with others. I ask, ‘What kind of work environment brings out your best performance? How do you handle feedback and conflict with fellow employees on your team?’”

—BARBARA WEICHSELBAUM, CEO, Armitron

3/ Knowing themselves well

“Self-awareness is the foundation of growth, collaboration, and effective leadership. I ask candidates, ‘Can you share a time you received critical feedback? How did you respond, and what did you learn?’ Or: ‘Describe a situation where you failed. How did you handle it, and what would you do differently now?’ I also dig into their true strengths and weaknesses. I place value on an individual’s authentic evaluation of their own abilities and how they’ve worked to improve.”

—ANNA

HARMAN, cofounder and CEO, Studs

4/ Genuine warmth

“Skills can be taught, but you can’t train someone to truly care about making people feel welcome. To screen for this, I focus on three things in the interview: first impressions—greeting with a smile, making eye contact, and showing genuine engagement; behavioral questions—‘How would you handle a regular customer who seems upset, but won’t say why?’; and asking myself, ‘Would I want to have dinner with them, and would my customers feel at home around them?’”

5/

A solutions-oriented mindset

Food Co.

—DOWM HAWLEY, franchisee, Perkins American Food Co.

“I want someone who focuses on outcomes and problem-solving. One way I screen for this is by telling them, ‘Like any company, we have challenges with communication. If you joined our team, how would you help improve it?’ Their response gives me immediate insight into how they think. Do they suggest practical solutions? Do they focus on collaboration? Are they proactive about building alignment? This also sets the tone from day one—they’re not just here to do a job, but to help make the organization stronger.”

—STEVE SCHWARTZ, founder and CEO, Art of Tea

6

/ Humility

“I prefer ‘learn-it-alls’ over know-it-alls. I screen for this by asking candidates to provide specific examples from their past roles where they identified gaps in their understanding or experience. Then I focus on how they addressed these gaps—whether they asked questions, analyzed data, and acquired the knowledge necessary to advance. I believe humility and a commitment to learning fosters growth and innovation.”

—JILL LAYFIELD, CEO, Birdy Grey manage up and

American

WhyNobodyBuysYourAmazingProduct

What if you’re selling something you know people will want, but it takes some explaining?

As founder Jamie Mitri learned, you must find customers who are ready to listen. by

FRANCES DODDS

Jamie Mitri had an amazing product, almost zero sales, and no idea what was wrong.

This was 2021, and she’d just launched her brand, Moss Pure. It makes indoor moss walls—those trendy, earthy installations you see in corporate lobbies. But hers was distinct: Most moss walls are actually made from dead moss preserved with chemicals, making them stinky and in need of annual replacement. But drawing on her experience as a chemical and environmental engineer, Mitri was able to create a moss wall that’s actually alive, requires no chemicals, smells nice, and functions as an air purifier.

She thought the product would sell itself, and hired a marketing agency to run online ads. But nothing happened. She began to see the problem: Her product is more expensive because it’s the real thing. But competitors were advertising their moss walls as “live,” so customers didn’t appreciate the difference.

So Mitri set about a new way to pitch her company—and now, five years later, she’s sold tens of thousands of moss walls, and grew 300% in the past year. Here’s how she did it.

STEP 1/ Tell the right story.

In 2023, The Boston Globe reached out to do a story on Moss Pure. Mitri appreciated the coverage, but didn’t expect much. “Then, the day the story comes out, my entire inventory goes on back order,” she says. “I realized it’s because I explained the science.”

This was key: Instead of just pitching her product’s beauty, she needed to find spaces to explain why and how it works. Once people understood that, they valued her product more.

She started pitching media, and landed on one of Oprah’s lists—which drove major sales.

STEP 2/ Segment customers.

Once she’d pulled in some sales with media placements, Mitri began combing through orders to learn more about her customers.

Some were individuals looking for luxury art pieces, but mostly, they were corporate offices with high earnings—and crucially, they had bought a “live” moss wall before.

That was the golden insight that transformed her company: To increase sales, she’d need to find existing owners of preserved moss walls. These people were already interested in moss walls, and were bound to be disillusioned with the one they bought—an opening for her.

“I just kept finding companies that had the fake moss walls and reaching out,” she says. Sometimes the companies weren’t ready to work with her, and that was fine—she’d keep following up until the company had to replace their existing moss wall and were happy to talk.

→

STEP 3/ Tailor to your target customer.

Mitri searched for biotech companies in the Boston area that had moss walls. “I always went straight for the CEO,” she says.

“I got their attention by saying, ‘Aren’t you sick of replacing that fake, smelly moss wall?’ And they’d be like, ‘Yeah, we didn’t realize it was gonna be this bad.’”

She’d send them a sample of her Moss Pure wall. The conversion rates were high.

Then she went a step further. Because she was building custom products for corporate clients, she realized she could easily

build their company signs into the walls—cutting out the third party who did that job, and creating a better finished product. She began offering this as an add-on service, which increased her average order value.

Moss Pure continues to use this strategy today, as it expands into larger and larger venues. Mitri just did a huge installation at the biggest biotech hub in New York City, and inked a partnership with a global hotel brand. It’s all because she found the right story to tell, and the right customers to tell it to.

SEEINGGREEN Mitri realized her genuinely live moss walls would sell, if only she told the right story.

Businesses Are Looking to Paper Solutions for Their Packaging Needs. Here’s Why.

Sustainability and brand reputation are top drivers

Sustainability goals are no longer an afterthought in business, and the motivating factors are clear. Consumers increasingly say they are buying more sustainable products and 85% are willing to pay a premium for them1

If sustainability hasn’t factored into a company’s goals or mission, investors have helped spur change. Ninety percent of global investors say they revise their investments if companies do not at least consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues2

And so, many brands are looking to innovative and renewable paper products for their packaging solutions. Seventy-nine percent of companies that were recently surveyed by Packaging World indicated that recyclability and use of recycled content is one of the top two factors in favor of a package’s sustainability3, and 39% say brand reputation is the top driver in choosing sustainable packaging. Paper is one of the most widely recycled materials in America, and paper recycling rates in the U.S. have consistently increased in recent decades4 .

Here are two examples of innovative paper solutions that provide packaging integrity while also supporting brand sustainability goals such as material reduction, recyclability, and sourcing from renewable resources.

Innovating to increase recycling rates

When a consumer purchases things like snacks, spices, coffee, baked goods, and other consumer foods, many of these are packaged in cans made partially from paper. But when it’s time to be recycled, therein lies the confusion: The lid is plastic, the can is paper, and the bottom is made of steel. So, where does it go?

If not recycled, placing paper cans in the trash bin for landfilling increases greenhouse gas warming potential by 24%5. That’s far from ideal.

Why not eliminate the confusion?

That’s exactly what Hartsville, S.C.-based packaging company Sonoco did with its all-paper cans—they replaced the metal and plastic components with paper-based structures for the top and bottom ends and lids.

The result is a rigid can made primarily from recycled paperboard (of which 85% to 90% is sourced from postconsumer recycled content), protecting products throughout transportation and storage. The cans also include high moisture and oxygen barrier materials to help extend shelf life.

And when the can is empty, it’s clear that it goes with paper recycling—a win-win for brands and customers alike.

Helping brands lower their environmental footprint one cup at a time

Are paper cups recyclable? Increasingly, the answer is yes6. But recyclability is only one factor in the greater scheme of sustainability. Enter NuVo Cupstock from Spokane, Wash.-based Clearwater Paper. It’s a unique paperboard that utilizes Clearwater’s multi-ply fiber blending technology, combining virgin fiber with 12%, 24%, or 35% post-consumer recycled (PCR) fiber.

“This paperboard is designed to offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional cupstock while maintaining the strength, printability, and performance needed for food and beverage applications,” says Clearwater Marketing Manager Elina Rodina.

NuVo Cupstock’s PCR fiber “contributes to circular economy initiatives by giving recycled materials a second life,” Rodina adds. Brands can showcase their commitment to sustainability by featuring a PCR fiber statement on their packaging, enhancing brand loyalty and consumer trust.

“Companies that are looking to meet their ESG goals and consumer demand for eco-friendly packaging recognize the long-term value of choosing a recyclable and PCR-inclusive option,” Rodina says. “Consumers are actively seeking out environmentally friendly packaging and feel good about choosing a paper or fiber cup that contains recycled content.”

Scan to learn more about paper packaging innovations or visit howlifeunfolds.com/ innovations

By choosing paper products, you’re taking a sustainable path forward that also gives back.

When you use paper products, you’re doing your part to help the planet. Because the paper, packaging and boxes you rely on every day can be recycled up to 7 times. In fact, paper is one of the most recycled materials in the U.S., and it comes from a natural and renewable resource—trees. Choosing paper products encourages America’s private forest landowners to grow and sustainably manage their forests that help clean our air and water, capture carbon, and provide healthy homes for wildlife. And that’s something you should feel good about.

CHOOSE AND RECYCLE PAPER AND PAPER PACKAGING AND BE A FORCE FOR NATURE. Learn more at howlifeunfolds.com

Do Consumers Still Care About Sustainability?

They say they do, but they’re not always spending that way. Here’s why—and what sustainability-focused entrepreneurs can do about it. by KIM

KAVIN

Sustainability was once the hottest word in business. As consumers demanded ecoconsciousness, brands raced to prove their green credentials. Then everything went a little flat.

The data shows it: In a September 2024 Deloitte global survey, 67% of consumers said they view climate change as an emergency—and about half (46%) of them, across 23 countries, bought at least one sustainable good or service in the month of the survey. That’s remained steady since 2022, but was down from 56% in 2021.

“Our most recent research indicated that priceconsciousness remains the biggest barrier, and as inflation started to bite a couple of years ago, we saw a slight dip in consumers saying they were

making sustainable purchases,” says Derek Pankratz, senior research leader for the Deloitte U.S. Sustainability Practice.

Kate Assaraf, CEO of the sustainable hair care brand Dip, has experienced this firsthand: She finds that most customers do want to shop sustainably, but “people are tired of spending more on sustainable products only to be left feeling burned.”

Where the opportunities are

Pankratz has a name for this large group of would-be sustainability customers: the “missing middle.” They care about environmental impacts, but are unable or unwilling to make the necessary trade-offs right now.

“Companies that are able to break those trade-offs could tap into potentially sizable latent market demand,” he says.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. “In some cases,” Pankratz says, “making products more sustainable will likely require companies to rethink decades of manufacturing innovation that made products cheap, higher quality, and convenient.”

For entrepreneurs who want to pursue a sustainable path, there’s an additional wrinkle to consider: Not all categories are considered equal. Consumers seem willing to spend more for sustainability on certain kinds of products.

In a survey this year by supplychain solutions company Blue Yonder, 48% of consumers said they were interested in sustainability in food and beverage. About a third tolerate higher prices for sustainable options in the categories of cleaning products, personal care, and beauty. The percentages dropped lower for clothing, footwear, appliances, consumer electronics, and automotive purchases.

The other big barrier

Blue Yonder’s survey also found a trust issue: Only 20% of consumers believe that brands are being truthful when making sustainability claims. A higher percentage, 25%, say they can’t always trust sustainability sales pitches.

Assaraf, who sells sustainable soap, has seen how easily consumers can become disaffected. “People are like, ‘I’ve spent $14

on a sustainable deodorant. It stinks. I’m back to Old Spice, Secret, whatever,’” she says. Then those consumers are less likely to trust another sustainable brand in the same category, like hers.

The divergence between beliefs and buying habits is also evident in the pets category. The majority of pet owners say they’ll spend heavily to make their furry friends happy and healthy, and Pet Age reported in March that sustainability has become a “significant focus.” But a 2024 global survey of pet owners found that only 12% to 16% were willing to pay more for sustainably raised or produced pet foods.

In many instances, Eduardo B. Andrade of Imperial College Business School writes, there’s also “sustainability neglect”— the idea that certain shoppers, when buying certain products, just don’t think of sustainability as relevant. For example, when someone’s buying a candy bar, they often don’t think about the environment in the way they might when buying paper plates.

“That,” Andrade says, “may help explain why our eco-friendly reusable bags are full of eco-unfriendly, plasticwrapped products.”

For sustainability-focused entrepreneurs, it’s a problem to be solved—and an opportunity in waiting.

‘I Really Messed Up…’

Every month, my employees gather to talk about their biggest mistakes. Here’s how that’s made us more successful. by GARIMA SHAH

There’s an idea rooted in startup culture: You’ve got to fail to win. People love to throw that around, but we still aren’t very good at actually admitting or discussing those failures. We’d rather brush them under the rug—and as a result, we never really learn from them.

I decided to fix that at Biller Genie, the company I cofounded with Thomas Aronica. It’s a platform that automates billing and invoicing to get people paid faster. I wanted to know every screwup my team was making in real time and face them head-on. So I created a “Fuckup of the Month” meeting, where all of our employees gather to share their mistakes.

The point isn’t to be dramatic. It’s to learn together to solve our problems faster. And you know what? It works.

At our first meeting, people were hesitant, so I led by example. I started by telling them my

own screwups. I emphasized that everyone’s going to make a mistake, but the important part is: Will you own it or cover it up? How will you fix it? What will you learn? How do you put up safeguards so it won’t happen again? And how do we all move forward?

Over time, the meetings have become livelier and more open.

I start by asking for volunteers, and it often begins with something lame, like, Oh man, I locked my keys in my car. But once people get warmed up, they’ll share maybe 10 or 15 fuckups—and some are big. I’m usually already aware of those, because I’ve had to deal with the fallout. But the rest of the team might be hearing about them for the first time. And when they do, the whole room stops—and it’s like, we’re going to fix this together.

Take this example: A few years ago, a team member was on a training call with a customer. When the customer started speaking negatively about one

of our partners, the team member agreed and also spoke badly about the partner. Then, to add insult to injury, a manager inadvertently sent that Zoom recording to—yup!—the very partner in question! No one told me that this had happened. Eventually, I got a call from that partner saying, “This is defamation.”

I confronted the manager, and he brought it up at our next Fuckup of the Month meeting. He admitted that he hadn’t fully understood the repercussions, which was useful: It made me realize that I needed to train the entire company on defamation, libel, and slander, and reinforce that our partners are our most important assets—we need to protect them at all costs. I also made a new rule: If you do anything that could put us in jeopardy with our partners, immediately race to my office.

When employees share their screwups and see me reacting constructively, it sends an important message: “I won’t punish you for failing.” However, I do expect people to be open about their mistakes and learn from them.

Here’s another doozy: An employee accidentally did something that caused a customer’s invoices to be sent to the wrong company. In this case, he told us as soon as it happened.

We discussed this at the next Fuckup of the Month meeting, and the team drew many lessons from it. The first is to get help quickly. Because the employee told us about his mistake immediately, we were able to fix it without any serious repercussions. Additionally, I

realized that I needed to emphasize to the team the importance of double- and triple-checking their work. I reminded them that handling people’s finances was a big responsibility and that doing it correctly was a major priority. “As a company, we do move fast,” I acknowledged, “but not at the expense of accuracy. Take a few extra minutes if you need to.”

Sometimes, our Fuckup meetings teach us lessons about our technology. This happened when a junior employee was training someone on our system and accidentally changed the billing settings for 3,500 of our customers. Major problem. But again, this employee came straight to find me and even interrupted a meeting we were having with one of our largest partners. She was shaking and said, “I need to speak with you right now.”

That moment took guts, and I think the culture we built with our Fuckup meetings gave her the courage to do it. Had she not told us, things could have gone very wrong. Instead, with her help, we were able to take care of the problem that day. Plus, her mistake exposed a vulnerability in our system, and we ended up making our technology better. I was so impressed by the way she handled it all that we gave her the “Fuckup of the Year Award”—which we truly consider a badge of honor! What I’ve learned is this: When you build a culture of owning your failures, you become better at creating solutions. And by talking about your fuckups, you ensure that they don’t happen again.

The Untapped Power of Partners

When things go wrong, your partners can help in ways you don’t expect. ReachTV founder

Lynnwood Bibbens learned that in a big way. by JASON FEIFER

On the worst day of his professional life, as his business seemed to be crumbling around him, Lynnwood Bibbens told his team: “Give me 30 minutes.” He retreated to a quiet room. He closed his eyes and reflected on his career. Then he returned to his team and said, “We’re going to find out two things really quickly. Number one, we’re going to find out if our partners value us. And number two, once we find out how valuable they think we really are, we have an opportunity to dream about what we want to be.”

Bibbens is the founder and CEO of ReachTV, which is now America’s largest travel TV network. It broadcasts onto screens in more than 2,400 airport gates, over 950 venues, and 500,000 hotels, reaching 54 million people a month. This crisis in question was COVID, when all travel was shut down— forcing Bibbens to ask his partners, like airport vendors and retailers, to waive the fees they charge to show his programming. (He pays them to host his screens and then monetizes the content through subscriptions and advertising, like a TV network would.) They agreed,

allowing ReachTV to continue operating and growing.

Why was this Bibbens’ first move? Because after building and exiting multiple businesses, he’d learned this: When things go wrong, many founders hide from their partners and clients—afraid to shake anyone’s confidence. But Bibbens believes you should your partners. “Tell them what you need,” he says. “Then ask, ‘What are you able to do? Or what advice would you give me?’”

Bibbens discovered this tactic early in his career, during his first major crisis. He was a partner at a struggling mail-order company, and his colleagues wanted to close the business. Bibbens thought it could be saved, so he asked an old college professor for advice.

“Call your largest supplier,” the professor had suggested. They’d be invested in the company’s success, because its failure would be their headache.

So Bibbens made the call. “We’re thinking of taking some outside investment, or even selling,” he told the supplier. The supplier rushed over to work out a deal to buy the business.

That was an eye-opener for Bibbens. “Founders don’t realize how much value they have,” Bibbens says. “From the outside, people might find you way more valuable than you value yourself.”

This isn’t just true in times of calamity, Bibbens says. It’s also true in times of growth.

“In five of the companies that I’ve exited, we sold to my biggest suppliers,” Bibbens says. “It becomes an easy sell. My biggest supplier goes, ‘You’re so valuable to me, and we can continue to grow.’”

