The All-New Corolla Hatchback

LAUNCHING/ Why Branding PERSEVERANCE/ Topgolf’s REINVENTION/ Sophia Amoruso

Matters Most (Ask Casper!) P. 18 Long Rise to the Top P. 46 Becomes a True Girlboss P. 58
E
/
r2

October 2018 / Entrepreneur.com

n
t h
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”/G
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How to DoEverything LESSONS IN STRETCHING TIME FROM

Guy Fieri / / P. 50
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→ FIRED UP

FEATURES
Fieri and his wood-fired
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P.50
P.50

Guy Fieri
and the
Multitaskin’
Masters
Restaurants, TV shows, Donkey
Sauce purveyor, vintner—Fieri
personally oversees all of it.
How? By mastering what he calls
“the Lock.” by DAN BOVA

P LU S : More secrets from exceptionally

busy people, including Tim Ferriss,
Randi Zuckerberg, Gen. Stanley
McChrystal (Ret.), and more.

P.40
The Top 150
Company Cultures
We surveyed more than 30,000
employees to find the happiest
workplaces. See our results.

P.46
Topgolf’s Big Swing
How a kooky, shunned U.K. company
was transformed into America’s hottest
new game. by JASON NOTTE

P.58
Girlboss Is Nothing
Like the Old Boss
Sophia Amoruso built Nasty Gal into a
paragon of street fashion—before
it crashed and burned. With her new
venture, Girlboss, she’s doing
everything differently. by LIZ BRODY
ON THE COVER AND THIS PAGE
Photograph by DAVID YELLEN
Grooming by ARIEL R AMIRE Z

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 October 2018

→ TAKING NOTES
Inside Evernote’s
Silicon Valley
headquarters.
P.24

22 Imperfect Genius 35 How an Introvert Built a

EDITOR’S BUSINESS
NOTE UNUSUAL
10 See What an 13 Baked with Love
Entrepreneur Sees How Milk Bar founder
Entrepreneurs see everything Christina Tosi built a national
as inactive opportunities brand on sweet nostalgia.
just waiting to be activated. by LYDIA BELANGER
by JASON FEIFER
16 “I’m the CEO.
Take My Job!”
What if we’re good at one thing,
but not at everything? This is the
story of one CEO discovering that.
by JASON FEIFER
18 Why the Brand Is More
Important Than the Product
Branding isn’t marketing. It’s the
road map for your entire product
line—and company’s future.
by LEONARD SHERMAN
A bedding maker discovers
that going eco-friendly means
being flawed on purpose.
by MAGGIE WILEY
24 Inside Evernote
The staff at Evernote are encour-
aged to lead and learn from each
other, whether that’s a writing
seminar or Lego-building class.
by LYDIA BELANGER
26 Ask Them: “What Am I
Doing Wrong?”
Six entrepreneurs share their
tips for asking employees for—
and receiving—useful and
difficult feedback.
Successful Business
Pooja Sankar is painfully shy. To build
her company, Piazza, she had to get
uncomfortable. But it was worth it.
by STEPHANIE SCHOMER
36 An Online Brand Woos the
Brick-and-Mortar World
Clothing brand Ledbury came up with
a seemingly crazy incentive for physical
retailers: Share its online profits.
by STEPHANIE SCHOMER
38 Why You Need to Use NDAs
Don’t cheap out on creating strong
nondisclosure agreements. Done right,
they build trust with new staff and
partners—and enable you to thrive.
by ADAM BORNSTEIN

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 October 2018

FRANCHISE
93 Franchisee
One woman’s journey from
cleaning houses to cleaning up.
by LYDIA BELANGER

96 Franchisor
No experience is no problem
for Home Franchise Concepts.
by HAYDEN FIELD

98 Suppliers
How to find the right CRM
for your business.
by STEPHANIE SCHOMER

100 A New Century

Once a global power in real
estate, Century 21 has
a new boss and a new vision:
It wants to fix real estate.
by EMILY NONKO

113 Franchises for Any

Budget, Ranked
Top franchises selling for less
than $100K, $100K to $500K,
and more than $500K.
by TRACY STAPP HEROLD

CLOSER
132 What Inspires Me
A cowboy hat reminds this
Silicon Valley CEO to grind
away until the task is done.
by JAY FULCHER

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Opportunities
Everywhere
When you think like an entrepreneur, you see
everything around you diferently.

A FEW MONTHS AGO, my wife she couldn’t afford $10,000 in

and I were brainstorming ways
to market our novel. We spent
three years writing it together—
it’s called Mr. Nice Guy, and it
comes out October 16. And as
any author knows, publicizing
and marketing a book is tough.
It’s a crowded space, few publi-
cations cover books in any
meaningful way, and readers are
hard to reach.
We stared into the air for a
while. Then I thought, What
would happen if I stopped look-
ing at this like an author, and
started doing it like an entre-
preneur? And with that, a new
world opened up.
I don’t see entrepreneurship
as a career choice. It’s a mind-
set. That’s the thing I marvel at
most when spending time with
brilliant entrepreneurs, and it’s
the skill I think everyone should
continually hone. When you
think like an entrepreneur, it’s
like wearing augmented reality
glasses. You see the same things
as everyone else, but you see
them differently. They appear
as inactive opportunities, just
waiting to be activated. All you
need is to find a new way for
something old to be useful.
There are ample famous
examples of this, of course.
Airbnb realized that a house
market research. She realized
the airport wasn’t just a place
to travel; it was actually a per-
fect polling place, filled with
people who have nothing bet-
ter to do than answer questions
about butter dishes, and so she
began showing up early for
flights and surveying travelers.
Or take the man I interviewed
whose camera equipment busi-
ness was slowing. He realized
Amazon wasn’t just a site to sell
products—it was really a giant
R&D lab, where he could scour
reviews of other products, see
buyers’ feedback, and then build
products to meet the comment-
ers’ specific desires. “I like this
clock, but I wish the numbers scene, in exchange for them thrill of finding opportunities,
were bigger,” someone might emailing their entire list about and the anxiety of never pos-
write. Bingo. Today his com- our book. They said yes. sibly finding them all. But at
pany, C+A Global, sells tens of Inactive opportunity: acti- least there’s a solution: Make
thousands of products and has vated. This was exciting. And this mindset a habit. Do it until
offices around the world. addictive! it becomes second nature, until
So I started thinking about I kept going. Would Elliott you can’t remember what it was
what I’d overlooked. What had I Clark, a well-respected cock- like to not see opportunity every-
once thought of as just a part of tail creator I met who goes by where. You’ll see more every day.
my book, but that was really an Apartment Bartender, make Why else do you think I
inactive opportunity? And then, drinks inspired by the book? wrote this month’s column the
aha! There’s a critical scene that Sounds fun, he said. Most way I have? This, right here,
features a remote-controlled authors launch their books at was an opportunity I needed
vibrator. (You weren’t expect- bookstores, but…what if that’s to activate. Now you can let me
ing that, I bet. Mr. Nice Guy is a actually an inactive oppor- know if it was successful.
romantic comedy about two peo- tunity? I emailed a friend at
ple who each week sleep together WeWork; would they host our
and then critically review each party and invite members?
GROOMER, CASEY GEREN

isn’t just a house; it’s a rent-
able space. Uber realized that
a car isn’t just a car; it’s a taxi
service. But this happens on
a smaller scale, too. Consider
the inventor of a butter dish
called Butterie, who told me
other’s performance in a mag-
azine.) What if that vibrator
wasn’t just any ol’ vibrator but
was instead…some brand’s
vibrator? I called the adult prod-
uct company Adam & Eve with
a proposal: I’d put them in the
Yes, they would! Now, back
to Elliott: Would he come?
Yes! Could he get us a liquor
sponsor? Yes! Opportunities Jason Feifer
everywhere! jfeifer@entrepreneur.com
This thinking is equal parts @heyfeifer
thrill and anxiety. There’s the S U B S C R I B E : entm.ag/subscribe

10 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018 Photograph / N I G E L P A R R Y

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 ACHIEVE YOUR FULL POTENTIAL

From defining your leadership style to learning how to motivate your team or reaching
your company’s vision, the Entrepreneur Voices series features inspirational stories from
next-level changemakers and timeless advice for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit.

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PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF MILK BAR

The Accessible Chef

In 10 years, Christina Tosi has grown Milk Bar from a single New York bakery to a national dessert empire—
without losing touch with the customers (and employees) she loves. by LY D I A B E L A N G E R

October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 13
 Q&A

Your company is built

on nostalgic flavors from
many Americans’ childhoods,
but it also feels unique
and modern. How did you
find that niche?
I spent 10 years in other peo-
ple’s kitchens, making their
recipes. That’s the reality of
when you’re first starting out.
When it came time for me
to consider my own voice in
food—when I was no longer
learning technique—I’d ask
anyone and everyone, “What’s
your favorite dessert?” Even
in these communities of cooks
with decades of experience and
education and access to the
most insane kitchens, they’d
say, “My grandma’s chocolate
chip cookie,” or “McDonald’s
fried apple pie.” It helped me
understand what people really
want. But I would never dare
try to compete with, say, my
grandma’s oatmeal cookie—
she made the best. I realized
that my place in the world
wasn’t to compete with these
memories but to breathe new
life into them.

Now you’re 10 years in,

and everyone wants a piece
of the pie, so to speak.
How do you decide which
opportunities to pursue,
keeping that spirit in mind?
We never do anything for the
“wow” factor. We do some-
thing because we connect with
it emotionally. We can spend
two years developing a single
product. If something doesn’t
bring that warmth, that com-
fort, that feeling of a big hug
from Grandma, we don’t do it.
Our partnership with JetBlue
last year is a great example.
Flying was always one of my
favorite things to do as a kid—
we didn’t do it a lot, usually
just to Ohio from Virginia—
but I remember staring out
that window with wonder,
scrunched up in my seat. An

14 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
airplane remains one of my
favorite places to daydream.
So a Milk Bar cookie definitely
has a place there.
Wait; which product took two
years to develop?
The birthday cake. That lit-
tle stinker took two years! My
mom was a working mom, so
for my birthday growing up,
she’d run to the grocery store
and buy a box of cake mix and
a tub of frosting. In 30 min-
utes, there was a cake on the
table. We wanted to make
that from scratch as classically
trained pastry chefs. And it
took us two years to capture
that emotional memory and
get those flavors just right. We
could have put it on the menu,
I’m sure, six months or a year
into the process, and it would
have been fine. But it wouldn’t
be what it is today. That’s what
being a great chef and a great
businessperson is all about:
not stopping just because
time’s up, but knowing when
you’ve actually hit the mark,
and being relentless until
you get there.
You have 14 stores, product
at Target, and cookbooks,
and you’ve collaborated with
everyone from the retailer
Madewell to fast-casual
restaurant &Pizza. Whom do
you look to for guidance at this
stage of the business?
My personal mentors are my
grandmas—neither is still with
me, but I use them as my moral
compass. But my greatest men-
tor over the past few years
has been my husband, Will
Guidara. He knows me well
enough to say, “Your grandma
wouldn’t be cool with that,”
and he’s a restaurateur him-
self, so he helps me figure out
how to bring the truest form
of me to the table. I think a lot
of people underestimate how
many answers they have in
themselves; oftentimes men-
tors are the ones who just help
you find the key to unlock it.
People who are the closest to
you are your best mentors. It
doesn’t have to be someone
who has 20 years on you, and
it doesn’t have to be someone
in the same business as you,
someone who has all the net-
works, secrets, and connec-
tions. But it has to be someone
you can be outrageously hon-
est with.
Is there a specific
hurdle you recently worked
through together?
When I was starting out in this
industry, I didn’t see a lot of
women in the kitchen. But I
found my place among men as
the woman who loved to
pal around and be like every-
one’s kid sister. When I raised
capital for the first time late
last year, I had to work through
a lot of contracts and sit at a
THAT’S WHAT BEING A GREAT CHEF AND A GREAT BUSINESS-
PERSON IS ALL ABOUT: NOT STOPPING JUST BECAUSE
TIME’S UP, BUT KNOWING WHEN YOU’VE ACTUALLY HIT THE
MARK, AND BEING RELENTLESS UNTIL YOU GET THERE.”
lot of tables and negotiate
with a lot of people. I was
immediately put back into this
place of I’m the only girl in the
kitchen again. But my husband
helped me allow that emotion
to exist while also finding a
path forward. I never let myself
get emotional in the kitchen at
my first job or second job
or even third job; instead, I
found ways to help people
around me feel like they knew
me and like they understood
my goals. That turned them
into teammates rather than
enemies. And that’s still a
good strategy.
How have your own support
systems impacted how you
guide your team?
I’m a big proponent of making
myself as accessible as possible
to my team—and to the
people in our industry who are
looking for mentors or a help-
ing hand. Or an oven when
someone’s oven breaks. Or a
delivery van when there’s a
fender bender. It’s doing the
basic neighborly things I was
raised to do as a kid. Most bak-
ery COOs would never say,
“Let’s go get lunch” or ran-
domly drop off doughnuts to
one of their stores or make a
playlist. I guess I do the things
that are simple and honest
and often cost nothing at all,
except for effort and the desire
to connect. And I take the
time to do that.
That must be harder to do as
you continue to scale.
We employ 250 people,
probably 300 by the end of
the year. We defy on every
level what working at a bak-
ery can and should be, from
how we pay our employees to
the benefits we offer—we have
a 401(k) plan and maternity
and paternity leave, which are
just not real things you find
at most bakeries. As a kid, I
was like, I want my own bak-
ery. But it was a pretty selfish
vision—I never thought about
the kind of impact that might
make on people’s lives. It’s been
incredible to create this com-
munity of empowerment and
connectivity.
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 15
You mentioned your recent
Series A funding—what are
your plans for that capital?
To grow, but in places where
you might not expect us. It’s
not to open 101 Milk Bars. It’s
to increase our ability to, like,
show up on your doorstep. It’s
to meet you in the aisles of
your grocery store. It’s to meet
you at those moments in life
that you could very easily take
for granted. It’s to remind you
that there’s cause for celebrat-
ing the everyday.
Is it getting tougher to juggle
the roles of chef and leader?
I’m never missing the kitchen
when I’m in the boardroom,
and I’m never missing the
boardroom when I’m in the
kitchen. But I often find myself
saying, How can I bring more
of the kitchen into the board-
room, and How can I bring
more of the boardroom into
the kitchen? I try to bring that
craftsmanship, that sensibility
of looking at ingredients dif-
ferently, to how I assess busi-
ness challenges and strategies
and positions.
All your guiding philosophies
and themes intertwine.
They all have layers of
meaning. If you’ve ever seen
one of our cookbooks, you’ll
see that in order to make, say,
the cornflake chocolate chip
marshmallow cookie, you’ve
gotta make, like, three reci-
pes just to get to the cookie.
Because there are layers
to everything we do.
 Problem Solvers
“I’m the CEO.
Take My Job!”
Most leaders doubt themselves.
Some improve on the job. But there’s another
path to success—and it means
giving up the corner office. by J A S O N F E I F E R
A
few years ago,
when Matt Bodnar
was the CEO of a
small technology
company, he got
lunch with a fellow
CEO friend. This
friend was frus-
trated; his company was strug-
gling, and he wanted a change.
So the two spent 15 minutes or
so talking through solutions,
and then, to his own surprise,
Bodnar said the words that
would change his life: “Well,”
Bodnar asked his friend, “what
if you just took my job?”
“We kind of laughed about it,”
Bodnar says. “And then he was
like, ‘That’s not a bad idea.’ ”
Bodnar had been coming
to accept a difficult truth:
Although he had aspired to the
position of CEO, he wasn’t actu-
ally a fit for the job. It was time
to admit that.
Plenty of notable CEOs,
like Google’s Larry Page and
LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, have
replaced themselves. But still,
it’s more common to hear of the
CEOs who struggle and stick it
out. They are, after all, the ones
still in their jobs and telling
their stories—on stages at con-
ferences, to journalists for mag-
azines. Perhaps they hire an
executive coach, or go through
deep reflection. Somehow they
become the leader their com-
pany needs them to be. Then
that becomes the narrative: The
CEO must persevere.
16 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
Bodnar represents a different
path—one that can be just as
empowering, and lead to just
as much success. But it means
making a big change, even big-
ger than the CEOs who stayed.
As a young man, Bodnar
dreamed of being a CEO. He
graduated college and worked at
Goldman Sachs, then left to be a
partner at the Nashville invest-
ment firm Fresh Hospitality.
The firm owned a struggling
point-of-sale terminal company,
and Bodnar was tasked with
turning it around. At first, he
was named CFO. But a year
later, in 2011, the little company
still needed help. So at the age
of 25, Bodnar stepped in as
its new CEO. The day he took
over, his company was unable
to make payroll. “I spent several
years basically getting the finan-
cial end of the business squared
away,” he says—figuring out
what was profitable and unprof-
itable, putting in the right
systems and processes, and so
on. Under his leadership, losses
stopped. Payroll was made.
Bodnar was thrilled.
But he couldn’t maintain
momentum. The company was
saved, but it wasn’t growing.
He’d started some new lines of
business, but they weren’t click-
ing. And although his employ-
ees’ jobs were more secure, the
office culture was dismal. “I
started realizing that this job is
not all it’s cracked up to be,” he
says, “and maybe it’s not even
→ THE FIXER
Matt Bodnar can
solve problems,
but he isn't
your next CEO.
the right skill set for me.” That’s
why, when Bodnar met with his
fellow CEO friend, everything
clicked: I shouldn’t be CEO
anymore. Someone else should.
“That was a transforma-
tional moment that fundamen-
tally shifted the way I think
about pursuing opportunities,”
Bodnar says. He realized he
was great at saving companies
but not necessarily growing
them—and that was worth
embracing. The way he came to
see it, nobody should expect to
be great at every position. It’s
not like people look at Steph
Curry and say, “Yeah, he’s a
great point guard, but why
can’t he play center, too?” The
game doesn’t demand it. Curry
is great in his role, and that’s
greatness. There’s power in
knowing what you’re great at,
and in not losing time trying to
be great at what you’re not.
Today, Bodnar’s old company
has grown 40 percent and turns
a profit. His friend is still CEO,
and Bodnar serves as executive
chairman, but he spends most
of his time doing what he’s
good at: Through his invest-
ment firm, he steps in when a
company needs to be righted.
“I have this rule of thumb I
use for myself now, which is to
always replace myself,” he says.
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y M AT T B O D N A R
Come in, help, let someone else
take over. In fact, he’s serving as
interim CEO of a new company
right now. But, he says, it won’t
be for long.
Hear Bodnar on our podcast
Problem Solvers, available
on iTunes or wherever you
find podcasts.
 The Big Idea

Putting the Brand First

Having a brilliant product or service isn’t enough. To capture today’s consumers, smart startups are first crafting
a brand strategy—one that builds a forward-looking foundation for the company. b y L E O N A R D S H E R M A N

S
uppose you’ve got
an idea for a great
new thingamajig.
It could be any-
thing—a luxury
candle, affordable
college education, or
a product to prevent
male pattern baldness. You
can’t get the concept out of your
head. You have to bring it to
life. But you have no prototypes,
and no experience with the
intricacies of industrial design.
No understanding of produc-
tion and distribution. No web
design experience. No detailed
market projections. No money.
In this moment, logic would
advise against obsessing over
brand strategy—and it would
definitely advise against hiring
a pricey agency to help you do
it. And yet, a growing number
of startups are doing just that,
seeing great success as a result.
Only a few years ago, product
was king. Founders focused on
getting a minimum viable prod-
uct to market, fast—iteration
could fix shortcomings. Brand
strategy was a back-burner
issue, one to address when time
and budget allowed.
But today’s tech tools make
it easier for founders to, well,
produce a product. With design
sprints, rapid wireframe and
product prototyping, contract
manufacturing, fulfillment-
as-a-service, web-store design,
and hosting services, some
entrepreneurs can go from con-
cept to first paying customer in
a matter of weeks.
That’s a double-edged sword.
Those tools that make it easy
to rush a product to market?
They’re available to everyone,
and have resulted in unprec-
edented competition in the
startup world. (According to
Crunchbase, VCs closed more
than 22,500 global funding
rounds last year, continuing a
multiyear trend of increasing deal
flow and sizes.) Countless entre-
preneurs are discovering that
their supposedly game-changing
idea has already been launched
by others, or at best is being cop-
ied by nimble competitors.
Take Casper, a name that has
become synonymous with the
boxed-mattress category. Casper
wasn’t first to market—that
honor goes to BedInABox, which
launched in 2006. Tuft & Needle

18 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018 Illustration / V I K T O R K O E N

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 The Big Idea
followed in 2012. Casper didn’t
launch until 2014. Today, there
are more than 100 digitally
native mattress companies fight-
ing for a share of the market.
Still, you hear “bed in a box”
and you think of Casper. That’s
because in 2013, Casper’s
cofounders made a smart deci-
sion. They had a solid under-
standing of the company they
hoped to build but faced chal-
lenging conditions: Industry
sales were slow, the retail land-
scape was saturated with nearly
10,000 specialty mattress stores,
and virtually no one was buying
mattresses online. So the entre-
preneurs enlisted help from
New York branding agency
Red Antler.
“We meet lots of founders
who can passionately ramble
on for five minutes about the
innovative aspects of their
unique concept,” says J.B.
Osborne, cofounder and CEO of
Red Antler. “Our job is to cap-
ture the essence of the compa-
ny’s purpose in one sentence.”
And they did. In formative
discussions with Red Antler, it
was revealed that Casper’s end
goal was to become a sleep-
products company committed
to helping customers get a bet-
ter night’s sleep. The team came
up with the tagline “Live a life
well-slept,” which gave Casper
room to grow beyond mattresses
with pillows, bedding, and
more lifestyle products. From
there, its purpose and desired
image guided myriad decisions
on product design, business
policies, marketing communi-
cations, and the consumer expe-
rience. With Instagrammable
packaging, thoughtful user
manuals designed to look
like a bedtime storybook, and
customer-friendly policies,
Casper started to win over con-
sumers. It upped the ante with
guerrilla marketing initiatives
that included a traveling Casper
napmobile and a Labor Day
20 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
“Sail,” rewarding early custom-
ers in five North American cities
with a daylong booze cruise.
Have brands copied elements
of Casper’s playbook? You bet.
But copycat tactics lack cohesion
and authenticity. Casper stands
out thanks to its holistic strategy
and earned consumer trust.
Think about established
brands like Nike, JetBlue, and
Apple. Yes, they all have great
products. But their lasting suc-
cess derives from their commit-
ment to a corporate purpose
that guides their market-facing
activities. From the outset, each
of these companies clearly iden-
tified their target customers’
unmet needs, committed to a
ENTREPRENEURS NEED TO RECOGNIZE BRANDING AS A
CRITICAL ASSET—NOT ONLY IN ITS OWN RIGHT, BUT
TO HELP GUIDE THE HUNDREDS OF DECISIONS FOUNDERS
WILL MAKE ON THEIR WAY TO PROFITABLE SCALE.
core idea that speaks to that
need, and made sure every sin-
gle consumer touchpoint rein-
forced their brand promise.
To wit, Nike has inspired
generations of loyal custom-
ers by aligning its corporate
activities to celebrate personal
achievement and performance.
JetBlue’s brand promise to
bring humanity back to air
travel has guided every element
of its service offering, includ-
ing its signature Terra Chips,
onboard entertainment sys-
tems, user-friendly website, and
warm customer service. The
same codetermination of brand
and business strategy holds for
Apple, whose founding CEO
recognized that great products
are defined not only by techni-
cal merit but by their ability to
enhance consumers’ lifestyles
with a high aesthetic standard.
Many entrepreneurs conflate
brand strategy with marketing,
considering both to be costs
associated with promoting a
product after it’s been launched.
But such a view ignores the far
more integral role that brand
strategy should play during the
concept-to-market stage of an
entrepreneurial endeavor. In
short, branding should be
the forcing function to make
defining decisions about every
aspect of a company’s launch
strategy. Hard calls need to be
made on the appropriate target
markets, pricing, positioning,
branding, product, packaging
and digital design, sales chan-
nel focus, customer support,
messaging, marketing, and
media placement. These collec-
tively lay the groundwork for an
enduring brand persona.
Osborne points to Brandless
as another successful startup
that invested in its brand up
front. (It paid off: In July, the
company announced a $240
million funding round.) When
cofounder and CEO Tina
Sharkey first approached Red
Antler, she saw the irony of seek-
ing branding help for a company
named Brandless. The concept
was to sell a wide array of direct-
to-consumer products—food,
kitchen supplies, personal care—
each for the unit price of $3.
By eliminating the “brand tax”
built into most goods to cover
advertising and retail, Brandless
could deliver high-quality,
affordable products.
The theory was sound, but
questions around execution
remained. Traditional consumer
product brands cloak them-
selves in marketing claims
(“Extra Whitener!”; “30 Percent
Less Fat!”), complicated further
by an endless stream of price
promotions. And generic brands
tend to emphasize low price at
the expense of quality. Against
this backdrop, Brandless wanted
to build a distinct identity rooted
in quality, value, and trust.
Working with Red Antler,
Brandless concluded it needed a
unified system that allowed each
product to shine on its own. The
solution was to package each
item in a single color with a min-
imalist white label, listing key
attributes of importance and
relevance—the word Brandless
is the very last on that list, the
only place the name appears.
The product, as a result, speaks
for itself while reinforcing the
brand’s values and promise.
Having a great concept will
always be a requirement for
a successful venture. But in
today’s dynamic and intensely
competitive environment,
entrepreneurs need to rec-
ognize branding as a critical
asset—not only in its own right,
but to help guide the hundreds
of decisions founders will make
on their way to profitable scale.
Crafting a meaningful message
early on will lead to enduring
rewards, long after launch.
Leonard Sherman is adjunct
professor at Columbia
Business School and the author
of If You’re in a Dogfight,
Become a Cat! Strategies for
Long-Term Growth.
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 Hard Part of a Cool Product
Building the Perfect Imperfection
How a bedding maker cracked an unusual code.
L
eo Wang is a second-
generation bedding
maker, raised in a
family that has always
sold duvets filled with
goose or duck down.
Wang wanted to make
a product that was
more eco- and animal-friendly,
so late last year, he launched
his startup, Buffy, with a single
product: a comforter filled with
material spun from recycled
plastic bottles. It was a success,
22 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
by M A G G I E W I L E Y
but Wang wanted to push fur-
ther and create a plant-based
comforter filler. “But there’s no
playbook for that,” he says.
He started working with
eucalyptus, which he knew
would regulate heat; however,
his prototypes had a problem.
Customers reported that the
eucalyptus filler shifted around
in the comforter until it was
uncomfortably out of place. So
Wang reexamined the filler,
trying to understand why.
mid-October at buffy.co) required
Turning eucalyptus into
fabric is complex. The plant
must be liquefied, then spun
into threads that are as smooth
(and slippery) as silk. But as
Wang looked closer, he noticed
a problem: The process cre-
ated eucalyptus fibers that
were identical in length and
width—unlike animal down or
cotton fibers, which are fuzzy,
irregular, and naturally retain
a shape as smaller pieces nestle
between larger ones.
→ NATURAL COMFORT
Buffy’s plant-based Botanic
duvet ($250; available
some man-made innovation.
“With eucalyptus, because we
have to turn it into a liquid solu-
tion first, we have manufactur-
ing control over how long and
thick the fibers can be,” he says.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BUFFY
So Wang and his team started
experimenting and arrived at
what he calls a mishmash: a
diverse tapestry of fibers of dif-
ferent widths and lengths that
lock each other in place.
“It was the key,” he says—a
design not far from his family’s
history after all.
 Office Space

JASON BERTSCHI/
senior software engineer
“At the Evernote Academy,
anybody can teach anything. Our
head of security led a lock-picking
class, which was ironic and fun. I
held one on how to build our logo
out of Legos. But some of them
are meant to be profound learning
experiences—like how to talk to
people about difficult problems, or
how to become a better manager.”
KATIE SO’OTO/
senior executive assistant
“I’m a mom, so having the support
to create a work-life blend is huge.
Maybe I get in at 9 or 9:30, or I
can duck out when I need to. I can
take ownership and be my own
CEO of my role. Just the other
day, one of my executives said,
‘When are you going on vacation,
and have you taken a ‘me’ day?’”
AUGUSTUS YUAN/ software engineer
“The CFO will go over financials at all-hands
meetings and be really honest with us and
say, maybe, ‘This is a slow quarter’ or ‘We’re
meeting a lot of expectations.’ That trans-
parency trickles down to all the teams—one
of my intern’s projects was making an
analytics reporting dashboard, and anyone
can access those metrics internally.”