It’s why Bibbens is always checking in with his partners, looking for ways to strengthen relationships. “I’m asking, ‘How can we make this even better? What are your needs?’” he says. He offers an example: ReachTV does a lot of work with HMSHost, a major food-service provider in airports. A few years ago, Bibbens was catching up with a few people there, and they said they were trying to organize a live cooking competition in Chicago’s O’Hare airport—but they didn’t have a lot of event or production expertise.

Bibbens perked up. “We’re a media company; that’s what we do!” he told them. Then he offered to help—ultimately booking many of the participants for the event, including the lead from Hamilton in Chicago.

The lesson is simple, Bibbens says: Your partnerships aren’t just partnerships; they’re the beginning of multifaceted relationships. Your partner today could be saving you, buying you, or growing with you tomorrow. So treat them that way. “We are in this together,” he says. “Think about that person next to you as somebody you’re pulling for.”

DRE WALLACE CEO & FOUNDER OF OPNR

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Even Historic Businesses Have to Change

I run an almost 60-year-old restaurant in the U.S. capital. But I’ve learned that even if your business has a historic legacy, no one can escape evolving with the times by MARY QUILLIAN

My dad won a restaurant in a poker game. That was in 1971, the year I was born. I grew up in that restaurant, and now I own it.

Our restaurant is called Mr. Henry’s, and it’s an institution in the heart of Washington,

D.C.—just six blocks away from the U.S. Capitol. A lot of people think I can run this place with my back turned. It’s old and established, they figure, so what’s there really to do? But that’s not the case.

The restaurant business is never an easy one—especially

not today, with the economy the way it is. So I have to keep evolving. But when I look back at the history of Mr. Henry’s, I can see that’s nothing new. If a business can last long enough to be historic, that’s entirely because of its ability to change.

My restaurant, Mr. Henry’s,

began life in 1966, when Henry Yaffe took over a place called 601 Club. It had big windows, and back then, it was still taboo for people to be seen drinking in bars. So Henry replaced them with stained-glass windows from a church being razed nearby. He also salvaged some pews, which still serve as booths in the restaurant today. After renovating around the customers, one day, he changed the name to Mr. Henry’s.

A historic beginning

Henry was gay, and this was the 1960s. You had to be careful. But he opened Mr. Henry’s with the intention of being both gay- and Black-friendly. That was important. He was very egalitarian. We have this iconic photograph from the 1968 riots where all the windows of Mr. Henry’s are boarded up. “Soul Brothers and Sisters Work Here” was spraypainted on the pieces of plywood. Mr. Henry’s survived the riots.

Henry was a hustler in the best sense of that word, in that he was always looking for ways to make the business work. That included live entertainment. He met a young public-school teacher who began playing in the restaurant on weekends. She was talented, and started to draw a crowd. So Henry converted the second floor of the building into a jazz room, and installed her as a headliner. Her name was Roberta Flack. She got discovered, and the rest is history.

My family came into the picture in 1971. Henry knew my father, Larry Quillian, who was another businessman on Capitol Hill, working in real estate. They were in a poker group that played every week, and one night Henry bet the restaurant in a game. My dad ended up winning. He always says that he got me and the restaurant in the same month— though I think fatherhood put a damper on his poker playing. He had to be a little more conscientious with his money after that.

Fixing what’s broken

When my father took over Mr. Henry’s, he realized that while Henry had a great eye for opening restaurants—he must have opened a dozen in the years since—he wasn’t so good at operating them. The place was losing money. To set things right, my dad began by focusing on inventory: Liquor and food had been disappearing! He caught a cook stealing a whole box of cold cuts one night. It turned out he was running a sandwich cart somewhere during the day, and we were his supplier for lunch meat.

My father also created a talent pipeline for management. He took three promising wait-

ers and made them assistant managers. He wanted to see who rose to the top. It worked. Over the course of a year or two, one became the general manager. Dad incentivized him by giving him little bits of ownership over the years. His name was Alvin Ross, and he stayed on as general manager for 40 years.

When I was a kid hanging out at the restaurant, my father often analyzed out loud. I think any child of an entrepreneur will understand this: Your parents will do the analysis aloud so you get the benefit of hearing their thinking. In the summer before second grade, I went with my father every morning to count money in the restaurant.

made that switch, longtime customers came in and said, “I don’t know what’s different, but it’s different.” I loved that. We didn’t want to change the ambiance. We just needed to modernize it.

Facing modern challenges

A lot of things have changed in the decade I’ve been running Mr. Henry’s.

Since the pandemic, supply costs have really gone up. We’ve had to increase prices. We’ve had to modify staffing. Meanwhile, customers have changed. People aren’t drinking as much or going out as often. Before COVID, we had customers who came four or five days a week, having three

can’t get at home. We have live jazz every night now. We work with a game store down the block to host weekly board game nights. We’re launching a gospel brunch on the weekends. And we finally decided to partner up with Grubhub, which we resisted for a long time because we didn’t think pub food would travel. We’re not getting a lot of orders, but we’re getting a steady number. You have to change, even if you own a historic business. You have to make sure your menu is changing, and the way you’re reaching out to people is changing. But what’s stayed the same is the culture—the “everybody’s welcome” element of Mr. Henry’s.

One thing our bartenders

LONGTIME CUSTOMERS CAME IN AND SAID, ‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S DIFFERENT, BUT IT’S DIFFERENT.’ I LOVED THAT. WE DIDN’T WANT TO CHANGE THE AMBIENCE. WE JUST NEEDED TO MODERNIZE IT.”

When I came back in second grade I took a test, and they put me in third-grade math.

When I grew up, I started my career as an analyst in the energy sector, and then took some time off to raise my kids. But when Alvin retired in 2014, I decided to buy him out.

By then, the jazz room upstairs was defunct, so I brought it back. We gave the whole restaurant a lick and shine for its 50th birthday. The stigma attached to drinking in bars was gone by then, and we needed to make it so that people could see in, because that’s how you attract customers. So I took out the stained-glass windows, and put them by the bar. After we

or four drinks a night. Now they might come in once a week, have one or two drinks, and go home early. I think people got used to cooking and making their own drinks. Home became where they’re most comfortable. And uncertainty in the economy over the last couple of years has made people more conscientious about money.

But if you can’t rely on a group of regulars coming in multiple nights every week, you need to find more customers. So that’s what we’ve been working on: steadily growing our customer base by luring people out of their homes, out of their comfort zones. That means offering things they

are really good at now is engaging people in conversation and introducing them to their neighbors. In a society where everybody’s stuck on their phones, our staff helps anyone there by themselves connect with others. That theme is part of our outreach now: You’re not going to be lonely when you’re here. And when you come back, somebody’s going to know your name.

That’s what keeps me going, and why I keep working at it. And it is work. But we need these watering holes and gathering places, these businesses that add character to our communities. If we don’t keep evolving to keep them going, we’ll all be worse off.

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BIG IN

When you run a restaurant, you need tech that gives you time. That feels right, feels easy — and looks good, too. Tech that doesn’t require an IT degree and doesn’t hit you with unexpected fees. You need tech that doesn’t mind grease stains, spilled drinks, or occasional fumbles.

You need tech that can manage your front of house, back of house, scheduling, payroll, data, cash flow and loans, customer profiles, loyalty, gift cards, inventory, and whatever is next. After all, it’s your restaurant. Your business. And those should be non-negotiables.

Tech for Your Toughest Jobs

Make life easy, so that you can also make your deadlines. Emmy Award winner Mario Armstrong has modern tech to help streamline your day.

1/ Streamlined sound.

Imagine sitting down on a flight, looking at the screen on the seatback, and thinking: I wish I could hear that movie through my wireless earbuds. The Twelve South AirFly Pro 2 [$60; twelvesouth.com] makes it possible. Plug the device into any headphone jack and stream wireless audio to any brand of Bluetooth headphones. The 25 hours of playback will outlast even the longest flight, and its buttons adjust sound quickly. Traveling with kids? You can pair two headsets to one device to share the movie.

2/ A civilized standing desk.

Most standing desks look like simple platforms on stilts. The Room & Board Lincoln [from $4,500; roomandboard.com] is a significant upgrade— a traditional-looking desk, complete with side drawers, with a pair of arms that raise the top to 49 inches off the floor. It comes with a solid wood top, is available in five varieties and seven colors, and has a built-in wire management area—ensuring that you can stand or sit without sacrifice.

3/ A vacuum you can unveil.

Vacuums are designed to be useful, not to look nice. But the handsome Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra [$1,100; samsung .com] does both—which is especially useful for someone with no closet space to tuck the vacuum away. It comes packaged with three cleaning tools, and the base pulls debris out of the vacuum for fewer trips to the trash can. Clean for up to 100 minutes per charge while the LCD screen, through SmartThings, displays calls or messages from your smartphone—so you never miss hearing a call as your vacuum whirs.

4/ A clatter-free carry-on.

Your carry-on luggage just got sturdier.The engineers of Peak Design Roller Pro Carry-On [$600; peakdesign.com] replaced a carry-on’s usual architecture with single pieces of carbon fiber, resulting in a smooth, satisfying extension and retraction that also occupies less space inside the bag.The weatherproof, soft-sided exterior covers a bombproof polycarbonate shell that expands and contracts, so you can squeeze it into a regional jet’s tiny overhead bins. In your hotel room, the bag opens 90 degrees, like a trunk, so you need half as much room on the luggage rack.

5/ A tougher action camera.

Creating content on the go? The Insta360 X5 [from $530; insta360.com] is an action camera built for bumps. The two 8K lenses have tough optical glass that you can replace if they get scratched. Its new AI chip makes nighttime footage clearer and more vibrant, and its wind guard filters unwanted noise from helmet or handlebar videos. The sealed housing is waterproof down to 49 feet without a case.

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3 Ways High-Growth SMBs Will be Using AI in 2025

We’re entering a ‘new chapter of human productivity potential that’s multiple orders of magnitude beyond the past.’

As small- and medium-size been

Artificial intelligence isn’t a tool for only enterprises anymore. As generative AI tools have become increasingly accessible, small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs) have been integrating AI into their everyday operations. As it turns out, 75% of SMBs say they are investing in AI, and growing SMBs are nearly two times more likely to invest in AI than their declining peers1. That’s huge.

faster,

75% of SMBs say are are AI than their .

These businesses and and a clear their customers. As the wave of way to a AI to act constant human

These businesses recognize the importance of embracing AI and prioritizing data strategies that provide speed, reliability, and a clear understanding of their customers. As the wave of generative AI gives way to a new era of agentic AI—allowing AI systems to act autonomously, making decisions and taking actions without constant human oversight—SMBs are realizing even greater opportunities.

“We’re this Adam

President and of Salesforce AI. Evans oversees a trusted, on Salesforce’s unified it enables to app for customer success, he says.

“We’re embarking on a new chapter of human productivity potential that’s multiple orders of magnitude beyond the past, and this will have effects on all businesses, especially for SMBs,” says Adam Evans, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Salesforce AI. Evans oversees Agentforce, a digital labor platform for bringing trusted, autonomous AI agents into the flow of work. Built on Salesforce’s unified platform, it enables companies to “agentify” every workflow and app for customer success, he says.

Prior to his current role, Evans of AI businesses both of which someone who built businesses from and businesses than they have the time or resources for,” Evans

Prior to his current role, Evans co-founded a pair of AI businesses—both of which were acquired by Salesforce.“As someone who built businesses from the ground up, startups and small businesses are always going to be scrappy and doing more than they have the time or resources for,” Evans says.“With Agentforce, small teams will be able to scale faster with a 24/7 digital workforce across sales, service, marketing, and e-commerce. It can unlock unlimited capacity for your business.”

Here, Evans discusses three ways high-growth SMBs will be utilizing AI this year to achieve their ambitious goals.

1. Reaching more customers with marketing campaign automation

Here, Evans discusses three ways high-growth SMBs will be Oftentimes, SMBs have small teams or even is difficult with Thankfully,

Oftentimes, SMBs have small marketing teams or even marketing teams of one. Building and managing successful campaigns is difficult with limited resources. Thankfully, that’s where automation comes in.

With smart AI tools like Agentforce, marketers can build better campaigns faster, using AI-powered agents to generate campaign briefs, identify target audience segments, create content, or even build a customer journey—with a single prompt.“And because Agentforce never sleeps, it will continually analyze performance against KPIs and proactively recommend improvements over the course of the campaign,” Evans says.

2.

Personalizing content generation

better

create content, or even build a customer a never sleeps, it will over the course of the says. content.

In sales, for example, businesses can use agentic AI to outreach to leads.

With agentic AI, SMBs can create higher-quality content. In sales, for example, businesses can use agentic AI to personalize outreach to leads.

Tools like Agentforce receive data from the most recent interaction that’s been stored in a company’s CRM as well as third-party data about their company profile.“The agent also draws on documents you upload that share your selling best practices, such as sales enablement materials,” Evans explains.“Then it uses sophisticated reasoning to personalize emails to individual prospects, according to their profiles and interests.”

3. Improving sales with customer recommendations

Imagine if you could offer e-commerce customers a completely AI-powered personal shopper that helps steer them to the perfect product without extra lifting from sales or customer service. It’s possible thanks to agentic AI.

interaction that’s been stored in a company’s CRM as well as to if you could offer e-commerce customers a them to the without extra from sales or directly on a app access to secure

based on their

With Agentforce, customers can have personalized conversations with agents directly on a website or using a messaging app like WhatsApp. Because Agentforce has access to secure customer data, AI-powered agents are able to help customers find products and make purchases based on their unique preferences.

“Two of the top new existing Evans says.

miss a

“Two of the top challenges for SMBs is acquiring new customers and retaining existing ones1,” Evans says. “With 24/7 digital labor, SMBs can make sure they never miss a sale and create positive experiences to keep loyal customers.”

To learn more about agentic AI and how Agentforce can help scale your SMB, visit Salesforce.com/Agentforce

MAKE AI YOUR

Last year, AI was new and shiny. This year, it’s business time.

Here’s a practical, real-world, useful guide to what you can do now— saving time and growing with AI.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

TOP 50 AI TOOLS recommended by experts

How AI can IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY

Get useful CONSUMER INSIGHTS from AI

The best way for AI to GENERATE IDEAS

How to COLLABORATE CREATIVELY with AI

Your new, AI-driven GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY

AI TOOLS TOP 50

We assembled a panel of experts and asked: What are the top 50 tools to make entrepreneurs smarter, faster, and stronger? These were their answers.

Our Panel of Experts

→ZAIN KAHN, author of Superhuman AI, an AI newsletter with over 1 million subscribers

→AADIT SHETH, author of Prompts Daily, an AI newsletter with over 100,000 subscribers

→DAVID GEWIRTZ, senior contributing editor at ZDNet, a business technology publication

→ROB LUBECK, strategist and chief revenue officer at RTS Labs, an AI consulting firm

Data Analytics

MICROSOFT COPILOT

Gewirtz, editor at ZDNet, says not to sleep on Microsoft’s AI assistant, which has the benefit of integrating with Excel.

JULIUS AI

Kahn of Superhuman AI recommends Julius AI, which “lets you upload your data files and analyze or visualize them, and ask questions about the data in your files and get answers quickly.”

GOOGLE GEMINI FOR ANALYTICS

Lubeck of RTS Labs says that Google’s AI assistant is particularly good at “predictive modeling for finance, operations, and customer insights.”

CLAUDE

When paired with SQL Integrations, Lubeck says that Claude by Anthropic has the benefit of “allowing users to query business data in natural language.”

Image and Video Generation

MIDJOURNEY

The most prominent of text-to-image AI tools, Gewirtz says he pays for Midjourney’s monthly subscription because “it seems to be the best at capturing the essence of requests and creating both photorealistic images and what appear to be staged dioramas.”

ARCADS

A video generator that uses “AI actors” or user-generated content (UGC) to create ads quickly. Kahn says it’s “pretty cool for generating UGC video ads that can be used for paid marketing on socials.”

KREA.AI

Davenport, the information technology professor at Babson, likes that Krea.ai “creates custom visual assets from text prompts with style and consistency, and produces marketing visuals at a fraction of traditional design costs.”

→TOM DAVENPORT, distinguished professor of information technology at Babson College, author of The AI Advantage: How to Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution to Work

→TROND UNDHEIM, executive director of Babson College’s C. Dean Metropoulos Institute for Technology and Entrepreneurship, author of forthcoming book The Platinum Workforce

→CONNOR RANEY AND SPENCER KARNS, Babson Generator Research Lab student leaders

→JACK TURNER, editor at Tech.co, a technology news and analysis site

NOTEBOOKLM

Numerous experts said that NotebookLM is tops for metabolizing documents and notes. Kahn of Superhuman AI says it’s “Google’s most successful AI tool so far,” and Sheth of Prompts Daily says, “You can feed it lengthy documents, reports, or transcripts, and it extracts the essential ideas without losing important context. Unlike many summarization tools that churn out superficial bullet points, NotebookLM highlights nuanced points. But it’s still experimental, so occasionally I double-check the summaries for accuracy.”

GRANOLA

This enhanced meeting notes program is a favorite of both the Babson team and Sheth, who says, “It’s perfect if you prefer taking your own notes during meetings but worry about missing critical details. You take brief notes manually, and Granola’s AI enhances them afterward. It clarifies your points, organizes the content, and captures anything you might have missed. If you rely entirely on AI, the output can feel generic, so active participation is key.”

BOX AI

For companies concerned with security around file sharing, Kahn notes that Box AI’s content management platform “has a lot of agent workflows and features for the enterprise that are secure and compliant—a big deal for most enterprises.”

LLAMAINDEX

For companies looking to create a custom internal AI-powered document retrieval system, Lubeck of RTS Labs recommends LlamaIndex.

MEM

For anyone working at a high level of specialization, Undheim of Babson likes that this AI-driven document summarization program “contextually links and organizes key insights across documents with semantic understanding,” but notes that it has a “steep learning curve for optimal use.”

SUPERWHISPER

For high-speed audio transcription, Undheim likes Superwhisper, which he says “converts audio to text with exceptional accuracy and speaker differentiation.”

Voice Tools

ELEVENLABS

If you want to create a voice AI, Undheim says that ElevenLabs excels at creating “lifelike AI voices with emotional range and multilingual capabilities.

INTERCOM

Specializing in AI customer service agents, Babson’s Davenport says that Intercom’s 24/7 customer support is effective with “intent recognition and sentiment analysis.”

Email Outreach and Automation

INSTANTLY.AI

Sheth of Prompts Daily says that Instantly.ai “enhances our cold email process by automating follow-ups, keeping emails out of spam, and ensuring no lead slips through the cracks.”

TYPEFULLY

Another favorite of Sheth’s is Typefully, which he recommends for marketers, content creators, or anyone juggling social accounts: “There’s no clutter—just a simple workflow designed specifically for these platforms. It’s great for standard posting, but thread scheduling could be more flexible.”

ZAPIER

Recommended by several of our experts, Zapier is good at connecting various AI apps and automating across platforms, including email. Kahn calls it a “safe choice for folks who are already familiar with Zapier and use it in their workflows.”

RUBY

Kahn says, “Ruby is great for sales research and sales automation. Our sales team has been seeing significantly better response rates to cold outreach, as well as conversion on calls.”

KIT

Babson’s Davenport says that Kit (formerly ConvertKit) “tailors content to audience engagement patterns with behavioral segmentation, and maximizes engagement for creators and small businesses with personalized automation.”

HUBSPOT’S BREEZE COPILOT

Babson’s Undheim says that Hubspot’s AI-enhanced email marketing system is comprehensive, in that it “integrates email optimization with complete customer journey data and predictive analytics.”

SEVENTH SENSE

A send-time optimization tool designed for use with HubSpot and Marketo, Undheim says Seventh Sense “uses behavioral analytics to identify optimal email delivery times for each recipient, dramatically improving engagement rates.”

SALESFORCE EINSTEIN

It’s a conversational AI assistant for CRM—helping you engage with and manage customers without the usual CRM tedium.

CLAUDE

“It’s by far the best for writing copy,” Kahn says, “and the Projects feature is a great way to streamline repetitive copywriting tasks.” Turner says, “Claude’s most advanced language model, Sonnet, is particularly impressive.”

SCRYBE

For writing LinkedIn posts specifically, Kahn says that Scrybe “is amazing for generating content. I’ve been using it a lot to create my LinkedIn posts. It’s great for both finding content ideas and writing them quickly.”

Research and Development Writing

PERPLEXITY

If you want information on your leads, fast, Sheth says that “Perplexity.ai dramatically speeds up lead qualification without sacrificing quality. Instead of spending valuable time manually researching leads, you get immediate access to essential details such as revenue, team size, funding, and personal insights.”

EXA

For niche or specialized industries, Undheim at Babson says this AI-powered search engine “searches for specific data sets and builds custom databases with semantic understanding.”

LEX

If you’re looking to produce longerform content, like newsletters, blog posts or reports, Sheth says Lex is another great tool to use.

COPY.AI

For marketers in search of copywriting assistance, Davenport at Babson says that Copy.ai “generates creative content based on minimal input, while maintaining consistent brand voice.”

NOTION

Davenport says the interconnected Notion workspace makes its integrated writing assistant very effective at “summarizing content, improving writing, and generating ideas within documents.”

SPARKTORO

Undheim also thinks this audience research and intelligence tool is excellent: “It discovers what your audience reads, watches, and listens to through behavioral analysis, and enables highly targeted marketing.”

GAMMA

“It transforms text into beautiful, professional slides with design intelligence,” Undheim says, “reducing creation time from hours to minutes.”

FLORA

“It transforms product ideas into visual prototypes with rapid iteration, reducing time from concept to testable prototype,” says Undheim.

BEAMERY

It can help you hire today, and anticipate your staffing tomorrow, Davenport says. “Using predictive matching, it creates talent pools based on potential, not just experience.And it builds proactive recruitment pipelines that anticipate future hiring needs.”

EIGHTFOLD AI

This talent intelligence platform uses deep learning algorithms to predict future skill gaps, and find candidates with growth potential. Davenport says it needs significant data to perform optimally, but “reduces hiring bias and improves retention.”

Talent Strategy and Recruiting Managing

HIREVUE

Ever in an interview, and wanted a gut check? HireVue is a video interview platform with a built-in AI assessment. “It evaluates candidates based on scientifically validated competency models and communication patterns,” Undheim says. (Though some candidates may find the video assessments impersonal.)

RETRAIN.AI

Undheim likes this skillsbased talent intelligence platform, which he says “enables proactive upskilling and internal mobility based on future business needs.”

Inventory

CLAUDE BY ANTHROPIC

Another mainstay that’s helpful in this area, Lubeck says that Claude is “useful for generating supply chain insights and predicting inventory needs based on historical data.”

GOOGLE GEMINI

When combined with Vertex AI, Lubeck says Google’s AI assistant “can be integrated into custom inventory solutions for demand forecasting and automated decision-making.”

LINNWORKS

Davenport says this inventory management system uses AI to “centralize inventory with demand prediction, preventing overselling and optimizing stock levels.”

ORDERBOT

If you want an AI to manage actual purchase decisions, Davenport says this intelligent order management system “automates purchase order creation based on sales velocity and seasonal trends.”

NETSUITE

For big companies, Undheim says that NetSuite’s enterprisegrade inventory management system is hard to beat. “It provides end-toend supply chain visibility with predictive insights and anomaly detection, which enables sophisticated inventory optimization.”

Should You Just Skip This Whole List?

And just use ChatGPT instead? Some experts say yes.

Despite recommending all these specialized tools, a few of our experts made the same point: For most people, ChatGPT does pretty much everything you need. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by choice, just stick with it.

“It streamlines work processes and makes the shift to AI less intimidating,” says AI consultant Arturo Ferreira, cofounder of The AI Report, a newsletter with over 400,000 subscribers. “Introducing too many niche solutions can overwhelm people and slow down the adoption of AI. In the end, keeping things simple and demonstrating clear benefits is what really drives successful AI adoption.”

Can Anything Truly Detect AI?

The answer: Yes, maybe, sometimes.

As AI tools proliferate, so do AI detection tools— which promise to identify AI writing and deepfake images, videos, and documents. But don’t take their answers as gospel, our experts say.

Kahn of Superhuman AI says he’s heard from a lot of students and other professionals who were falsely accused of using AI in their work. “No tool is infallible,” says Turner of Tech.co. “These platforms should be used to complement other methods.”

That’s not to say these tools are worthless. Established players like Reality Defender, Sensity AI, and Sentinel provide important services like spotting fraudulent documents and voice cloning attacks, and a relatively new Dutch company called Cyberette has a product that claims a 99.7% detection accuracy rate. ZDNet regularly conducts tests, and got perfect results from GPTZero, Originality.ai, and Undetectable AI.

How Odyssey and Amazon Business Make Educational Resources Accessible to Students Across the U.S.

Through seamless API integration and a familiar shopping experience, they’re making it easier for students and their parents to get what they need, when they need it.

As education needs evolve, access to quality, personalized learning is more important than ever. Many states offer government-funded programs to help families afford school tuition, homeschooling resources, and supplemental learning tools. However, various compliance and logistical challenges can complicate accessing these funds.

Enter Odyssey, a New York City-based company that helps families and students access high-quality, personalized education opportunities, thanks to a fintech platform that transforms how families manage education savings accounts (ESAs). By handling applications, eligibility verification, digital wallets, and payments, Odyssey removes the complexities of government-funded programs — allowing families to focus on their children’s education.

Connecting families with funding and the supplies they need most

Because ESA funds must be used strictly for approved expenses, Odyssey helps drive compliance by directing payments only to authorized educational products and services. Through its collaboration with Amazon Business, Odyssey further streamlines purchasing, giving families easy access to essential educational supplies while helping maintain compliance with the government’s buying policies.

“The big problem that we tackle with these sorts of programs is that while parents might be eligible and have access to government funds, they can’t actually touch the dollars themselves,” explains Lauren Bender, Head of Strategy and Growth at Odyssey. Odyssey serves as the intermediary, processing payments from the state to vendors. For example, if a parent selects a laptop for their child, Odyssey ensures the funds flow from the state to its Amazon Business account, where the purchase is fulfilled.

With more than 100,000 children supported and $800 million in state funding allocated, Odyssey relies on a robust vendor network. Amazon Business plays a pivotal role by providing an expansive selection of educational products and integrating directly with Odyssey’s platform. “The API integration allows Odyssey to build a catalog of SKUs that align with state-approved purchases,” says Salim Fadel, Senior Account Executive at Amazon Business. “Our product search API gives them control and helps drive procurement compliance, while a direct order API allows tens of thousands of transactions to route seamlessly through their ecommerce marketplace.”

This real-time integration helps ensure parents only see approved items with accurate pricing and availability. Additionally, Amazon Business’s fulfillment network provides free two-day shipping on eligible products for Business Prime members, so students receive their educational tools within two business days.

Helping families make purchases with ease

Because education funding comes with specific spending guidelines, Odyssey and Amazon Business have implemented safeguards to help families navigate approved purchases. “For example, a laptop might be eligible, but only one technology resource per year is allowed,” Bender notes. “Through our API integration with Amazon Business, we can set category limits, ensuring parents select items that align with program guidelines.”

Additionally, inventory safeguards help prevent purchasing roadblocks. “We made sure to put limits in place so that products with fewer than two inventory units aren’t surfaced,” Fadel explains. “This prevents parents from adding an item to their cart only to find it unavailable at checkout.”

A familiar user experience makes the difference

A key advantage of working with Amazon Business is the ability to provide a familiar and intuitive shopping experience. “Parents across the country are already familiar with Amazon’s user interface,” Bender says. “So even though there’s a digital wallet, shopping on Odyssey’s marketplace feels just like shopping on Amazon.”

While purchasing guidelines shape what families can buy, the experience remains simple and intuitive. Parents can browse, select, and receive their orders just as they would with a standard Amazon purchase.

As more states roll out education funding programs, more families will rely on Odyssey to access educational resources. Amazon Business will play a key role in scaling those operations to meet growing demand.

To learn more about how Amazon Business can help your business save money and operate more efficiently through smart business buying tools, visit business.amazon.com

The smart way

WHAT AI IS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR SCIENCE ACCORDING TO

New research reveals AI’s strengths—and limitations.

As entrepreneurs experiment with generative AI, academic researchers are running their own experiments. They want to know: What works? What doesn’t? And why?

The early results are fascinating.

On the following pages, we highlight studies conducted by researchers at Harvard, MIT, Columbia, and other universities, where you’ll see a theme: AI cannot effectively replace people at this point, but it can be a powerful collaboration tool—and in ways you may not expect. Here’s how.

Does GenAI Increase Productivity?

SCIENCE SAYS: Yes, but only for certain tasks.

by LIZ BRODY

It’s taken as a given: AI boosts your productivity. But…does it really?

A group of researchers at the business schools of Harvard, MIT and Warwick universities along with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School wanted to find out. So they assembled a team of 758 Boston Consulting Group employees, and put them through a few experiments to study genAI’s effect on their work.

The research/

The investigators separated the employees, all consultants, into two groups for different experiments. In both, the subjects were first asked to solve a problem without using AI to establish a performance baseline. Then their group was given a challenge where some of the consultants were able to use GPT-4, while others were not.

In the first group, the assignment was to come up with footwear ideas for niche markets.

For the second group, the researchers purposely designed a task where the AI would make a mistake in its answer. In this challenge, the employees had to solve a problem for a company by assessing interviews with its insiders and evaluating quantitative data. Would the consultants carefully check the AI’s work?

At the end, researchers measured how productive everybody was.

The results/

In the first group (who had to brainstorm footwear ideas), generative AI helped a lot. On average, the consultants using it were able to finish 12.2% more tasks and do them 25.1% faster than their peers who didn’t have access. The quality of their work was also 40% higher. Interestingly, generative AI proved to be a skill-leveler: It raised everyone’s performance—but less-experienced consultants surged 43% compared to those in the top tier (who only improved 17%).

For the second group tackling the company problem, not surprisingly, the outcome was very different: AI worsened their performance. The consultants who used GPT-4 reached correct answers only 60% to 70% of the time. But those who went without—relying just on their human brains—were correct about 84.5% of the time.

What we’ve learned/

We already know that AI is good at helping us brainstorm, and that it’s not great at making critical judgments about complex information—which partially explains the results of these two very different tasks. But the researchers gained further insight by watching how people were using GPT-4 in both.

The lesson is this: Be careful. Although generative AI significantly improves productivity for tasks it’s good at, it can throw you off for things it’s not. When the consultants used AI to do more complex tasks, they tended to blindly accept its outputs without seriously interrogating it—the work version of being asleep at the wheel.

How to use this/

“The key to genAI is to try it for everything, to get a sense of what it’s good and bad at,” says study investigator Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor and author of the new book Co-Intelligence.

To use it more effectively, he suggests treating it like a human being. “The best prompters I know have no engineering skills, but they’re good at working with people,” he says. Even better, tell the AI what kind of person to be. It’s designed to have a generic default personality but can adapt however you need. For example, ask it to act as a data geek or witty comedian. The first would be better at analyzing a business question; the second at writing ads that make people crack up.

Will AI Give You Real Customer Insights?

Marketing surveys and focus groups are a notorious grind. You’ve got to find people (and lots of them) in various demographics, persuade them to participate, and pray for insights. Researchers at Columbia, Berkeley, and Alberta universities wondered: Could generative AI replace this process, helping you to understand your customer without ever interviewing a single person?

The research/

Could ChatGPT give the same answers that humans give? The researchers tested it.

Because ChatGPT is trained on the internet, its default is to represent the population at large: old, young, different incomes, etc. So to get the AI to answer like all those people, they gave it this prompt: “The most sporty car brand is...”

Next, the researchers asked hundreds of actual humans to finish the same sentence.

In another part of the study, they categorized hundreds of humans by age, gender, and income, and asked them what their favorite car brand is. Then they asked ChatGPT to think like those humans, and answer the same question. For example, a low-income, 30-year-old woman shared her favorite car brand. Then the researchers gave ChatGPT a prompt like “A young woman and poor female’s favorite car brand is...”

The results/

The AI pretty much nailed it: The human and ChatGPT answers were the same more than 75% of the time. The researchers went on to compare the answers to car trade-in data—and found that they, too, matched up to 75% of the time.

What we’ve learned/

The results are impressive, though narrow. This test assessed how different demographics view an established product category— but that’s a far cry from, say, how consumers might see a completely new product idea, or what your customers might feel about your product.

How to use this/

Experiment! To get AI to respond like your target consumer, start by feeding a tool like ChatGPT all the information you know about a customer segment—demographics, typical social media posts, any messages they’ve sent your company, and so on. Then you can grill the AI doppelganger all you want about their goals, wants, and needs. You can also try more specialized tools, like Crowdwave.ai, which were custom-built for this kind of research.

AI-driven consumer research can be especially helpful for hard-toreach consumers, says Stefano Puntoni, codirector of AI at Wharton and a professor of marketing. For example, imagine you’ve got a software platform that’s built for procurement directors at big companies. “These people are busy and get hassled all the time—and you can’t just ask any random person on the street,” Puntoni says. “But you can probably create a synthetic profile that’s a pretty good surrogate.”

Puntoni says there are many limitations to AI-driven consumer research, though—for example, in trying to optimize pricing. “We’re still figuring out what this is good for and tweaking things,” he says. “But certainly today, if you’re an entrepreneur trying to understand a particular target market, creating those synthetic profiles and then interviewing them to gain knowledge about these people is already quite valuable.”

Labaid FOR BANGLADESH, BY BANGLADESH

With a “strong track record of growth and development”, Bangladesh “has witnessed robust economic growth” since independence in 1971, according to the World Bank. The country saw average annual GDP growth of 6.4% between 2010 and 2023, the Bank states.

With a large and growing population and rising incomes, Bangladesh has a sizable healthcare sector, worth more than $10bn, with nearly three-quarters of that in the private sector, according to consultancy Innovation.

Founded in 1989 by physician and entrepreneur Dr AM Shamim, Labaid is one of Bangladesh’s largest and most recognised private healthcare businesses. It established the first super-speciality cardiac hospital in the country, and is known for bringing high-quality diagnostic and specialised consultation facilities and services to the country through its centres across Bangladesh. Labaid handles around 3M patients a year, employing 8000 people including 1000 top consultant doctors. In recent years, the company has developed tech offerings that are further revolutionising healthcare in the country.

“We are involved in various hospitals, not only super-specialized ones,” says Sakif Shamim, AM Shamim’s son and the Managing Director of Labaid Cancer Hospital & Super Speciality Centre. It is the 1st complete integrated multidisciplinary cancer hospital with a forefront of medical technologies and expertise in Bangladesh. The lack of quality treatment and suffering of the patients in Bangladesh inspired him to build this hospital. It brings all the modern cancer treatment facilities like Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy, Targeted therapy, Hormone therapy, Gene therapy, Radiotherapy technique like - 3DCRT, IMRT, VMAT, IGRT, SRS, SBRT, Brachytherapy, Electron Beam therapy under one roof that will prevent roaming of patients errantly in home and abroad. The hospital has achieved some significant milestones since the time of its beginning. They completed their first 1000 successful surgeries with only 1.25 surgical site infection rate. The hospital has completed more than 2000 surgeries whereas they have served more than a million patients till date. Labaid Cancer Hospital & Super Speciality Centre not only deals with cancer patients but also deals with other diseases as well. A patient can get all the necessary treatment facilities under one roof here in this hospital. Since cancer needs a long-term treatment to be cured, the hassle of the relatives of the patients are boundless. To reduce their hassle, “Oporajoyi Abashon” was founded. The relatives of the cancer patients can stay with minimum costs till their patient gets recovered. Oporajoyi has served more than 20,000 patients till date. Additionally, a 600-bedded Labaid Super Speciality Centre is going to be established at Purbachal, Dhaka.