Inside Evernote
MONICA CHUA/ director
of product marketing
“There are multiple employee
resource groups, or ERGs. I
Interviews by LY D I A B E L A N G E R
lead one for women. Another
is called BAE, which is
Blacks at Evernote. We have
EVERNOTE IS OBSESSED with organization. Just as the company’s note-taking app helps
Asian American groups, a
workers across industries keep all their virtual odds and ends in one place, its Silicon Valley LGBTQ pride group, and a
headquarters provides valued structure and workflow to its 336 employees. An open floor Latinx group. They help peo-
plan is peppered with collaborative workstations for coders, quiet rooms for content cre- ple have a space for conver-
ators, and an open stairwell that encourages cross-departmental conversations. Multiple sation about community and
resource groups and social organizations host meetings and events throughout the calendar influence, and help foster an
year, and the Evernote Academy offers a rotating selection of classes—designed and taught inclusive culture.”
by its employees—on everything from leadership to Lego building.

24 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018 Photograph / A D A M F R I E D B E R G

GINA HAN/ senior
product manager
“There’s very little hubris here
like you find at many tech
companies. It’s because Ever-
note has been through some
really high ups and some low
downs. We’re not the shiny
penny anymore—instead, we
have this really nice patina that
we’ve earned over time.
People come here for that
humble nature, and it’s some-
thing worth staying for.”
FORREST BRYANT/
director of editorial and content
“We have a standing meeting called
Show the Words. All the writers get
together twice a week and read aloud
a work in progress. It aligns us on voice,
tone, and style in a way that you can’t
get from a document. It’s a way that all
the writers can harness their collective
brain energy to make sure we are say-
ing things in the most effective way, not
just following a script or a rule.”
HEATHER BLOCKHUS/
software engineer
“Our team has whiteboards
at the end of every row, so it’s
easy to ad hoc draw some
things out and chat with
developers. People are willing
to schedule time in their day
and walk you through the best
way to write code. It’s like
peer programming sessions.”
KRISTIN OSAKI/ recruiter
“I just taught my first Evernote Academy class
on drawing Disney characters. I’ve always
feared public speaking, so I loved having the
opportunity to work on my presentation skills
in an environment where I feel supported.”
DOUG MARSHALL/ senior accounting
manager, international
“Our CEO has emphasized the concept
of radical candor—people aren’t afraid to
have healthy debate, because we trust each
other. Any kind of feedback is welcome,
whether it be positive or negative. We want
to help everyone get better, because that
makes us perform better as a team.”
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 25
 Six Ways

“What Am I Doing Wrong?”

Feedback is easier to give than to receive. But to be a good leader, it’s crucial to hear (and respond to) critiques
of your style. We asked six entrepreneurs: How do you encourage employees to give honest feedback?  

1/ Welcome it. 2/ Act on it. 3/ Switch it up. 4/ Make it part 5/ Take it outside. 6/ Confront it.
“Nothing can replace a “When I sense an “When I visit our restau- of the culture. “I try to spend social “Don’t just say you
trusted team of man- employee is comfort- rants, I’m sitting with “We work hard to time with my teams to want honest input and
agers who feel secure able with me, I’ll ask the general manager create an open environ- get unfiltered feedback. then create virtual road-
enough to share and questions like ‘What and the kitchen man- ment where employees Recently, I was at lunch blocks where employ-
speak honestly. A few can I do to better sup- ager tasting food and feel empowered to with one of my devel- ees are too intimidated
years ago, one told me port your growth here?’ providing my thoughts suggest changes to opers, and he told me it to speak out. We have
that my weekend and ‘Is there anything on the product and the better company culture, bothers him when I ask company fireside chats,
emails were stressing you wish I didn’t say execution. Once the including suggestions whether or not he is and I try to anticipate
out the team. They or do?’ But how you conversation ends, I regarding management. fulfilled—it makes him the tough questions I’d
weren’t urgent mes- act after is the most turn the tables and ask, All managers frequently feel like I don’t think he ask if I was in the audi-
sages, but the feed- important—it will deter- ‘You’re CEO for one touch base with their enjoys working here. ence and proactively
back reminded me that mine how honest day—what would you direct reports to realign I’ve since changed the address them in plain
any email from your employees will be with do?’ I then listen, take work slates with both way I communicate terms. If you acknowl-
boss feels urgent. Now you moving forward. notes, and follow up on business needs and with him and let him edge the obvious—
I save emails as drafts You need to prove that anything I commit to.” employee develop- know that I don’t ques- good or bad—and
and send them during you value their opinion —JUSTIN ROSENBERG, ment. Instead of a fixed tion his commitment to address it head-on,
business hours.” and not show an ounce CEO, Honeygrow annual or biannual or enjoyment of his you signal that you’re
—ANNIE BYSTRYN, of pettiness. Nod, and Minigrow performance review, we work. I don’t think he open to constructive
founder, Cider in Love smile, and thank them. leave the floor open for would have confided in criticism.”
Then fix the problem both managers and me if we had been —CHRIS TERRILL, CEO,
and move right on!” employees to initiate sitting in the office.” ANGI Homeservices
—RACHEL VAN feedback.” —STEVEN
DOLSEN, CEO, RVD —JESSIE ZENG, CLAUSNITZER,
Communications cofounder and cofounder and CEO,
CEO, Choosy Forever Labs

26 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018 Illustration / T O M M Y P A R K E R

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Women Entrepreneur
How does a shy entrepreneur make the connections
she needs? Pooja Sankar found out as she built
Piazza, a platform to help shy students overcome the
same problem she had always battled.
STEP 1/ Build a template—fast.
To map out Piazza’s structure,
Sankar downloaded some free
wireframe software. “You had 14
days to use it before you had to
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF PIAZZA
pay,” she says. “I was a very poor
grad student, and I did not want to
pay.” At Stanford, she’d use class
time to work on Piazza, tinkering
with features like notifications,
in-platform email, and landing
pages. “I was always late to class,
so I got stuck in the front row.
All my classmates could see me
working on this outside project.”
STEP 2/ Talk to your
potential users.
To gain a holistic understanding
of student shyness, Sankar spoke
to any student or professor who’d
listen. “I’d just walk up to people at
coffee shops, which made me deeply
uncomfortable,” she says. One major
discovery: Even seemingly extro-
verted people struggle. “Having a
laptop in every dorm room had iso-
lated students, who used to go to the
library and collaborate,” she says.
“My story of a shy girl in India was
the same story of a social, outgoing
boy in America.” After every conver-
sation, she’d tweak the wireframes.
FOR MORE HOW-TO STORIES OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS,
VISIT ENTREPRENEUR.COM/WOMEN
STEP 3/ Lock in your calendar.
As graduation approached, Sankar
moved in with her brother’s family
to save money. To keep on track
(and protect herself from the
time-consuming charms of her
baby niece), she created a strict
schedule. “I’d head to a work lab
before my niece got home from
school, crank until 10:55 P.M., get
one last coffee before the shop
closed at 11, and head back to the
lab until 5 A.M.”
STEP 4/ Ask for help—
of any kind.
Sankar’s amateur wireframes could
only carry Piazza so far. “I left a
super-awkward voicemail for this
developer I know, asking him to
build it,” she says. “When he called
back, I pulled over on the highway
and talked to him for an hour.” He
turned down the project, but it
wasn’t a total loss: He suggested
a useful book for her to buy, and
offered to give advice going forward.
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 35
STEP 5/ Make a strategic hire.
After 10 days, Sankar had built a
prototype—but she needed an
experienced developer to create a
truly launch-worthy product. “A job
ad on Craigslist cost $75, and I was
just so poor,” she says. “I stared at
my credit card, deciding whether
or not to do it.” She did it, hiring a
developer that she paid in equity.
Today he’s Piazza’s lead engineer.
STEP 6/ Troubleshoot,
and iterate.
Piazza launched to Stanford students
in August 2010—and at first, nobody
used it. She bribed students with gift
cards until they started asking ques-
tions on the platform, and thoughtful
conversations emerged. But that slug-
gish start resulted in valuable lessons
about function, and led to a complete
front-end redesign that boosted
engagement…and forced Sankar into
a new kind of conversation. “My last
semester,” she says, “I was out meet-
ing investors.”
 Strategies

is made within 10 miles of any

of those stores, the retailer will
be credited with up to 10 per-
cent of the purchase.
There are, of course, stipu-
lations. Retailers, for example,
get a cut of digital purchases
only if they’re in a category car-
ried in-store. (If someone buys
a sweater online but the retailer
carries only dress shirts, there’s
no credit.) When there are two
or more retailers in a single
territory, they split the credit.
And most important, retailers
must be in good standing with
Ledbury to take part in the pro-
gram. “They need to be current
or not more than 10 days late
→ SHARING THE on payment,” Trible says, laugh-
WEALTH ing. “Chasing payments is hard
Ledbury CEO to do, so this also incentivizes
Paul Trible. them to be on time.”
So far, the program hasn’t
yielded retailers a ton of
money—about $50 a month,
on average. But this has turned
out to be beneficial: The

Splitting the Sale

How does an e-commerce brand earn the trust of brick-and-mortar stores?
small sum serves as proof that
the retailer isn’t losing large
amounts of sales to digital
shoppers. “Our data shows that
With a very unorthodox offer. by S T E P H A N I E S C H O M E R Ledbury would be getting the
vast majority of those online
sales anyway,” Trible says.
“When retailers receive that

W
hen the Trible hadn’t anticipated this you to steal my customers?’ ” balance sheet at the end of
online-only business interest but eventually Trible says. every month, they know we’re
men’s apparel decided it was an opportunity He thought about how to not hurting their business.”
brand Ledbury to reach new customers. So in earn their trust. Then he came The payoff for Ledbury has
launched in 2016, Ledbury rolled out to 20 up with an offer: Physical been significant, though. The
2009, it was stores—what Trible calls “early retailers could get a cut of his program helped expand its
like many adopters.” It went well, and he online sales. “It blew people’s brick-and-mortar footprint,
online-only began looking for more retail minds,” Trible says. And soon, which now accounts for 30
brands: It offered high-quality partners. And that’s when he he’d bridged the divide. percent of the business. And
products at a competitive hit the online-storefront divide. “We thought, What if we even more important, it’s
price, because it cut out the Any online, direct-to- draw a geographic circle given it access to an industry
retail middleman. But then consumer brand is likely to around retailers and say, ‘Any of merchants with decades of
something unexpected hap- have experienced the divide at purchase made online within experience and wisdom. “Being
P H O T O G R A P H B Y K AT E M A G E E

pened. “People were walking
into department stores and
menswear stores asking for
Ledbury shirts,” says Paul
Trible, cofounder and CEO
of Ledbury. And some brick-
and-mortar retailers wanted to
carry the brand.
some point. Brick-and-mortars
see the brand as competition.
They often don’t want to carry
a brand in their store if that
brand is also undercutting
them by selling directly online.
“More than once, I had retail-
ers say to me, ‘Why would I pay
this territory, you’ll get a finan-
cial credit that can go toward
purchasing more Ledbury
inventory’?” he says. He and his
team hammered out the details
and launched the program this
February. Today his product is
in 150 storefronts. If a purchase
in wholesale, you have to be
sharper on margins, more
disciplined on logistics,” Trible
says. “Because of the oper-
ational requirements of the
wholesale world, we’ve become
a much better—and more
profitable—direct business.”

36 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 HAVE A PROBLEM WE CAN SOLVE FOR YOU?
What’s Your Problem? TELL US AT HELPME@ENTREPRENEUR.COM
Are NDAs Really That Important?
To trusting entrepreneurs, a confidentiality agreement may seem unnecessary.
But it’s a vital step toward protecting your business—and its future success. b y A D A M B O R N S T E I N
was cheap and stubborn, even
though my father is a lawyer and
advised me against this move.
(He eventually became my
general counsel.) My NDA was
flawed; it didn’t cover enough of
the information at my company
or place the right restrictions on
how people could share it.
I discovered my error after
a business meeting, where I
mentioned a potential client
and what they needed help
with. The person I was meeting
with (who signed my weak
NDA) then went after that
client themselves—ultimately
stealing work from me. There
was nothing I could legally do.
It probably cost me $30,000 in
potential revenue.
Don’t make my mistake.
Creating a strong NDA for your
business is simple and not that
expensive. Even if you enlist the
best lawyer, with a ridiculously
high hourly rate, the value
you’ll receive to protect your
company and your ideas is
arguably worth the potential
value of the company itself. Or
at least the value of one client.
I’m a small-business owner, and we’re Now, I understand that it can
in a stage of growth. Do I really need be awkward at first to ask people
employees and potential partners to to sign an NDA—it seems like
sign NDAs? —CHRIS P., NEW JERSEY you’re telling them you don’t trust
them. But think of it this way:
If you don’t value your IP, your
thoughts, and your inventions
THERE ARE MANY big-business of confidentiality—is not one of enough to protect them, then
practices that don’t necessarily those cuttable corners. why the hell are you running a
apply to smaller companies. Chris, here’s a cautionary business in the first place?
When you’re a startup, you can tale of my own early ignorance. An NDA doesn’t have to feel
cut a lot of red tape without When I started Pen Name like a sign of distrust. Because
worrying about repercussions. Consulting, I used a basic of the scrappy nature of startups
The use of NDAs—that is, NDA—just a file I found on and small businesses, partner-
nondisclosure agreements, the internet. I wasn’t blind to ships and strategic hires are
which serve as legal contracts the importance of NDAs, but I the lifeblood of scale and smart
38 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
growth—but they’re also rife
with danger. Every potential
partner is also potential compe-
tition. Every meeting for growth
could be a leg up for the other
guy. And every time you share
your next big move, you need to
know you can trust people.
NDAs are valuable because
they force that trust. They
make it legally binding. With
the NDA in place, you can be
vulnerable, open up, and speak
more candidly with potential
partners. Rather than view the
NDA as a barrier, it’s best to
look at it as an exclusive invite.
This is a good thing—the
NDA is the front door to
learning more and being on the
inside. The same can be said for
hiring. The moment you have a
signed NDA, you’ve connected
with someone and you’ve closed
the deal. It’s a sign of respect.
And when you have respect, you
have strong partnerships and
hires. That is the foundation of
growth for any business.
Pride and ownership are big
parts of owning a company.
If that comes across as a little
“preachy,” it’s because you need
to bear witness to a simple real-
ity: Those who do not invest in
protections for their business
are likely to watch it fall apart.
Or they will be too guarded
with information to ever let
others in. Either way, an NDA
solves those problems.
Adam Bornstein is the founder
of Pen Name Consulting, a
marketing and branding
agency, and the creator of
two12, a mentorship experi-
ence for entrepreneurs.
Illustration / F E D E R I C O G A S TA L D I
 We all want to love where we work. But not every entrepreneur
knows how to make their workplace enjoyable—and investing
in a Ping-Pong table won’t cut it. “Recognition isn’t something
organizations can buy,” says Doug Clafey, CEO of Energage,
a leader in employee research. “It’s an achievement they have
to work for.” Get inspired by the following three pages, where we
name the 150 companies with the best cultures. Entrepreneur
partnered with Exton, Pa.–based Energage to survey hundreds
of companies and sift through 34,613 individual employees’
responses. The survey was open to for-profit employers with at
least 35 employees. Here’s who rose to the top.
 TO P CU U E

1 GOOSEHEAD INSURANCE O.C. TANNER COMPANY

Westlake, Tex.; insurance Salt Lake City; employee
2 BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY recognition solutions
HOME SERVICES AMERICAN
AMBASSADOR REAL ESTATE ADVISORS GROUP
Omaha; real estate Orange, Calif.; mortgage lending
3 HUBSPOT TOTAL QUALITY LOGISTICS
Cambridge, Mass.; software Cincinnati; logistics
4 POWER HOME CLOUDFARE
REMODELING GROUP San Francisco;
Chester, Pa.; home improvement internet infrastructure G O O S E HE A D INSURA NCE/No. 1
5 CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES INPRO

6
North Billerica, Mass.; publishing
INTEGRATION PARTNERS
Lexington, Mass.; IT services
Muskego, Wis.; building products
RESURGENS
ORTHOPAEDICS
Career Development from Day 1
7 WEIFIELD GROUP CONTRACTING Atlanta; medical
THE JELLYVISION LAB FROM THE MINUTE an employee steps into Goosehead
I C O N S M A D E B Y W W W . F L AT I C O N . C O M ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F P O W E R H O M E R E M O D E L I N G G R O U P ; P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F G O O S E H E A D I N S U R A N C E

Centennial, Colo.;
electrical contracting Chicago; software Insurance’s office, the company wants them thinking about their
COHESITY TEXAS CAPITAL BANK future. Female staffers, for example, are invited to join the
San Jose, Calif.; software Dallas; commercial banking Women’s Professional Development Program, which provides
9 PLURALSIGHT CROSSCOUNTRY MORTGAGE face time with fellow employees and top-level female executives
Farmington, Utah; software Brecksville, Ohio; (including the founder) to discuss everything from work-life
CWS APARTMENT HOMES mortgage lending integration and time management to relationship development. If
Austin, Tex.; property management NEXTIVA group sessions aren’t your thing, execs offer scheduled
KABBAGE Scottsdale, Ariz.; one-on-ones. “It’s important to have a support system for female
Atlanta; data technology cloud communications workers and to empower them to become successful, find career
PIVOTAL SOFTWARE WEPPT satisfaction, and create those leadership opportunities,” says
San Francisco; software Phoenix; software Shana Capodagli, manager of human capital. “So we go out of
INSTRUCTURE AEI CONSULTANTS our way to offer that to our people.”
Salt Lake City; edtech Walnut Creek, Calif.;
commercial real estate

THE J E L LYV I SION L A B/No. 20

The Case for Unlimited Vacation

JELLYVISION LAB’S OFFICIAL POLICY technically isn’t one of
unlimited vacation. Instead, the software company simply
doesn’t have a vacation policy. “People will ask me, ‘Can you
give me a loose idea of how much time to take?’ And I say no,
because that would be a policy,” says CEO Amanda Lannert.
But her point isn’t really about vacation; plenty of other
companies have flexible policies. To her, it’s about balance.
“We’re really trying to kill the notion of face time,” she says. “If
you’re in a bad mood, or it’s a beautiful day outside, don’t be at
work. Talk to your manager, talk to your team, take care of
yourself. We want your good work, not your time.”
POWER HOME REMODELING GROUP/No. 4

Best. Staff. Retreat. Ever.

POWER HOME REMODELING TAKES “work happy hour” to the next level. Each year, so long as the company collectively hits a predetermined set of goals, all
2,400 employees are invited to spend four days in Cancún, along with a plus-one, for an all-expenses-paid vacation and off-site. “We leave a lot of
downtime—it gives people a chance to mix and mingle, and it’s a good opportunity to meet and chat with our leadership team,” says Michelle Bauer, VP of
public relations. But even the corporate-sanctioned programming sounds like a party: The Power Olympics feature jousting and gladiator competitions, and
a yearly concert draws surprisingly big headliners for a home remodeling company. “Last year Ja Rule, Ashanti, Nelly, and T.I. performed just for our guests,”
Bauer says. Past performers include Snoop Dogg and Flo Rida. “Apparently we’re a very fun crowd to play to. And we have an amazing events team that
produces really beautiful stage setups. It’s not like we’re asking these artists to perform in a hotel ballroom.” Fun and games aside, the annual trip—which
started in 2012—has become a valuable part of the company’s culture even back at its 14 offices. “It helps people know they’re cared for,” Bauer says. “And
it’s a great recruiting tool—it helps get people in the door.”

Reporting / M A D I S O N S E M A R J I A N a n d S T E P H A N I E S C H O M E R October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 41

 THE 150 BEST COMPANY CULTURES
Z U R I X X/ No. 1
TO P CU U E

A Holistic View of Health

AFTER HEARING THAT a good chunk of his employees enjoyed
yoga and meditation outside the office, Zurixx COO Andrew Way
implemented a unique wellness package that encouraged them to
1 ZURIXX UBIQUITY bring their healthy habits to work. “When I was young, I got sick of
Cottonwood Heights, Utah; RETIREMENT + SAVINGS the ‘Work hard, play hard’ thing,” says Way. To avoid employee
financial education San Francisco; retirement burnout, he took some leftover office space and turned it into a
2 UPSIDE TRAVEL RPM meditation and yoga room with weekly classes, stocked the break
Washington, D.C.; Royal Oak, Mich.; logistics room with healthy snacks, and started offering free spa treatments
travel services EDA CONTRACTORS twice a month. “We want our people to know that their health and
3 8Z REAL ESTATE Bensalem, Pa.; roofing well-being are important to us,” says Way, who discovered an
Boulder, Colo.; real estate VISTAR MEDIA unexpected perk: the new programs strengthened the team bond.
4 CBH HOMES New York; advertising technology
“They felt like it increased the quality of work because they were
Meridian, Idaho; construction 7 TO 7 DENTAL & more centered, available, and felt the commitment from us,” he says.
5 N2 PUBLISHING ORTHODONTICS
Wilmington, N.C.; publishing San Antonio; dentistry
DUOLINGO FENWAY GROUP
Pittsburgh; language education Southlake, Tex.; software
7 METRIC THEORY CAPSPIRE
San Francisco; advertising Tulsa; consulting
ACCELERATION PARTNERS TIPALTI
Needham, Mass.; advertising San Mateo, Calif.; payables
9 HNI RISK SERVICES automation
New Berlin, Wis.; insurance GRIFFIS RESIDENTIAL
YTEL Greenwood Village, Colo.;
Foothill Ranch, Calif.; property management
telecommunications DRIFT
1 LIFTOFF MOBILE Boston; software
Palo Alto, Calif.; software MIDIGATOR
HIREOLOGY American Fork, Utah;
Chicago; software chargeback management
RELIAQUEST FOODA
Tampa, Fla.; cybersecurity Chicago; food services
ACCOUNTINGDEPARTMENT.COM LASALLE NETWORK
Bonita Springs, Fla.; accounting Chicago; staffing
SPAREFOOT MEDICAL GUARDIAN
Austin, Tex.; moving and storage Philadelphia; alert systems
SPARKPLUG CAPITAL ONPREM SOLUTION
Louisville, Colo.; real estate PARTNERS
investment Manhattan Beach, Calif.;
consulting
EXPRESS LIEN
New Orleans; web based services DIGITAL REMEDY
New York; advertising
PAN COMMUNICATIONS
Boston; public relations MARKON SOLUTIONS
Falls Church, Va.; consulting
ACV AUCTIONS N 2 P U B L I S HING/No. 5
Buffalo; automotive BEST HOME SERVICES
MX
Lehi, Utah; financial technology
VIVAX PROS
Naples, Fla.;
electrical and plumbing
BEVARA
Waukesha, Wis.;
Taking It Out on the Boss
Denver; construction maintenance
VERIFIED FIRST AT N2 PUBLISHING’S annual field day—which consists of
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF N2 PUBLISHING

ZUMASYS
Meridian, Idaho; Irvine, Calif.; outsourcing
tug-of-war, dizzy bat, and other throwback picnic games—CEO
preemployment services Duane Hixon loves to make himself a target. He’s known to
LEANPLUM
SWOON GROUP San Francisco; subject himself to the “dump tank” (water is poured on him from
Chicago; staffing marketing technology an overhead toilet), and each time the target is hit, he donates
VICIS AARETE money to a charity that fights human trafficking. Last year he
Seattle; sports technology Chicago; consulting took it a step further: While dressed as the company mascot,
ASSESSMENT STORYBLOCKS Koala T. Bear, he allowed staffers to slingshot tomatoes at him.
INTERVENTION Arlington, Va.; “If you hit him in the head, he gave $1,000 to charity. If you hit
MANAGEMENT information technology him on the body, it was $500,” says Katherine Daniel, N2’s
San Antonio; education
WORDSTREAM director of people operations. “He’s playful and competitive,
HOME INSTEAD Boston; software
Omaha; in home care
which is fun for our team, but it’s nice to know there’s a
big-picture element to it.” Over the past two years, the company
donated $50,000 as a result of field days.