“We are also engaged in developing the digital landscape of the country. I founded and run the largest healthtech company, LifePlus Bangladesh, which has over 300,000 active users and provides emergency healthcare services. Lifeplus Bangladesh is a telemedicine service that provides healthcare services anywhere, anytime. A user can get doctor’s video consultation, doctor’s appointment, home care (including home nursing care, caregiver, physiotherapy care, home diagnostic etc), ambulance and many more services through Lifeplus Bangladesh. Apart from healthcare, there is another service-oriented business named “One Tap Service Limited” that provides all sorts of services. In addition, we are working on an artificial intelligence project called Labaid GPT, which offers a second opinionbased solution for doctors and patients. I believe this will be the first initiative of its kind in Asia.” says Sakif Shamim.

Labaid GPT functions similarly to AI platform Chat GPT, with two sections, one for doctors and one for patients. Doctors seeking a general opinion on a case can upload the case details, and be provided with answers and suggestions by the AI. Patients, meanwhile, can report symptoms and interact with the platform, which can ask additional questions and analyse medical reports.

The technology can provide information on diseases, outcomes, and possible treatments, while following established AI rules and guidelines, as well as Labaid’s own protocols, to ensure it is secure and presents appropriate results. The company always advises users to consult a professional doctor, including in the case of the tests it recommends to patients. Labaid GPT has some similarities with Nvidia’s recently launched BioGPT, but focuses more on. Labaid is currently in the R&D phase, and will launch the product in the first half of 2025, with the expectation that at least 1mn users will utilize Labaid GPT by the end of the year. The platform will operate through a subscription-based model, with a small fee for additional services.

Labaid’s AI platform will be particularly beneficial in markets with a low ratio of doctors and nurses per head of the population, including Bangladesh, where access to care can be limited and there are long queues and waiting lists at clinics and hospitals, as well as infrastructure issues and traffic that can make seeing a doctor

face-to-face challenging.

“Artificial intelligence represents the next significant advancement and is likely to be a major revolution in healthcare,” says Shamim. “We are committed to not falling behind in AI development.”

Sakif Shamim expects Labaid GPT to have synergies with Labaid’s other businesses, including its cancer hospital and cardiac centre, as well as his startup LifePlus, serving as an aggregator and promoting top doctors.

Sakif Shamim and Labaid are also working on augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality through a company called Virtuecare AI, a sister concern of Labaid Group. Virtuecare is building immersive solutions that enhance surgical precision, streamline preoperative planning, and improve patient outcomes. It aims to address a shortage of medical facilities for training in Bangladesh and other countries by providing AR and VR solutions through a virtual world connected to the metaverse, supported by doctors and surgeons from around the world. Users will wear headsets to visualise the medical setting, and Virtuecare is also developing tools for surgeons that will allow them to perform live surgery with the help of VR glasses, following instructions provided by an app.

“This is a global initiative,” says Sakif Shamim. “These technologies are advanced and costly, so my goal is to make them cost-efficient so that people in South Asia, Africa, and similar regions can access them. Brand building will require meeting key stakeholders, attracting investors, and showcasing our 40-year legacy. We are also hiring qualified individuals from new markets and will launch our projects gradually.”

Sakif Shamim’s goal is for the group to become a $10bn corporation within five years, reaching 7mn-8mn people annually within three to four years. Labaid is open to other investors for Virtuecare and Labaid GPT, which will require substantial outlay on data centre operations. A graduate of both Oxford and Harvard, the young entrepreneur has a global network he can leverage as the businesses develop. He points to the huge potential for investors in Bangladesh, not only in healthcare, but a wide range of sectors.

“We have purchasing power and a growing population, with over 60% being young adults,” says Shamim. “This demographic provides an opportunity to develop a skilled workforce and build industry. The population exceeds 200mn. There is potential for growth in areas like food production, shipbuilding, light engineering, and semiconductors, as well as significant opportunities in blockchain technology and Web3. Our Chief Advisor [interim head of government Muhammad Yunus] is one of the brightest individuals globally, a Nobel Laureate who has implemented numerous investment-friendly policies. We are still going through reforms, and there are numerous opportunities because people are eager for change. There’s a lot to be developed. Bangladesh is a country rich will opportunities and filled with capable entrepreneurs. This is a land of potential, still unexplored, that can experience tremendous growth in the next three to five years.”

Sakif Shamim — Managing Director at Labaid Cancer Hospital & Super Speciality Centre & Deputy Managing Director at Labaid Group

STUDY NO. 3

Can AI Generate Better Ideas Than People?

SCIENCE SAYS: Humans are more creative, but AI is more practical.

Need a great idea? Ask the masses. “Crowdsourcing” has become a popular way for companies to gather insights—because when you bring together people with diverse knowledge and approaches, you can find unexpected genius. But crowdsourcing is time-consuming and expensive. Could generative AI help? Researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business decided to find out.

The research/

The study set up a crowdsourcing challenge. The question was: “Who has ideas for how companies can implement the circular economy into their business to make them more climate-friendly?”

First, the researchers invited real people to submit their suggestions and ended up with 125 ideas. Next, the researchers prompted ChatGPT’s GPT-4 with the same question and slight variations, which produced 730 solutions.

All the ideas were reviewed by 300 human judges, who evaluated them based on novelty, value, and quality.

The results/

The human-generated solutions were more novel, but in many ways, the AI-prompted concepts were better—higher quality, more strategically viable, with greater financial and environmental value.

As for the economics of the project, they were stark: To produce those 125 human submissions required a combined 2,520 hours of work—and $2,555 to cover expenses. But to get the 730 solutions from AI, it took just 5.5 hours and cost only $27.01.

What we’ve learned/

Generative AI is great at generating ideas—but it can’t do it all on its own. To succeed, you need to give the tool very clear, thoughtful prompts, says study investigator Léonard Boussioux, an assistant professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business who’s also affiliated with Harvard Business School.

In their experiment, he and his colleagues tried two distinct strategies. In the first, along with the challenge question, they asked GPT-4 to assume 100 different personas (executive, manager, entrepreneur) to replicate the variety of humans who might reply to a crowdsource request. In the second approach, they prompted the AI with the same question and got a first answer—and then followed it up by asking, “Make sure to tackle a different problem than the previous ones and propose a different solution.” They repeated this 100 times, with a different persona each time, as if it were one person pushed to give various perspectives.

The result: The second approach led to more novel, viable, and quality ideas.

How to use this/

Let’s say your company is considering a pivot. “The quality of your questioning and critical thinking is what matters most,” Boussioux says. “But AI can help you find good starting questions. Describe your company, the stakeholders, your goals. Include as much data as you can—a blog post about what you do, financial spreadsheets, a white paper. Then ask something like, ‘I’m looking maybe to pivot. Can you suggest a direction to investigate?’” This can get you going.

Try iterative prompting, but don’t do it 100 times like the study did. “We found that if you keep asking for too long, the final ideas are potentially more creative, but they’re also not as feasible or valuable,” Boussioux says. The sweet spot? Two to four times.

MCS Steel

THAILAND’S QUALITY STEEL LEADER

Thailand’s exports surged from $257bn in 2019 to $314bn in 2023, rising by 4.4% annually despite the global recession driven by the covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns, according to McKinsey. The global management consultancy noted Thailand’s “strong manufacturing base”.

Indeed, manufacturing contributes around 25% of Thailand’s GDP, benefitting from the country’s high skills base, location, and pro-industry policies. The sector has been strengthening, according to business information service S&P, which recorded an improvement in its purchasing mangers’ index for seven of the last eight months of 2024, with an acceleration at the end of the year. Analysts said that new orders have reached the strongest levels for a year and a half, and that the 12-month outlook remains positive, with sentiment above its long-term trend.

MCS Steel epitomises the strengths of Thailand’s export-oriented industry. It was established in 1992 “out of necessity” as chairman Naiyuan Chi puts it, to meet growing demand for steel structure products for buildings. Initially focused on small and medium products, the company has grown to become a leading manufacturer of fabricated steel, particularly beams and columns, for structures including power plants, bridges, and high-rise buildings. The company has achieved outstanding success over the past three decades, most notably establishing itself as a leader on the Japanese market, overcoming challenges and emerging stronger.

“Last year we had 40-50% profit MARGIN OR GROWTH?,” says Chi. “Before covid, we had record profits, and when the world came to a halt we ran into issues, but we have adapted and we are confident that we going to see even better results in the 2025-30 period. The important thing is to survive the notso-good times in order to enjoy the good times. The plan is to keep the pace we had achieved before covid, and the focus is to provide value. Our goal is to be better than yesterday, to get better every day.”

While based in Thailand, MCS has subsidiaries in Japan and China, with the vast majority – around 90% - of the 50,000 tonnes of steel it produces annually going to the former. The company has long-standing relationships with most of Japan’s major construction companies, including Kajima, Shimizu, Takenaka, and Obayashi. It has established itself as the top choice to supply steel for landmark construction projects in Japan including the Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower, the tallest building in the country, and more than 100 other developments. MCS is the only non-Japanese company certified to sell the highest standard of “S-grade” structural steel in Japan. The high-grade earthquake-resistant steel the Thai company produces is particularly in demand in earthquake-prone Japan.

“We are always considering expansion, improving quality and profit,” says Chi. “We are focusing on more sophisticated products and high-value markets. We could easily expand our exports tenfold, but we’d have to change to a different type of more standard product and quality would be lower, whereas we have high-quality products that are difficult for others to manufacture. We are focused on quality over quantity. But that doesn’t mean we are not going to expand – we are buying the latest optical robot welding machines from China to increase production, but it is a calculated expansion that aligns with our focus on quality products.”

MCS Steel places a strong emphasis on its people – in their training and

professional development, but also enhancing their wellbeing, quality of life, and standard of living. The company has established “MCS Village” near its plants in Ayutthaya in Thailand, providing accommodation for 600 staff members and 800 family members, as well as childcare, a school, and healthcare. This proved invaluable during the covid-19 pandemic, providing support to MCS’s team as well as easy access to their workplace. The company also encourages an open, collaborative style of work and management, with team members encouraged to raise and discuss issues.

“We are very proud of our people,” says Chi. “All our employees are qualified and educated. We are focused on education; it is very important to give knowledge to the people. We have trained some very good people, and we are proud of that. Our level of expertise is top-notch. We also value hard-working people and have a formula that rewards them, rather than that being decided by the management.”

This approach of transparency and openness also embraces clients. A central high-tech “war room” pools information from the company’s factories in Thailand, Japan, and China for clients, who can update themselves in real time on the status of orders via more than 300 CCTV cameras installed in the production lines. The MCS Village welcomes client representatives who wish to come and stay on site.

MCS is listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), where investors are playing their part in its development. But as Chi emphasises, this is not a company which relies on financial markets. Rather, it is dedicated to its core business of delivering the best-quality structural steel to demanding clients –and its investors are all the better for it.

“There are more than 600 companies on the (SET), and we are among the top 20% profit makers,” says Chi. “We have the advantage that we rely on export. We’re a cash-rich company, we don’t borrow, we don’t need money. We always pay dividends and we’re a stable company. We’re focused on selling steel, not stocks.”

Mr. Phairat Viwatborvornwong

Dr. Naiyuan Chi

Ms.Mattawan Srisagda

Ms. Wanna Pholkaew Mr. Pornchai Phisarnanukunkit

Deputy Managing Director of Estimate & Planning

Chairman of Board Director

Deputy MD of Financial & Customer Service

Managing Director Deputy MD of Factory & Production

How Good Is AI at NewInnovating Products?

Can generative AI outshine the human imagination? It’s a tricky (if scary) question, and studies so far have found mixed results. Lynn Wu, an associate professor at The Wharton School, and her colleagues decided to measure AI’s effect on product innovation by analyzing metrics like patents and revenue.

The research/ Wu’s study was built on two kinds of research: a survey of 331 companies about their technology development practices, plus an analysis of more than 2,000 publicly traded firms’ productivity and new patents filed. Her goal was to identify two things: How are companies integrating AI? And what effect does using it have on innovating products with commercial value?

The results/

AI was bad at creating “out of thin air” breakthroughs. “That’s a fundamental limitation,” Wu says. “When it does come up with something radically new, it could be an AI hallucination.” But AI is very good at another kind of innovation—combining existing ideas to create something new.

Many companies in the study used AI for this purpose, and were rewarded for it: They were 3% to 7% more productive with patents and revenue than firms that did not use these tools. AI was especially impactful at heavily siloed and decentralized companies. When different departments weren’t talking to each other, AI bridged the gap by making knowledge accessible to everyone on the team looking to develop a new product.

What we’ve learned/

Humans are good at linking three to five ideas in our heads. “But when you need to combine more elements, that’s when the machine can really help you,” Wu says. For example, if you want to dream up a new beverage that teens will go ape for, generative AI can mix and match thousands of preferences for that age group to find a concept that hits the mark.

How to use it/

Want to innovate your own product? Tojin Eapen, a senior fellow at The Conference Board, developed a research-backed strategy based on linking: Ask generative AI to combine three random words (say, “phone,” “lava,” and “lobster”) into a new product concept. What you get back may not be so practical, but it can inspire your team to develop a more valuable idea. For a specific kind of product—say, footwear—you could start with your category (“shoe”) and add two other words that are random (“telescope”) or related (“safety”) and see what happens.

Before investing time or money in an idea, Eapen suggests getting AI to play devil’s advocate. You might ask: “What are 10 ways this idea could fail?” or “What will customers dislike about this product?” or “What are the three critical risks?”

As you use AI, however, always remember this: It might be helpful—but it’ll be helpful to your competitor in exactly the same ways. “So whether it’s proprietary data or something unique,” says Wu, “you better figure out your moat to protect what you’ve got.”

When AI acts like us, Identity Security controls who

gets in.

AI is advancing rapidly—making decisions, taking actions, accessing data on our behalf.

As the lines between human and machine blur, the role of Identity has never been more important. Who—or what—has access to your systems? How do you ensure AI agents operate within the right boundaries? Without the right safeguards, AI’s potential becomes a risk.

Okta’s secure Identity solutions give you a foundation of trust, letting you determine who gets in, what they can do—and importantly, what they can’t.

AI JUST CHANGED YOUR STRATEGY GO-TO-MARKET

How to take a product to market, and then 10x the results using AI.

by JEFF BUSSGANG, Harvard Business School professor and cofounder

of Flybridge Capital

Going to market used to be simple: Buy ads, hire a team of sales reps, and spend thousands of dollars on a PR stunt. Hell, just give away money if it means you’ll sign up more users.

Today, all that has changed. Interest rates are no longer zero, and the cost of capital is much higher.

Investors are more concerned about customer acquisition costs and unit economics. Startups need to stay lean, and founders need to be creative in how they reach, activate, and convert customers.

Incredibly, just as startups around the world were being forced to tighten their belts, they were given a magical new technology that stretches their go-to-market (GTM) dollars further than ever: generative AI.

Everyone knows about AI’s ability to create text and images, but we’re just starting to discover how transformative that can be for launching a business. I’m a Harvard Business School professor and cofounder of Flybridge Capital, an early stage venture capital fund with over $1 billion in assets under management, and I’m seeing it all the time now: Startups are using AI to completely rethink their GTM strategy—helping them reach more customers more efficiently, and quickly scale in ways that were nearly impossible before.

To be clear, the fundamentals of a GTM strategy are still the same—and will likely always be the same. It’s a mix of positioning and messaging, market selection, demand generation, distribution channels, sales funnels, and strategic partnerships, all working together to turn cold prospects into loyal, evangelical customers in the most cost-effective way possible. But these activities fall right into the sweet spot of generative AI as we know it today: It’s a matter of content creation, lead nurturing and engagement, personalization, and data analysis.

In this article, I’ll walk through the principles of a GTM strategy, and how to use AI to multiply your growth potential tenfold.

Let’s start with a case study.

Innovators and early adopters are more willing to provide valuable feedback. Startups should build a solid foundation of loyal customers who can provide essential insights.

How one company went to market with AI

In 2018, cofounders Valentina Ratner and Kyle Dumont paired up to address a major opportunity: Technology companies were losing a combined $35 billion each year because of mistakes made while building hardware. It was a workflow issue: One team might change something in the development process, but that change wouldn’t be properly communicated to other teams, which would lead to confusion and conflicting information. To solve this, Ratner and Dumont created a company called AllSpice—a workflow system specifically designed for hardware teams.

With approximately 300,000 electrical engineers working at 30,000 hardware companies, Ratner and Dumont estimated the total market opportunity to be over $5 billion to start. They released a beta version of AllSpice in 2020, landed a few hundred early customers, and saw initial signs of product-market fit: Top cohorts of users were spending nearly 40 hours per month on the platform, with over 100 interactions per week.

As they neared their official launch in 2022, Ratner and Dumont faced a difficult decision: Should AllSpice market itself to large or small customers? Enterpriselevel customers pay high fees, and would have been the startup’s first choice—but those customers are hard to land. They usually require hiring an expensive enterprise sales team, and then expect a lot of

costly handholding and personalized attention. So AllSpice decided to target small-to-midsize teams instead, which had smaller budgets but were easier and more affordable to target.

Then everything changed in late 2022, with the launch of ChatGPT. Suddenly, AllSpice could go after everyone at once.

Here’s how.

AllSpice began using AI to nurture inbound leads, which is usually a timeand resource-intensive process. The startup’s small sales team used tools like ElevenLabs and HeyGen to create thousands of customized demonstration videos based on a single recording. Not only is this radically more efficient, but AllSpice’s customers (who are engineers themselves) often prefer these videos over a Zoom call with a salesperson.

AllSpice’s team also used a sales execution tool called Outreach to automatically sequence outbound emails and follow up on tasks to move prospects through their pipeline. Outreach recently incorporated generative AI to help sales reps understand true buyer sentiment, summarize deals, generate personalized emails, respond to prospects, and forecast pipelines more accurately. These new workflows free up Ratner and her sales team to focus on the largest, most valuable clients while consistently converting small and midsize teams.

AI has helped scale AllSpice’s customer support experience as well—a critical aspect of servicing large companies and

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enterprises. Ratner’s team is using generative AI to automatically create video tutorials and documentation for every feature in their toolset. Crucially, AI helps them keep this documentation up-to-date as the AllSpice product rapidly evolves.

AllSpice is not alone here. As I work with startups, I’m seeing an explosion of AI tools across the go-to-market spectrum—from sales development reps (11x) to sales engineers (DocketAI) to customer data enrichment (Clay) to personalized videos (HeyGen) and more.

To be clear, AI will not make the difficult strategic decisions for you. It can’t say who to target, how to sell them, and your best channels for growth. You must still understand GTM fundamentals yourself—but once you do, AI can become a supercharged sidekick to scale them.

So before you use AI, let’s polish up on those GTM fundamentals

4 questions for your GTM strategy

In the early stages of a startup’s life, the primary objective of GTM experiments is to discover a repeatable and scalable process for customer acquisition. There are four key questions to answer:

1/ What is my initial market?

2/ What is my growth and demand generation strategy?

3/ What is my sales model?

4/ Who are the best (if any) channel partners?

When you get this right, you’ll build a playbook for consistent customer acquisition with favorable unit economics.

But even after you answer these four questions, there is still another decision to make: How quickly should you scale? When do you “pour fuel on the fire” to grow quickly? The answer depends on the strength of your product-market fit as well as market conditions. One of the greatest risks for a startup is scaling prematurely. Many startups have tried to force growth despite insufficient product-market fit and poor timing. Especially in an environment where capital is scarce, keeping “dry powder” and extending your runway is generally wise. Luckily, thanks to AI, you can do so much more with less.

Now let’s get back to answering the four GTM questions. We’ll start at the top:

Be very selective in choosing channel partners, because any layer between you and the customer will slow down learning. You do not want gatekeepers to control your access to your customer base.

QUESTION 1/ What is your initial market?

In his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations, author Everett Rogers developed a model for technology lifecycle adoption and defined five categories of customer profiles: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. (You may be more familiar with this concept from Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm, which built on Rogers’ work.) Startups make the mistake of targeting early or late majority customers, who are more pragmatic and therefore difficult to please. Instead, founders need to identify and target innovators who are willing to adopt an incomplete or buggy product because it solves (though not perfectly) such a painful need in their lives.

Innovators and early adopters are more willing to provide valuable feedback. Startups should build a solid foundation of loyal customers who can provide essential insights for further product development and market expansion, while also serving as enthusiastic advocates.

It is surprisingly easy to choose the wrong initial market, and it’s a mistake I see often. How do you ensure that you pick the right one? Here are a few criteria.

WHAT YOUR INITIAL MARKET NEEDS/

→ Passion and mission. Focus your energy on a market and customer type that you genuinely love. This will help you get through the ups and

downs of the early startup journey. Plus, one way to find innovators is to look for the most passionate people in your space.

→ Small, yet broad. Select a market that is narrow enough to ensure focus, but large enough to attract capital and sustain multiple iterations.

→ Many prospective customers. Be sure your initial market has a set of requirements that are common to a broad set of prospective customers. That way, it will be easier to dominate your initial segment and then jump to the next.

→ A high willingness to pay. Ask yourself: Does your initial market have a vibrant ecosystem of free products? If so, customers may be accustomed to not paying for what you’re offering—and that’s a problem! Also, do your customers have the means to pay if you solve their problem?

→ No gatekeepers. Channels and partners are great for reaching more customers as you scale, but don’t rely on these relationships to build your business in the early days. Choose an initial market where you have direct access to your customers, so you can learn from them. Keep control of your relationship with your initial market.

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Your initial market should be full of innovators who desperately need your product. It’s a jumping-off point to the next market, then the next, and then the next.

QUESTION 2/

What is my growth and demand-generation strategy?

Stories of innovative marketing, demand generation, and “growth hacking” have been part of Startupland lore for decades: Richard Branson’s PR stunts, PayPal’s referral program, Steve Jobs’ legendary product announcements, Duolingo’s unhinged mascot—the list goes on.

These stories will pale in comparison to the growth “hacks” we’ll see in the age of generative AI.

AI is already having a profound impact on the way companies gain attention— and their efficiency in doing so. Payments company Klarna is a good example of this. In their mid-year 2024 earnings report, they revealed that their average revenue per employee had grown 73% year over year. In May, they reported that operations costs were down 11%, and their sales and marketing costs were down 11% in the first quarter of 2024—all of which they attribute to their use of AI. “We have built AI copilots for each of the parts of the flow,” said David Sandstrom, Klarna’s Chief Marketing Officer. “I think that the best marketers are going to 10x their impact and efficiency because they have these tools.”

Experimentation has always been a crucial part of startup growth strategy. You need to design a series of experiments, place small bets, and see what sticks. Then you cut the losing experiments and double down on the winning ones. AI now allows you to run more experiments faster than ever before.

Here is an example: SEO content marketing. In markets where people are searching for immediate solutions (rather than idly browsing), Google is the best channel for reaching customers. For instance, people looking for a new job regularly use Google and other search engines to find job openings, job descriptions, and sample résumés or cover letters.

David Fano had this insight in 2019 as he searched for an effective growth channel for Teal, his AI-powered job search platform. Teal builds a suite of tools for job seekers, including an AI-powered résumé

Growth marketing is one of the fastest-growing sectors for AI tools. Keep your finger on the pulse of new tools and experiment constantly.

know

You never know when the next 10x innovation will be released.

builder and job application tracker to run a streamlined, organized job search. Fano and his team experimented with several growth channels unsuccessfully, including social media ads and influencers. But most people saw those ads when they weren’t actively searching for jobs. That’s when Fano began to experiment with SEO. Fano hired content writers to create high-quality articles for job seekers. Teal saw promising results early, but their growth was capped by the cost of content marketing. Fano was paying $500 per article.

Then ChatGPT came out, and Fano decided to go all-in. He and his team built a low-touch AI writing system using OpenAI, no-code automation, and content management tools. Teal’s GTM team created detailed article prompts and generated over three thousand articles tailored to specific job-related queries. For pennies, they created articles on specific career paths and job-specific résumé templates. Human editors reviewed each article, and after minor edits and prompt tweaks, they were good to go.

The results were dramatic. Teal’s organic search traffic grew to over 100,000 page views per week and converted 3% of all visitors into paid users, driving their customer acquisition cost down to effectively zero.

Growth marketing is one of the fastest-growing sectors for AI tools. Founders need to keep their finger on the pulse of new tools and experiment constantly. You never know when the next 10x innovation will be released. Even when you find a successful growth strategy, be on the lookout for the next one.

QUESTION 3/ What is my sales model?

Attention is one thing. Closing deals is another.

There are three basic sales models in business. Outbound sales describes when a team of salespeople reaches out to prospective customers to initiate the sales process. Inbound sales are when the company attracts potential customers through marketing and promotion, then salespeople complete the sales process. Product-led growth (PLG) is when the company attracts potential customers through marketing and promotion, and then the customer completes the sales process through a self-service portal.

In recent years, PLG has given startups a roadmap to rapidly scale with limited resources. We have all encountered (and likely used) PLG tools in our work: Calendly, Slack, Canva, Figma, and others. PLG tools tend to be inherently viral by promoting teamwork, and they make it easy to sign up by offering always-free (dubbed “freemium”) plans. PLG companies have mastered the art of Software as a Service: They remove virtually all friction and risk from the buying process.

Still, it’s not the perfect sales model for every company. PLG works well for Teal, but not AllSpice, which uses an inbound sales model. Why? First, the customers. Teal attracts job seekers from virtually every field of work, but the intensity of their job search varies. Some folks treat the job search like, well, a job, while oth-

Telecom Egypt

SERVING EGYPT, SERVING THE WORLD

Egypt’s economic growth will accelerate in the coming years, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, which expects private consumption to rise by 4.2% in 2026 after a 2.8% rise in 2025.

Gross fixed investment is expected to soar by 17% next year, with the country potentially able to leverage its geopolitical position to secure multilateral finance.

The telecoms market is evolving quickly as the economy picks up pace, with several operators introducing 5G services in Q1 2025, according to a recent report by Fitch Solutions. The monetisation of data is a “key growth avenue” for the industry, the company said.

Telecom Egypt has established itself not only as the premier telecommunications company in the country, but a global player through its management and operation of numerous international cables that connect to and through Egypt. Founded in 1854, the company has one of the region’s best-known and most-respected brands, and is dedicated to the service of its customers, country, and international partners.

“Telecom Egypt has a broader responsibility for the market, as we don’t just serve our customers, we handle the infrastructure, so we also serve the customers of other operators,” says Mohamed Nasr, Telecom Egypt’s CEO. “The challenge I have is ensuring that there is a healthy network while at the same time optimising it to enhance the company’s financial efficiency. You need to enhance the experience by investing more, and at the same time you need to deliver financial performance for the shareholders. I have been working on prioritising investment, because of the advances in technology that are happening. We don’t want to lag behind other markets in terms of technology.”

the geographical diversification of its connectivity and the resilience of connections.

“Whenever the customers and international carriers want to have new landing points, we build for them,” says Nasr. “That’s adds greater comfort on the international side, as we don’t have the pain of cuts. The priority of our technical team is ensuring that the network is optimised in a way that it’s up and running all the time, even if there are multiple faults. They design and review the network to make sure that it’s resilient.”

As Nasr points out, Telecom Egypt has responsibility not only to the broader Egyptian telecoms sector, but to global telecoms interconnectivity. With its strategic location, Egypt is a critical centre for global communications infrastructure, with major international cables connecting to the country. The 15 subsea cables passing through Egypt connect as far afield as the UK, Australia, and Japan, and link many places in between in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Telecom Egypt is one of the region’s leading subsea cable operators.

“This is a big responsibility because it touches the lives of billions of people who want to connect to the internet,” says Nasr. “When we talk about digital transformation, we talk about financial inclusion; we need the connectivity.”

Nasr has been working on a business strategy that identifies three “layers” of the company’s business. Firstly, its core business, connectivity and infrastructure; secondly, efficiency and customer experience; and thirdly, the “gross layer” – the new services and technology to integrate into Telecom’s offering.

To these ends, Telecom Egypt has been replacing its core copper cable network with fibre, a transformational project in such a big country in which the company has customers from the Nile Valley to the far borders. It has also completed the conversion of its international network to fibre, and is now embarking on a drive to ensure fibre to the home. Since 2017, the company’s new infrastructure has been fibre-only, but many homes – around 12mn - are still connected by copper in the last mile. Here the company has to strike a particularly careful balance, as average revenue per user in Egypt is low, putting an emphasis on prudent investment. The company has brought in experts across the board to ensure that investments meet customers’ real needs.

Another key investment in recent years has been in subsea landing stations for international cables – Telecom Egypt now operates 10, boosting

As Nasr notes, the global digital transformation brings substantial upsides for Telecom Egypt as it will drive long-term growth of domestic and international data traffic – and the company must continue to develop infrastructure to meet this ever-rising demand. He emphasises the importance of Telecom’s people, having been focused on recruiting and organising the right teams since his appointment in 2023.

“We have a good team here, and we very much depend on them to deliver,” Nasr says. “They have delivered over the years. With additional challenges, we need to have more focused teams, and have started to bring in more people that are helping the organisation to go where it needs to go. I meet the teams almost every week to align together and ensure we are delivering.”

Telecom Egypt stands out as a company which serves retail customers and corporate customers as a telecom operator, and then other operators in Egypt and further afield as an infrastructure player. For the former, this 170-year-old brand is associated with agility, constant innovation, and proximity to the customer; for the latter, resilience, security and dependability. With its strong reputation and corporate culture, and evergrowing expertise in the global telecoms market, the company is wellplaced for international expansion.

“I think with our experience we now have what it takes to start expanding in other countries, building networks from scratch, because we know everything about the network from infrastructure to the highest layer,” says Nasr. “I hope to see the company functioning as a strong infrastructure company with another layer of strong services that touch the day to-day life of each consumer, and to expand this in other markets.”

Mohamed Nasr CEO

ers are just casually looking for work. But AllSpice does not want casual users. During its beta period, AllSpice tested out a freemium model—but found that paying users were much more engaged with the product than freemium users. AllSpice aims to be part of the daily workflow for hardware engineers, so they want users to commit with their credit card. As a result, it canceled the free plans.

Another difference is product complexity. AllSpice’s freemium plan saw a lot of users sign up who were not a good fit for the product. By talking with each new lead, the company can ensure AllSpice is the right tool for them. Teal is designed to be used by every job seeker, from high schoolers to retirees. It’s much more consumer-facing, while AllSpice is a business-to-business tool.

Finally, the business models and unit economics of each startup are different. AllSpice has fewer customers to target and therefore needs a higher customer lifetime value to build a big business. Teal’s total addressable market is, again, all job seekers, which could be hundreds of millions of people around the world— but each customer’s lifetime value is much smaller. Teal wants to activate as many users as possible and then convert them once they prove their value, which their freemium plan helps them do.

But as noted earlier, generative AI is starting to dramatically change this calculus. To start, Teal and other PLG companies need fewer low-revenue customers to be profitable and successful. AI has saved Teal over $1 million a year on content creation alone. AllSpice is also growing more efficiently. They use AI to manage the majority of their inbound leads, leaving Ratner and her small sales team to focus on the high-revenue clients. Outbound sales have almost always been reserved for these select clients due to the high costs of fielding a sales team. But now, AI has made the outbound sales model cost-effective to attract smaller customers.

You are no longer bound by time and cost restraints. You now have the freedom to choose the best sales model for you and your initial market, whether that’s PLG, inbound sales, or outbound sales. The cost of sales is rapidly declining, regardless of the sales model.

But the best overall sales model is a mix of approaches. PLG is still an effec-

tive and efficient sales model for many startups early on. However, as PLG companies scale, they tend to become less efficient overall compared to their peers who follow an enterprise sales-led approach. Every company that aspires to secure select, high-revenue relationships will have to eventually create an enterprise sales motion, a process that takes years to craft and perfect. Relying solely on PLG or inbound sales to take a bottom-up approach with enterprises can eventually lead to stagnation. To avoid this trap, structure the organization to operate a mix of sales motions after mastering the first one. Additionally, build the systems and expertise needed to service enterprise-level clients, including detailed and comprehensive documentation and a strong customer support program. Use AI across all these sales motions and post-sales functions to scale while staying lean.

QUESTION 4/

Who are the best (if any) channel partners?

Channels and partners are thirdparty companies or platforms that give you easy access to your target customers. While they’re often lumped together (into “channel partners”), there are key differences. Partners allow you to market and sell to your customers, while channels take on the responsibility of sales and marketing for you. Some channel partners are more possessive than others, meaning they keep control of the customer relationship.

Working with channel partners is a double-edged sword for both parties. There will always be a battle for customer loyalty.

Even if a channel partner doesn’t aim to eliminate you, they will always try to charge higher and higher rents for access to their users. For example, Facebook was a fantastic growth channel for numerous businesses until they began to throttle organic traffic to grow their paid-ads business.

I always caution founders to be very selective in choosing channel partners— not only for the reasons I just shared, but also because any layer between you and the customer will slow down learning. Again, you do not want gatekeepers to control your access to your customer base.

There are three questions to answer when exploring channel partners:

1/ Is this partner the best way to reach customers?

2/ Can we afford the incremental economic burden required to incentivize the channel partner?

3/ How do we build an independent relationship with our customers that doesn’t rely on the channel partner?

Channel partnerships can be an enormous source of leverage, but they always come at a cost—both literal and in terms of customer connection.

Of all the phases of GTM, this is where AI will have the smallest role— for now. AI cannot choose a partner for you, nor can it manage that relationship. But in the long-term, AI might have the biggest impact on this phase of GTM—because it might cause the demise of channel partnerships entirely. Consider this: As it becomes easier to reach customers directly, startups will rely less on third parties for their GTM (a good thing, in my opinion). While channel partners will never entirely go away, startups that own their access to and relationships with customers will be more sustainable and profitable.

Now go to market!

As you can see: Even in the age of AI, the principles of a go-to-market strategy have not changed. Business is always—and will always be—about building the right product for the right customer, and finding the most efficient way of reaching and acquiring them. But today, the means of reaching and acquiring customers is changing rapidly.

Customer acquisition costs are going down, which means that entrepreneurs’ choices are going up. AI can open doors to new, better, and magical business models—and the only thing necessary is a willingness to experiment.

This essay was adapted from the new book The Experimentation Machine: Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI by Jeff Bussgang. Published by Damn Gravity Media.

AppleOne Group

PREPARING FOR GROWTH

The Philippines’ economy will “remain robust” in the coming years, growing at an average rate of 6% in 2024-26, according to the World Bank. This impressive growth will have a real impact on the population, boosting household incomes and job creation and reducing poverty, the Bank said.

The country’s economic performance is supporting “diverse opportunities” in the real estate sector, according to property consultancy and agency Knight Frank Santos, with demand and rental yields rising in many areas, boosted by government infrastructure and urban renewal initiatives. The company highlighted hospitality as a particularly promising segment, with tourist arrivals on the rise.

One of the leading property developers in the Philippines, Cebu-based AppleOne Group has an impressive portfolio including high-end branded residences and luxury hotels. In recent years it has diversified into healthcare, in what started as a connection through church for company president and CEO Ray Manigsaca, a devout Christian.

Ray Manigsaca President & CEO

Hospitality Interior Design in the Philippines, among other awards. In partnership with the Radisson Hotel Group, AppleOne is developing the mixed-use Radisson Blu Hotel & Residences Cagayan de Oro, which will be the first internationally-branded five-star hotel in North Mindanao.

AppleOne aims to continue developing tourism projects across the country, including on Mindanao in the south of the archipelago, boosting the growing Philippine tourism sector.

“AppleOne is a very stable, family-oriented company,” he says. “We partner with foreign brands which benefits both Cebu and the Philippines. These partnerships bring their own markets, providing an advantage to Cebu and helping position it on the map for international travellers who are members of the Marriott group.”

As the company grows, AppleOne will look to make an IPO on the Philippine Stock Exchange, opening the company to domestic and international investors, raising capital for further expansion, and strengthening corporate governance.

“In 2019, I was involved with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines,” says Manigsaca. “The church owned three hospitals as non-profit entities. They mentioned a major hospital player was interested in buying them, and I thought, ‘why not consider me?’ That was the beginning. I assembled the right team. It wasn’t a planned move; the opportunity arose, and I recognised the potential.”