42 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 THE 150 BEST COMPANY CULTURES
LOGICPREP FINANCIAL FINESSE
TO P CU U E Armonk, N.Y.; educational El Segundo, Calif.; financial services
consulting STATUS LABS
DMV.ORG Austin, Tex.; public relations
Encinitas, Calif.; publishing POTRATZ PARTNERS
CONCEPT TECHNOLOGY ADVERTISING
Nashville; outsourcing Schenectady, N.Y.; digital marketing
REGENTS CAPITAL KLEMENT FAMILY DENTAL
CORPORATION St. Petersburg, Fla.; dentistry
1 SCRIBE MEDIA LOGOMIX Costa Mesa, Calif.; SYMMETRY FINANCIAL GROUP
Austin; publishing Boston; branding financial services Swannanoa, N.C.; retirement
2 HUGHES MARINO HARVEST GROUP SMART CITY LOCATING planning
San Diego; commercial real estate Rogers, Ark.; consumer goods Dallas; apartment locating LIFE360
3 MAZ POLYSET COMPANY FLEXJOBS CORPORATION San Francisco; location technology
New York; content logistics Mechanicville, N.Y.; materials Boulder, Colo.; staffing FUNDERA
4 CHOOZLE SMASHTECH BRIDGEWORTH New York; fintech
Denver; advertising technology San Diego; e commerce Birmingham, Ala.; REHAB UNITED SPORTS
wealth management MEDICINE AND
5 VUESOL TECHNOLOGIES BATEMAN GROUP
Alpharetta, Ga.; San Francisco; public relations REVUNIT PHYSICAL THERAPY
information technology Bentonville, Ark.; software San Diego; physical therapy
IMPACT
6 ADVICEPERIOD Wallingford, Conn.; YOUEARNEDIT BUZZ FRANCHISE BRANDS
Los Angeles; wealth management digital marketing Austin, Tex.; human resources Virginia Beach, Va.; consumer
NORTH 6TH AGENCY services
7 COCKROACH LABS BUILDFAX
New York; database solutions Austin, Tex.; data and insights New York; brand communications PAYSCOUT
PASSCO COMPANIES Sherman Oaks, Calif.; payment
SERUR AGENCIES ERVIN & SMITH processing
Wilmington, Mass.; Omaha; branding Irvine, Calif.; real estate
retirement planning AMBASSADOR FATTMERCHANT
ACTUALIZE CONSULTING Orlando, Fla.; payment processing
9 PEERFIT Reston, Va.; financial services Royal Oak, Mich.;
Orlando; digital health consulting marketing technology GENEVA SUPPLY
PRIVATE OCEAN Delavan, Wis.; distribution
BUTTON STUDENT LOAN HERO
New York; mobile marketing Austin, Tex.; financial education WEALTH MANAGEMENT X BY 2
technology San Rafael, Calif.; Farmington Hills, Mich.; software
SYNERGIST COMPUTING wealth management
1 COOL BREEZE BEVERAGES Annapolis Junction, Md.; software QIIGO
Tampa; distribution TRUQUA Roswell, Ga.; franchise marketing
MÖBIUS PARTNERS Chicago; software
BITGO San Antonio, Tex.; information NOMADIC REAL ESTATE
Palo Alto, Calif.; cryptocurrency technology CHARM CITY RUN Washington, D.C.; real estate
Lutherville Timonium, Md.; retail MKS2
GROW AREA 1 SECURITY
Norfolk, Va.; digital advertising Redwood City, Calif.; software NODESOURCE Austin, Tex.; government services
San Francisco; software NORTHWOODS WEB SOLUTIONS
QUALBE MARKETING GROUP CLICKFUNNELS
Haltom City, Tex.; digital marketing Eagle, Idaho; software MASSPAY Shorewood, Wis.; digital strategy
Beverly, Mass.; human resources P.S. 260
HIGHER LEARNING MAIDPRO FRANCHISE
TECHNOLOGIES Boston; maintenance MEBO INTERNATIONAL New York; production
Coralville, Iowa; edtech Ontario, Calif.; pharmaceuticals ORGANA BRANDS
CADRE
CLIENT COMMAND New York; fintech GRS GROUP Denver; consumer goods
Cumming, Ga.; advertising Irvine, Calif.; real estate KRILOGY FINANCIAL
LEVATAS
TRIOS SALON Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; web St. Louis; investment management
Omaha; beauty based services SPRINGBUK
GLOBALIZATION PARTNERS Indianapolis; healthcare
Boston; human resources technology

S C R I B E M E D I A /No. 1 ACTUA L I Z E C O N SULTING/No. 26

They Get Personal Helping the Community Succeed

“FUNERALS ARE A DUMB CUSTOM,” says Scribe CEO J.T. McCormick.
“People say all these nice things about someone, but in most cases, that
person never heard those nice things when they were alive!” He wants his
team to have that fulfillment now. So at a biannual all-team retreat in Austin,
Tex., Scribe Media employees get personal. They call their two-day exercise
“Strengths and Obstacles,” and it celebrates each team member while
inviting them to overcome hurdles both professional and personal. Each
employee identifies areas in which they’re struggling, and the group helps
them through it. The exercise is opt-in, and McCormick says participants find
it transformative. “Back in the office, we understand each other more.”
ACTUALIZE CONSULTING IS all about paying it forward. “We feel we have a
responsibility to our community,” says Theresa Santoro, senior manager of
HR and operations. “We are a family, and service is something we can do
together.” The company partners with the Doe Fund, a local nonprofit that
helps the homeless and formerly incarcerated rebuild their lives by teaching
them practical skills. Actualize employees have led mock interviews and
provided résumé feedback to men hoping to reenter the workforce. “It
inspired me to do this not only with the people at the Doe Fund but with
candidates who apply to Actualize,” says Santoro. “Perhaps a candidate
who isn’t the right fit can use the same guidance for the future. It carries over.”

4 4 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 How

TOPGOLF Reached
the Top

Today, it’s suburbia’s favorite

new game. But for years, it
was a company hemorrhaging money.
This is the inside story of how
two twins, a skeptical management
expert, and a big-thinking
investor changed their fortunes—
and the sport of golf.

by JASON NOTTE

46 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 47
R 
ichard Grogan made a career of spotting bad ideas.
He didn’t suffer them lightly—at Bain & Company,
the strategic management firm where he was
a senior partner, the many companies’ boards
he sits on, or while director of the U.S. Senate
Judiciary Committee. So in 2003, when he was
on a ski vacation with his family, he wasn’t espe-
cially impressed when two bankers representing
a pair of British twin entrepreneurs approached
him with a new opportunity. The conversation was
brief.
“What industry is it?” he asked.
“Golf,” they said.
“Golf—forget it.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said, dismissing them. “Now,
there’s another two-word answer, and it starts
with the letter F.”
But the twins, Steve and Dave Jolliffe, had been doubted before.
They’d built a quirky little British company called Topgolf, a spin on
golf driving ranges that they saw as a recreational sport all its own:
more of a boardwalk game than the stuffy pastime they saw as obsessed
with, as Steve says, “the difficulty, the dress code, the silly rules.”
The PGA wanted nothing to do with them. Golf equipment com-
panies said no to partnerships. Investors said no. Now Grogan, too.
“I told them that golf isn’t a business; it’s a sport, and it’s the
second-biggest source of losses of investment capital in the United
States in its sector besides restaurants,” Grogan says now. “Why in
God’s name would I want to do anything in golf, which, by the way,
is in decline?”
That last point is true. The number of U.S. golf players peaked
at 30 million in 2005 and has steadily dropped since. (It’s now at
23.8 million, with a particularly steep drop among young people.)
Since 2006, there have been more U.S. golf course closures than
openings every year. But the twins persisted. With the right help,
they believed, they could create something that turned all those
noes into yeses—that would make the PGA come to them, attract
the best sponsors and partners, and turn millions of non-golfers
into avid Topgolfers.
They’d have a way to go. But eventually, they’d
be proven right. With 60 million
“GOLF IS NOT a lot of fun when you aren’t very
people visiting
good at it.” Topgolf in
That’s the idea that inspired Steve Jolliffe and seven years,
his brother. It was 1997, and the brothers were
golfing while deciding their next step. They’d
it’s come to
just sold off their mystery-shopping business— understand
that is, a firm that companies hire to send peo- something that
ple secretly into their stores to evaluate their
staff—and were looking for something new. As
golf hasn’t.
they golfed, they began complaining about the
game: It’s time-consuming, and the driving ranges used for prac-
tice are usually joyless mud fields.
They thought about how to make the game better, quicker, and
more fun. Microchip technology was becoming commercialized at the
time, and they wondered, What would happen if we put a chip inside
a golf ball to track the distance and accuracy of a shot? They pried a
chip out of a dog collar, put it into a golf ball, and then, because the
chip was designed for police to help find lost dogs, took it to a local
police station to ask the cops to scan the golf ball. It worked.
Next question: What does someone do with this ball? It couldn’t
48 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
be just for regular golfers; that was a too-small idea. “We wanted to
create a compelling and addictive game, so when a child hits one into
the front target, they’re way more excited than a golfer hitting one
into a back target,” Steve says. To accomplish that, they’d need more
than flag-marked holes. They’d need targets—big, bunker-size targets
like sprawling dartboards. To build them, they bought a local driv-
ing range in Watford, just outside London, and tore it up. Each target
went 10 feet deep and 25 yards wide, filled with sensors so a golfer
would know exactly how close to the middle their ball landed. (The
closer a player got, the more points they’d earn.) Then they replaced
the grass with artificial turf, to allow balls to roll more quickly toward
the target and make it easy for even non-golfers to score points.
The new course opened in 2000. It confused everyone. Often, peo-
ple showed up thinking they’d be playing in a simulator. “We were
literally handing out leaflets at the local train station, putting them
through people’s doors, and advertising in local papers,” Steve says.
“The problem is that you had to explain what it was, and you couldn’t,
really.” It was…like golf…but not? This didn’t sit well with golfers.
Golf companies like the accessories giant Titleist wanted no part of it.
But the Jolliffes were compelled by a few shining points. Revenue
was up eightfold compared to its last year in operation as a regular
driving range. And more important, 51 percent of shots hit a target.
They’d created an accessible game, which they called Topgolf; Top
was an acronym for “target-oriented practice.” Now they just needed
someone to help translate it for the United States.
GROGAN TURNED DOWN the pitch in 2003, but after some persuad-
ing, on a rainy February day in 2004, he came out to see the Topgolf
facility in the U.K. When he arrived, he saw an Indian grandmother
in a full sari leading eight grandchildren down the stairs from the
first tier of bays where players hit their balls. He turned to a col-
league, grabbed him by the shoulder, and said, “There’s something
happening here. I sense a tiger; let’s see if we can find his tail.”
But when he dove into the company’s financials, he saw a site that
was getting a 5 percent return on investment, at best. He saw facil-
ities that couldn’t get enough people hitting enough golf balls for
enough hours to pay for upkeep on the equipment. “Well,” he told
Topgolf ’s bankers, “it’s a lot of fun, it’s interesting technology, and
there were a lot of people there, but I’m sorry to
say it’s just not going to make it.”
However, Grogan thought he had the solution.
Topgolf, he believed, needed to be an experience—a
place with great food, parties, and other ways to
make money beyond the game itself. He agreed
to buy the U.S. license for Topgolf, then lined up
investors and drew up a plan for American expan-
sion. Topgolf facilities would have to be three to
four times the size of the original Watford facility,
with restaurants, kitchens, and event spaces. He
picked its first new location: Alexandria, Va., just
outside Washington, D.C., an area replete with gov-
ernment workers who do business on golf courses.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF TOPGOLF
The facility opened in 2005. That year, Grogan would sit on the
top deck of his largely empty facility and hit golf balls by himself. The
next year wasn’t much better. Something was wrong. But what? He
expanded into Chicago, figuring that the concept would be welcomed
in cold, northern climates; instead, snow closed the facility for its first
four weeks and damaged its equipment. He also opened a Topgolf
in Dallas, figuring the warm climate, strong golf culture (two major
tournaments are held in the area), and glut of Fortune 500 companies
would welcome the game. But that site, too, sat largely empty.
In February 2007, Grogan walked into the Dallas facility and into
a management team lined up Toptracer and is becoming a
“like a wedding reception” to standard feature at Topgolf:
greet him. When Grogan finally Now players see exactly how
reached the head manager, he their ball flies.
was greeted with a handshake “That turned it from less and
and unearned optimism. less golf to a user-generated
“Don’t worry, Rick; we’ll be experience,” Anderson says.
fine by May,” the manager said. “Golf is a linear game of 18
“I’ll be dead by May,” Grogan holes where you don’t stop
responded. and, at the end, you talk about
Grogan reflected on the it. That isn’t how content or
Jolliffes’ original problem: When entertainment is consumed. It’s
the first Topgolf was built in the much more fun when you can
U.K., people didn’t understand do everything at once.”
it. Maybe, he reasoned, the same But Topgolf still needed a
problem was still dogging the statement piece. Anderson
company. So he called the Dallas turned to Las Vegas. He
staff into a dining room, spread acquired eight acres of land
→ TEE TIME
out paper tablecloths, handed Some of Topgolf’s
near the MGM Grand, just
them markers, and asked them targets: the bar off the Vegas strip, as well as a
to figure out how Topgolf could (above), and many comarketing agreement with
attract people. places to aim the ball. MGM that plastered Topgolf ’s
The solutions were fairly name and image all over the
low-tech. Based on the group’s city. “That’s how I knew our
suggestions, employees took to brand was bigger than our size,”
the streets wearing sandwich he says. And that, it seemed,
boards and began passing out was what finally got the golf
leaflets on McKinney Avenue, industry to take notice. The
drawing the ire of the Dallas same year the Vegas location
City Council. “I said, ‘Great, let opened, Topgolf partnered with
them arrest me; let’s make a the Golf Channel on shows and
story out of it,’ ” Grogan says. series. The PGA tour and the
After six months of this, LPGA came calling next, using
people starting coming. Then telling their friends. Topgolf ’s Dallas Toptracer technology on golf broadcasts and asking Anderson what
facility had a three-hour wait to hit balls. Postal codes provided by they could do to help grow the game.
customers indicated that people from all over the world were play- “I was surprised that the PGA and the USGA wouldn’t come and
ing. They’d go home and tell friends, too, leading to crowds at other work with us in the early days,” Grogan says, “because I’d say to
locations, like that once-struggling spot in Alexandria. Topgolf ’s myself, We’re the only thing growing here; wake up.” But the PGA,
problem had been a messaging problem. Now that it was solved, the the LPGA, and the USGA aren’t fools; they read the same statistics
company could take an even harder swing. Topgolf does. While the National Golf Foundation notes that certain
aspects of golf are in decline, what it calls “off-course” golf has been
TOPGOLF THUS FAR was the result of entrepreneurs thinking a step growing steadily since 2014. And Topgolf draws a fresh crowd. Just
bigger. The Jolliffes: Driving ranges aren’t for practice—they’re the 14 percent of visitors are age 45 or older. Roughly 51 percent don’t
seed of a new sport. Grogan: This isn’t just a sport—it’s an experi- play golf otherwise, but nearly a quarter say they follow the sport
ence. And by 2011, it was time for someone else to think even bigger. now thanks to Topgolf. In this, Anderson sees opportunity: He wants
That person was Erik Anderson, a former Goldman Sachs VP, golfers to receive a provisional handicap, the grading system golf
who, as head of the innovation-focused WestRiver investment group, uses for its players, by playing at Topgolf. Currently, it’s accessible
was Topgolf ’s lead investor. His idea: global branding experience. only on courses. “Why should you play 10 rounds of golf—a 50-hour
By this point, the U.S. operation had officially acquired the U.K. commitment with lots of fees—just to get a handicap?” he says.
operation, making one unified company. Anderson replaced Grogan The leagues should consider their answer wisely. Topgolf has its
as executive chairman and began an aggressive expansion. First, he own youth-development programs, coaching programs, weekly
grew their facilities even larger—adding space for more golfers, replac- leagues, national tour, and a media branch producing content for the
ing their tiny kitchens with full line kitchens with executive chefs and Golf Channel, Amazon Prime, and in-house screens. It has reality
behind-the-scenes server passageways, and adding TVs everywhere. shows based around its chefs, its house bands, and even its players.
His major goal, however, was to expand Topgolf ’s reach beyond its With 60 million people visiting Topgolf in the past seven years and
driving ranges. (After all, what sport today is contained to its playing an estimated 16 million coming in each year going forward, Topgolf
field?) In 2013, he rolled out iPhone and Android apps. Digital social has come to understand something that traditional golf hasn’t.
media walls were installed in facilities in 2015, letting players post “Golf in and of itself hadn’t lost appeal to people,” Anderson says,
their tagged Topgolf photos to a large screen. The next year, Topgolf “but it’s how you consume it.” The difference, as its founders first
acquired the online, multiplayer golf game World Golf Tour, as well learned more than a decade ago, is in the presentation.
as a technology called Protracer that tracks the flight of golf balls,
displays its path in video, and analyzes every shot. It was renamed Jason Notte is a writer, farmer, and non-golfer in Hillsboro, Ore.

October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 49
 ou loo
-
r o d
f o of h o
ho t ll o

P R P S

5 / ENT E ENEU C M / 2
GROOMING, ARIEL RAMIREZ
 GUY FIERI
Chef, author, TV personality, Donkey Sauce maker
H
ave a great relationship with
your attorney before you need
to,” says Guy Fieri. “And with
your accountant—don’t wait till
you’re sitting in the middle of
all kinds of questions to try to
understand how your accounting
system works.”
This isn’t how Fieri talks on
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, or
any other of his Emmy-winning
TV shows. You won’t hear him
like this if, on some lucky night, you happen to catch him at one
of his more than 60 restaurants (he does pop in!), dishing out the
most bewitching condiment to ever grace a sandwich, his signature
Donkey Sauce. But Fieri didn’t become a celebrity chef superstar
phenomenon—a career that now also includes running a winery and
authoring a shelf-load of best-selling books—on tattoos and person-
ality alone. He did it because he’s equally a nuts-and-bolts entrepre-
neur, and because he has a great relationship with his attorney and
his accountant. “Fortunately,” he says, “I haven’t had my ass handed
to me, because I’ve been pretty good about looking ahead.”
Looking ahead. To understand how a man can cook a bacon mac
’n’ cheeseburger in Vegas, host a TV show at a diner in the middle of
Iowa, and sample his latest vintage in Sonoma at what seems like the
same time, it’s important to understand what “looking ahead” means
to him. It doesn’t mean just big-picture. It means tomorrow.
“We have a system inside my company, Knuckle Sandwich, that
generates tomorrow’s agenda by 5 o’clock the night before. We call
it ‘the Lock,’ and it outlines all details of the day coming forward.”
It’s the Herculean task of Fieri’s assistant to, as he describes it, “cap-
ture all the butterflies” and generate this hyperdetailed agenda. It’s
obsessive on the minutiae, down to, say, the name and phone num-
ber of the driver taking Fieri to his photo shoot for this magazine. It
puts everyone in the company on the same page and avoids wasting
a busy person’s most precious commodity: time.
“This way, my staff knows not to call me at 2:30 in the afternoon,
because they know I’m in a high-pressure interview with the badass
from Entrepreneur magazine!” he says, laughing.
The Lock isn’t just about scheduling. To him, it’s also about creat-
ing trust. When everyone knows what’s going on, he feels comfort-
able that they’re executing his vision.
Fieri’s philosophy on running a giant company goes back to what
GROOMING, ARIEL RAMIREZ
he learned in restaurants as a chef. There, everything relies upon the
strength of a team. “It’s the collective energy of all the people that
get the food on the plate, the plate to the table, and the money to
the register,” he says. “There are a lot of people along that chain, and
all it takes is one rude server or one dirty plate or one slow cook to
break it and you’ve got yourself a disaster. Not only have you lost the
sale, you’ve lost all those future sales.”
How do you ensure there are no weak links? By making certain each
link understands exactly where it is in the chain. The Lock sets that
tone. Everyone knows where everyone is, and when. But Fieri goes
beyond that. He wants his staff to be in on the details, right down to
the restaurant managers seeing the P&L statements. That way, he says,
they can know it all: “This is where we win—we got a lot of money com-
ing in. This is where we lose—somebody is leaving the air condition-
ing on overnight. Education and information are critical. You educate
them, you empower them, and then you set them free to go do their job.
And that’s a lot of trust—that’s somebody else packing your parachute!”
By aligning his troops, he can also win the war for attention that’s
raging inside his own head. When a leader juggles as many things as
Fieri does, it’s dangerously easy to forget the importance of just put-
ting it all down for a minute. “You need to have ‘you’ time. If it’s always
work-work-work and always family-family-family, you become so
two-dimensional,” he says. “And if one of those things gets rattled,
then you really get rattled. Having some good personal time makes a
big difference in keeping your head clear. And get enough sleep!”
Everyone around him has learned to respect that; he said he
leans a lot on his parents, his wife, and his kids to help him keep his
head together. They know, for example, that before he does some-
thing that requires his attention, he’s working to clear out the other
thoughts. He’s not checking his email before filming something, and
he’s not getting random updates. He’s calm. Focused. Letting the
team he trusts handle what comes. “I ask my wife to make sure that
if it’s not something that’s going to make me smile, wait to tell me
stuff,” he says. “A sprinkler head broke off and squirted water for the
past 10 hours? We can deal with that when I get home; I don’t need
to know about it in the middle of Grocery Games.”
Although sometimes he doesn’t exactly spend that personal
time alone. This past summer, while vacationing with his family
at Disney World to celebrate the opening of his new concept in the
park, Chicken Guy, a wildfire began ravaging his native Northern
California. He hopped on a plane back home, and then, along with
his son, drove up to Redding and helped feed more than 20,000 peo-
ple. “People were volunteering to help us who’d just lost their homes,”
he says. “They’d say, ‘I have nowhere to go. I can’t just sit in a shelter. I
want to help.’ What can you say to that besides ‘Grab an apron’?” This
wasn’t work, and it wasn’t exactly family time. It was just time to do
what felt right—a mental state as important as anything else.
Ultimately, Fieri says, that’s the key to running a business like his:
It’s about balance. He relies on his team, his team relies upon him,
and they adjust and accommodate as they go. “If I start thinking
about seven million things going on all at once, I’m running at 9,000
rpm, at nine and a half! And no race is going to be won running at
nine and a half the whole time,” he says. “I’ll do it when it has to hap-
pen, but otherwise, I keep it right inside that sweet spot between
3,000 and 7,000, and I can run like that all day.”
And that leaves plenty of energy left to talk to his attorney and his
accountant. DAN BOVA
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 53
 JACE NORMAN ANU DUGGAL
Founding partner,
Actor, Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger Female Founders Fund

JACE NORMAN GETS IT: Members of his generation are

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN BUSKEN (NORMAN); PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ANU DUGGAL

expected to be frantic, mind-boggled multitaskers. And
Norman, 18, used to fit the stereotype. On set during the first
season of Henry Danger, the hit Nickelodeon series he stars in,
he’d hop on his phone during every break. “You end up
pointlessly checking things for no reason,” he says, “and you
think it’s making you happier, but it’s making you way less
happy. And when you’re less happy, you’re less engaged.”
Five seasons into the show, he now also has an influencer
marketing company called Creator Edge, a movie he’s pro-
ducing and starring in for Nickelodeon, a project with
Viacom Digital Studios, and an in-the-works candy com-
pany. So he’s made an important change: When he’s working
on any project, the phone stays out of reach. (On set, it’s left AS THE FOUNDING PARTNER of Female Founders Fund, an
in his dressing room.) Every 60 to 90 minutes, he’ll briefly early-stage fund focused on technology companies with
check texts—his preferred mode of communication, to keep women founders, Anu Duggal is responsible for supporting
everything short—and respond only to emergencies. “I’ve such fast-growing businesses as Zola, Billie, and Eloquii. She
become good at filtering—that can wait, and that can wait,” wants to be there for the women building those businesses
he says. “You’d be surprised how many things can wait.” and knows they deserve her undivided attention. So she
Some of his peers go further; controversial YouTube prank- makes sure they get it. “I try to walk to and from work,” she
ster Jake Paul, for example, told Norman that he turned off says. “I use that time to make calls and check in on our found-
text notifications, so he never feels the need to reply immedi- ers.” It’s just 30 minutes in the morning and after she leaves
ately. Norman isn’t quite there yet, but maybe one day. the office, but that uninterrupted time has become a valuable,
“Everything’s begging for your attention,” he says. “It’s so sanity-keeping habit. “I could take an Uber or the subway, but
much noise.” this way, I can fit things in that, otherwise, I just wouldn’t.”

54 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 KIMBERLY STEWARD
Oscar-nominated producer; founder, K Period Media

EVERYONE WANTS a few minutes of Kimberly Steward’s time. The founder of K Period Media,
a young Los Angeles–based production company, Steward has spent the past five years
investing in and producing socially minded content for film and television. (Steward earned
a Best Picture Oscar nomination for her hand in the 2016 film Manchester By the Sea, the
second black woman in history to receive the honor. The first was Oprah.) To adhere to
her by-the-minute schedule, Steward has set up a system of warnings. “When I have a call
scheduled, I set three alarms,” she says. “One an hour before, one 15 minutes before, and one
literally two minutes before the call. Like, Mayday: This is about to happen.” She’s got an
emergency plan in place, too. “If I’m even one minute late, I have amazing assistants who
will call me.” In fact, it was an assistant who originally crafted the system she now lives by,
after seeing her miss too many calls. “The best bosses listen to their employees.”

NAVEEN
JAIN
Founder and CEO,
Viome;
cofounder and
executive chairman,
Moon Express

“PEOPLE KNOW I’M always reach-

able,” says Naveen Jain. He means
it. The serial tech entrepreneur
is founder of a space company
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F K I M B E R LY S T E W A R D P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F N AV E E N J A I N

and a healthcare company, gets

400 emails a day, and promises to
respond to anyone within his com-
panies within five minutes. How?
By managing mindsets.
“It’s OK to make wrong deci-
sions,” he tells his teams. “What’s
not OK is to only play it safe.” If
someone can act without him, they
should. If he sees someone below
him CC’d on an email, he’ll let that
person reply—weighing in only if
someone is struck with indecisive-
ness and needs his help. Errors may
be made, sure, but he sees that as
the cost of thinking big. “I will never,
ever, ever tell someone that they
made a mistake,” he says. Instead,
he’ll review the process that led to a
wrong decision—so next time,
he won’t be needed at all. Though
if he is needed, he works from
4 a.m. to 10 p.m… and is responsive
throughout.

Reporting / J A S O N F E I F E R , H AY D E N F I E L D , a n d S T E P H A N I E S C H O M E R October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 55

 RANDI
ZUCKERBERG
Author, investor, CEO of
Zuckerberg Media

RANDI ZUCKERBERG is traveling too much to have a

morning routine—or really, an anything routine. So
instead, she devotes each day to one singular focus
area. Monday, for example, could be entirely about
writing her upcoming speeches, or working on a book.
Wednesdays are radio days, devoted to her SiriusXM
show and other podcasting. “I have to be very disci-
plined about not doing other things,” says Zuckerberg,
whose most recent book is Pick Three: You Can Have It
All (Just Not Every Day). By focusing on one subject,
she ensures it’s done to completion.
Of course, the outside world still tries to interject.
To manage this, she has become disciplined at not
responding to people quickly. She sees it as a form of
training—setting everyone else’s expectations. “No one
else puts boundaries on your time except for you,” she
says. “If you get everyone around you used to you reply-
ing to emails within five minutes, that’s what they’ll
come to expect.” (And anyway, she says, “I often find
that half the emails that would have seemed urgent
solve themselves by the end of the day.”) For the queries
that do matter, she has a system: At day’s end,
Zuckerberg’s assistant sends her an email called
“Notables”—a bullet-point list of every message that
requires attention. “Now I basically feel like my inbox
gets curated for me, which is very, very helpful.” She
often just replies to her assistant point by point, and
TIM FERRISS then gets back to focusing on the day’s big task.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBERT MAXWELL (FERRISS); PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF RANDI ZUCKERBERG

Author, investor, podcaster

TIM FERRISS HOLDS up his phone. “My phone’s on airplane. It’s always on
airplane,” he says. That way, he isn’t alerted to the steady increase in a
very high number: his unread email count, which on this day is 355,692.
“That is a small percentage of the things I am ignoring,” he says.
Ferriss is a prolific author (Tribe of Mentors) and podcaster (The
Tim Ferriss Show), and an investor and startup mentor. There are
ever-growing demands on his time, and yet he feels like he’s always
becoming more productive. The reason, he says, is because he stopped
getting stuck in the weeds—managing the details of every project, or
trying to clear out even a portion of those 355,692 unopened mes-
sages. (His assistant, Donna, will ensure that he sees the critical ones.)
Instead, he’s begun asking himself an important question about every
project and challenge: What might this look like if it were easy?
That question will lead to other questions, such as: Are there people I
could hire? Are there ways I could simplify it? It’s a basic thought experi-
ment, of course, but Ferriss knows that it may not occur to people like him.
“As a very type A, competitive, driven, run-through-walls type of person,
you end up only having one gear, which is sixth gear,” he says. “When you’re
so accustomed to competing and pushing rocks up hills successfully, you
accidentally look for paths that include a lot of resistance.” So his message
to himself—and to anyone like him—is to stop. Imagine the easier path.
Then build it. “I’ve been looking,” he says, “for elegance and less resistance.”

56 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 STANLEY SYLVIA
McCHRYSTAL ACEVEDO
U.S. General (Ret.); CEO , Girl Scouts of the USA
founder, McChrystal Group

WHEN GENERAL STANLEY M C CHRYSTAL took command of U.S.

forces in Afghanistan in 2009, he became, in his words, fanat-
ical about his calendar. “The most valuable thing a leader has
is their time,” he says, and he wanted to use it properly. So first,
P H O T O G R A P H B Y G E T T Y I M A G E S / B L O O M B E R G / C O N T R I B U T O R ( M C C H R Y S TA L)

he wrote down his priorities: Spend a certain percentage of his

time with troops, another percentage with Afghan government
leaders, and so on. Then on a monthly basis, he and his team of
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F G I R L S C O U T S O F T H E U S A (A C E V E D O ) ;

roughly 20 people would review his Outlook calendar (where

he put every meeting) and compare his goals to how he actually
used his time. This gave everyone insight into what worked and
what didn’t. “We would then adjust the future,” he says. “I’d take
things off the calendar that had somehow grown up like weeds
in cracks in the sidewalk.”
Now in civilian life, as the head of an 85-person consultancy
(and the author, most recently, of Leaders: Myth and Reality), he
maintains that rigor. He and his executive assistant review his cal-
endar twice a week, and everything he does goes in it—right down
to his personal morning routine. (Thirty minutes are allotted
for “shower and dress.”) Though he does admit a weakness: He’s
bad at ending meetings on time—an easy way to bungle tightly
planned days. So he relies upon his assistant. “About five minutes
to the end, she opens the door and says, ‘Sir, I want to remind you
we’ve got your next appointment in four minutes,’” he says. That
wraps things up. Then it’s on to the next calendar entry.
SYLVIA ACEVEDO constantly studies her own schedule. “I
have an Excel spreadsheet I work from that maps out what
I want and need to accomplish on each day of the week,”
says the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. “At the end of
the week, if I didn’t accomplish something, I’ll look back
and try to figure out what kept me from it.” That helps her
reprioritize—shifting her energy toward tasks that are stra-
tegically important to the organization, and away from
things that someone else can handle. And importantly, she
says, it also helps her build wiggle room into her schedule
so she can stay current on what girls are into. “I’ll study the
Top 40 every week,” Acevedo says. “When they ask me what
I’m listening to, I won’t say something they think is just for
moms. I can say, ‘I know Ariana Grande, yeah!’ ”

October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 57
58 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
Nasty Gal’s SOPHIA AMORUSO was a hotshot

LIZ BRODY
media darling with a booming company
and a Netflix series based on her life—until it
all collapsed at once. Now with her new company,

by
GIRLBOSS, she’s doing everything differently.
EMILY SHUR
Photographs by

October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 59

the world was getting nasty toward Nasty Gal’s Sophia Amoruso. It
wasn’t a treatment she was used to. Until then, she’d been an entrepre-
neurial darling: the It-girl founder of a booming clothing retailer, fre-
quent subject of magazine covers (including Entrepreneur’s: January
2013), regular headliner of conferences, and author of a best-selling
memoir. And then, on April 21, the TV version of Sophia streamed out
to 130 million Netflix members. It was a comedy called Girlboss, based
on her book—a loose retelling of Amoruso’s life (“real loose,” the open-
ing credits stress), in which a Dumpster-diving col-
lege dropout launches her fashion empire from an
eBay store at only 22.
BET ER T DO.
DI N KNO
I DI
BUI D GI LBOS
The series, frankly, wasn’t very good. But that
TH EVER H G
wasn’t the problem. The problem was that, simul-
ANTED T
taneously, in a rather spectacular back-assward
feat of timing, the real Sophia, 33, was out of
R NG OR
work, having sold the company she was celebrated
for after it filed for bankruptcy amid a pile-on of
troubles. The crisscross of Sophia narratives was
catnip to critics, who suggested Amoruso was a
narcissist and wrote headlines like “Girlboss is a
feminist fraud.”
As if that weren’t enough, on top of the dueling
Sophias was a third reality: Amoruso had already
launched a whole new company she was beyond
excited about, for better or worse, called Girlboss.
It was, she says of the misaligned stars, a total “mind fuck.” It was
also an entrepreneur’s nightmare: a seemingly inescapable failure.
But almost nothing is inescapable.
This is how Girlboss—not the book, not
the TV series, but the com-
pany, the thing that now defines Amoruso’s days—officially began: In
the spring of 2016, Amoruso asked to meet with Ali Wyatt. At the time,
Amoruso was still riding high at Nasty Gal, which had 300 employees
and a net annual revenue of $85 million; Forbes was about to estimate
her personal net worth at $280 million. Her book had spent 18 weeks on
The New York Times best-seller list, and Netflix had recently announced
the show based on the memoir, with Charlize Theron as executive pro-
ducer and Kay Cannon, creator of Pitch Perfect, as writer. Amoruso was
showing up everywhere in a swirl of descriptives, like edgy, ambitious,
cool, hashtaggy, bangs, and swagger. And Wyatt, a consultant who’d
held top positions at Refinery 29 and Goop, braced herself for the meet-
ing. “I expected someone who would brag and peacock,” says Wyatt. But
to Wyatt’s surprise, when the two sat down to talk at La Pecora Bianca
in New York City, Amoruso opened up her journal and started taking
notes. “She was incredibly disarming in how honest she was, so self-
deprecating,” says Wyatt. “And she wanted to learn.”
Amoruso asked to meet because she had an idea burning a hole in
her side-hustle pocket. Through the book and her Girlboss Radio pod-
cast, she’d collected legions of young female followers, literally, in the
palm of her hand; she just had to look at her phone to see what they
wanted. She could feel the opportunity. But for what? She’d toyed with
the idea of a “Sophia show” before realizing she was more of an enter-
prise girl. That day, she and Wyatt batted around the pros and cons of
taking a Girlboss concept to a big media company versus flying solo.
After excited goodbyes, Amoruso pretty much went off the map.
Back at the Nasty Gal offices, troubles were coming to a head—
sales slumps, layoffs, lawsuits from employees charging pregnancy
discrimination. Staffers vented in Glassdoor reviews. (“It was fuck-
ing brutal,” Amoruso says, “having to stand in front of a team you
know has written things like that.”) The Chapter 11 papers were filed
the day after Trump was elected. To top everything off, Amoruso’s
marriage fell apart. “In a six-month period, I was on the cover of
Forbes, my husband of less than a year left me, and my company
went bankrupt. Very publicly,” she says. “It was kind of incredible.”
It’s not like she hadn’t seen it coming. “You don’t go bankrupt over-
night,” says Amoruso, who has always been open about her failures, but
with the kind of consideration that comes from knowing your personal
story is your brand. When the collapse came, she gave herself space to
call “every clairvoyant and psychologist and basically anyone Goop rec-
ommended.” And she realized something: When
the dominoes started falling, she had very few
resources. “At that time, there weren’t any young
female entrepreneurs, or very few, who had experi-
enced the level of crisis or anything like I had,” she
says. “It was a very lonely place to be.”
She needed to change that—for herself and for
all the women coming up. Girlboss, she now saw,
would be the answer. Amoruso’s vision centered
around building a strong community of entrepre-
neurial young women—actually, they would build
it—to help each other through hard times and level
up together. The brand would include digital con-
tent, live rallies, and a social network the likes of
which had yet to be seen. And she would approach
it differently: Instead of following her nose, as she
did at Nasty Gal (she was, like the character in the
show, a punk college dropout without a drop of office experience), she
would lead with intention. “I know it’s cliché,” she says, “but vulnera-
bility and making mistakes is at the core of learning. I wanted to build
Girlboss with everything I did wrong or didn’t know better to do.”
She got herself up and running, and fast. The Netflix show
was coming; she’d seen the early cuts and loved it. At this point,
Amoruso, who had an executive producer title but says she mostly
weighed in on the clothes, saw the whole thing as a giant opportu-
nity to get the name of her new venture out into the world. Quickly,
she prepared the Girlboss site. She wanted to launch it with a big
rally—something full of empowering female speakers and hundreds
of attendees. When she first reached out to women she’d interviewed
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 61
on her podcast to see if they’d participate, she wondered, Oh my
God; am I damaged goods? Is this even—? But overwhelmingly, they
said yes, and on their own dime. One of them, Jane Buckingham,
founder of marketing firm Trendera, remembers being a little dubi-
ous. “I’m like, Wow, really? These 20-somethings are going to pay
money to come on a Saturday, their day off ?”
Amoruso called in Wyatt, who later came aboard as president and
CRO. Then Amoruso used her own savings to pull it all together. On
March 4, 2017, it happened: Five hundred women showed up at the
Hudson Loft in Los Angeles for a
day of wisdom, swag, and connec-
tion. “I know that’s what these young
women want,” says Buckingham,
an expert on millennials and now
informal adviser to Girlboss, “but
then you see it. They’re there. They’re
all networking. They’re all approach-
ing me, they’re all approaching
each other. They’re sucking out
every element.”
For Amoruso, the exhilaration of
launching Girlboss just four months
after filing bankruptcy for Nasty
Gal was only matched by how badly
Netflix backfired. “I’ve gotten a lot of
press,” she says. “But there’s nothing that compares to what comes with a
television series like this. It’s unimaginable, the amount of eyeballs, the
criticism.” Trying to build a meaningful company to help young women
succeed, while being questioned as a feminist and businesswoman over
the company she’d moved past? It was, she says, like entrepreneurial
whiplash. “There were times I thought I would never bounce back.”
But she reminded herself of the advice she gives to others facing
adversity: You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t taken a risk, and that’s
what you do if you’re an entrepreneur. She began imagining the scene
in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Harrison Ford stands on
the ledge of a chasm that separates him from the Holy Grail and, after
a long moment, takes a step out into thin air on the sheer faith a bridge
will appear underfoot. Still today, a year-plus later, she thinks about
this regularly. In some sense, Amoruso is still on the ledge herself, one
foot extended over the abyss. “It’s a very high bar that I have to reach
to even start a company called Girlboss, especially with what the past
few years of my career have been,” she says. “It’s masochistic to expose
myself again. It’s terrifying.”
DRIVE DOWN Sunset Boulevard in Los
Angeles’s ever gentrifying
Silver Lake and you might miss the small cinema-style marquee: this
sign is a lot of pressure. girlboss.com. The low-slung building that
serves as Girlboss headquarters sits on the corner of Lucille Street (note
the girl name) and, like much of the neighborhood, is muraled. “When
we moved in, we demanded it be repainted because the guy whose
mural it was had been accused of rape,” says Amoruso. (The artist was
never prosecuted.) Now it’s a colorful abstract called Rare Bird.
On a recent Monday morning at the weekly staff meeting, everyone
is gathered in the kitchen, taking turns sharing their latest Girlboss
moment, with account manager Lindsey O’Hara in the middle of
hers: a full-body reenactment of a cooking class she took at Benihana,
which at one point involved turning an onion and a zucchini into a
train. “You have to turn the lights on and off and go, ‘Choo-choo,’”
O’Hara says. Her colleagues are in hysterics.
After Amoruso finally catches her breath, she says: “I don’t know
how I can follow that up.”
62 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
If you took Nasty Gal and turned it upside down, you’d be here. At her
former company, Amoruso was often not in sight, either out promoting
the brand—“I drank the fucking fanfare”—or hiding in her office. But at
Girlboss, she’s deliberately one of the crowd, often wearing a mechan-
ic’s jumpsuit and a fisherman’s cap and planted at a table crowded with
five others, including the team’s lone dude (which is not for long, she
promises). For emphasis, she’s made every employee—22 so far—a
cofounder, a policy she plans to continue as the company grows. “In a
way, it’s a really small thing,” says Neha Gandhi, editor in chief and COO
(and cofounder). “But it’s also really
powerful. I think it reinforces that
everyone here is responsible for the
outcome of the business.”
This time around, Amoruso has
taken great care to ensure that she
has the right team, requiring every
hire to complete a project with a
tight deadline and then present
it. She has also surrounded her-
self with ready mentors like Beth
Comstock, former vice chair of
General Electric, whose new book,
Imagine It Forward, is all about
what it takes to be a changemaker.
“Reaching out and asking for help is
a really good sign of a leader,” says Comstock, who now, like Buckingham,
is an informal adviser. She says she’s impressed by Amoruso’s commit-
ment to her audience, as well as her resilience: “Nasty Gal was tough.”
At the Monday-morning meeting, everyone quickly popcorns their
goals for the week. Several on the team are working on the site, which
is updated daily with pieces about subjects like working life, mental
health, and identity. Wyatt, who videoconferences in from New York,
is nailing down logistics for this fall’s rally—their fourth—for which
they’re expecting to sell 1,000 tickets. A staffer is booking talent for
Girlboss Radio, which has grown to 700,000 downloads a month
across its four shows. (One of the hosts, Jen Gotch, founder of the col-
orful gift and accessory brand Ban.do: “When Sophia asked me if I’d do
a podcast on mental health, I said, ‘Oh, no. Definitely not.’” She laughs,
standing head-to-toe in gumball orange. “And here we are.”)
But the team’s big focus this week is on launching a test model
for the social media platform, Girlboss Collective, their most ambi-
tious product yet. Using what they’ve learned from a closed Facebook
group of 5,000 members over the past year, the platform allows each
user to create a work profile with as much personality as she wants.
(Men can join but have to behave.) “We’re Instagram over here and
LinkedIn over there, and that’s just not how life works now,” says
Amoruso, who likes to describe the Collective as both in one: “a place
where a woman can show not just what she does but who she is.” The H A I R S T Y L I S T, R YA N R I C H M A N ; M A K E U P, G L O R I A N O T O
pièce de résistance is the conversational feed that resembles Reddit
or Quora—long threads for members to connect, asking each other
questions, getting advice, commiserating and supporting.
At one point, when the team seemed to hit a wall with the proto-
type, Amoruso called in a friend from her new mentor gang, Payal
Kadakia, who founded ClassPass, the fitness service that gives access
to a variety of classes. Happy to come by, Kadakia sat with the team
and told them how she’d put out two total duds before finally hitting
on a winner. By then she’d had so many fails, she hadn’t even bothered
to develop the back-end technology for booking the classes—she and
her team had to make the first 20,000 reservations manually before
they were up to speed. She emphasized that no one gets a product
right on the first try, and urged the Collective team to “just put it out
there” and then tweak, much to the relief of everyone.
GOING OUT  to investors was tough at first. The
Netflix fallout was still fresh, and
Amoruso felt slightly radioactive. “In some of the early interviews, it
was like, ‘In case you’ve googled me, these things did happen, these
things were blown out of proportion, and this is not what we’re doing
now.’” But she soon stopped mentioning it. “When we met,” says Alexis
Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit, who’s now general partner at a firm
called Initialized Capital, “it was clear that Sophia has learned hard
lessons and become a much better founder as a result.”
Initialized Capital would go on to lead her latest fund-raise of $3.5
million, bringing her total raised to $6.6 million. That’s a tenth of the
funding she got for Nasty Gal, but Amoruso prefers it that way. She
wants Girlboss to grow on its own steam. She’s always lived for the
scent of pixie dust, that magic something that drives revenue. And so
far the company has paced beyond expectations; it’s on track to triple
revenue from the first year. In July, it passed its 2018 revenue target.
The smallest chunk of income comes from banner advertising
on the site—in this market, a wise move. The company also makes
money from its events, where tickets go for $275 to $700, as well
as podcast sponsorships, and it’ll soon start selling subscriptions
for membership to Girlboss Collective. (Some access will be free.)
Eventually, it also plans to add paid-for job postings and video tuto-
rials. But today, its main revenue comes from creative brand part-
nerships, which average in the six figures, according to Amoruso—a
strategy she first got excited about when Prudential approached her
in 2016 to promote its 4.01K race at the Rose Bowl. She was still at
Nasty Gal then and worked with Prudential to create customized
podcasts about saving for retirement. With Girlboss, she could get
much more creative.
For a new venture like Girlboss, says Laura Beaudin, a partner in
Bain & Company’s San Francisco office, attracting brands “is a big
opportunity that the current digital platforms haven’t really been able
to unlock.” She points to a shift in the ROI-obsessed digital advertising
market toward cultivating more authentic, lifetime
connections with customers that might include,
for example, making an indelible impression at a
S ETHI G THEY
L STEN T BUI D
Y U JUST HAVE T
“PEOPLE TELL Y U
Girlboss rally.
HAT THEY ANT
One partnership around a diversity panel “was
L LOVE
an overwhelming success for T-Mobile,” says EVP
of customer care Callie Field, who spoke at the
most recent rally. “A woman even came up and
pitched me an idea on the spot, which I was truly
inspired by.” At another rally, Google, another of
Girlboss’s sponsors, ran a Startup Studio, with
50 Chromebooks on which attendees learned to
write business plans using Google Docs. Neither
T-Mobile nor Google would confirm numbers,
but Bumble reportedly paid in the low six fig-
ures to host a photo booth and a glam squad
for attendees to create professional profiles on
Bumble Bizz, the event’s official social media platform. “Bumble
Bizz was brand-new,” says Alex Williamson, Bumble’s head of brand,
so the partnership “was monumental for us.”
Girlboss is, of course, not the only working women’s empowerment
brand generating buzz. Other young girlbosses are leading companies
like Create & Cultivate, Levo, The Wing, even Bumble, with its new
platform, to court millennial climbers who, in a pussy-hatted, #MeToo
world, see great value in women’s networks that never have to whis-
per again. But is the space getting crowded? Or is it a passing cultural
moment? Will women get tired of paying to connect and confab?
Beaudin doesn’t think so. As long as there are working women, they
will find these communities extremely attractive, she says. Inevitably,
there will be some consolidation, but a platform like Girlboss is in a
strong position to branch out to new audiences if necessary, and to
add value to the one it has. “If the content can keep up with the need,
and there’s a way to curate the community so they become an integral
part of it,” she says, “then it will be very sticky.”
MONIQUE  Bryan has followed Girlboss from the
beginning. A longtime fan of Amoruso’s
hustle, she read the book and listens to the podcast. When she heard
about the first rally, no way was she going to miss it. Nor did she care
that Nasty Gal had filed for Chapter 11. “For her to be able to throw
something like this in the face of all that? Like, she’s not crawling under
a rock. It only made me more interested.” Bryan had just left her sec-
ond startup and didn’t exactly have the money, but it was 10 degrees in
Toronto, where she lives, and she’d always wanted to go to L.A., so she
bought the ticket and booked her trip for about $1,100 in U.S. dollars.
Between then and the time of the actual event, a lot changed. She cel-
ebrated her 36th birthday, went to the doctor, and was diagnosed with
breast cancer. She was told she needed to do chemo and radiation, and
to freeze her eggs, and she needed to do it all right away. But she took the
trip. On March 4 at 8:00 a.m., Bryan stood outside the Hudson Loft in
line with the other 500 girlbosses who’d gathered from around the world.
Bryan remembers the excitement of going in and getting her irides-
cent name badge, the Girlboss D.J., the glam squad room, her clear
knapsack swag bag. “Everything was branded so beautifully,” she says,
“and I’m super critical.” She also remembers the variety of speakers,
from comedian Whitney Cummings to Glossier founder Emily Weiss.
But the one she’ll never forget was the one she heard completely by acci-
dent, when she ended up at a talk by Samantha Paige, an artist diag-
nosed with thyroid cancer at age 21, who’d bared her preventive double
mastectomy in a striking Equinox campaign.
Bryan soaked up the talk and the Q&A afterward, until there was time
for just one more question. “I was on the edge of my seat, third row, with
my arm waving: Can’t I just ask?” she says. “I remem-
ber Sophia looking around and finally going, ‘OK…
you.’ And all of a sudden I was like, Oh, shit; I’m going
to start bawling my face off.” Bryan found her voice
in time to tell Paige about the cancer and to ask what
she wished someone had told her when she was diag-
nosed. “Samantha has these piercing blue eyes—they
look into your soul when she’s talking to you,” says
Bryan. “She was like: ‘Feel it all. Be angry. Be mad.
Don’t take care of other people’s feelings.’ ” With that,
the talk ended, and Bryan was mobbed with women
hugging her. “It was really moving,” she says.
Back home, going through treatment, she
took Paige’s advice to heart. “I didn’t realize how
important it would be to me,” says Bryan, who
was declared cancer-free in August 2017, and
launched her latest business, a company that
coaches women entrepreneurs. Does she plan to attend the New York
rally this fall? Yes. Would she join the Girlboss Collective? Hell, yes.
“I’m her target customer,” she says of Amoruso. “We’re all just ready to
absorb her books, social media, whatever she’s giving out.”
Stories like this, of course, are Girlboss gold. They’re also what
Amoruso knew was at the other end of her own troubles. After all,
she was hearing from this audience. And she knew what it felt like to
be knocked down and get back up again. “People tell you what they
want—you just have to listen to build something they will love,” says
Amoruso. “Girlboss isn’t about me. It’s about her.”
Liz Brody is former news director of Glamour magazine.
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 63
100
ng raked in an estimated $6 billion last year, it’s
y to think of the cannabis industry as a sure bet.
states have legalized recreational use, 30 states
g with Washington, D.C., have given the legal OK
edical use, and more are sure to follow. Industry
rts are forecasting $22 billion by 2022—getting in
annabis biz seems like a no-brainer, right?

it wasn’t always such a seemingly smooth road

ccess. California was the first state to legalize
cal usage back in 1999, and it has been a slow
ometimes volatile journey to where we are now,
h is far from steady ground. The sale and use of

CANNABIS 
juana is, after all, still prohibited by federal law.

kes a certain combination of passion and

essness to face uncertainty and seize opportunity
ite the risks, and that’s what this list is all about.

LEADERS
naugural Cannabis 100—produced by Green
epreneur and PRØHBTD—celebrates those
e entrepreneurs who fought to change societal
eptions, found innovative solutions to problems, and
a multibillion-dollar industry one plant at a time.

Celebrating the Movers,  cannabis entrepreneurs and their companies on

ist were selected to help showcase the diverse

Shakers, and Bakers of  range of products and services in the industry. We

chose businesses across 10 diferent categories—
not only to share product innovations but also to

2018
elevate the myriad of services needed to assist
entrepreneurs in navigating this complex industry,
from legal services to tech solutions.

Their stories reflect a unique set of impassioned

minds leading the way with their ideas and
showcasing the wealth of opportunity still ahead for
other green-minded entrepreneurs. 
SOL Investments is building out
a portfolio of blue chip cannabis
companies that operate across
multiple legal states.

We invest in some of the leading

cultivation, distribution and retail
operators in the country.