While AppleOne was a newcomer to the segment, the hospitals had a history of several decades. For Manigsaca, it was a case of investing money and improving management, which has proved transformational in their operation. The story epitomises Manigsaca and his company’s commitment to community. He is known for treating employees like family; any one AppleOne’s 6000 employees are welcome to contact him at any time. In March 2025, Manigsaca was awarded a degree as Doctor in Humanities (Honoris Causa) by the Philippine Christian University in recognition of his leadership and dedication to excellence; he was invited by the university to address the graduates during their commencement ceremony.

AppleOne, as one of the most respected brands in the Philippines, has a long history of partnerships with international players, including Marriott, with whom it has developed the Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort and the Fairfield by Marriott Cebu Mactan, which is part of the Mahi Center mixed-use development which will also feature a boutique mall and office. The company expects to complete the JW Marriott Resort and Residences in Panglao in 2008. The Residences at Sheraton Cebu Mactan Resort, is one of the company’s flagship developments and has been awarded Best Branded Residential Development in Asia and Best

“I plan to take the company public, maybe after finalising a significant deal we are preparing,” says Manigsaca. “Going public is a distinct step for me, as it enables checks and balances within the organisation. Currently, we operate as a family-oriented business where decisions are often made informally. Transitioning to a public company will require regulatory compliance. We plan to list in the Philippines of course – it’s a country I love – once the market conditions are right.”

Dedication to community and country are at the heart of AppleOne’s business, and will continue to be as the company builds its presence across the country and in global markets.

“I am very familiar with Cebu and know its potential,” says Manigsaca. “Travellers and business people love to relax here, while the latter get work done. It’s a beautiful place, and local people’s purchasing power is increasing. I anticipate that many more people will visit. It’s very important for me to promote the Philippines and Cebu; I love my home. I want the world to recognise that the Philippines is not just Manila; Cebu is a paradise, and Cagayan de Oro is also gaining international recognition. In Mindanao, there are improvements in peace and security, and I have invested in areas that have been peaceful for many years. I aim to contribute to the Philippines’ economy by putting Cebu on the map for travellers worldwide.”

Find the Best New Franchises Here!

Looking to buy a hot new brand? Here’s our list of the TOP 150 NEW AND EMERGING FRANCHISES

by TRACY STAPP HEROLD

For many people, buying a franchise means joining a brand that’s been around for decades. But if you’re more interested in getting in on the ground floor of the latest thing, there’s plenty of opportunity in the franchise world for you too. In fact, almost a quarter of the companies that applied for this year’s Franchise 500 ranking have been franchising for five years or less. And you’ll find the top 150 of those new and emerging franchises ranked on the following pages.

This ranking of companies that started franchising in 2020 or later is based on the same data and same formula that we used to determine our 2025 Franchise 500 ranking. That formula evaluates

and scores franchise brands based on more than 150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability.

If you’re interested in checking out the hottest new franchise concepts, this list is a great jumping-off point, but it should not be taken as a recommendation of any particular franchise. New and emerging franchises like these can offer some great advantages for the right franchisee—but figuring out if that’s you requires doing your own careful research. Always read the company’s legal documents, consult with an attorney and an accountant, and talk to other franchisees before investing.

1

2

$201.6K-$259.6K

3

4

$3.1M-$5.4M

5

6 1-Tom-Plumber

7

Prime IV Hydration & Wellness IV therapy, nutrient injections, NAD+ infusions, peptide therapy, and wellness plans

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$164.5K-$610.1K TOTAL UNITS

/ Co.-Owned) 133/3

8

Hello Sugar Waxing, sugaring, and laser hair removal

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$95.9K-$614.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 78/14

9 GameDay Men’s Health Men’s hormone replacement therapy and wellness services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$227.1K-$386.5K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 103/6

10

Bath Tune-Up Bathroom remodeling

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$104.9K-$158.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 52/0

11

Red Barn Homebuyers

Real estate investing

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$59.4K-$257.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 104/1

WE ASKED TOP NEW AND EMERGING FRANCHISORS/

What makes your franchise concept unique?

THREE ANSWERS/

“Slice House by Tony Gemignani is a convenient way for diners to experience pizza by a 13-time world pizza champion celebrity chef in a casual setting. It also offers a diverse menu of pizzas, including gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian options, and fresh pastas, wings, and salads.”

—George Karpaty, cofounder & president, Slice House by Tony Gemignani, No. 75

“From free meals delivered the night before a move to fun surprises on move day, we attempt to make the moving experience better by delivering a more positive customer experience. As our tagline says, we make moving fun!”

—Ron Holt, founder, Pink Zebra Moving, No. 117

Ron Holt, founder, Pink Zebra No. 117

“We’re a ‘cooking school without walls.’ We bring fun, hands-on cooking classes to kids right where they already gather—schools, camps, libraries—with no kitchen needed. Our proprietary tech platform, The Dash, handles 85% of day-to-day tasks, allowing franchise owners to focus on growth, impact, and growing their team.”

—Erin Fletter, CEO, Sticky Fingers Cooking, No. 126

—Erin Fletter, CEO, No. 126

The Top 150 New and Emerging Franchises

$73.2K-$103.3K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 11/1

38 Voda Cleaning & Restoration Restoration and floor cleaning

FRANCHISING

$176.2K-$257.9K

39

Vicky Bakery

Baked goods, breads, pastries, sandwiches, coffee FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$626.7K-$1.2M

UNITS

/ Co.-Owned) 20/5 40 Just Poke Poke, acai bowls, lemonades FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

$186K-$299.5K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 33/3

WE ASKED TOP NEW AND EMERGING FRANCHISORS/

Why did you decide to franchise your business?

THREE ANSWERS/

“Franchising wasn’t initially in our plans, but we started receiving numerous inquiries from people interested in bringing Movita to their own communities. After speaking with franchise consultants and attorneys, they reinforced that we had the key ingredients for a successful franchise.”

SINCE 2021

$71.5K-$120.9K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 41/4

42 District Taco Mexican food

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$733.8K-$1.5M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 4/13

43 Lindora Medically guided weight management programs

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$272.4K-$491.8K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 30/0

—Raul Fernando R, CEO &

—Raul Fernando R, CEO & cofounder, Movita Juice Bar, No. 71

“With 1 in 36 children diagnosed with autism, families across the country are struggling to find care. We knew we had a model that could bridge this gap, and franchising allows us to expand with integrity and maintain the personal touch that makes all the difference. This isn’t just about expansion—it’s about impact.”

—Nafisa Obi, founder & CEO, Essential Speech and ABA Therapy, No. 93

—Nafisa Obi, founder & CEO, Essential Speech and ABA No. 93

“We saw many chiropractors struggling to balance patient care with the demands of running a business. Our model allows them to focus on what they do best— helping patients—and allows us to make quality chiropractic care more accessible, impacting more lives and changing the way chiropractic is viewed in the healthcare system and our communities.”

—Mike

—Mike Lauer, vice president of operations, FreeForm Chiropractic, No. 132

About Glo Tanning

Glo Tanning is transforming the $5 billion tanning industry through its innovative “Sun Spa” concept that delivers personalized wellness experiences. With 15+ years of continuous growth and an unparalleled commitment to both franchisee success and client transformation, Glo stands at the forefront of accessible luxury in wellness.

Glo Tanning Facts

 Investment: $462,299 – $917,650 with attractive ROI

 100+ locations with zero closures since inception

 70%+ recurring revenue from membership model

 Comprehensive support from site selection to marketing

Glo: Pioneering Accessible Luxury In Wellness

In a wellness industry craving innovation, Glo stands as a luminous beacon of opportunity. This rapidly expanding franchise has transformed the conventional tanning salon into a sophisticated wellness destination where clients experience the perfect balance of luxury and accessibility.

PROVEN EXCELLENCE

With over 100 thriving locations and zero closures since inception, Glo has pioneered a business model that resonates with entrepreneurs and clients alike. The brand’s unwavering commitment to excellence has positioned it as the third largest tanning franchise in the United States.

FINANCIAL RESILIENCE

What truly distinguishes Glo is its recession-resistant foundation, built on a membership model that generates over 70% recurring revenue. This predictable cash flow, combined with multiple revenue streams across tanning, wellness services,

and retail products, creates a compelling financial proposition for investors.

VISIONARY LEADERSHIP

“We’ve developed a system that simplifies ownership and operations across any number of locations,” explains Onyi Odunukwe, who founded Glo in 2010 and later partnered with industry veterans Paul Rudnicki (CFO) and Ambria Hatcher (CVO) to revolutionize the tanning salon business.

COMPREHENSIVE SUPPORT

The Glo advantage extends beyond impressive margins. Franchisees benefit from strategic site selection expertise, comprehensive virtual training, a centralized customer service center, and proven marketing campaigns that drive consistent client acquisition.

YOUR RADIANT OPPORTUNITY

For entrepreneurs seeking a business that combines financial opportunity with genuine transformation, Glo offers a path

to success illuminated by proven systems and unwavering support. With protected territories still available and a 100% SBA loan approval rate, now is the perfect moment to explore how your entrepreneurial journey could radiate with possibility. Discover why industry-savvy investors continue to choose Glo as their premium wellness investment by connecting with the Glo team today.

Quinn Cooper, Director of Franchise Sales

The Top 150 New and Emerging Franchises

Canopy Lawn Care

FRANCHISING SINCE

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)

FRANCHISING SINCE

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)

Dumpster and job-site storage container rentals

FRANCHISING SINCE

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)

Cyberbacker

44

The Bunny Hive Social clubs for children from two-weeks-old through kindergarten and their caregivers

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$121.3K-$279.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 11/2

45

Bumble Roofing Roofing

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$163.5K-$260.3K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 25/4

46

SkyRun Vacation Rentals Vacation rental management FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$105.1K-$153.98K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 38/7

47 Sign Gypsies Special-occasion yard sign rentals

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$4.2K-$9.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 660/1

48

Bumble Bee Blinds Installation and repair of blinds, shades, and shutters

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$163.6K-$196K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 45/0

49 FunBox Outdoor and indoor inflatable amusement parks

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$647K-$1.5M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 39/3

50

Sunmed - Your CBD Store CBD stores

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$95.8K-$151.1K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 221/10

51

Combo Brands

Ghost kitchens/ restaurants, personalcare services, homeimprovement services, children’s enrichment services, pet care

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$27.8K-$353K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 126/1

FRANCHISING SINCE

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 24/1

56 Stand Strong Fencing Fencing, railing, staining, and sealing

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$160.6K-$226.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 24/0

57 Wonderly Lights Holiday and exterior lighting services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$90.1K-$123.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 24/1

58 Top Rail Fence Residential and commercial fencing FRANCHISING SINCE 2022 STARTUP COST $112.9K-$213.4K

84

Hawaiian Bros Island Grill

$1.5M-$4.8M

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 28/29

85

Craft Axe Throwing Ax throwing venues

SINCE 2020

$163.7K-$402.8K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2/12

86

Graze Craze Charcuterie boards and boxes

90

Spray Foam Genie

Spray foam insulation services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$323.5K-$545.2K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 38/0

91

Beef-a-Roo Burgers, roast beef sandwiches, milkshakes, fries, salads

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$466.7K-$1.4M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3/15

92

Valhallan Youth esports training arenas

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$166.1K-$329.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 13/1

93

Essential Speech and ABA Therapy

$68.1K-$154K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 10/1

88 Daisy Smart home technology installation and maintenance FRANCHISING SINCE 2024

$36.5K-$308.5K

ABA, speech, and occupational therapy for children 18 months to 6 years diagnosed with autism

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$209.5K-$669.1K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 9/4

94

Softroc

Rubber safety surfacing

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$85.1K-$170.5K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 30/0

95

Zivel

Cryotherapy, float therapy, infrared sauna, cryoskin

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$287.9K-$399K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 8/2

WE ASKED TOP NEW AND EMERGING FRANCHISORS

/

As an emerging franchisor, how do you compete with more established franchises?

THREE ANSWERS/

“Exit Factor attracts entrepreneurialminded individuals who want to make an impact in their businesses and communities, but also with our brand. As an emerging brand, we have a greater ability to be adaptable and incorporate franchisee feedback than an established brand.”

—Jessica Fialkovich, founder & president, Exit Factor, No. 28

—Jessica founder &

“We offer prime territories, cutting-edge marketing strategies, and hands-on, personalized support. Our backing by Buzz Franchise Brands also gives us the infrastructure, resources, and expertise of a seasoned network while still maintaining the agility and innovation of an emerging brand.”

—Brian Garrison, brand president, Wonderly Lights, No. 57

—Brian brand No. 57

“We see our emerging status as a strength. Our agility allows us to innovate quickly, provide personalized support to franchisees, and build a brand that feels fresh and exciting. While larger brands may be tied to outdated systems, we’ve built our own technology to create a seamless experience.”

—Justin Wetherill, president, Jeff’s Bagel Run, No. 149

—Justin Jeff’s Bagel Run, No. 149

96

Smalls Sliders

Cheeseburger sliders, fries, shakes

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021 STARTUP COST

$1.3M-$1.8M

The Top 150 New and Emerging Franchises

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 12/2

97

Hangry Joe’s Hot Chicken & Wings Hot chicken sandwiches and wings

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$305.5K-$518K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 78/0

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 31/0

99

50/1

101 Costa Oil Oil-change services FRANCHISING SINCE 2020 STARTUP COST $155.8K-$1.9M

UNITS

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 15/1

103

/ Co.-Owned) 29/24 (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 11/1

/ Co.-Owned) 14/2

104

KeyGlee Wholesale real estate

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$67.3K-$311.95K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 51/8

105

Vignette Collection Hotels

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$17.4M-$82.1M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 12/0

106

The Roof Resource Roof replacement

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$89.1K-$115.7K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 11/1

107

The Designery Kitchen, bath, and closet design services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$156.1K-$387.1K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 46/0

108

The Tox Lymphatic-based body sculpting services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$236.3K-$399K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2/12

109

Iron 24 24-hour gyms

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$201.1K-$480.8K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 9/5

110 Statemint Pop-up apparel consignment shops

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$39.4K-$59.1K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 20/1

111

MilkShake Factory Milkshakes, chocolates, caramels

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$476.7K-$739.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2/11

112

Vara Juice Juices, smoothies, fruit bowls

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$251.9K-$647.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 10/0

113

Renovation Sells Residential presale renovations

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$79K-$171.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 38/1

114 Ohm Fitness Group fitness training using electro muscle stimulation

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$337.5K-$885K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 10/2

115

The Fresh Monkee Protein shakes

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$155.2K-$317.2K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/4

$245,051

$1,252,496

on the

116

Hydrate IV Bar IV therapy spas

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020 STARTUP COST

$238.1K-$454K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 12/4

117

Pink Zebra Moving Local moving services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$145.4K-$203.8K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 19/0

118 DryerVentz - DuctVentz Cleaning Service Dryer vent and air duct inspection, cleaning, and repair

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

$68.9K-$98.9K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 14/0

119 National Academy of Athletics Youth sports camps FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$44.3K-$63.3K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/13

120 Garage Kings

Garage floor coatings, cabinets, and storage solutions

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

$189.5K-$238.3K

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 28/5

121 Hudson Valley Swim Swimming and water safety lessons for all ages

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$98.3K-$131.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/8

122

Cookie Plug Cookies and desserts

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$200.8K-$577.8K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 31/3

123

The Pampered Peach Wax Bar Waxing spas

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$67.7K-$195.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 9/0

124

Tempo by Hilton Upscale hotels

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$23.1M-$57.7M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3/0

125

Bowled Healthy Food Company

Acai bowls and smoothies

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$116.5K-$273K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 8/1

126

Sticky Fingers Cooking Cooking schools for children

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$77.5K-$125.4K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/2

127

W.O.L.F. Fitness Gyms Fitness centers

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$406.2K-$1.2M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3/3

128

Angelina Italian Bakery

Baked goods, pizza, coffee, desserts

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$439.8K-$1.7M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2/3

129

Joshua Tree Experts

Tree and lawn care, pest control

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$460.7K-$597.5K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/1

130

Snapchef

Staffing and training for commercial kitchens

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$135.3K-$194.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2/4

131

Meals of Hope

Meal packing events

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$61.1K-$71.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 7/1

132

FreeForm Chiropractic Chiropractic services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$376.7K-$596.7K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 4/3

133

Sea Love

Candle-making workshops

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$108.9K-$281.4K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/1

134

HomeCare

Advocacy Network Nonmedical home care

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$144.7K-$186.5K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 9/1

135

VooDoo Wing Company

Wings, salads, sandwiches, sides, desserts

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$207.8K-$475.95K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 4/5

136

Legato Living Residential assisted living and memory care

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$255.4K-$1.3M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/0

137

Special Strong Adaptive fitness for individuals with physical, mental, and cognitive challenges

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$79K-$96.2K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 8/1

138 Junbi

Matcha and tea

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$268.8K-$576.3K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/2

139 Epic Health and Fitness

Fitness centers

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$284.5K-$699.5K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/1

140

NEST Protection Plan

Annual mold-free healthy home service plans

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$73.2K-$93.7K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/1

141 Boost Home Healthcare Home healthcare

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$155.1K-$310.3K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 7/0

142 iSmash Entertainment centers offering rage rooms, splatter paint, and ax throwing

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$197K-$624.96K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/2

143

Southern Steer Butcher Butcher shops and groceries

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$428.7K-$722.7K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/1

144 CPA Moms Virtual accounting and tax services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2020

STARTUP COST

$35.7K-$51.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 9/0

145 Jars by Fabio Viviani Desserts in a jar, coffee FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$208.95K-$644.95K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/1

146 Season 2 Consign Luxury handbag, accessories, and shoe consignment sales

FRANCHISING SINCE 2022

STARTUP COST

$188.6K-$276.1K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 8/1

147 Daddy’s Chicken Shack Chicken sandwiches and fingers, breakfast, sides FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$725.8K-$1.2M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/1

148 Serotonin Anti-Aging Centers Health optimization and anti-aging services

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$665.6K-$1.4M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 6/2

149 Jeff’s Bagel Run Bagels, cream cheese, coffee

FRANCHISING SINCE 2023

STARTUP COST

$435K-$712.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5/2

150 Crispy Cones European-style ice cream and fruit cones

FRANCHISING SINCE 2021

STARTUP COST

$284.8K-$543K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 4/2

WHERE WELLNESS MEETS WEALTH

If You Can Do Better, Then Buy It!