Find out more at

solinvestments.com
 SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
Intelligent tech coupled with a deep understanding of the cannabis industry have
helped these companies become the go-to providers across a host of services.
helps dispensaries generate COMPANY : Flowhub
C : Namaste Technologies more revenue and build rela- FOUNDER : Kyle Sherman
C F C : Sean Dollinger tionships with their customers LOCATION : Denver
L : Jupiter, Fla. through a variety of products fea- HTTPS://FLOWHUB.CO
HTTPS://WWW.NAMASTETECHNOLOGIES.COM turing online ordering, customer Flowhub is a team of compliance
Namaste operates a global cannabis e-commerce platform loyalty, messaging, and analytics. oficers, techies, problem solvers,
with more than 30 websites in 20-plus countries under vari- and advocates that has built
ous brands. Namaste’s product ofering includes vaporizers, COMPANY : Blackbird reliable compliance software for
glassware, accessories, and CBD products. Namaste leverages FOUNDER : Timothy Conder the regulated cannabis industry.
technology including artificial intelligence and machine learning LOCATION : Reno, Nev. The company’s goal is to make
to optimize and personalize a consumer’s on-site buying experi- MYBLACKBIRD.COM compliance simple to manage
ence across its platforms. BLACKBIRDGO.COM and provide tools to help canna-
Blackbird provides operations bis businesses thrive.
and software solutions for every

“We connect step of the cannabis distribution

process. The company transports,
COMPANY : KIND Financial
FOUNDER : David Dinenberg

a shopping delivers, and builds the software

to facilitate all of the above—
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTP://KIND.FINANCIAL

experience ofering cannabis operators a

complete supply chain solution.
KIND develops and provides enter-
prise technology that businesses,
to user COMPANY : GroStaf
government agencies, and financial
institutions need to operate within
experiences, FOUNDERS : Clint Armstrong and the cannabis industry—from seed

which has never Steve Vierra

LOCATION : Santa Ana, Calif.
to sale—in compliance with state
guidelines and regulations as they

been done in ecommerce. Imagine HTTPS://GROSTAFF.COM

Founded in 2017, GroStaf, Inc., is
shopping for your favorite cannabis, an all-in-one cannabis stafing
platform. It consists of payroll and
continue to evolve. Its platform is
called Agrisoft Seed to Sale.
COMPANY : Headset

CBD, and vaporizers, and also taxes, workers’ compensation

searching by symptoms and
using AI to connect all of the data
being collected. ”
—N C -f
COMPANY: Meadow
FOUNDER : David Hua
LOCATION : San Francisco
HTTP://MEADOWPOS.COM
In 2014, Meadow launched an
on-demand directory, Getmead-
ow.com, connecting patients to
dispensaries for on-demand can-
nabis delivery in California. The
following year, Meadow became
the first Y Combinator company
to operate in the cannabis space
and launched Meadow MD, a
telemedicine platform connecting
a CE S D and administration.
patients to physicians. In 2016,
the company launched Meadow
Platform, an SaaS platform built
from the ground up for California
cannabis retail and delivery.
COMPANY : Baker
FOUNDER : Joel Milton
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://WWW.TRYBAKER.COM
Founded in 2014, Baker is a CRM
for the cannabis industry, servic-
ing more than 1,000 dispensaries
across the U.S. and Canada. Baker
insurance, HR compliance, em-
ployee safety and training certifi-
cations through its online digital
video training platform, stafing
and recruiting, cash management,
and cannabis healthcare benefits
COMPANY : LeafLink
FOUNDERS : Ryan Smith and Zach
Silverman
LOCATION : New York City
HTTPS://LEAFLINK.COM
Serving more than 600 brands
and 2,000 retailers across seven
states, LeafLink is a marketplace
for wholesale cannabis. With its
online marketplace, CRM, and
order management tools, LeafLink
is for cannabis brands, distribu-
tors, and retailers who want to
streamline the ordering process,
simplify communication, and
spend less time on busy work.
FOUNDERS : Brian Wansolich,
Cy Scott, and Scott Vickers
LOCATION : Seattle
HTTPS://WWW.HEADSET.IO
Headset is a data and analytics
service provider for the cannabis
industry, with a mission to help
operators make more informed
business decisions through data.
Headset analyzes consumer
transaction information to help
cannabis retailers better opti-
mize operations.
COMPANY : Cova
CEO : Gary Cohen
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://WWW.COVASOFTWARE.COM
Cova’s team—made up of strat-
egists and technologists with a
20-year pedigree in point-of-sale
software engineering—aims to
provide dispensary owners “sim-
plicity, synchronicity, and eficient
operations.”
 PACKAGING AND
PRODUCT INNOVATION
Capturing the attention and trust of consumers is about more than just brand
identity. Packaging excellence and design innovation make our top picks stand apart.
COMPANY : Saints Joints
FOUNDER : Lawrence Perrigo
LOCATION : Seattle
HTTPS://WWW.SAINTSJOINTS.COM
Saints Joints is dedicated to mak-
ing cannabis products by using
only natural ingredients and prac-
tices. The company ofers flowers
with the flavors and terpenes of
unique hand chosen strains.
COMPANY : dosist
CEO : Gunner Winston
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTP://DOSIST.COM
Describing itself as a modern
wellness company, dosist pro-
vides cannabis solutions that are
engineered to take the guess-
work out of cannabis treatment.
The company says its proprietary
vaporizer technology ensures a
precisely measured dose with
each use, allowing consumers
to repeat treatment each time
without having to worry about in-
consistent results or experiences.
COMPANY : Pufco
FOUNDER : Roger Voladarsky
LOCATION : Brooklyn, N.Y.
HTTPS://WWW.PUFFCO.COM
Pufco says its vaporizers and
other products use no glues, fi-
bers, or chemicals in any airways
and are the result of research
and innovation done in-house.
2000, Storz & Bickel launched
with the Volcano vaporizer, a C : Canndescent
balloon-bag unit with a unique F : Adrian Sedlin
conical volcano design, precision L : Santa Barbara, Calif.
temperature control, and a con- HTTPS://WWW.CANNDESCENT.COM
vection heating system. Canndescent cultivates cannabis flower, productizing and curating
it for the California, adult-use market. The company operates two
COMPANY : Grenco Science cultivation facilities in Desert Hot Springs, Calif., and has its third
LOCATION : Los Angeles facility and an extraction lab under construction.
HTTPS://WWW.GPEN.COM
Grenco Science is the maker of a
series of portable vaporizers. And
in giving back to the community,
Grenco Science established the
Charity Series, a collection of
products tied to nonprofit organi-
zations wherein a portion of net
proceeds are donated with each
purchase; and the Artist Series,
an installment of collaborations
with artists and brand ambas-
sadors.
COMPANY : KinSlips
FOUNDER : Josh Kirby “Similar to how Google empowered
LOCATION : Oakland, Calif.
HTTPS://KINSLIPS.COM
users with information by asking,
Founded by a passionate group
of entrepreneurs hell-bent on
‘What do you want to know?,’
reimagining cannabis and devel-
oping the most eficient products
we’ve put the cannabis consumer
possible, Kin Slips began with
its sublingual strips—an infused
back in control by asking,
product that is “discreet, reliable,
all-natural, and that heightens the
‘How do you want to feel?’”
— S l ,f r C sc
way cannabis is used in everyday
life.”

COMPANY : Storz & Bickel
FOUNDERS : Markus Storz and
Jurgen Bickel
LOCATION : Tuttlingen, Germany
HTTPS://WWW.STORZ-BICKEL.COM
The Storz & Bickel story began in
1996 when Markus Storz, began
developing a herbal vaporizer
that would deliver vapor produc-
tion, ease of use, and quality. In
COMPANY : Double Barrel
HTTP://DOUBLEBARREL.COM
Double Barrel developed a line of
vaporizers featuring two barrels
and one airflow—a device that
looks very much like a dou-
ble-barreled shotgun. Customers
are able to load each chamber
with a diferent cartridge, mixing
their favorite cannabis oils.
COMPANY : Pollen Gear
FOUNDER : Ed Kilduf
LOCATION : Hermosa Beach, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.POLLENGEAR.COM
Obsessed with combining
function and beauty, the team at
Pollen Gear creates child-resis-
tant packaging and containers
for cannabis storage.
COMPANY : Van der Pop
FOUNDER : April Pride
LOCATION : Seattle
HTTP://WWW.VANDERPOP.COM
Van der Pop is a women-centric
lifestyle brand for the cannabis
industry, featuring products,
advice, and guides.
Take the guesswork out
of your cannabusiness.
Our wide range of experience and expertise ensures our clients capture
opportunities in all segments of the cannabis industry and provides
scalability for existing companies. Each of our services are customized,
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Infused foods are a fast-growing category and the culinary expertise of these
market leaders has powered the increased adoption with consumers.
COMPANY : 1906
FOUNDER : Peter Barsoom
LOCATION : Henderson, Colo.
HTTPS://WWW.1906NEWHIGHS.COM
In addition to great taste, all 1906
products feature rapid-delivery
formulations using single-strain
organic cannabis to provide a
range of experiences, bringing
the benefits of cannabis and
plant medicine to health-con-
scious adults. Founded in 2016,
1906 ofers five unique expe-
riences that promote sleep
(Midnight), energy (GO), arousal
(High Love), relaxation (Pause),
and a happy mood (Bliss).
COMPANY : Kushy Punch
FOUNDER : Ruben Cross
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTPS://KUSHYPUNCH.COM
From its award-winning edibles to
vapes, Kushy Punch says it aims
to make every person that comes
into contact with its products
feel better, healthier, and happier.
In addition to its edibles, Kushy
Punch has a focus on conserva-
tion and environmentally friendly
production methods.
COMPANY : incredibles
FOUNDERS : Rick Scarpello,
Bob Eschino, Derek Cumings,
and Josh Fink
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://ILOVEINCREDIBLES.COM
Founded in 2010, incredibles
develops, grows, extracts,
manufactures, and distributes a
wide variety of cannabis edibles,
ePens, and extraction technology.
Featuring a full line of THC-in-
fused, terpene-rich artisanal
edibles, incredibles says its brand
promise is that every product un-
dergoes rigorous testing to help
ensure consistency in potency
and in delivering the highest lev-
els of food production safety.
EDIBLES
COMPANY : The Goodship Company recipe designer, to the cannabis spirit and savvy to the places
FOUNDER : Jody Hall market to create baked goods, where chocolate and cannabis
LOCATION : Seattle chocolates, and confections. meet. These artisans use sun-
HTTP://WWW.THEGOODSHIP.COM grown, single-origin cannabis and
The Goodship Company was COMPANY : Défoncé Chocolatier incomparable chocolate ingredi-
founded in 2014 by Jody Hall, the FOUNDER : Eric Eslao ents to craft infused chocolate
owner of Seattle-based cupcake LOCATION : Oakland, Calif. bars, which come in a range of
bakeries and cafés. After Wash- HTTP://DEFONCE.COM flavors, containing 90 mg of THC.
ington voters ended the prohibi- At Défoncé, artisans with years
tion on marijuana, Hall decided to of experience at fine chocolate COMPANY : PLUS Products
bring her expertise, along with her manufacturers now devote their FOUNDER : Jake Heimark
LOCATION : Adelanto, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.PLUSPRODUCTS.COM
Starting with high-quality ex-
C : Kiva Confections tracts, the team at PLUS Products
F : Scott Palmer pairs them with carefully selected
L : Oakland, Calif. ingredients to make every batch
HTTP://KIVACONFECTIONS.COM of edibles consistent, fast-acting,
Kiva Confections products are crafted from ingredients that are and tasting great.
combined with California cannabis. Since Kiva’s founding in 2010, its
goal has been to create an edible that redefines what a cannabis COMPANY : Kikoko
confection ought to be—by applying “art and science” to ensure a FOUNDERS : Amanda Jones and
deliciously consistent experience. Jennifer Chapin
LOCATION : Emeryville, Calif.
HTTPS://KIKOKO.COM
Kikoko creates organic canna-
bis-infused herbal teas formulat-
ed to help with sleep, mood, pain,
sex, and everyday wellness.
COMPANY : Beboe
FOUNDERS : Scott Campbell and
Clement Kwan
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTPS://WWW.BEBOE.COM
“People are depending on us to deliver Campbell and Kwan say they
started Beboe to ofer “the so-
them safe, delicious, and effective phisticated cannabis consumer
an experience unlike any other on
cannabis products today and long into the market.”
the future.There’s no better motivator COMPANY : Cheeba Chews
HTTPS://CHEEBACHEWS.COM
than knowing people depend on you Since its founding in 2009,
Cheeba Chews says it has main-
to deliver products that will make a tained its mission to provide a
difference in their lives.” consistently potent and discreet
cannabis-infused edible solution
—K C o f rS r utilizing independent lab testing,
product infusion, and genuine
patient experience.
LEGAL AND CONSULTING
From legal advice to business development to investing, these
companies excel in navigating the constantly evolving cannabis industry.
C : Frontera Law Group Clark Neubert LLP is a wom- COMPANY : Vincent Sederberg
F : Jefrey D. Welsh and Luke K. Stanton en-owned cannabis law firm FOUNDERS : Christian Sederberg
L : Sherman Oaks, Calif. founded in 2014. The firm provides and Brian Vicente
HTTP://FRONTERALAWGROUP.COM comprehensive legal counsel to LOCATION : Denver
Frontera Law Group is a law firm in California serving the industry’s commercial cannabis businesses HTTPS://VICENTESEDERBERG.COM
preeminent cannabis businesses. Frontera provides strategic advice, in all aspects of formation, oper- Vincent Sederberg is a national
helping clients navigate the ever-changing landscape to build suc- ation, licensing, compliance, and marijuana law firm providing legal
cessful and sustainable enterprises while also complying with Cali- corporate financial transactions. and policy services to cannabis
fornia’s complex, evolving patchwork of state and local regulations. and hemp businesses, ancillary
COMPANY : ELLO companies, investors, and gov-
FOUNDER : Evan Eneman ernmental bodies.

“My favorite LOCATION : Los Angeles

HTTP://WWW.ELLOINSIGHTS.COM COMPANY : SIVA Enterprises

aspect of ELLO was founded by consultants

and business advisers to be a
CEO : Avis Bulbulyan
LOCATION : Glendale, Calif.

working as force for positive, sustainable

change in the emerging cannabis
a lawyer in industry. ELLO’s services include
corporate finance, tax, due
the cannabis diligence, M&A, regulatory com-
HTTPS://SIVALLC.COM
SIVA Enterprises provides busi-
ness solutions for the cannabis
industry, including consulting,
local and state licensing, compli-

industry is pliance, finance efectiveness,

operations, strategy consulting,
ance, and insurance. Operational
services include product and

having the and more. brand development, manufactur-

ing, and distribution.
ability to operate at the tip of the COMPANY : Hoban Law Group
FOUNDER : Robert Hoban

spear of a burgeoning industry. We LOCATION : Denver

https://hoban.law
COMPANY : Canna Advisors
LOCATION : Boulder, Colo.

set new legal precedent, define With attorneys licensed in nearly

every state that has embraced
industry standards, and help to legalized cannabis, Hoban Law
Group serves clients across the
create brands and businesses U.S. with medical and adult use
HTTPS://THINKCANNA.COM
Helping new businesses launch
and established businesses
grow, Canna Advisors positions
itself as an investing, advocacy,

that already are, or soon will be, marijuana businesses, as well as

household names.”
—F r L
COMPANY : Shevin Law Group
FOUNDER : Eric Shevin
LOCATION : Sherman Oaks, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.SHEVINLAW.COM
Shevin Law Group is a full-ser-
vice cannabis-business law and
criminal law practice providing
personalized service to individu-
als, cannabis entrepreneurs, and
entities in the emerging canna-
bis industry in California. Founder
c r Je D Wel
Eric Shevin has spent his legal
career (26 years) focused on
advocating for cannabis regula-
tions in addition to the legaliza-
tion of hemp.
COMPANY : Clark Nubert
FOUNDERS : Ariel Clark
and Nicole Neubert
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTP://GREENFRONTIER.COM
those operating in the industrial
hemp sector.
COMPANY : MJardin
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://WWW.MJARDIN.COM
MJardin Group is a diversified
holding company dedicated to
the legal cannabis industry in
the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere.
Comprised of MJardin Manage-
ment and MJardin Capital, the firm
recently expanded to include a
Toronto ofice for Canadian facili-
ty operations as well as a hub for
future capital markets activity.
and mentoring partner in the
cannabis industry. The firm helps
cannabis entrepreneurs win
licenses, optimize facility design,
standardize operations, and maxi-
mize business development.
COMPANY : PRØworks
PRESIDENT: Craig Binkley
LOCATION: Los Angeles
WWW.PROGLOBALWORKS.COM
PRØworks is a strategy con-
sulting group that brings proven
approaches to business growth
from a broad range of mainstream
consumer categories and adapts
them to enable success in the
rapidly expanding, ever-changing
cannabis industry.
Publicly traded - CSE:ISOL | OTCQB:ISOLF | FWB:LB6A.F

“In the world of hemp, Isodiol® is

the most extraordinary company”
Isodiol® is a global leader and CBD innovator specializing in the
development of pharmaceutical actives and health and
wellness products.

www.isodi
SOCIAL/ECO-RESPONSIBILITY The companies in this group are thriving by focusing on
eco-friendly sustainability and being good corporate citizens.
COMPANY : Headwaters
FOUNDERS : Tristan Strauss and
Brian Casey
LOCATION : Carpinteria, Calif.
HTTPS://GOHEADWATERS.COM
Headwaters is a cannabis supply
chain company that focuses on
cultivation, bulk commodity distri-
bution, and consumer goods. The
company says it is guided by the
tenets of sustainable agriculture
and driven by a commitment to
transparency.
COMPANY : Sana Packaging
FOUNDER : Ron Basak-Smith
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://WWW.SANAPACKAGING.COM
Sana Packaging designs and
develops 100 percent plant-
based hemp plastic packaging
solutions for the cannabis indus-
try. Proudly “made in the USA,”
its packaging is regenerative
and helps heal the environment.
The company is committed to
supporting domestic agriculture
and manufacturing.
COMPANY : Yerba Buena
FOUNDER : Preston Greene
LOCATION : Hillsboro, Ore.
HTTPS://WWW.YERBABUENA.COM
Yerba Buena is an award-winning
cannabis cultivator of organically
grown flower that has a focus
on minimizing its environmental
footprint.
COMPANY : kindColorado
FOUNDERS : Kelly Perez and
Courtney Mathis
LOCATION : Denver
HTTP://KINDCOLORADO.ORG
COMPANY : Eel River Organics
LOCATION : Fortuna, Calif. C : Bloom Farms
HTTP://WWW.EELRIVER F : Michael Ray
FAMILYFARM.ORG L : Oakland, Calif.
Eel River Organics embraces an HTTPS://GETBLOOMFARMS.COM
entirely natural way of growing Working with responsible farmers who care about the land, Bloom
marijuana. While other commer- Farms’ dedication to safe, clean cannabis is evident in its full-spec-
cial cannabis plants are subject- trum, 100 percent pure cannabis oils that stay true to their source
ed to artificial light and chemical plants. And for each product it sells, Bloom Farms provides a healthy
fertilizers, its seeds are nourished meal to a regional partner food bank.
by the raw elements of nature.
COMPANY : Flow Kana
FOUNDER : Michael Steinmetz
LOCATION : San Francisco
HTTPS://WWW.FLOWKANA.COM
With a wide range of process-
ing, co-packing, white label, and
distribution services, Flow Kana is
a sustainable, sun-grown-canna-
bis company that embraces the
small, independent farm ecosys-
tem. They partner with, and give
scale to, craft farmers in Northern
California and values-aligned
brands that honor “beyond-or-
ganic” farming practices.
COMPANY : Marley Natural
FOUNDERS : Marley Family
LOCATION : Seattle
“Our most powerful innovation
HTTPS://WWW.MARLEYNATURAL.COM
Promoting “positivity, connectivi-
is figuring out how to change the
ty, and personal transformation,”
Marley Natural’s flower, accesso-
negative stigmas of cannabis. For
ries, and body-care products are
responsibly sourced and integrity
customers and retailers, we think of
driven, the company says. each interaction as an opportunity to
COMPANY : Emerald Family Farms exemplify professionalism, inclusion
LOCATION : Arcata, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.EMERALD and the idea that cannabis can
FAMILYFARMS.COM

Founded in 2015, Emerald Fam-

The team at kindColorado
says it develops pathways
for cannabis businesses to
be a community asset, with a
goal of inspiring the cannabis
industry to not only engage in a
Cannabis Social Responsibility
program, but also to champion
community engagement as
best business practice.
ily Farms cultivates cannabis
and concentrate products. The
company says that incorporat-
ing the connoisseur cannabis
of member farms from nearby
counties into their supply chain
helps them ofer a wider strain
variety while also creating a
life-line to the region’s farmers
and local communities.
enhance a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle.”
—M l ,f r, l F
COMPANY : True Humboldt supported by more than 200
LOCATION : Arcata, Calif. farmers. Its products are tested
HTTPS://WWW.TRUEHUMBOLDT.COM for pesticides, microbiologicals,
Sustainably cultivated on small terpenes, and potency to ensure
farms in Humboldt County, that only clean, safe medicine
Calif., True Humboldt says it is reaches patients.
 The explosive consumer demand for concentrates has been propelled by
the innovation and expanding product lines developed by these leading companies.
COMPANY : Organa Brands COMPANY : Moxie COMPANY : Hot Nife premium edible brands in legal
FOUNDERS : Jeremy Heidl and FOUNDER : Jordan Lams FOUNDER : Circe Wallace U.S. and international markets.
Chris McElvany LOCATION : Los Angeles LOCATION : Los Angeles Makers of the Select Oil and Se-
LOCATION : Denver HTTP://WWW.MOXIE710.COM HTTPS://HOTNIFE.COM lect CBD brands, Cura strives to
HTTPS://ORGANABRANDS.COM Founded in 2015, Moxie specializ- Sourced from California’s finest provide patients and customers
Organa Brands started in 2010 es in extracts, the concentrated outdoor, sun-grown plants, Hot with the cleanest, most flavorful
with a founding promise to de- and purified active ingredients Nife’s all-natural CO2-extracted high-quality cannabis oils, with
liver extraordinary cannabis ex- that provide the characteristic cannabis oils are delivered via the safest delivery methods
tractions. Bringing together smart flavor and efect of the cannabis its line of CBD cartridges. The available.
minds in the regulated cannabis plant. Its premium-quality canna- company says using its oils—
market, Organa Brands operates bis-concentrate products are of- processed from a single origin in COMPANY : Pure Vape
its CO2 extraction facility called ten used medicinally by patients small batches—is “the best pos- LOCATION : California
Organa Labs. With Organa Labs who require an alternative means sible way to care for your aches HTTPS://PUREVAPEOFFICIAL.COM
oil at the core of its products, the of consumption to smoking. and pains or just plain get high.” Based in Southern California, Pure
company has become a national- Vape focuses on 100 percent
ly scaled cannabis brand. COMPANY : Northwest Cannabis organic and solvent-free, true
Solutions cannabis taste and Prop 215–
LOCATION : Olympia, Wash. compliant products. Its products—
HTTP://NWCS425.COM sold in half- and full-gram cartridg-
C : Heavy Hitters Northwest Cannabis Solutions es—can be found in more than
C - : Emily DeLaCruz is one of the largest recre- 200 dispensaries in the region.
L : Southern California ational marijuana producers
HTTPS://HEAVYHITTERS.CO
and processors in Washington. COMPANY : King Pen Vapes
Claiming to be the first to put consistent, high-quality oil in a vape With more than 150 employees, LOCATION : Los Angeles
cartridge, the team behind Heavy Hitters says it prides itself in the company’s growing facility HTTPS://KINGPENVAPES.COM
industry-leading “True Ceramic” technology paired with Cold-Fil- features an extraction lab and King Pen Vapes is a group of
tered distillate. Heavy Hitters’ vape cartridge meets and exceeds an edibles kitchen. Among its vapers with a wide range of
California’s standards for safety and quality, the company says. products are LEGENDS, PRIVATE interests and experiences that
RESERVE, MINI Budz, MAGIC have come together to create
KITCHEN edibles, EVERGREEN, EZ more eficiency and knowledge in
VAPE single-use vape cartridges, choosing the right vaporizers and
GoldLine concentrates, THCaps accessories. With a dedicated
infused capsules, and more. and friendly staf, the company’s
customer service team is happy
COMPANY : CannaCraft to provide specific or general
LOCATION : Santa Rosa, Calif. information on vaporizers and
HTTPS://WWW.CANNACRAFT.COM accessories.
CannaCraft is a communi-
ty-oriented brand that provides COMPANY : The Clear
medical cannabis products man- LOCATION : California
ufactured in Sonoma County. The HTTPS://CLEARCONCENTRATE.COM

“There are new challenges every day, company says its products meet
the highest industry standards
Founded in 2013 by a group
of chemists and scientists
and that keeps us on our toes. But, for organic cultivation, extraction,
product formulation, and packag-
determined to find cleaner ways
to consume cannabis, the Clear
this is what makes it exciting. We ing to ensure patient safety and
well-being.
is a 100 percent solvent-free
cannabis concentrate. Unlike
are literally part of creating what the COMPANY : Cura
most other vaping and dabbing
concentrates, the Clear makes
industry will be for years to come.” FOUNDER : Cameron Forni its flavors and terpenes in-house
—E D L C ,c - r LOCATION : Portland, Ore. using only organic and kosher
r fr t r He H r HTTPS://CURACAN.COM components.
The Cura platform provides can-
nabis oil to both consumers and