Ever see a struggling business and think, I could do that better? That’s why Jason Stucky bought his first franchise. Then the real business education began. by CARL STOFFERS

Jason Stucky never planned to own his own business. But after working at his local Color Me Mine studio in Geneva, Illinois, he couldn’t resist getting more involved.

Stucky is a Navy veteran who had a career in retail management. He took a break to become a stay-at-home dad, then returned to the workforce in 2018 by managing his local Color Me Mine studio. “Because of my retail background,” he says, “I saw what they were not doing with branding and marketing.” When he learned the location was for sale, he wanted in.

Stucky and his husband decided to take a massive risk: They invested most of their 401(k) savings to buy the studio. The first few years were grueling. But Stucky pushed forward, improving operations and fostering a sense of community. The franchise was eventually acquired by Twist Brands, the parent company of Painting with a Twist, and the new ownership was critical in helping Stucky open a second location.

Here, he shares lessons from unexpected entrepreneurship.

What was it like stepping into the franchisee role?

The first three years, it was pretty much a 24/7 job. Not that I was there all day, but I was definitely there every single day, just making sure that things were being implemented properly.

Was there any specific challenge that you ran into early on?

Under the original franchisor [before the sale to Twist Brands], there were a lot of things that were “wild, wild west” and people were just kind of allowed to do whatever they wanted. There wasn’t much support, and there was really no attention to the branding, which is what we’re focusing on now with this new franchisor.

How have you had to adapt your business style from a traditional retail style?

When I first opened, I would do everything in my power not to give a refund. I got some negative reviews online over stuff like that. And one day I woke up and thought, This is just ceramics Now, if someone wants a refund, they get it. I don’t argue with them, because I want them to leave happy so they’ll come back. If you battle with them and act like they’re trying to get something over on you—which is what a lot of owners do—you’re alienating them.

How much do those soft skills make a difference in your industry?

It’s different than normal retail,

where if you make sure everything’s priced correctly, it’s clean, and the staff is friendly, then everything is supposed to fall in place. In this type of business, you have to make a connection with your community. It’s not just about coming and spending money and leaving. The staff has fun with customers. We hired an assistant manager who really makes this personal connection with everyone. There are lots of 5-star reviews with his name in them. He and a couple other key new hires are making people feel like this isn’t just a space where you’re coming to paint, but you’re

coming to paint with friends— and the employees are your friends, too.

What led you to open a second location in 2023?

I always said I was never going to have a second location, just because staffing is the biggest chore. But a few years ago, I was like, I want to open up another one. I don’t know what made me think that, but I just got on this kick and was like, We could totally do this.

Are you done expanding? I think, for now, this is where we’re at, yeah. But I would never say never.

→ BIG RISK, BIG REWARD Jason Stucky (back) and his husband invested most of their 401(k) savings in their first franchise.

When You Cannot Fail

Orhan Veli arrived in the U.S. as a child refugee. Today, he’s the No. 1 Saladworks franchisee. His secret? Supporting his people. by CARL STOFFERS

When Orhan Veli’s family arrived in the United States in 1995, failure was not an option.

They were forced to flee ethnic conflict in Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed—and as refugees in the U.S., they had no choice but to rebuild their lives from scratch. Veli, who was 11 at the time, watched his engineer father become a pizza delivery driver. His mother, a trained artist, found work in a screen-printing factory. Their grit and resilience left an impression on Veli, who eventually graduated from college and began a career in finance.

The corporate world didn’t satisfy him. So in 2006, Veli and his father leveraged all the equity in their home for Veli to buy his first franchise, a cheesesteak venture. With everything on the line, once again, failure was not an option. In 2012, Veli and his dad opened their first Saladworks location. After expanding to his second location, he cashed out of cheesesteaks to go all in on salads.

Today, he operates 11 Saladworks locations in the Philadelphia area, and he’s the top franchisee in the system. He believes much of his success comes down to his belief that people are resilient and resourceful, just the way his parents were. As such, his top three success strategies are all about supporting his employees.

1/ Adapt to your team, not the other way around.

When Veli took over his first restaurant, most of his team spoke only Spanish. Instead of replacing these hard-working employees, he learned Spanish. “It’s about finding the most efficient way that you can make things work,” he says. “If that means learning a new skill, you have to do it.”

2/ Don’t just identify ambition. Cultivate it.

Veli believes success comes from giving opportunities to diligent employees. He remembers one of his strongest hires: “She couldn’t speak English,” he says. “I said, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll figure this out. As long as you’re hardworking, you’ll be fine.’ Today, she’s a general manager.”

ADVICE FROM THE FRANCHISOR/

3/ Create a team of distinctive individuals.

“You need a mix,” Veli says. “You need a leader. You need the team cheerleader. You need the critical thinker who says, ‘This isn’t good enough.’ You need the person who thinks outside the box, and the person who can organize it all and ensure we stay within our operational policies.”

How did Orhan Veli become so successful?

Kelly Roddy, CEO of Saladworks’ parent company, WOWorks, says that Veli has a distinct vision for his businesses—which is unique, but also fits within the overall system. “Orhan is more strategic than other top performers,” Roddy says. “We have an overall culture that’s based on a set of values—but Orhan has taken that and developed his own set of values and his own culture within his own [stores]. He spends a lot of time with his team members and really focuses on how to motivate them.”

Franchising Is the Backbone of Entrepreneurship

This year, the franchise industry is on pace to outperform the U.S. economy. Here’s why.

by MATT HALLER, president and CEO, International Franchise Association

Entrepreneurship has long been the backbone of the American Dream, and at its core lies the transformative power of franchising.

In 2025, franchising continues to shine as a dominant force in the U.S. economy—offering aspiring entrepreneurs a pathway to going into business for themselves, but not by themselves. The organization I lead, the International Franchise Association (IFA), projects that franchising is set to grow 2.4% this year, outpacing the broader U.S. economy’s expected 1.9% GDP growth, with projections of over 210,000 jobs created. We expect the number of franchise establishments to increase by more than 20,000 units this year, or 2.5%, to 851,000 total units across the country.

That’s a testament to its resilience and potential, even in the face of uneasiness in the economy due to wavering consumer confidence, geopolitical and policy uncertainty in the U.S., and lingering high interest rates for small businesses.

A catalyst for economic growth/

Franchising’s strength lies in its unique ability to pair entrepreneurial ambition with the stability and name recognition of an established brand.

While not all franchise brands are created equal, the winning formula is clear: When potential franchise investors choose to partner with brands that uphold responsible franchising practices, they benefit from an existing business playbook, a network of other franchisees, and support

from the brand.

From quick-service restaurants to retail stores to residential services, franchises span nearly every industry imaginable at a wide range of investment costs. The IFA anticipates the greatest growth to come in the personal services and retail food, products, and services categories—but there’s growth to be found throughout the system.

Before you buy a franchise, of course, the IFA recommends that potential franchise investors

conduct significant due diligence when researching a franchise opportunity, talk to existing and former franchisees in those systems, and hire their own legal counsel that has experience reviewing franchise agreements.

dard that struck at the heart of the franchise model, the IFA is ensuring that franchising remains a robust pathway to entrepreneurship and that the door to opportunity can be opened through franchising for generations to come.

The franchise industry can’t just talk to lawmakers, of course: We also must talk to the public, and invite them to learn more about this great industry. That’s why we host events like our inaugural IFA World Franchise Show, from May 9 to 10 in Miami Beach, Florida, where prospective buyers can find hundreds of franchises across all investment levels to explore.

Overcoming challenges and misconceptions/

challenges and

Despite its many advantages, franchising has faced hurdles in recent years, such as shifting policy environments and misconceptions about its business model at the federal and state levels.

However, these challenges have been largely overcome due to franchise brands and franchisees banding together through advocacy efforts—which we’ve been proud to lead. Through proactive engagement with lawmakers and regulators, and federal court decisions striking down rules like the joint employer stan-

A bright future for franchising/

Franchising is more than a business model—it’s a pathway to success for countless entrepreneurs looking to own their own business and make an impact in their community.

As we witness continued growth in 2025, marked by projections of $936.4 billion in franchise output nationwide, the IFA remains steadfast in advocating for franchisees and franchisors alike. By fostering collaboration across all stakeholders, from business owners to suppliers, franchising continues to strengthen its role as a cornerstone of economic growth.

FRANCHISE 101

Why Change Careers and Open a Franchise?

Here are five reasons why franchise ownership could be the right fit for you. by

RAY TITUS

We’ve all been there: Stuck in an unfulfilling job and hoping for a change. If that sounds like you, but you don’t want to land in another version of the same situation, it could be time to promote yourself from employee to boss as the owner of your own business. How? By buying a franchise.

You don’t need entrepreneurship experience. At my company, United Franchise Group, we’ve worked with about 1,800 people who became franchisees—and most of them have transitioned from another career. Many people can do so without having worked in the industry they’re investing in, as long as they have drive and ambition. If that sounds like you, then here are five reasons to make owning a franchise your next job.

1/ It works.

Franchising is a fresh start in a proven business model, with an attractive balance of risk and reward. When you purchase a franchise, you get a company whose products and processes have been tested and perfected in the real world, with actual customers and employees. Plus, you get the strength of representing an already established brand that’s recognized and trusted.

2/ You’ll get invaluable training and support.

Franchising gives you all the benefits of big business with the freedom of being a local owner. Unlike starting an independent business from scratch, joining a franchise gives you training, setup assistance, and support, including shared resources like cooperative advertising and mass purchasing. Thanks to programs like these, when you open your business, you can focus on growth right away.

3/ There’s a franchise to fit almost anyone—

Companies in pretty much every industry are available as franchises, and you’re likely to find one that suits your personality, skills, and goals. In my experience, all personalities work in franchising except the “know-it-all” who refuses to follow established procedures. You need to follow the system, so if your ego won’t allow you to learn from others, a franchise is not right for you.

can utilize your strengths. But be sure to really research the industry. Meet the franchisor to get a gut feeling, and then talk to other owners. Visit their competitors, too, and speak to professionals in the business before making a final decision.

4/ No experience is necessary.

Sometimes, lack of experience can even be a benefit: You’re not bringing old habits that might go against your franchisor’s procedures. But you do really need to like the business, and especially what that business can do for your lifestyle. Choose a field you like or have some affinity for, and look for a company where you

5/ Franchisees still have control.

While corporate leadership does dictate that certain procedures be followed, the franchisee still has a lot of freedom and flexibility in managing their business. Every team should include management, marketing, sales, production, and technology, but how those teams are utilized is up to the franchisee.

ALL BUSINESSES ramp up differently, depending on sales and expenses, but the typical time frame is six to eighteen months. That first year or so is always the toughest for any kind of business. You’ll be learning a new industry, hiring all-new staff, and finding your way—but franchisees have resources to make the experience a little less overwhelming, including a manual you can refer back to at any time. Plus, you can always rely on corporate leaders and fellow franchisees to have your back.

Ray Titus is CEO of United Franchise Group.

What Are a Franchisee’s Roles and Responsibilities?

If you’re going to be a franchisee, you should know exactly what’s expected of you. by JEFF

CHEATHAM

Franchising is built on strict adherence to mandated systems and operational controls. These include specific—and very different—roles and responsibilities for franchisors and franchisees.

Most simply: Franchisors are the brand. They grant licenses to franchisees to do business under the brand’s name and trademark. When a franchisee signs a franchise agreement, it’s crucial that they abide by the role and responsibilities expected of them to uphold the name and standards of the brand.

Here’s what anyone hoping to enter this ecosystem needs to know about what a franchisee is and does.

The franchisee’s role

The franchisee’s responsibilities

Franchisees must adhere to a long list of demands related to owning and operating a licensed business, and not everyone is cut out for it. The role requires operating strictly within the confines of the brand’s proven business model, and remaining in compliance with the franchisor’s recommended procedures—which extend to systems, presentation, and protocols.

In essence, the franchisee’s job is to “color inside the lines,” and failure to do so could jeopardize the franchise agreement. The franchisee needs to sell the product or service according to the franchise’s provided standards, which increases the likelihood of keeping the business successful

First and foremost, franchisees are responsible for purchasing and funding the franchise, though franchisors may offer financing or recommend thirdparty financing providers. Costs associated with franchise ownership include the initial franchise fee, associated costs to elevate the business, ongoing capital, and recurring royalty payments. Franchisees are responsible for comprehending the franchise’s business model and knowing how to operate the business in accordance with the franchisor’s operations manual.

Additionally, franchisees are also expected to attend the brand’s mandatory training sessions, which provide the knowledge necessary to train others and ensure that they pos-

sess a complete understanding of how the business functions.

Franchisees may also be responsible for pooling money towards co-op advertising, marketing, and promotions to fund outreach that attracts consumer interest in the brand’s product or service.

When it comes to representing the brand, it is a franchisee’s responsibility to continually protect and defend the brand’s reputation, avoiding any behavior or activities that could potentially harm the franchisor’s standing.

With the guidance and assistance of the franchisor, franchisees are also responsible for attracting and building a customer base, while generating revenue in line with the brand’s benchmarks for success. If required, franchisees must

participate in validation sessions and attend organizational meetings, conferences, and annual corporate retreats.

Lastly, if required, it’s the franchisee’s responsibility to provide timely financial reporting on all business activities so that the brand can track individual unit progress and profitability.

The roles and responsibilities of individual franchisees are designed to ensure their operations run smoothly and in accordance with the franchisor’s proven business model. Though owners may come from different backgrounds and be in various stages of their lives, the obligations, roles, and responsibilities inherent to being a franchisee are designed to ensure the continued success of the franchise brand that they represent.

What Does Franchise Ownership Cost?

Franchising costs money. Here’s what everything means. by

CLARISSA BUCH ZILBERMAN

Are you looking for the right franchise for you? Once you’ve settled on a brand you like, it’s time to run all the numbers—from one-time costs to all the ongoing fees that come with buying and operating a franchise from day to day.

Although a brick-and-mortar business might require you to secure a storefront and a staff, and an e-commerce company might include software and inventory expenses, there are other costs unique to franchising that every franchisee-to-be should be aware of. While these fees will be clearly outlined in the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) that you are required to review before buying the franchise, it’s best to know what these terms mean right from the start.

Franchise fees

One of the biggest perks of franchising is buying into the company’s pre-existing model, business method, and support systems—not to mention the right to use its trademark. To do that, you must pay what’s called a franchise fee. These fees differ from franchise to franchise, but they are typically a one-time payment.

What exactly are you paying for? The franchisor is responsible for developing and maintaining its business model, training you, and providing you with a support system. This fee helps the franchisor recoup some of those costs.

Royalty fees

Training and support fees

Some franchisors charge these fees in addition to the initial franchise and ongoing royalty fees—for both the training needed before your business opens as well as continuous training, education, and support as your business evolves. If your franchisor does not include these fees, then they’re most likely included in one of the two aforementioned fees.

Advertising fees

Franchisors need capital to operate their national commercial, social media, billboard, and even paper-mail ad campaigns. Similar to royalty fees, advertising fees are usually a percentage of your gross sales, paid regularly to the franchisor to contribute to its overall advertising fund.

Advertising fees contribute to building brand recognition and attracting new customers to the entire franchise system. As a franchisee, you should understand what type of campaigns you can expect to see as a result of your payments—and know that these advertisements are for the brand as a whole, not individual locations.

Equipment, inventory, and technology fees

Depending on the industry and franchise, you might need to purchase specific technology, equipment, or inventory from the franchisor or their approved suppliers. This can include everything from pointof-sale systems to uniforms to food products. It’s difficult to estimate how much these costs

will be and how frequently you will need to pay them, because they vary depending on the industry and the franchisor’s requirements—so be sure to ask about them.

Legal fees

Finally, you’ll need to hire an attorney to review the franchise agreement and advise you on any potential legal issues or concerns that you might be responsible for as time goes on. This can be a significant expense, depending on how complex the franchise agreement is and what the lawyer’s rate is, but working with an experienced franchise attorney can help you navigate the franchise agreement and protect your interests as you begin the franchising journey.

How Do You Finance a Franchise?

Some franchises offer in-house financing, an easy solution for cash flow woes. But it’s worth taking a close look to make sure it’s the right choice for you. by

CLARISSA BUCH ZILBERMAN

If you’ve decided to embark on the journey of becoming a franchisee, the start is often the bumpiest part. First there’s all the research. Then, if you’re doing it right, there are the countless interviews with franchisors and existing franchisees. Once you’ve settled on a brand, there’s the process of submitting an application and reviewing the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).

And finally, once you’ve gotten through all that, you must confront what is often the most daunting challenge—securing the financing needed to buy a franchise. After all, initial and ongoing capital needs can add up quickly.

You may have the cash to finance yourself, or you might be able to obtain financing from banks, the Small Business Administration (SBA), or private investors. But depending on the franchise you want to buy, there might be another, lesser-known financing option available to you: It’s called in-house financing. Not all franchises offer it—and even some that do may not offer it across the board to all franchisees. But when it’s available, it can be an attractive alternative.

Pros

1/ Flexibility

So what exactly is in-house financing? In this context, it means the franchisor is offering to finance your purchase of their franchise. Rather than go to a bank or other lending institution for your financing needs, you’ll make payments directly to the franchisor over a set period of time. Like any financial agreement, however, there are pluses and minuses. Let’s take a closer look.

The franchisor may offer better lending terms than a traditional lender. This can mean extending the payment period or offering lower interest rates, which can make financing more affordable and manageable.

2/ Simplicity

You are eliminating a third party (a bank) in the transaction.

3/ Investment

Because the franchisor has a direct stake in your franchise, it is probably more invested in your success.

Cons

1/ Large down payment

You may be required to pay more upfront to keep your monthly payments and interest rates low.

2/ Limited options

Because you don’t have other banks to talk with, you have less ability to negotiate or play multiple parties against each other.

3/ Rigidity

The franchisor will offer terms for the loan, and you may have no choice but to take them.

IFYOU DECIDE to obtain in-house financing, read the terms before agreeing to anything— and know

exactly what you’re committing to in terms of down payments, regular payments, interest rates, and other fees. Seek clarity on anything you’re uncertain about. The franchisor should be willing to work with you and ensure that you fully understand the financing arrangement. In-house financing can be a great option, especially for people who want a close working relationship with their franchisor and don’t want the hassle of a third-party lender. As long as you do your due diligence to understand what financing option is best for you, your franchise should be on the road to financial success.

The Top FranchisesFood of 2025

Ever dream of opening a restaurant, bakery, or candy shop? Start with this list of 150 top brands.

by TRACY STAPP HEROLD

If you love food, we have good news: You can fast-track your way into the industry. Franchising offers a wide variety of brands that you can buy—at a wide range of budgets—from decades-old, beloved food brands to the hottest new culinary concepts. So whether you’re ready to start your journey toward owning a food business or just curious to see what opportunities are out there, our list of the top food franchises is the perfect place to begin.

On the following pages, you’ll find these franchises ranked from No. 1 to No. 150, based on how they scored in the 2025 Franchise 500, which evaluates franchise opportunities based on more than

150 data points in the areas of costs and fees, size and growth, franchisee support, and financial strength and stability. We’ve also highlighted which brands rank at the top of their industry categories (such as Mexican Food, Coffee, and Acai Bowls).

Keep in mind that while this list can serve as a great jumping-off point for your own research, it should not be taken as an endorsement of any particular brand. It’s important to do your homework to find the franchise that will best suit your tastes. That will require reading the company’s legal documents, consulting with an attorney and an accountant, and talking to as many current and former franchisees as you can.

1

$610.8K-$3.98M

2

$203.6K-$1.3M

3

4

5 Culver’s

7 Wingstop Chicken wings, tenders, and sandwiches, fries, sides

STARTUP COST

$259.4K-$912.1K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2,300/52

8

Arby’s #1 IN MISCELLANEOUS SANDWICHES

Sandwiches, fries, shakes

STARTUP COST

$644.95K-$2.5M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2,516/1,097

9

Papa Johns #1 IN PIZZA

Pizza STARTUP COST

$272.9K-$989.4K TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 5,501/570

10

Pizza Hut

Pizza, pasta, wings STARTUP COST

$412K-$2.1M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 18,591/7

11

IHOP #1 IN BREAKFAST/ BRUNCH RESTAURANTS Family restaurants STARTUP COST

$1.8M-$4.4M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 1,815/0

18

Scooter’s

21

Paris Baguette

#1 IN BAKERY CAFES

Bakery cafes

STARTUP COST

$718.1K-$1.8M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3,883/19

22

McAlister’s Deli

Sandwiches, salads, baked potatoes

STARTUP COST

$1.1M-$2.5M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 516/34

The Top Food Franchises of 2025

23

Marco’s Pizza Pizza, pizza bowls, subs, wings, salads, cheese bread

STARTUP COST

$285.6K-$804.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 1,161/43

24

Burger King Burgers, fries, breakfast STARTUP COST

$2M-$4.7M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 18,223/1,161

25

Sonic Drive-In Burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, breakfast, ice cream, beverages

STARTUP COST

$1.7M-$3.4M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3,195/326

26

Charleys Cheesesteaks & Wings

#1 IN PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SANDWICHES

Philly cheesesteaks, fries, wings, lemonade

STARTUP COST

$202.1K-$935.7K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 735/57

27

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

Frozen custard, steakburgers, hot dogs

STARTUP COST

$897.8K-$2.8M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 497/34

28

Jimmy John’s Sandwiches

STARTUP COST

$361.2K-$674.2K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2,604/40

31 Auntie Anne’s #1 IN PRETZELS Soft pretzels STARTUP

29

Wienerschnitzel #1 IN HOT DOGS Hot dogs, ice cream STARTUP COST

$499.1K-$1.96M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 320/0

30

Chickens

/ Co.-Owned) 290/0 33

/ Co.-Owned) 198/33 34 Nothing Bundt Cakes #1 IN MISCELLANEOUS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 815/145

/ Co.-Owned) 240/11

→ AUNTIE ANNE’S No. 1 in Pretzels

About Döner Haus

Döner Haus is redefining QSR with a takeout-focused concept bringing authentic German-style Döner Kebabs to the U.S. Founded in 2023, it serves 100% filler-free, Zabiha halal meats in fresh Turkish pide bread. With a tech-driven, efficient model, Döner Haus delivers bold flavors at speed and scale.

Döner Haus Facts

 Döner Haus does one thing & does it rightserving authentic German-style Döner Kebabs

 Döner Kebabs are the next big thing in food, coming over from Europe and set to take the US by storm

 Döner Haus offers efficient, streamlined operations with a very focused menu primarily for takeout and delivery

 Extremely fair 3% royalty rate and 2% brand development fund to allow franchisees to grow with the company

Hottest New Franchise: Döner Kebabs Take America

Delicious, portable, and a staple of European street food culture, authentic Döner Kebabs from Germany are set to take the U.S. by storm, and Döner Haus is leading the charge. With a commitment to quality and a nationwide distribution system already in place, Döner Haus gives franchisees a ground-floor opportunity to introduce this iconic food to the market at half the franchise fees of competitors.

STREAMLINED AND FOCUSED MENU

Döner Haus has a simple mission: do one thing and do it right. Their commitment to authenticity and quality sets them apart, from 100% filler-free, organic halal meat to custom-made pide bread made just like in Germany. Every step of the process is designed to deliver the bold, authentic flavors that have made Döner Kebabs a staple across Europe.

With a focused menu offering Döner Kebabs in a sandwich, wrap, or box, Döner Haus stays true to what it does best. The result is a healthy, delicious, and truly authentic Döner experience, bringing a taste of Germany to the U.S. market.

THE DÖNER HAUS DIFFERENCE

Döner Kebabs are Europe’s number one street food and a $6 billion industry in Germany alone. Launched in 2023 in New York City, Döner Haus has quickly proven its success, with annual revenues exceeding $1.9 million at its initial launch. The company has built a 50 state distribution system to ensure consistency across all its stores, with robust proprietary technology to back it up. And with a focus on take-away and delivery, Döner Haus stores have reduced footprints and overhead that allow franchisees to

secure prime real estate in high-traffic areas other concepts cannot afford.

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES

Döner Haus provides a streamlined, turnkey franchise model with fees set at half the industry standard. The concept is designed for efficiency, eliminating unnecessary overhead while maintaining high operational standards. Franchisees receive support with location selection, staff training, branding, and day-to-day operations, ensuring a smooth launch and sustained success as you enter an untapped street food market.

→ BOSTON’S PIZZA

No. 1 in Full-Service Pizza Restaurants

$174.5K-$619.5K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2,027/90

56

Jack in the Box Burgers, chicken sandwiches, tacos, salads, bowls, sides STARTUP COST

$1.8M-$4.2M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 2,046/145

Sandwiches, pizza, soups, salads STARTUP COST

/ Co.-Owned) 284/28

58

/ Co.-Owned) 1,660/49

Bistreaux Louisiana-themed sports restaurants STARTUP COST

$1.6M-$7.1M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 73/6

60

A&W Restaurants Root beer, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, sides, ice cream STARTUP COST

$287.4K-$1.6M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 863/2

Pizza and subs STARTUP COST

$431.9K-$629.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 483/33

62

Golden Corral #1 IN STEAKHOUSES

Family steakhouses, buffets, and bakeries

STARTUP COST

$2.1M-$8.5M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 352/3

Smoothies, juices, and bowls

STARTUP COST

$242.95K-$1M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 789/1

64

Biggby Coffee

Specialty coffee, tea, smoothies, energy drinks, baked goods, sandwiches STARTUP COST

$328K-$792.8K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 405/0

$315.5K-$559.1K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 119/7

71

Bruster’s Real Ice Cream Ice cream, frozen yogurt, ices, sherbets

STARTUP COST

$320.5K-$2.6M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 210/1

PERELL

80

Ben & Jerry’s

Ice cream, frozen yogurt, nondairy frozen desserts, sorbet

STARTUP COST

$153.2K-$549.3K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 194/2

81

DonutNV

Mini doughnuts, juices, hot and iced coffee

STARTUP COST

$189.6K-$272.9K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 135/1

82

Kung Fu Tea

Bubble tea

STARTUP COST

$169K-$378K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 405/2

83

Jinya Ramen Bar #1 IN ASIAN FOOD Ramen, tapas, craft beer STARTUP COST

$1.4M-$3M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 60/3

84

The Original Rainbow Cone Ice cream, ice cream cakes, doughnuts

STARTUP COST

$386.1K-$3.3M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 3/20

85

Friendly’s

Family restaurants

STARTUP COST

$1.1M-$2.7M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 97/0

86

Pizza Inn

Pizza, pasta, salads, buffet STARTUP COST

$412K-$1.4M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 104/0

87

$293.2K-$782.9K TOTAL

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 561/5

88 Playa Bowls #1 IN ACAI BOWLS Acai, pitaya, coconut, chia pudding, and oatmeal bowls, smoothies, juices STARTUP COST

$188.7K-$636.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 239/24

89 PrimoHoagies Subs STARTUP COST $365.5K-$763.4K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 117/0

90 Donatos Pizza, subs, salads STARTUP COST $482K-$998K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 127/51

91 Moe’s Southwest Grill Mexican food STARTUP COST $745.3K-$1.8M

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 600/5

92 Farmer Boys Burgers, breakfast, sandwiches, salads STARTUP COST $1.1M-$2.6M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 71/31

93 Potbelly Sandwich Works Toasted sandwiches, soups, salads, shakes, desserts STARTUP COST $643.5K-$1.2M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 84/345

94 Hardee’s Burgers STARTUP COST $1.4M-$2.6M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 1,839/204

LaRosa’s Pizzeria Pizza, Italian food STARTUP COST $1.4M-$2.6M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 54/9

95 Teriyaki Madness Asian food STARTUP COST $350.5K-$976.9K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 153/1

→ PLAYA BOWLS No. 1 in Acai Bowls

99

Baya Bar

Acai, pitaya, and coconut bowls, smoothies, juices, avocado toast, coffee

STARTUP COST

$160.99K-$340.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 27/2

100

The Toasted Yolk Café Breakfast, brunch, lunch, cocktails

$1.1M-$1.7M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 34/6

101

Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza Take-and-bake pizza

$367.2K-$670.5K

/ Co.-Owned) 1,108/12

102

Sonny’s BBQ Barbecue restaurants

STARTUP COST

$717.5K-$1.1M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 90/1

103

Yogen Frűz

#1 IN MISCELLANEOUS FROZEN DESSERTS Frozen yogurt, soft-serve ice cream

STARTUP COST

$285.1K-$754.7K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 516/1

104

Pizza Factory Pizza, pasta, wings, sandwiches, salads

STARTUP COST

$323K-$740K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 112/1

105

Nick the Greek #1 IN MEDITERRANEAN FOOD Souvlaki and gyros

STARTUP COST

$414.8K-$597K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 68/10

106

Church’s Texas Chicken Chicken

108

Duck Donuts

Doughnuts and coffee

STARTUP COST

$444.4K-$653.3K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 156/1

109

Rakkan Ramen Ramen and Japanese food

STARTUP COST

$379.5K-$865K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 14/7

110

107

Another

Wetzel’s Pretzels Soft pretzels, lemonade, hot dogs

STARTUP COST

$178.5K-$689.8K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 388/38

111

Ellianos Coffee Specialty coffee and smoothies

STARTUP COST

$671.5K-$1.1M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 60/0

112

Kolache Factory Kolaches, pastries, coffee

STARTUP COST

$641.9K-$937.4K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 30/30

113

la Madeleine French bakeries and cafes

STARTUP COST

$1.2M-$2.2M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 64/26

114

Elmer’s Breakfast Lunch Dinner/Egg N’ Joe Family restaurants

STARTUP COST

$1.1M-$4.3M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 13/13

115

Cheba Hut Toasted Subs Toasted sandwiches, salads, sides, alcohol STARTUP COST

$631.2K-$2.2M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 64/2

116

Barrio Burrito Bar Mexican food

STARTUP COST

$418.6K-$753.2K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 327/1

117

The Top Food Franchises

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Chocolates, confections

STARTUP COST

$267.1K-$824.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 146/2

118

Ledo Pizza Pizza, subs, pasta

STARTUP COST

$206.3K-$672.5K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 119/0

119

Togo’s

Sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups

STARTUP COST

$271.6K-$653K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 143/6

120

Acai Express Superfood Bowls

Acai bowls, smoothies, juices, toast

STARTUP COST

$158.4K-$431K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 54/10

121

Everbowl

Health food bowls STARTUP COST

$213.5K-$475.8K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 72/19

122 Juice It Up! Smoothies, raw juices, acai bowls

STARTUP COST

$247.1K-$660.4K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 89/1

123

Dave’s Hot Chicken

Nashville-style hot chicken

STARTUP COST

$619.8K-$1.96M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 205/6

124

Tapville Social #1 IN SELF-POUR BARS

Self-service beer taproom restaurants/kiosks/mobile units

STARTUP COST

$147.8K-$2.1M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 29/2

125

Nekter Juice Bar

Juices, smoothies, acai bowls, nondairy ice cream

STARTUP COST

$246.6K-$640.8K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 182/31

126

Pokemoto #1 IN POKE

Poke bowls, burritos, salads, boba tea

STARTUP COST

$184.5K-$378.4K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 36/3

127

Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken

Korean fried chicken

STARTUP COST

$190.9K-$1.2M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 443/5

128

Crust Pizza Co.

Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads

STARTUP COST

$766.5K-$1.4M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 23/7

129

Singas Famous Pizza

Pizza, sandwiches, pasta, salads

STARTUP COST

$257K-$792.3K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 28/3

130

Krystal Burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, breakfast, milkshakes

STARTUP COST

$787.7K-$2.2M

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 156/121

131

Pure Green

Smoothies, cold-pressed juices, acai and pitaya bowls

STARTUP COST

$177.5K-$446.9K

TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 46/9

132 Clean Eatz #1 IN MISCELLANEOUS QUICK-SERVICE RESTAURANTS Healthy food STARTUP COST

$353.7K-$798K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 107/2

133 Roy Rogers Restaurants Burgers, roast beef sandwiches, fried chicken

STARTUP COST

$755.3K-$1.6M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 15/24

134

Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream Pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads, ice cream

STARTUP COST

$536.9K-$1.3M

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 37/3

/ Co.-Owned) 6/21

Fox’s Pizza Den Pizza, sandwiches, stromboli, wings, salads, appetizers

Aroma Joe’s Coffee, espresso, tea, energy drinks, baked goods

$586.6K-$1.9M TOTAL

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 114/0

144 Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe Mediterranean and Greek food STARTUP COST

$555K-$1M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 58/39

145

Wingers Restaurant & Alehouse

Casual-themed restaurants and bars

STARTUP COST

$399K-$1.5M

UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 13/7

146

Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop Candy, soda, and gift stores

STARTUP COST

$95.9K-$271K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 98/0

GW Gyro & Wings Gyros, wraps, wings, cheesesteaks, smoothies

$269.7K-$563.7K

/ Co.-Owned) 36/0

147

Mrs. Fields Cookies and baked goods

STARTUP COST

$311.5K-$495.9K TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 198/0

148

The Spice & Tea Exchange

Spices, teas, salts, sweeteners, olive oils, honeys, soy candles

STARTUP COST

$233.7K-$487.8K

TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 91/1

149 Pancheros Mexican food STARTUP COST

$680.5K-$1.4M TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 50/26

150

Cousins Maine Lobster

Lobster rolls and seafood

STARTUP COST

$194K-$968.9K TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 63/7

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.

as

WE’LL MATCH YOU BASED ON YOUR SPECIFIC NEEDS!

The Best Path Is No Path

by Kaitlyn Allen, founder and CEO, MendIt

At age 24, I planned my life out: I got a job at the State Department in Washington, D.C., which I planned to use to enter the Foreign Service, which I thought would help me achieve my ultimate goal—to become a diplomat. But then life got in the way. I fell in love with a friend who would become my husband, and he got a job in Houston, my hometown. So in 2012, I chose to follow him home, giving up one dream for another. As I prepared to leave D.C., I bought a small, porcelain dish engraved with the U.S. Department of State’s seal. It was touristy, but it felt like a souvenir of my old life.

My job search in Texas was frustrating. I’d stare at that porcelain dish and feel nostalgic. I didn’t want to take some random job just to make money. I was looking for a path— something meaningful and reliable, like the predetermined career framework I’d left behind. I was passionate about sustainability, and kept wondering: Who will give me a job in this field?

Honestly, I never considered entrepreneurship. I thought I needed a specific set of credentials to be in business. After all, that’s how government and corporate jobs work: You must be qualified. I had no MBA and no big consulting firm on my resume. But after a year of dead ends, I came to realize something: Nobody is going to do this for me. And isn’t that the seed of entrepreneurship?

I started a consulting firm. I had no idea what I was doing, but I worked hard, found good advisors, and followed the breadcrumbs. As it turns out, I didn’t need qualifications! All I needed was curiosity, a trust in myself, and an acceptance that most paths aren’t as predictable as the one I had left behind. My consulting firm grew and thrived. My partner and I sold it in 2021, and then I decided to pursue another business for which I had no qualifications: I launched MendIt, a platform for clothing repair, where I’m now figuring things out all over again.

I still have that porcelain dish sitting on my desk, but it no longer makes me nostalgic. Now it reminds me that, sometimes, our “plans” can blind us to the greater opportunities ahead. Anything is possible when you relentlessly follow your passion, drop the stories about credentials and worthiness, and simply roll up your sleeves to get started.

→ FROM ANOTHER TIME

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 it, too. Email INSPIRE@ENTREPRENEUR.COM with the subject line “WHAT INSPIRES ME.”

The author’s porcelain dish from her old life still sits on her desk.