Exacting standards with a commitment to improving the quality of life for people and
pets make these companies the leaders in the health and wellness category.
COMPANY : Papa & Barkley
FOUNDER : Adam Grossman
LOCATION : Los Angeles
HTTPS://WWW.PAPAAND
BARKLEY.COM
Papa & Barkley is a consumer
products company making can-
nabis-powered pain and wellness
products, including topical pain
balms and transdermal patches,
and consumables like tinctures
and capsules. The company
sources its cannabis from local
farmers and processes the plant
cleanly using chemical-free infu-
sion and extraction methods.
COMPANY : Altitude Products
FOUNDER : Krista Whitley
LOCATION : Las Vegas
HTTPS://WWW.ALTITUDE
PRODUCTS.COM
Altitude Products says it is
actively developing the technol-
ogies to create ultra-premium
products that replace dangerous
pharmaceutical drugs with THC
and CBD wellness products.
Altitude’s brands include The
Weekend Box, Bella, Felix &
Ambrosia, Whoopi & Maya, Caviar
Gold, and more.
COMPANY : Terra Tech
CEO : Derek Peterson
LOCATION : Irvine, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.TERRATECHCORP.COM
Terra Tech Corp. is a cannabis-fo-
cused agriculture company
that cultivates and provides
high-quality medical cannabis
and other agricultural products. It
operates several subsidiaries in
both medical cannabis and urban
agriculture, including IVXX-, Edible
Garden®, and Terra Tech’s retail
division, Blüm.
COMPANY : Isodiol
CEO : Marcos Agramont
LOCATION : New York City
HTTPS://ISODIOL.COM
Isodiol creates pharmaceuti-
cal-grade, pure, natural CBD and
MEDICAL FOCUS
is a contract manufacturer and
brand developer of CBD consumer C : Cresco Labs
products. It also has sports per- C F C : Charlie Bachtell
formance products for athletes L : Chicago
through its subsidiary, ISO-Sport. HTTPS://WWW.CRESCOLABS.COM
Cresco Labs develops professional-grade cannabis products, with
COMPANY : Liberty Health Sciences brands (Cresco, Remedi, Reserve, and Mindy’s Edibles, an infused
FOUNDER : Andy DeFrancesco edible line with James Beard Award–winning chef Mindy Segal) that
CEO : George Scorcis ofer a full suite of products including flower, edibles, vape pens/
LOCATION : Gainesville, Fla. cartridges, and multiple forms of extracts catering to all consumers.
HTTPS://WWW.LIBERTYHEALTH
SCIENCES.COM
Liberty Health Sciences is a multi-
state operator that leverages its
commercial greenhouse knowl-
edge to deliver high-quality, clean,
and safe pharmaceutical-grade
cannabis to consumers.
COMPANY : Scythian BioScience/
SOL Global
COFOUNDER : Andy DeFrancesco
CEO : Rob Reid
LOCATION : Miami
HTTP://SCYTHIANBIO.COM
Scythian is a research and devel-
opment company committed to “Everyone who is a driving force
advancing prevention and treat-
ment eforts for concussions
in this industry has a sense of
and traumatic brain injury with its
proprietary cannabinoid-based
entrepreneurial spirit. They are
combination drug therapy. curious, self-motivated, and willing to
COMPANY : CV Sciences
FOUNDERS : Michael J. Mona III and
put themselves on the front lines to be
Michael J. Mona, Jr. a steward of a larger mission we are
LOCATION : Las Vegas
HTTPS://CVSCIENCES.COM trying to accomplish.”
CV Sciences operates two dis- — Ch l ,c r CE C sc L s
tinct divisions: pharmaceuticals
and consumer products. These
divisions are supported by its
medical and scientific advisory opportunity to make a diference, by potent natural ingredients,
board, and state-of-the art pro- AltMed’s mission is to produce Therabis pet wellness products
duction facilities. safe, reliable, and efective are designed to address spe-
cannabis-based therapies with cific conditions that challenge
COMPANY : MUV/Altmed pharmaceutical-industry-level your pet. Founder and veteri-
CO-FOUNDER, PRESIDENT quality and consistency. narian Dr. Stephen M. Katz has
AND CEO : R. Michael Smullen spent a decade researching,
LOCATION : Sarasota, Fla. COMPANY : Therabis developing and perfecting the
HTTP://WWW.ALTMED.CO LOCATION : Denver company’s all-natural formula-
Inspired by a firsthand connec- HTTPS://THERABISPET.COM tions to provide pets with reli-
tion with patient and caretaker Backed by 25 years of veteri- able relief from itching, stress
communities and driven by the nary experience and powered and joint immobility.
SPONSORED
HOW ONE CHICAGO
COMPANY IS BECOMING
A HOUSEHOLD NAME
FOR CANNABIS
In 2015, Charles Bachtell and his partners filed an
4,300-page application for one of 21 marijuana
grower licenses in Illinois. Months later, winning
three of the 21 licenses with the top three scores,
they officially entered the booming, nationwide
cannabis industry. Then came the hard part —
fulfilling the mission to normalize and
professionalize cannabis.
They didn’t want to just grow and
package the medicinally popular plant,
they had a much bigger vision; they
wanted to be a household name. Like
Johnson & Johnson. Or Anheuser-Busch.
They had long-term goals of becoming
titans of industry.
Three years later, with six states in its footprint, five
brands, and over 200 products, Cresco Labs now
has the largest consumer footprint in the country,
poised to cater to every level of cannabis user and
to make that vision a reality.
THE DREAM TEAM
With a vision of long-term growth, Cresco Labs
recruited top talent from other industries.
Agricultural scientists, pharmacy executives,
engineers, chemists, operations specialists, and
sales executives came together to create a
business structure that was both nimble and
scalable. Together, this team has set new standards
for professionalism in cannabis.
IDENTIFIABLE PRODUCTS
Having a clear understanding of the spectrum of
cannabis consumers, from the medically-minded to
the sophisticated, traditional consumer, drove the
creation of a distinct suite of brands for
Cresco Labs.
Each brand targets a unique audience. Remedi
provides relief to consumers looking for discreet
cannabis forms that are reminiscent of traditional
medicine; like pills, tinctures, and transdermal
patches. Cresco serves consumers who are more
familiar with traditional means of consuming
cannabis but want a quality, dependable product
they can afford to enjoy every day. Reserve
combines unrivaled quality and hand-selected
genetics for delicately-balanced terpene profiles
and an exclusive experience. Mindy’s Edibles, a
partnership with James Beard Award-Winning Chef
Mindy Segal, showcases decadent
chocolate-forward products infused
with flavorless oil. Mindy’s Kitchen
offers a fun, approachable line with
multiple flavors of fruit chews,
gummies, and hard candies.
BUILT TO GROW
In addition to their success winning
merit-based licenses, Cresco Labs is
expanding nationwide through strategic
acquisitions and partnerships. They aim
to be vertically-integrated
state-by-state, touching every element
of the seed-to-sale process and making
them one of the fastest-growing
cannabis companies in the country.
For more information on
Cresco Labs’ growth and
investment opportunities, visit
www.crescolabs.com
 Check out these 10 companies that are experts in helping licensed
producers increase yield and manufacture diverse cannabis products.
C : GreenBroz
F : Cullen Raichart
L : San Diego
HTTPS://GREENBROZ.COM/
GreenBroz, Inc,. makes a full line of automated harvesting equip-
ment. It says its flagship, the GreenBroz auto-trimmer, is the best dry
trimming solution available.
“There are
plenty of
automated
tools in other
industries
but cannabis
has a unique
need for gentle handling. Our
challenge as an engineering company
is to design products with
the ability to scale up production,
without sacrificing quality.”
—C e R ,f
COMPANY : urban-gro
FOUNDER : Brad Nattrass
LOCATION : Lafayette, Colo.
HTTPS://URBAN-GRO.COM/
A cultivation technologies com-
pany, urban-gro delivers systems,
solutions, design services, and
technologies for commercial
cannabis cultivators. Custom-
ers include some of the largest
commercial cannabis cultivators
in the world, the company says.
urban-gro helps its customers
achieve sustainable scalability
through innovative technologies,
resulting in lower operational cost,
increased economic yield, and
reduced environmental impact.
r fG z FOUNDER : Danny Davis
COMPANY : Growers House
FOUNDER : Nate Lipton
LOCATION : Tucson, Ariz.
HTTPS://GROWERSHOUSE.COM/
Started in 2011 in a 1,500-square-
foot location, Growers House has
become a major online hydro-
ponics retailer in the U.S., and its
clients can be found throughout
North and South America, Europe,
Africa, and Australia. Grower-
sHouse.com has become an
e-commerce platform, media con-
tent provider, and creator of more
than 20 products for professional
growers and hobbyists in the
indoor, outdoor, and greenhouse
cultivation industry.
COMPANY : Advanced Nutrients
FOUNDER : Michael Straumietis
LOCATION : Abbotsford, British
Columbia
HTTPS://WWW.ADVANCED
NUTRIENTS.COM/
Advanced Nutrients is an inter-
national marketer and manufac-
turer of agricultural, home and
garden, hydroponic fertilizers
and plant nutrients.
COMPANY : Jupiter Research
FOUNDER : Mark Scatterday
LOCATION : Phoenix
HTTP://WWW.JUPITERRESEARCH.COM/
Jupiter Research designs, devel-
ops, and manufactures vapor-
ization technologies exclusively
for the natural plant-derived
oil producer. Jupiter’s propri-
etary technology is engineered
specifically for today’s high
viscosity extracts, giving the
producer a proven and reliable
solution to deliver its product.
Jupiter’s Liquid platform pro-
vides “powerful performance”
with the intended flavor and
eficacy customers expect.
COMPANY : Convectium
LOCATION : Rancho Santa
Margarita, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.CONVECTIUM.COM/
Convectium’s proprietary tech-
nology and equipment is used
by companies in the vape indus-
try to automate their workflow.
Products include the 710Shark
Oil Filling System, 710Captain
Auto-Capping Machine, 710Cove
No-Leak Cartridge Platform, and
the 710Seal Packaging Line.
COMPANY : GrowLife Inc.
CEO : Marco Hegyi
LOCATION : Kirkland, Wash.
HTTP://GROWLIFEINC.COM/
GrowLife, Inc., provides hy-
droponic equipment, lighting,
nutrients, media, and other
cultivation supplies to commer-
cial and urban operations. With a
selection of cultivation products
combined with logistics and
distribution services, GrowLife
consultants help cultivation
operations eficiently control
supply costs, manage build-out
investments, track supply usage,
streamline workflows and create
custom solutions to aid in a wide
range of grow concerns.
COMPANY : Precision
Extraction Solutions
CEO : Marc Beginin
LOCATION : Detroit, Mich.
HTTPS://PRECISIONEXTRACTION.COM/
Precision Extraction Solutions
makes closed loop hydrocar-
bon and ethanol extraction
equipment and provides site
planning and training for hemp
and cannabis processors. The
company works with many
large-scale producers and spe-
cializes in local and state-level
code compliance.
COMPANY : Mills Nutrients
LOCATION : Long Beach, Calif.
HTTP://WWW.MILLSNUTRIENTS.COM/
Made in the Dutch tradition of
a two-part base along with ad-
ditives that provide plants with
only the nutrients they need,
Mills is a pioneer in the field of
bio-mineral plant nutrients, uti-
lizing both synthetic and organic
sources to optimize growth
rates, yield, flavor, and aroma.
COMPANY : Heidolph
LOCATION : Elk Grove Village, Ill.
HTTPS://HEIDOLPH-INSTRUMENTS.COM
Heidolph Instruments is a manu-
facturer of laboratory equipment,
doing business in more than 100
countries. It sells equipment to
laboratories in pharmaceutical
research, cosmetics, biology,
bio-fuel, chemical industries, and
universities.
 Best of Best of
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 FLOWER
It all starts with companies like these that are taking cultivation to new heights while
expanding the lineup of strains and outcome-based products available to consumers.
COMPANY : DNA Genetics
FOUNDERS : Don Morris
and Aaron Yarkoni
LOCATION : Sherman Oaks, Calif.
HTTP://WWW.DNAGENETICS.COM
DNA Genetics was established
more than 13 years ago in
Amsterdam, providing cannabis
seeds for the medicinal and rec-
reational markets. The company
has also been developing stra-
tegic partnerships throughout
the world, entering into each
legal market as the laws in each
territory change to provide for
legal cannabis enterprises.
COMPANY : Sunday Goods
FOUNDER : Randy Smith
LOCATION : Scottsdale, Ariz.
HTTPS://WWW.SUNDAYGOODS.COM
Founded in 2014, Sunday Goods
is an all-natural cannabis
company that produces specific
efects through high-integrity
growing. Its facility in Arizona
includes a 320,000-square-foot
Dutch glass greenhouse where
an assortment of products
such as flower, oils, topicals,
and edibles are produced.
Customers can buy products
at dispensaries and through its
e-commerce delivery platform
at SundayGoods.com.
COMPANY : HiFi Farms
FOUNDER : Lee Henderson
LOCATION : Portland, Ore.
HTTPS://WWW.HIFIFARMS.COM
Being music lovers, this com-
pany’s founders adopted the
name “HiFi” not just because of
their record-playing passions,
but also to refer to their “higher”
ideals concerning cultivation
practices.
COMPANY : Sherbinski COMPANY : Jungle Boys COMPANY : Phat Panda
FOUNDER : Mario Sherbinski LOCATION : Los Angeles LOCATION : Seattle
LOCATION : San Francisco HTTPS://WWW.THEJUNGLEBOYS.COM HTTP://WWW.PHATPANDA.COM
HTTPS://WWW.SHERBINSKIS.COM Jungle Boys is a group of LA- With more than 40 strains of
Curator of genetics: Sunset based growers who are cultivat- premium marijuana, the Phat
Sherbert, Gelato, Gello, Mochi, ing cannabis while spreading Panda line is a result of a state-
and Acaiberry. knowledge and insight within of-the-art growing facility using
the community since 2006. techniques executed by the
company’s in-house experts.
C : 1964 Supply Co. COMPANY : MMAC (Triple Seven)
F : Jesse McConnell LOCATION : Los Angeles
L : Los Angeles HTTPS://TRIPLESEVENLA.COM
HTTPS://WWW.SUPPLIEDBY1964.COM Triple Seven is a cannabis grow-
1964 Supply Co. was created to both capture and respect a mo- ing facility that’s committed to
ment in time in cannabis history: the year the THC molecule was producing only the most consis-
discovered. Through its collaborations with artists, 1964 Supply Co. tent and well-crafted premium
has helped capture the creative essence of cannabis users. cannabis possible.
COMPANY : Copperstate Farms
LOCATION : Snowflake, Ariz.
HTTPS://COPPERSTATEFARMS.COM
Copperstate Farms continues
to bring growth to the local and
state economy through the
hiring of local laborers, material
suppliers, and contractors when
possible.
COMPANY : Gabriel
LOCATION : Washington State
HTTP://GABRIELCANNABIS.COM
Gabriel says its cultivation
“The unbelievable passion and rooms are completely sealed—
entrepreneurial spirit that I encounter there are no vents to the
outside, and the conditions are
in this community is inspiring. controlled from within the room.
This provides the plants with
This passion extends down to the the perfect environment, where
the temperature can be com-
consumer, and I’m regularly asked fortable, humidity can sit steady,
and pesticides aren’t ever nec-
about where the opportunities are essary, the company says.
and how the small-time entrepreneur
can get involved.”
— Jes e Mc l ,f r, 1 S l C
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RETAIL/DELIVERY EXPERIENCE
By providing a trusted customer experience,
these brands are setting the bar for cannabis retail online and in-store.
COMPANY : greenRush
C : Higher Standards FOUNDER : Paul Warshaw
F : Sasha Kadey LOCATION : San Francisco
L : Boca Raton, Fla. HTTPS://WWW.GREENRUSH.COM
HTTPS://HIGHERSTANDARDS.COM Established in 2014, greenRush
Higher Standards was created to provide smoking connoisseurs serves both the recreational
with the tools they need for an elevated smoking experience. The and medical markets. The com-
company’s care and maintenance products help ensure the purest pany’s expansive greenRush
flavor, and keep pipes, rigs, and vaporizers performing and looking marketplace ofers consumers
their best. With its flagship store located at New York’s Chelsea a selection of thousands of
Market, Higher Standards is also setting up pop-up shops in estab- products for delivery or pickup
lished dispensaries like The Pottery in Los Angeles, and aggressively from licensed providers, while
expanding its own retail footprint. its e-commerce and marketing
platform enables dispensaries
and brands to sell their prod-
ucts online easily.
COMPANY : Reef Dispensaries
FOUNDER : Matthew Morgan
LOCATIONS : Nevada and Arizona
HTTPS://REEFDISPENSARIES.COM
Reef Dispensaries’ state-of-
the-art manufacturing facilities
breed and cultivate a vast
selection of medicinal strains.
From extracts to concentrates
to edibles, Reef Dispensaries’
products provide targeted relief
for patients across six locations
in Nevada and Arizona. Each
“The chance to play a part in creating clean, safe, and professional
COMPANY : Harborside
FOUNDER : Steve DeAngelo
LOCATION : Oakland, Calif.
HTTPS://WWW.SHOPHARBORSIDE.COM
Founded in 2006, Harborside is
a cannabis dispensary that has
more than 200,000 registered
consumers. Founder Steve
DeAngelo also started Steep Hill
Labs, a cannabis-testing facility,
as well as a cannabis investment
and research firm called the
Arcview Group.
COMPANY : Eaze
CEO : Jim Patterson
LOCATION : San Francisco
HTTPS://WWW.EAZE.COM
Eaze says it is on a mission
to improve lives by “helping
people understand the benefits
of cannabis and by providing
them with safe, convenient
access to cannabis products.”
Founded in 2014, the company’s
technology connects licensed
product brands, distributors, and
cannabis retailers to customers
on-demand.
COMPANY : Native Roots

an industry that is sure to be a Reef location is stafed with

highly trained, knowledgeable
LOCATION : Denver
HTTPS://WWW.NATIVEROOTS

permanent fixture of the economy patient-consultants to assist in

helping clients.
DISPENSARY.COM

Native Roots is a cannabis brand

for centuries to come is COMPANY : Acreage Holdings
providing a variety of medical and
recreational marijuana, extracts,
extremely exciting and appeals to FOUNDER AND CEO : Kevin Murphy
LOCATION : New York City
infused products, and more.

my desire to be a pioneer.” HTTPS://WWW.ACREAGE

— K
COMPANY : MedMen
FOUNDERS : Adam Bierman and
Andrea Modlin
LOCATION : Culver City, Calif.
HTTPS://MEDMEN.COM
MedMen operates scalable
and eficient growing facilities
using agronomic technology
and sustainable techniques.
Its manufacturing facilities use
,f r H r St
standards comparable to those in
the biotech and pharmaceutical
industries. MedMen does not
run pot shops—it manages retail
stores that happen to sell mar-
ijuana and marijuana products.
The company operates several
dispensaries in strategic markets
in the U.S.
HOLDINGS.COM
Acreage Holdings owns cannabis
licenses and assets in states
where either medical and/or adult
use of cannabis is legal. Acreage
owns cultivation, processing
and dispensary operations in 13
states and has one of the largest
footprints of any cannabis com-
pany in the U.S.
COMPANY : Bud.com
LOCATION : Oakland, Calif.
HTTPS://BUD.COM
Bud.com is a benefit corporation
delivering recreational cannabis
in California.
COMPANY : tru|med
LOCATION : Phoenix
HTTPS://TRUMEDAZ.COM
This dispensary ofers medical
cannabis products like flower and
concentrates.
 R’S CHO
TO

IC E
EDI

DO THESE
THINGS
BEFORE OPENINGYOUR
DOORS FOR BUSINESS
Helpful tips for a soft launching your
brick-and-mortar cannabis store.
J r Ha
B
efore your brick-and-mortar cannabis store officially
opens, do a soft launch to make sure all the bugs and
glitches are fixed. Here are some suggestions from
people who have been there, done that.
TE Y UR S EMS
You should try out your security system and your point-of-
sale system, create test entries taking advantage of the
software products’ sandbox features (making sure to erase
that fake data before your market debut), and perform other
trial runs. In other words, build in time to test all your systems
and procedures in a soft-launch format before opening your
doors to the public.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, the two biggest chal-
lenges for cannabis businesses without access to banking
are safeguarding cash and paying employees and vendors.
Being prepared for them can save you massive headaches in
the future.
I V E FR ND F E
Once you’ve test-driven all the elements in your location
individually, invite your family, friends, and colleagues to your
shop, office, grow operation, or manufacturing facility and
see what they think. Conduct this exercise at least once; if
possible, spend two or three days at it. Ask people who will
be candid about their opinions; it’s likely your mother or best
friend won’t want to tell you if they don’t like something—or
might not even know what a cannabis-related business
should look like.
“Don’t just trust every person who gives you anecdotal
feedback,” says Tyler Stratford, director of client relations for
Canna Advisors. “Prepare an actual questionnaire, highlight
areas of concern which are confined . . . and get the custom-
ers to describe the general feel they get from your location.
Did they feel rushed? Did they feel like the employees didn’t
know what they were talking about? Those are some general
things that stem from inexperience.”
KE NOTE .
In addition to getting people’s comments, take notes during
the soft launch yourself. This will probably be the only time
you’ll be able to watch what’s going on in your business; once
you open, you’ll be too busy running the place.
Here’s a detailed checklist of a few things you should test
during the soft launch:
• Your security system
• Your point-of-sale system
• Your location’s general feel
• The way traffic flows inside the location
• How the product looks in your store, if applicable
• How the employees treat customers
• How customers react to interacting with employees
• How your staff reacts to unexpected scenarios
• How your staff manages an emergency drill
In many ways, how people experience your brand is related to
the tangible aspects of it, whether it’s the physical location,
the product, or even the people representing the brand. It’s
important to keep this in mind as you assess the results of
your soft launch. What worked? What fell flat? What sort of
branding outreach can you derive from what you saw during
the soft launch?
Excerpted from Start Your Own Cannabis
Business (Entrepreneur Press 2018).
AUDIENCE
4 STEPS TO SCALE
YOUR CANNABIS
BUSINESS
by Javier Hasse
“In a small startup, everyone in the company kind of fills in
where needed,” says Michael Gorenstein, CEO of the Cronos
Group. “As you scale, it’s important to put in a framework
that allows you to push down accountability, and think
about how you’re going to deal with internal communica-
tions and how you can make sure that the huge range of
tasks and issues that come up can be dealt with in a very
effective and clear manner.”
The following are action items to focus on to ensure that
the cannabis isn’t the only thing growing. 
1. DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF.
Clearly communicate what’s special about your product or
service. Is it less expensive? Is it manufactured in an ISO-ap-
proved facility? Is it organic?
Ways to diferentiate your business include:
• A unique product
• Organic certifications
• Great packaging
• 24/7 customer service
• Regional offices
• Dedicated account managers
• ISO approval
• Cryptocurrency integration
2. RAISE MORE MONEY.
“The single biggest limiting factor when that time comes
will be money, and how much cash you have on hand,” says
Compassionate Certification Centers’ CEO Dr. Bryan Doner.
“Your expansion/growth and time to do so will be directly
correlated to how much money you have access to then
and there, at that moment.”
But Gorenstein cautions against taking money from just
anyone. “If you get helpful, well-connected investors in
early, they’ll work to help you grow your company—and you
won’t even need to pay them.”
3. GET MORE HELP.
As your business grows, you’ll need guidance with more
complex things like advanced ordering, volume pricing
discounts, and daily operations, because complexity surges
exponentially with scale. Just make sure you add the right
people to your team.
“A chief operating officer is crucial to manage internal
planning,” Gorenstein says. “You’ll also need to start laying
out other departments. If you focus too much on one area
and leave a gap, any single area you ignore can cripple your
business. If you don’t have your marketing department
beefed up and ready to go, when you launch your product in
additional territories, implementing the details (logos, fonts,
themes, messages) will be hard.”
4. GO MULTI-LOCAL.
How does one grow a cannabis business from a single store
into a multi-location company? How does a nonretailer (like
a software company, a wholesale business, a consultant,
etc.) expand its reach?
Licensed operators, infused products manufacturers,
and so-called OTF (other than flower) product companies,
including vape pen and edibles makers, are restricted to do-
ing business within the state they’re located in. Businesses
that aren’t licensed and/or don’t sell infused products and
OTFs can do business in any state and around the world.
“We’ve seen many product companies that would be great
national brands, but the capital and infrastructure required
to expand outside the territory they’re licensed in or con-
duct business in is prohibitive,” says Larry Schnurmacher,
managing partner at Phyto Partners. “It becomes difficult,
if not impossible, to create economies of scale and stream-
lined systems logistics that are identical.”
Excerpted from Start Your Own Cannabis Business
(Entrepreneur Press 2018).
QUESTIONSTOASK
BEFORE NAMINGYOUR
CANNABIS COMPANY
Top marketers share how to come up
with a winning name plan.
by Jonathan Small

Your brand’s name is the message you broadcast to the world.

While companies may come and go, their names last forever.
But too often, entrepreneurs treat the naming process as an
afterthought—a fun thing to brainstorm about over bagels or
a drink, not a serious step in a brand development strategy.

The key is to find a name that both describes the essence of

your brand and diferentiates you in the marketplace. Here are
some key questions to ask yourself.

WHAT’S THE SOUL OF MY COMPANY?
Before writing anything down, ask yourself what your
product or service is all about. What story do you want to
tell? Cannabis is a “very intimate product that people want
to connect with,” says Scott Milano, founder and managing
director of Tanj, a boutique marketing agency. “Getting a
clearer picture of what your brand should represent in the
world can be very beneficial.”
CAN MY NAME WITHSTAND THE TEST OF TIME?
“Try to pick at least one aspect of your business that will be
permanent, and see if you can reflect that in a name,” rec-
ommends Joe Goldstein, the director of SEO and operations
at TrailBlazer SEO, web design and SEO specialists for the
cannabis industry. What might be a priority one year may be
completely diferent the next. You don’t want to be stuck with
a name that’s yesterday’s news.
For example, he says, “If you want to open a medical dispensa-
ry that may eventually evolve into a recreational dispensary,
a name that includes ‘medical,’ ‘doctor,’ or ‘RX’ could send the
wrong message.”
WHAT ARE MY COMPETITORS’ NAMES?
Make a list of all your competitors’ names. “You want to
understand what is going on with the messages behind their
names,” explains Milano. The purpose of this practice is not to
copy their names, but to take note of the names and brands
that are successful and unsuccessful and understand why.
IS THE NAME TRADEMARKED ALREADY?
Once you have a solid list of potential names (Milano suggests
1,000!), do a trademark screening on the ones you like to make
sure they’re available. You don’t want to get dinged with a
lawsuit right out of the gate. The U.S. Patent and Trade Ofice
website should be your first line of defense. If your findings
there are inconclusive, you might want to consider hiring a
private trademark attorney.
IS THE NAME TOO NARROW?
While your core customer is very important to your business,
you don’t want to just play to your base. A successful busi-
ness caters to its fans but leaves room to expand into other
markets.
Says Goldstein, “No matter what you name your business, re-
member that your customers aren’t the only ones you need to
worry about. A dispensary named The Dank Dojo might amuse
your customers, but will it stand in the way of attracting seri-
ous investors, winning cooperation from local authorities, or
being treated as a legitimate business by your community?”
 Everything You Need To Know About
Starting And Running A Successful

CANNABIS BUSINESS
In 2016, legal cannabis sales reached about $6.6 billion in
North America. Recreational marijuana sales accounted for
roughly 29 percent, and the remaining 71 percent went to
medical marijuana.
NEW FRONTIER DATA, “THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY ANNUAL REPORT: 2017 LEGAL MARIJUANA OUTLOOK”

Legal sales are currently surging at a compound annual growth

rate of 16 percent and are expected to surpass $24 billion by 2025.
NEW FRONTIER DATA, “THE CANNABIS INDUSTRY ANNUAL REPORT: 2017 LEGAL MARIJUANA OUTLOOK”

Roughly 70 percent of wholesale cultivators, retailers, and

infused-product manufacturers declared they had hit or
surpassed their break-even point within a year.
MARIJUANA BUSINESS DAILY, “MARIJUANA BUSINESS FACTBOOK 2017”

From deciding on a business structure to finding a storefront

location, the startup journey is long. And if you want to get
started in the cannabis industry, that journey can take some
unexpected turns.

Start Your Own Cannabis Business will help you navigate those
turns with a combination of useful information, tips, resources,
and insightful stories from cannabis pioneers who have helped
carve out the path for you.

entm.ag/cannabisstartup
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 Franchisee

Million-Dollar Maid
Christina Clark started working as a cleaner for Molly Maid 22 years ago. Today, she owns two franchise
territories in Florida that earn a combined $1 million annually. by LY D I A B E L A N G E R

Photographs / D A N I F R E S H October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 93

 Franchisee

attendance policy we stick to. But

it’s still a little more flexible than
some workplaces. The majority of
our employees are single mothers.
I wanted to make sure they had
the time to take care of their kids,
go to doctors’ appointments,
school plays, stuff like that.

Was it challenging to go from

one territory to two? What’s
your support system like?
Angel, my general manager, is
my right-hand person. She helps
me with hiring, firing, inter-
viewing, payroll, and schedul-
ing. Once we get Leon County,
our second territory, a little bit
more stable—probably in the
beginning of 2019—my husband,
John, is looking at quitting his
daytime job and working here
full-time. He has a mechanic
background, so he’ll be able to
really help cut costs on our vehi-
cle maintenance.

Do you still attend conventions

and bounce ideas off other
owners?
Yes, and sometimes I find their
he story of Christina Clark’s career is quite literally one of rags to riches. suggestions to be scary, but
Clark graduated high school in the mid ’90s and got a full-time job as an then I remind myself, This is why
you wanted to be in a franchise.
assistant house cleaner for Molly Maid. Within six months, she was pro- It’s about having that support,
moted to route manager. Eventually Clark took on even more responsibil- that access to information. If
ity and moved from the field to the home office. She became a deeply loyal someone tells me something
is a best practice, I’m going to try
employee, working at the same office for 17 years and taking college business
it—and normally, it works. For
courses on the side. In 2012, when her boss asked her to attend the annual Molly example, until recently, I’d been
Maid convention in his place, she obliged, and made an unexpected decision pretty lax about Google reviews.
while on the convention floor: She decided to purchase her own Molly Maid But other owners kept telling
me how much they can help your
franchise, and the next year became the owner of the Northwest Florida terri- business. So now, when custom-
tory. Just five years later, Clark joined the ranks of the franchise’s “million-dollar ers schedule cleanings, we say,
circle,” consistently earning $1 million in annual revenue after purchasing a “After your service, feel free
second territory in 2015. Now she’s eyeing that $2 million milestone. to leave us a Google review.” At
first, I was really nervous about
it, because we’re not perfect—
What did you learn in your ear- because they were able to relate What’s a change that you sometimes the teams miss
liest days with the company to me, given that I used to be implemented? something, or we get an unhappy
that you still apply today? in their shoes. By the time I Our attendance policy was customer. But overall, getting
When I was the office manager, moved into an ownership role, kind of willy-nilly, and some more reviews has helped the
the employees felt comfortable I had a good understanding employees were really taking business. And if we do get a bad
coming to me with what they of how employees felt and advantage of it, which was one, we reach out to the customer
liked about the job and what what areas we should focus affecting scheduling and busi- directly. Nine times out of 10, we
they didn’t like about the job, on changing. ness growth. Now we have an can resolve the situation.

94 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
 Franchisor

Invest in the Underestimated

The CEO of Home Franchise Concepts works to turn inexperienced franchisees into
her company’s biggest success stories. by H AY D E N F I E L D

hirin Behzadi knows the importance of being

able to take care of yourself. As a teenager, she → RIGHT AT HOME
emigrated to the United States with her par- Shirin Behzadi, CEO
ents at the height of the Iranian Revolution of Home Franchise
Concepts.
and worked as a gas station cashier to help
make ends meet. Today, she’s the CEO of Home
Franchise Concepts (HFC), a family of direct-to-
consumer home improvement brands including
Budget Blinds, Tailored Living, and Concrete Craft, with
1,400 worldwide franchises. But her gas station experi-
ence still stays with her, driving a core mission at HFC: She
wants to turn what she calls “everyday” entrepreneurs—
millennials, seniors, single parents, veterans, and anyone
else who may appear inexperienced on paper—into busi-
ness owners. To make it happen, her 25-year-old company
offers in-classroom training, coaching, webinars, and area
meetings to help develop new franchisees.

How did your background pre-
pare you for franchising?
Since I was 17, I’ve been work-
ing to support myself. During
the chaos of the Iranian Revo-
lution, many families’ finances
were frozen—and mine was no
exception. I know what it feels
like to not have money. I know
what it feels like to have to
find ways to support yourself.
And I know there’s a way out.
Franchising is the best of both
worlds—it allows individuals
who have an entrepreneurial
spirit to get into business, but
it also allows them to take
advantage of systems that are
tried-and-true, like market-
ing, training, and support.
Even our purchasing power
is extremely powerful—we
have folks who run around
the world sourcing products
and programs on behalf of our
franchisees, because they get
to negotiate on the collective
whole of the system.
What are some ways the
company empowers franchi-
sees, especially if they’re
new to business?
As soon as a franchisee enters
our system, we have what
we call pre-classroom prepa-
ration—essentially, reading
assignments. Then we hold
two-week training sessions here
in Irvine, California, and we pay
for our franchisees’ hotel stays
to make sure they’re all taken
care of. We teach them how to
sell, how to install product, the
A-to-Z of our business. After
that two-week period, we have
folks who provide post-class-
room training locally. The first
six months of business are criti-
cal. After that period, we stay up
close and personal with coach-
ing programs and webinars.
In effect, you’re teaching
people how to be leaders. Did
you always believe you’d be
one yourself?
If someone had asked me if I’d
end up in home-improvement-
related franchise systems, of
course I couldn’t have predict-
ed that. But I knew at some
point I’d create things for oth-
ers. In school, I would always
take some kind of a leadership
position in any activity I could
get my hands on, from drama
club to choir. I liked solving
problems, creating systems,
and managing and empower-
ing people, providing oppor-
tunities for them to blossom.
If you add all those things
together, it’s not unusual where
I ended up.
HFC supports a lot of female
franchisees. As a female CEO,
what’s your advice for other
women in business?
I went through life—and my
work life—really not focusing
on the fact that I’m a woman.
I was aware that I had to work
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF HOME FRANCHISE CONCEPTS
harder and smarter than my
peers. The key to unlocking my
own power was to own it. You
declare it. As women, we may
not necessarily be as up-front
when it comes to promoting our
own strength. Over the years,
I’ve gotten better at it. Every
time I’m been faced with a
decision, I always go back to my
own core values and principles:
trying to do right by others.
I wake up every day and say,
“Let’s just do the right thing
today.” The rest of it will follow.

96 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
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 Suppliers

Working with a technology provider can streamline

operations across the entire franchise business.
But first, consider your specific needs—and a potential
partner’s strengths. Here are three stories.

From Keith Gerson, president and

chief customer advocate, FranConnect

I K

W From The Melting Pot

shopping for a CRM

franchise
The Melting Pot was

(customer relationship
management system), it
/
You don’t just plug in a CRM. The
Melting Pot had to untangle a lot of its
old systems first. “We had to adapt to
their processes and learn their system.”

was attracted to Sales-
force’s strong reputation
and the level of data and
visibility it promised to
provide. But, says Mark
Newlin, manager of mar-
keting technology for the
fondue franchise, he sure
wishes he’d known that…
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F K E I T H G E R S O N ; P H O T O I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y I S T O C K P H O T O . C O M /J I R S A K
/
“Strategically, they were the right part-
ner for us. But it was time-consuming
to make sure everything was organized
and built correctly before going live.”
/ l
After they were up and running, the
franchise led its franchisees through
in-depth training. “All that work was
worth it,” Newlin says.

From Pure Barre

/ When Pure Barre started working with Mindbody, a

CRM focused on the health and wellness industry, it hoped the company
could help Pure Barre streamline its studio operations.

/ The CRM collected and organized so much data, Pure Barre

began basing all its studio strategies on it—from pricing to specific pack-
ages it offers customers. That was 10 years ago, but the learnings continue.
“We’re working to further diagnose the retail aspect of our business and its
interplay with our guests’ workout behavior,” says Zach Bell, director of
finance at Pure Barre.

98 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
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 Real Estate

Burning
Down
the
House
Five decades ago, Century 21 was an innovative force in real estate.
Now, in an era of new technology and consumer demands, its
fresh CEO is attempting to rebrand and overhaul the global franchise.
But at a company this size, change doesn’t come easy.
by E M I LY N O N K O

100 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018 Illustration / J A N N E I I V O N E N

 Real Estate
Walk into
Century 21’s
headquarters
in Madison, N.J.,
and it’s clear
the company is
in transition.
A few things seem off and
slightly out of place. The walls.
The furniture. And most nota-
bly, the Ping-Pong table—that
clichéd symbol of a Silicon
Valley startup, which sits awk-
wardly abandoned in a corner.
The table arrived in 2017, a
corporate gift to welcome Cen-
tury 21’s then-new CEO, Nick
Bailey, who took over that sum-
mer. He’d arrived from Zillow,
one of the very tech companies
putting pressure on Century
21, and carried with him no
allegiance to his new employ-
er’s past—including its office
design. His mission, in fact, was
to largely tear the place up: to
overhaul what many have come
to see as a tired brand, a former
real estate giant that lost its
way as technology turned the
industry on its head.
“Before I was hired, the
place looked like a morgue,” he
102 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
says. “An awful place to work.”
To start, he did what’s
become common among tech
leaders. He opted out of the
corner office, moved into a
cubicle a few rows away, and
turned his predecessor’s work
space into a company war
room of sorts. Desks were
cleared out to make way for the
Ping-Pong table. “We wanted
to create a shock factor,” he
says. “Leadership has to prove
that things are different.”
But this is a 47-year-old
company, and, as Bailey is
learning, even shock waves
tend not to ripple outward very
fast. It only takes a quick trip
down the hall to see that. Cubi-
cles still rise from carpet-lined
floors, and the noise level can
best be described as “appropri-
ate.” A party held one summer
afternoon for a recently wed
employee featured a sheet
cake and ice cream, like on an
episode of The Office.
Bailey says the renovation
is not yet finished. But he has
bigger things on his plate—like
turning Century 21 into the
most sought-after, beloved
brand in real estate. That’s a
big task, especially considering
that most consumers loathe
the home buying and selling
process, no matter who is help-
ing them do it. The fix will be
external (new logo, messaging,
essentially a full rebrand) as
well as internal and emo-
tional—changing processes,
changing culture, changing
customer expectations. It won’t
be easy, Bailey knows, and
success isn’t a guarantee. Nor
is the blind support of staff, let
alone a global network of 8,800
offices and 122,000 agents.
Still, Bailey is setting high
goals. He says the company
can double transactions in the
next five years and become
the most desirable brand in
the industry. He also believes
history is on his side. Five
decades ago, Century 21
re-created the real estate busi-
ness in America. What’s to say
it can’t happen again?
CENTURY 21 was founded in
California in 1971 by two real
estate agents who wanted
to build “the McDonald’s of
real estate.” It was the first
company to take the very
local business of real estate
and operate it on a national
platform—running a franchise
system, with local franchisees
who hire their own agents. In
a few years, Century 21 was
opening 100 offices a month.
From 1988 to 1990, it ranked
in the top 10 of Entrepreneur’s
Franchise 500® listing.
But the internet fundamen-
tally altered the real estate
industry over the past 15 years.
“Once the listing information
became publicly available, the
agent went from being a guard-
ian of information to being a
professional services provider,”
says Clelia Peters, president
of New York’s Warburg Realty
and cofounder of MetaProp, a
venture fund focused on real
estate technology.
This in turn created new
opportunities for real estate
upstarts, who came in with
fresh ideas to tackle an indus-
try that’s worth $31.8 trillion
in the U.S. Redfin, for example,
launched in 2004 with a DIY
model: Customers could find
and purchase a home on the
site with little need for an
agent. That turned out to not
work; in the highly emotional
process of buying a home,
Redfin learned, people like
having an expert by their side
throughout the buying process.
So Redfin pivoted to look more
like a conventional brokerage,
 Real Estate

hiring more in-house agents

and utilizing its technology to
make the buying and selling
process as seamless as possible.
“Technology makes real estate
more efficient, and that’s
why the economics of it are
changing,” says Redfin’s CEO,
Glenn Kelman. “But there’s
still a place [for an agent] to
help somebody figure out: Is
this the right house? Is this the
right price?” The pivot worked:
Redfin is now a public com- → HITTING REFRESH

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CENTURY 21

pany that showed a 36 percent
jump in annual revenue in its
last quarterly report.
But as entrants like this
embraced change, Century
21 resisted. “The attitude has
always been Don’t rock the boat,”
says Bailey. “We’re too large,
we’re too big, we’ve been around
too long. What if we change and
it destroys us?” Change came
anyway. The last time the for-
mer mainstay of Entrepreneur’s
Franchise 500 list made the
rankings was 2008.
Bailey, however, feels
equipped to catch the company
up. He got his career start as
a Century 21 agent and most
recently served as the VP of
broker relations at Zillow, the
online-listings company that
helped consumers realize they
don’t need to pay an agent to
tell them what houses are for
sale. It was there that Bai-
ley says he learned what the
Century 21’s new logo (left)
and its original (above).
industry thinks of Century
21: “It was referred to as ‘your
grandfather’s brand.’ ”
To alter that perception, in
March, he introduced a visual
rebrand—a step toward attract-
ing younger franchisees and
younger customers. Gone is the

TOTALLYNUTZFRANCHISE.COM
black-and-gold logo featuring
a midcentury, Brady Bunch–
style house. In its place are
nuanced tones—gray and light
gold—that showcase a simple C
with a 21 nestled inside.
Next, Bailey wants Century
21 to better understand its
customers and their concerns.
Earlier this year, the com-
pany commissioned a study
by Wakefield Research on
consumers’ feelings toward the
real estate universe. The results
were comically dismal. Forty
percent of people think it would
be worse to sell their home
than get a root canal; about the
same percentage think being a
real estate agent is easier than
driving a taxi. Century 21’s first
response came via social media:
“We want to start a conversa-
tion around how the real estate
experience could be better,” it
wrote, “and how our agents
could help achieve that.”
How will it achieve that? It’s
a big question.
To start, the company is
taking a cold, hard look at every
part of the home buying pro-
cess. From a real estate agent’s
point of view, the problem starts
immediately. “Seventy percent
of people use the first agent
they meet,” says Cara Whitley,
Century 21’s CMO, who joined
in 2015 and came from a
background in hospitality and
finance. “People spend more
time researching restaurants
than who will oversee the big-
gest purchase of their lives.” But
this is also an opportunity—
either to be that first person a
consumer meets or to change
consumer behavior and win
them away from competitors.
The closing process is
another constant pain point.
It’s that ever-moving target
when ownership is officially
transferred to the buyer. “As a
buyer or seller, you don’t under-
stand why [that date is never
met],” Whitley says. Here, Cen-
tury 21 also sees opportunity: It
wants to make the process less
stressful, more transparent, and
streamlined with technology.
For as open as the com-
pany is about its problems,
it’s less forthcoming about its
solutions. I repeatedly pressed
for specifics on the changes
it would make and the tech it
was developing. How would
all this impact franchisees,
agents, and consumers?
The company mostly said it
couldn’t offer specifics. It’s
early days, to be fair—much is
either in development or still
in the conceptual phase.
It did offer a few basic
outlines, though. Century 21
says it’s making significant
investments in technology, will
simplify the existing system
for agents, and will make its
website more mobile-friendly
for consumers. Franchisee
onboarding will change, too,
leaning on video chat and
conferencing to make the
process “more experiential than
theoretical.”
Bailey is more specific about
how he intends to change
the company’s culture. To
start, he recently introduced
something he calls House
Habits—six motivational ideas
that have been distributed to
all franchisees and are to serve
as the new basis of agents’
performance evaluations.
They’re idealistic, if not a little
cheesy: “Always elevate,” reads
 Real Estate
one. “121 percent wins,” says
another. The important thing,
Bailey says, is that they contain
directives. “Own it” is intended
to change the company’s top-
down decision-making process.
“What if?” invites agents to
challenge the legacy think-
ing that’s kept the brand at a
standstill. “Dream big, move
fast” asks franchisees to keep
up with the changes at HQ.
And “Open the house” calls
for transparent communica-
tion—within the company and
between agent and consumer.
“We want to get agents
to deliver an extraordinary
experience,” Whitley says. To
do so, she’s also exploring new
incentives and rewards. This
summer, Century 21 presented
six agents with the Relentless
Agent Award, an honor based
on service rather than sales
volume. Leadership pored
over 5,000 customer testi-
monials to identify honorees,
who were taken to ESPN’s
ESPY Awards in Los Angeles
this past July. And that was no
random prize: Century 21 is
now partnering with ESPN in
an effort to align the passion
of its agents with the pas-
sion of a sports fan. (Century
21 will sponsor “relentless
moments” in sports through
commercials featured on
ESPN social platforms.)
If it seems like an unnatural
fit, that’s the point. Whitley and
Bailey want to catch the
attention of fresh, ambitious
blood—and they’re looking well
outside of real estate to figure
out how. Could a ratings system
become as valuable to the
company as Yelp has become
to restaurants? Could the
predictability of an Amazon
delivery be translated to the
timeline of buying a home? Says
Whitley: “We’ve got to look
across to other sectors to see
what’s working and bring that
thinking to what we’re doing.”
106 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
REAL ESTATE IS LOCAL,” BAILEY SAYS.
“EVEN 10 MILES MAKES A DIFFERENCE. YES, WE WANT
CONSISTENCY. BUT WE CAN HAVE A LEVEL OF
FLEXIBILITY THAT STILL LETS PEOPLE BE INDIVIDUALS.”
CHANGING ANY large company
is hard. But it’s even harder in
franchising, where changes at
the corporate level must then
reverberate down to hundreds
or thousands of franchisees.
In those franchisees, Bailey
is finding a unique challenge.
Top, hard-charging franchise
companies run in lockstep,
with their franchisees carrying
out a well-honed system. But
at Century 21, while the
company was failing to evolve
over the past half-century, its
franchisees found their own
best practices. For example,
Dylan de Bruin, co-owner of a
Century 21 in Des Moines,
conducted an audit of the
buying and selling process to
learn where agents can
improve service. In Washing-
ton, D.C., franchisee Todd
Hetherington customized
training with more individual-
ized, in-the-field work.
“There have been no com-
pany shifts sent down to us at
the ground level,” says Manny
De Silvia, a Century 21 agent in
Corona, Calif. In his experi-
ence, agents are more focused
on their own brand than that
of the company, anyway. “All
agents say the same thing: ‘It’s
not about the brand; it’s about
me,’ ” he says. “People will buy
and list with us because of who
we are. They aren’t looking
at brands anymore.” He says
some of his colleagues have
been tempted to defect from
Century 21 to NextHome, a
startup-style brokerage (and
franchise) that launched in
2015. There, technology and
a modern culture is part of
the founding DNA. “They’re
building what millennials like,”
he says. “There’s a giant work-
table; everything is digital.”
These are the kinds of peo-
ple that a rebranded, refash-
ioned Century 21 will need
to reengage in order to be
successful. And that will mean
hearing a lot of opinions.
After Century 21 revealed
its new branding, for example,
franchisees across the country
dutifully replaced their sign-
age and business cards—but
that doesn’t mean they’re all
happy about it. “Fifty years
building a brand, the gold
standard! All to be thrown
away for beige and boring,”
wrote one on Facebook.
Another echoed, “Looks like
the designer went to a mall,
passed a Michael Kors store
and a Forever 21, then this
logo was born.”
In conversations with
franchisees, I heard com-
plaints of all forms. Some, like
Tracy Larson, an agent with
a Century 21 franchise in the
Florida Keys, think the logo
design isn’t universal enough.
“It’s fine for metropolitan
areas,” she says, “but there’s
no connection to an island
lifestyle, which is what we sell
here.” Others complain of the
cost. Franchisee Hetherington
says it will require hundreds
of thousands of dollars to
change out signs and mar-
keting materials. “I won’t say
I’m happy to pay it,” he says,
“but it’s making a change and
putting us on the map.” And
in Manhattan, Ryan Sherman
wants to see more change. “To
make a splash, Century 21 has
to reinvent the model,” he says.
Some say they had no idea
the change was coming until it
arrived. Plenty of franchisees
were consulted during the
design process, though Bailey
says it would have been impos-
sible for the company to con-
nect with every last one. Like
many large franchisors, he was
resigned to the reality that he
couldn’t please everyone. “The
initial rollout was emotionally
charged,” he says.
What he hopes now is that
franchisees give him the bene-
fit of the doubt, and time. The
rebrand will take several years
to hit all 8,800 offices, and
that’s just the visual aspects.
Cultural and technological
changes will happen at their
own pace. But, he seems to
think, a good first step is at
least acknowledging all the
problems. Century 21 needed
work. Its industry is grap-
pling with immense change. A
company that faces challenges
head-on is healthier than one
that doesn’t.
“Real estate is local—even 10
miles makes a difference,” Bai-
ley says. “Yes, we want to have
consistency. But we can have a
level of flexibility that still lets
people be individuals.” After
all, individual success can only
lead to greater things for the
company. “If the industry won’t
create the standard,” Bailey
says, “then why can’t we?”
Emily Nonko is a New York–
based writer who covers
urbanism, real estate, architec-
ture, and design.
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FRANCHISE
HE CAME HERE WITH $300.00 IN HIS POCKET;
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services puts Stratus® at the forefront of the
commercial cleaning industry. Offering a range
of special services, customizable options, state-
of-the-art cleaning equipment with air-quality
improvement components, and Green Seal
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Stratus Building Solutions® is second to none
in cleaning for quality AND health.
Success for Today and the Future
The Stratus Building Solutions® business
model targets multiple recurring revenue
streams in a recession proof industry, assur-
ing a consistent income today AND into the
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ments, and a scalable organizational concept
provide a solid base to leverage continuous
growth, as proven by many successful exist-
ing Stratus® franchises.
The Stratus® Difference
Stratus Building Solutions® offers a turn-
key business model with franchise concepts
ranging from home-based businesses to
exclusive regional Master franchises. With
the lowest investment costs in the industry
and availabilities in major metropolitan
areas, Stratus® provides the nation’s premier
franchise opportunities in the commercial
cleaning industry.
Regional Master Franchises:
• Exclusive Territories Available in
Major Metropolitan Areas
• Monthly Recurring Revenue
• Multiple Income Sources Model
• High Margin Earnings Capability
• Training and Continuous Business
Development Support
• National Marketing Campaign
• Proprietary Management Software
Unit Franchises:
• Lowest Investment Costs in the Industry,
as low as $1000 down
• Guaranteed Sales Accounts
• Multiple Franchise Concepts
• No Experience Necessary; All sales,
marketing billing and collections, and
services training provided
• State-of-the-Art Equipment and Materials
• Military Discounts Available

For More Stratus Building Solutions Information:

 Mark Johnson  inquiries@stratusclean.com
 stratusclean.com  (888) 981-1555
FRANCHISE ADVERTISEMENT

ABOUT EXPRESS
EMPLOYMENT
PROFESSIONALS
Express Employment Professionals is
a leading stafing provider in the U.S.,
Canada and South Africa. Every day,
we help job seekers find work and help
businesses find qualified employees.

EXPRESS FACTS
 $35k Franchise fee

 $135k - $206k Investment

 Two ownership models to
choose from
 800+ ofices with 35 years’
experience
 Mature ofices average $6.4
million in annual sales*

STAFFING: A GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Choosing a growing industry is one of
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For Express Employment Professionals Information;

 Express Employment Professionals
 ExpressFranchising.com  (877) 652-6400

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FRANCHISE
PIRTEK SURGES AFTER
OFFERING ‘MOBILE ONLY’
OPTION
PIRTEK is a franchising company
on an upward trajectory. The onsite
hose-replacement company has
watched its presence spread steadily
over the United States map since 2015
with 26 new franchises.
“It’s been such an exciting time for
PIRTEK in the United States,” said
Glenn Duncan, PIRTEK CEO. “Our
business strategies are paying off and
we’re seeing widespread success as
a result.”
When a piece of hydraulic or
pneumatic equipment blows a hose,
a PIRTEK technician is available 24
hours a day to perform the replace-
ment from a Mobile Service Vehicle.
There are 76 PIRTEK franchises
across the United States, more than
400 worldwide.
Entrepreneur magazine’s rankings
tell the story of PIRTEK’s success.
Back in 2015, the company occupied
422nd place on the magazine’s
Franchise 500® list. But PIRTEK
has shifted into high gear since then,
cracking the top 100 this year at
No. 78.
PIRTEK’s ascent in Entrepreneur’s
Global 200 list has been equally
meteoric: The company is now among
the top 50 franchising companies
worldwide at No. 42.
“Our Tier 2, ‘mobile-only’ option
is one of the primary factors in our
recent success,” Duncan said. “It’s
opened up PIRTEK franchising to
more people than ever before.”
Tier 1 ownership requires a brick-
and-mortar location, but under the
Tier 2 program, owners can keep in-
ventory in a storage facility and lease
two Mobile Service Vehicles.
PIRTEK requires an upgrade to
Tier 1 status within three years with
a complete Service & Supply Center.
But some Tier 2 owners have done
so well that they’ve been able to
advance to Tier 1 in short order. For
example, Oliver Romano’s PIRTEK
Grand Rapids (Michigan) began as
“mobile only.” Brisk business helped
him upgrade fast to Tier 1, two years
early. “My customers wanted a
physical location,” Romano said, “so
I set it up.”
For More PIRTEK Information:
 Lu-Ann Senia
 www.pirtekusa.com
ADVERTISEMENT
ABOUT PIRTEK
PIRTEK is a unique business-to-business franchise
and is one of the few industrial franchise business
opportunities available. Wherever there’s industry,
there’s plenty of demand for onsite hydraulic and
industrial hose replacement services by PIRTEK.
Countless pieces of equipment operate via hydraulics or
pneumatics, and their hoses require regular replacement.
Franchise owners can reap the benefits of that ongoing
need, allowing you to build a successful business, which
afords you the lifestyle you’ve dreamed of.
With more than 30 years of franchising experience, the
PIRTEK service-based business focuses on reducing
equipment downtime by repairing and maintaining
hydraulic and pneumatic powered machines, to keep
machines and production crews in operation.
The business boasts 400+ Service & Supply Centers and
a fleet of Mobile Service Vehicles in 23 countries. It is well
matched to entrepreneurs who understand the value of
building relationships. A PIRTEK franchise can capitalize
on opportunities wherever industrial equipment is used -
i.e., virtually everywhere.
Top 5 Industries that Benefit from PIRTEK’s Services:
• Construction
• Equipment Rental
• Transportation & Logistics
• Manufacturing & Production
• Waste & Recycling
“Our customers don’t just come to us for parts and
installation. They’re buying our experience, expertise and
reputation for high quality service.” – PIRTEK Franchisee
PIRTEK FUN FACTS
 Two Types of Franchise Options: Tier 1 Brick
& Mortar & Tier 2 Mobile Only
 Start Up Costs: $113,600 - $633,000
 Support: Turnkey Startup, Financing, Marketing
& Training
 Veteran Incentives: $5,000 - $15,000 of the
Franchise Fee
 lsenia@pirtekusa.com
 (888) 774-7835

The Fit for Any Budget
Our annual list of the top 50 franchise opportunities you can buy into for less than $100K,
from $100K to $500K, and for more than $500K. Compiled by T R A C Y S TA P P H E R O L D
/ GOEMT/TMYAI LMEARGAEPSA S O
t’s one of the questions at
the forefront of most
people’s minds when
they begin researching
P H O T O G R A P H B Y ITSETTORCAKIPMHAOGTEOS. C
franchise opportunities:
How much will it cost
me? If you’d like a little
help starting your
search, read on for our list of
the best franchises for any
budget. This list offers a snap-
shot of the top 50 franchises in
each of three startup-cost
tiers: less than $100,000,
$100,000 to $500,000,
and more than $500,000.
A company’s placement in
one of these tiers means that
it is reasonably possible for a
new franchisee to open their
first unit within that cost range
without financing and without
converting an existing business.
Some franchisees’ startup costs
may be higher, though, and we
list each company’s full initial
investment range in order to
give you the complete picture of
what you may spend.
Companies are ranked within
each tier based on their posi-
tion in our 2018 Franchise
500® ranking, which evaluates
more than 150 data points in
the areas of costs and fees, size
and growth, franchisee support,
brand strength, and financial
strength and stability.
Remember as you read over
October 2018 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / 113
The List
this list that it is not intended
as a recommendation of any
particular company. Startup
cost is undoubtedly important,
but it’s only one of many fac-
tors to consider as you research
to find the franchise that’s right
for you. Carefully read a fran-
chisor’s legal documents, con-
sult with an attorney and
an accountant, and talk to
existing and former franchisees
before you invest.
 The List

BEST FRANCHISES FOR

Less than $100,000
1 7 14 16 18 20
uBreakiFix Firehouse Subs Cruise Planners Pillar To Post Home Anago Cleaning BrightStar Care
Electronics repairs Subs Travel agencies Inspectors Systems Medical/nonmedical home
Home inspections Commercial cleaning care, medical stafing
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$60.4K–$225.4K $92.3K–$824.8K $2.1K–$23.4K STARTUP COST STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$36.4K–$44.6K $10.4K–$68.5K $94.6K–$153.3K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
393/28 1,099/37 2,564/1 (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

574/0 1,503/0 331/4

2 8 15 21
Kumon Math & Baskin-Robbins Jazzercise 17 19 MaidPro
Reading Centers Ice cream, frozen yogurt, Group fitness classes, FirstLight Home Visiting Angels
Supplemental education frozen beverages conventions, apparel, and Care Franchising Nonmedical home care Residential cleaning
accessories
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST Nonmedical home care STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$93.6K–$401.8K STARTUP COST $57.6K–$207.5K
$69.6K–$148.97K STARTUP COST $77.99K–$102.3K
$3.7K–$32.8K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS $99.7K–$152.9K TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
25,854/27 7,982/0 (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 585/0 251/1
9,077/2 163/0

3 9
CPR Cell Phone Mosquito Joe
Repair Outdoor pest control
Electronics repairs and STARTUP COST
sales $90.6K–$135.5K
STARTUP COST TOTAL UNITS
$55.7K–$170.5K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
285/2
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
507/4
10
The Maids
4 Residential cleaning
Matco Tools STARTUP COST
Mechanics’ tools and $76.1K–$164.4K
equipment
TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$91.8K–$269.7K 1,236/111
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
1,781/2 11
Right at Home
5 Home care, medical stafing
STARTUP COST
HomeVestors of $78.3K–$137.9K
America
Home buying, repair, and TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
selling
553/0
STARTUP COST
$53K–$421.3K
TOTAL UNITS
12
(Franchised / Co. Owned) Jan-Pro Franchising
980/0 International

uBreakiFix/ No. 1
Commercial cleaning
6 STARTUP COST
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF UBREAKIFIX

Merry Maids $3.99K–$51.1K

Residential cleaning TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST 8,486/0
$86.8K–$123.8K WHEN LAYNE LOWRY BEGAN working as a technician for a uBreakiFix store in Charlotte, N.C., in
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) 13 February 2015, he wasn’t thinking of becoming a franchisee. But it happened by the end of the
year. “The store owner offered me the deal of a lifetime,” explains Lowry, 28. “If I could make his
1,667/3 Weed Man
Lawn care store healthy enough to support a second location, I could be a partner in the new store and even
STARTUP COST choose the location.” They met their goal within 90 days and opened the new store in Lowry’s
$68.5K–$85.5K hometown of Greenville, S.C., that December. Lowry is far from the first young uBreakiFix
TOTAL UNITS technician to become a franchisee. CEO and founder Justin Wetherill shared this nugget from last
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
335/0 year’s summit for franchisees and managers: “We asked that anyone who started as a technician
and now owns or leads a store please stand. More than half the room stood up.”

114 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

GET IN ON
THE GYM
FLOOR
Be a part of the hottest and fastest
growing full size fitness franchise.
• Most competitive and progressive model
in the $32 billion fitness industry
• #1 ranking for franchisee satisfaction
ratings in the category
• Highly recognizable fitness brand
with a 20-year history
• Over 850 franchise rights awarded
• One of the largest member bases in
the worldwide fitness industry

Inquire at Crunch.com for more info or

call John Merrion at 800.669.7162.
 The List

22 24 26 28 30 37
Vanguard Cleaning Signal 88 Security ASP America’s Rooter-Man HomeTeam Cornwell Quality
Systems Private security guard and Swimming Pool Co. Plumbing, drain, and sewer Inspection Service Tools
Commercial cleaning patrol services Swimming pool cleaning Home inspections Automotive tools and
STARTUP COST maintenance, repairs, and STARTUP COST equipment
STARTUP COST renovations STARTUP COST
$10.9K–$39.4K $73K–$268.4K $46.8K–$137.6K $50.1K–$76.8K STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $47.5K–$243.8K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) $96.2K–$143.3K (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) TOTAL UNITS
3,237/0 376/0 TOTAL UNITS 613/22 169/0 (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 689/0

23 25 265/0
29 31 38
Ikor International
Patient advocacy and
Pop-A-Lock
Franchise System 27 Patrice &
Associates
Valpak Direct
Marketing Systems Property
guardianship for seniors and Mobile locksmith and Stratus Building Hospitality, retail, and sales Direct-mail and digital Management Inc.
people with disabilities security services Solutions recruiting advertising Commercial, residential, and
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST Environmentally friendly STARTUP COST association property
commercial cleaning STARTUP COST management
$86.5K–$138.1K $99.7K–$134.3K $90.95K–$108K $80.6K–$200.8K
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) $4.4K–$72.9K (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
$21.3K–$106.8K
63/0 558/3 TOTAL UNITS 107/0 129/14 TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

32
1,522/0 213/1

Restoration 1
Water, fire, smoke, and mold
39
restoration Chester’s
Chicken
STARTUP COST
$77.95K–$182.1K STARTUP COST
$12.4K–$286.8K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) TOTAL UNITS
166/0 (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,192/0

33 40
Chem-Dry Carpet &
Upholstery Cleaning Tutor Doctor
Carpet and upholstery Tutoring
cleaning, tile and stone care, STARTUP COST
granite countertop renewal
$68.5K–$101.7K
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
$56.5K–$162.5K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

TOTAL UNITS 554/1

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
3,553/0
41
34 N-Hance Wood
Refinishing
Dream Vacations Wood floor and cabinet
Travel agencies refinishing
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$3.2K–$21.9K $49.9K–$153.2K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,331/0 479/0

35 42
Weichert Real 1-800 Water
Estate Affiliates Damage
Real estate Restoration
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$50K–$364.7K $59K–$227.6K
P H O T O G R A P H B Y A M Y B U S E K R U S / D R E A M VA C AT I O N S

TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
350/129 51/13

36 43
Dream Vacations/ No. 34 YESCO Sign &
Lighting Service
Sign and lighting service and
911 Restoration
Residential and commercial
property restoration
maintenance STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $70.1K–$226.9K
THROUGH ITS EARN BACK PROMOTION, launched in 2016, Dream Vacations gives new franchi- $65K–$352.2K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
sees the chance to earn a refund of up to $6,625 on their franchise fee based on their first year’s TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 138/0
commissionable sales. The promotion is one of four incentives franchisees can choose for joining 57/39
the system. Thus far almost 100 franchisees have chosen to participate, to the tune of more than
$124,000 in refunds. “The first year in any new business has a tremendous learning curve,” says
Janet Harris, Dream Vacations’ director of recruitment. “A financial incentive provides motivation
for franchisees to hit the ground running and is always a winner.”

116 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

 Never look at a house
the same way again.
(from now on, all you’ll see are dollar signs)
PROVEN SYSTEM TO BUY & SELL HOUSES
Be your own boss with continuous mentoring and franchise support.

FINANCING FOR QUALIFYING ACQUISITION & REPAIRS

We make it easy to keep your business running smoothly.

ONGOING SUPPORT
Learn business strategies from the franchise system that has purchased
over 85,000 homes since 1996.

VALUECHEK®
Take the guesswork out of estimating repairs with a sophisticated software
system that helps you steer clear from making costly mistakes.

You are in the right location at the right time to be a

HomeVestors® franchisee, what are you waiting for?

HomeVestorsFranchise.com
800-237-3522

*Each franchise office is independently owned and operated.

 The List

44
Assisting Hands
Home Care BEST FRANCHISES FOR
$100,000 to $500,000
Home healthcare,
respite care
STARTUP COST
$77.1K–$149K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
110/4

45 1
Painting with a 7-Eleven
Twist Convenience stores
Paint-and-sip studios STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $47.1K–$1.2M*
$89.3K–$188.3K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 61,086/1,019
285/4
*While 7-Eleven’s initial

46 investment range varies

widely based on different
Dale Carnegie circumstances, most first-time
Training franchisees’ startup costs will
Workplace training and be $100,000 and up.
development
STARTUP COST
$52.2K–$226.5K
2
Dunkin’ Donuts
TOTAL UNITS Cofee, doughnuts,
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) baked goods
271/2
STARTUP COST

47
$228.6K–$1.7M
TOTAL UNITS
NaturaLawn of (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

America 12,538/0
Organic-based lawn care
STARTUP COST 3
$47.5K–$112.7K The UPS Store
TOTAL UNITS Postal, business, printing,
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) and communications
78/7 services
STARTUP COST

48 $168.9K–$398.3K

Miracle Method TOTAL UNITS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Surface Refinishing 4,979/0
Kitchen and bathroom
surface refinishing
STARTUP COST 4
$83.4K–$127.99K RE/MAX
TOTAL UNITS
Real estate
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
144/1 $40K–$230.5K*

49 TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
7,985/0
Pinot’s Palette
Paint-and-sip studios
*The low end of RE/MAX’s
STARTUP COST initial investment range
$97.5K–$233.2K applies only to the conversion
TOTAL UNITS of an existing business. Fran-
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) chisees starting a new business
141/2 will invest more than
$100,000.

50 5
My Gym Children’s
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF RE/MAX

Fitness Center Great Clips

Early-learning/fitness
programs
STARTUP COST
Hair salons
STARTUP COST
$136.9K–$258.3K
RE/MAX/ No. 4
$36.8K–$249.7K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 4,261/0 AS RE/MAX’S FRANCHISE count continues to climb, so does its agent count. At midyear, the
604/0
company hit an all-time high of 123,082 agents working under its name. According to CEO Adam
Contos, these agents sell more real estate than any other brand, as measured by residential
transactions. They also help raise millions of dollars every year for charities. This past July, for
example, RE/MAX auctioned off a tiny house to the tune of just over $47,000, all of which went to
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

118 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

 AN OPPORTUNITY
THAT HITS ALL THE
HOT BUTTONS.

$4 Billion #1 Global Patented

Global Lice Clinic One-Hour
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Lice Clinics of America is setting a new Join the only franchise with a single
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Over 400,000 successful treatments Territories are limited.

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UNSTOPPABLE?
In this groundbreaking and highly revealing book,
bestselling author and personal development expert
Ben Angel dives deep into the world of nootropics,
wearable devices, and nutrition to deliver a guide
that will help you reduce stress, increase focus,
improve physical performance, and eliminate your
fears so you can become UNSTOPPABLE.

™
 The List

6 13
Sport Clips Keller Williams
Men’s sports-themed Realty International
hair salons Real estate
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$204.8K–$368.3K $183.9K–$336.99K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,707/69 947/0

7 14
Jimmy John’s Budget Blinds
Gourmet Window coverings, window
Sandwiches film, rugs, accessories
Sandwiches STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $110.1K–$235.9K
$329.5K–$557.5K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 1,154/0
2,718/56
15
8 Jersey Mike’s Subs
Servpro Subs
Disaster restoration and STARTUP COST
cleaning $178.5K–$746.3K
STARTUP COST TOTAL UNITS
$159.3K–$213.2K (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,264/79
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,763/0
16
Marco’s Pizza
9 Pizza, subs, wings, cheese
Supercuts bread
Hair salons STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $289.8K–$762.5K
$144.4K–$297K TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 900/0
1,889/1,044

10
17
Mathnasium
Be the CEO
Papa John’s
International
Pizza
Learning Centers
Math tutoring
STARTUP COST
of your career
STARTUP COST $112.8K–$148.6K
$130.1K–$844.4K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
892/14
All while owning the most meaningful
4,410/645
18 business possible.
11 Snap-on Tools
Anytime Fitness Professional tools and
equipment
Fitness centers
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST The irst and most
$107.5K–$722.8K $169.5K–$350.2K
TOTAL UNITS
experienced home
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
4,005/38
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
4,696/162 care franchise in
19 the U.S.
12 Wingstop
Ace Hardware
Hardware and home- Restaurants
improvement stores Chicken wings
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$272.5K–$1.6M $346.8K–$733.2K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

4,932/101 1,035/21

20
Pet Supplies Plus
Call us to learn more 800-840-6568
Retail pet supplies and
services
Member
STARTUP COST
$463.4K–$993.4K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
227/215
 The List

21 28
Valvoline Instant Oil Edible
Change Arrangements
Oil changes and preventive Sculpted fresh-fruit
maintenance bouquets
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$162.3K–$2.3M $195.5K–$327.7K
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
703/451 1,239/6

22 29
Smoothie King College Nannies,
Smoothies, healthful snacks, Sitters and Tutors
health products Nanny placement,
STARTUP COST babysitting, tutoring
$263.6K–$844.5K STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS $151.5K–$228K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
944/28 (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
147/0

23
Mac Tools 30
Automotive tools and Once Upon A Child
equipment New and used children’s
STARTUP COST
clothing, equipment,
furniture, toys
$171.4K–$359.8K
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) $268.5K–$396.9K
1,146/20 TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)

24 369/0

Massage Envy
Massage therapy, stretch 31
therapy, skin care, facials Express
STARTUP COST Employment
$453.3K–$1.1M Professionals
Stafing, HR solutions
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) STARTUP COST
1,179/0 $135K–$206K

25
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
779/4
Pizza Hut
Pizza, pasta, wings
STARTUP COST
32
$302K–$2.2M FastSigns
International
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) Signs, graphics
14,645/352 STARTUP COST
$193.5K–$289.6K
26 TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Nurse Next Door 674/0
Home Care Services

P H O T O G R A P H B Y D I A N A S I M O N E T TA , LT L P H O T O G R A P H Y/ P I R T E K U S A
Medical/nonmedical
home care 33
STARTUP COST Tropical Smoothie
$105.1K–$199.4K Cafe
Smoothies, sandwiches,
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) wraps, salads, soups,
155/9 cofee drinks
STARTUP COST

27 $222.1K–$569.3K
TOTAL UNITS
Palm Beach Tan (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Tanning 677/1
STARTUP COST
$478.6K–$788.6K
34 Pirtek/ No. 37
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Pearle Vision
265/199 Eye care and eyewear
STARTUP COST PIRTEK CREDITS ITS RECENT U.S. growth in part to offering a new mobile-only option to its
$389.4K–$603.9K franchisees. This option allows franchisees, who service and replace hydraulic hoses, to start their
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) business with just two mobile service vehicles and keep their inventory in a storage facility—
416/114 making for a much lower point of entry than if they had to open one of the company’s traditional
service and supply centers at the outset. Franchisees who choose this option are expected to
grow their operations, though, so they can add a third van after one year, a fourth after two years,
and a fully staffed center within three years.

122 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

 The List

35
Kiddie Academy
Educational childcare
AtWork Group/
STARTUP COST
$400K–$4.9M No. 43
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
205/1
LIKE MOST FRANCHISES, AtWork charges
36 its franchisees an ongoing royalty fee,
Denny’s as well as an administrative service fee,
Family restaurants
totaling 6.5 percent of gross revenues.
STARTUP COST
$228K–$2.5M But in situations where franchisees
TOTAL UNITS are competing for a large volume of
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
1,549/172 business and must offer a lower margin

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DESIGNSENSORY

rate, the company discounts this fee
37 to 2.6 percent so the franchisees can
Pirtek still make a profit. AtWork also offers
Hose service and supply
centers/mobile services discounts on these fees for franchisees
STARTUP COST who open multiple units, renew their
$161.9K–$782.3K
TOTAL UNITS
franchise agreements for multiple terms,
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
488/4
or generate higher revenues. “These
incentives really motivate our owners to
focus on building their business,” says
president and COO Jason Leverant.

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38 45
The Learning
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Lawn Doctor
Lawn, tree, and shrub care;
$
69 Billion 1
21
mosquito and tick control INDUSTRY AND GROWING CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF GROWTH1
Academy of
Early Education STARTUP COST
Preschool/educational $101.8K–$115.9K
childcare
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
STARTUP COST
$493.5K–$3.6M 537/0

46
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
198/19
Kilwins Chocolates
Franchise
39 Chocolates, fudge, ice cream
Enviro-Master STARTUP COST
International $423.3K–$790.2K
Franchise TOTAL UNITS
Restroom hygiene products (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
and services 119/2
STARTUP COST
$172.3K–$298.7K
47 OWN YOUR OWN PET SUPPLIES PLUS FRANCHISE
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) Blaze Fast-Fire’d
73/3 Pizza For more information visit us online at • Èîæóêäâďôçâ÷ðóêõæïæêèéãðóéððåñæõôõðóæ
Assembly-line pizza www.petsuppliesplus.com/franchise/ • 435+ stores in 33ôõâõæôøêõéèóæâõõæóóêõðóêæôâ÷âêíâãíæ
40 STARTUP COST
$454.4K–$1.1M
learnmore, or contact Christine Schultz
at 734.793.6656
© Úêïèíæ âïå îöíõê öïêõ ðññðóõöïêõêæô â÷âêíâãíæ
Kona Ice
TOTAL UNITS ×Ú×ÍóâïäéêôêïèÓÓÊ%'%ÕÓâöóæí×âóìËóÚöêõæ" Óê÷ðïêâÔÐ"&#
Shaved-ice trucks (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

STARTUP COST 224/6

$124.8K–$147.6K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
48 1 According to the APPA: http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp.
1,048/18 Plato’s Closet Ûéêôâå÷æóõêôæîæïõêôïðõâïðĢ æóõðãöúâçóâïäéêôæÈïðĢ æóõðãöúâçóâïäéêôæäâïãæîâåæãúñóðôñæäõöôðïíú
Teen- and young-adult- ÿ &×æõÚöññíêæô×íöôÈííóêèéõôóæôæó÷æå×æõÚöññíêæô×íöôâïåÔêïöôÛéæÏâôôíæâóæõóâåæîâóìôðç×Ú×ÍóâïäéêôêïèÓÓÊ

41
clothing resale stores
STARTUP COST
GNC Franchising $255K–$400.9K
Vitamins and nutrition
TOTAL UNITS
products (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
479/0

Celebrating 30 Years!
STARTUP COST
$180.5K–$347.3K
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
49
3,084/3,506 Cinnabon
Cinnamon rolls, baked

42
goods, cofee
STARTUP COST
Two Men and a $182.8K–$327.3K
Truck International TOTAL UNITS
Moving services (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

STARTUP COST
1,464/2
$115K–$669K
With over 30 years
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
50
303/3 Beef Jerky Outlet experience and 710
Franchise
43
Jerky, sausages,
specialty foods franchise locations in the
AtWork Group STARTUP COST
Temporary, temp-to-hire, $215.8K–$394.9K world. Coffee News® offers
and direct-hire stafing
TOTAL UNITS
STARTUP COST
$154K–$214.5K
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
100/6 an affordable franchise

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TOTAL UNITS ®
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
94/1
achieve financial freedom.
44
Fleet Feet
Athletic footwear, apparel,
accessories
STARTUP COST
#1 in Advertising Services for 16 Years
$187K–$413K
World’s #1 Weekly Restaurant Publication
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
145/31

Apply today at www.coffeenewsfranchise.com

 The List

BEST FRANCHISES FOR

More than $500,000
1 7 13 15 17 19
McDonald’s Planet Fitness Orangetheory Goldfish Swim Embassy Suites by Homewood Suites
Burgers, chicken, salads, Fitness clubs Fitness School Franchising Hilton by Hilton
beverages Group personal training Infant and child swimming Upscale all-suite hotels Upscale extended-stay
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST lessons hotels
$857.1K–$4.2M STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
$1.1M–$2.2M $563.5K–$999.1K STARTUP COST $17.4M–$75M STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co. Owned) $1.3M–$3M $11M–$22.1M
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) 1,353/58 (Franchised / Co. Owned) TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co. Owned) TOTAL UNITS
34,521/2,888 1,007/24 (Franchised / Co. Owned) 235/0 (Franchised / Co. Owned)

2 8 14
69/1

18
435/0

Sonic Drive-In
Primrose School
Franchising Golden Corral 16 Holiday Inn and 20
Burgers, hot dogs, chicken Educational childcare Restaurants Bojangles’ Famous Holiday Inn Express Dairy Queen
sandwiches, breakfast,
STARTUP COST Family steakhouses, bufets, Chicken ’n Biscuits Hotels Ice cream, burgers, chicken
ice cream, beverages
and bakeries Chicken, biscuits, iced tea STARTUP COST
$716.7K–$5.8M STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $1.1M–$1.8M
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST $7.5M–$24.8M
$865K–$3.6M TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) $2.2M–$6.6M $1.5M–$2.4M TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS 353/0 (Franchised / Co. Owned) (Franchised / Co. Owned)
(Franchised / Co. Owned) TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned) (Franchised / Co. Owned) 3,730/3 6,905/2
3,365/228
9 436/53 436/326

3 Hampton by Hilton
Midprice hotels
Taco Bell
Mexican food STARTUP COST
$6.9M–$17.1M
STARTUP COST
$525.1K–$2.6M TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
TOTAL UNITS 2,277/0
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
6,299/606
10
4 Hilton Hotels and
Resorts
Hardee’s Upscale hotels and resorts
Restaurants
Burgers, chicken, biscuits STARTUP COST
$29.1M–$111.95M
STARTUP COST
$1.5M–$1.99M TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
TOTAL UNITS 503/69
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
2,111/115
11
5 Jack in the Box
Burgers
Culver Franchising
System STARTUP COST
Frozen custard, $1.5M–$3.3M
specialty burgers TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
STARTUP COST
$2M–$4.7M 2,085/157

12
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
657/7
Freddy’s Frozen
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ORANGETHEORY

Custard &
6 Steakburgers
Carl’s Jr. Frozen custard,
steakburgers, hot dogs
Restaurants
Burgers
STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST
$577.97K–$1.99M
Orangetheory Fitness/ No. 13
$1.6M–$2.1M TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
TOTAL UNITS 287/24 GROWTH CAN PROVE MORE challenging for franchises with higher startup costs, but
(Franchised / Co. Owned)
1,584/52 Orangetheory Fitness has proven it’s up for the challenge. The company opened its 1,000th
location in Portland, Ore., this July, just eight years after the brand’s launch. Many of
Orangetheory’s franchisees are multiunit owners, like the owner of the 1,000th studio,
Jamie Weeks, CEO of Honor Holdings, which operates more than 50 studios, with more in
development. Orangetheory CEO and cofounder Dave Long says the company’s goal is to
have 2,500 studios and 2.5 million members by 2020.

126 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

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 The List

21 25 29 33 36 43
Goddard Systems Hilton Garden Inn Motel 6 Doubletree by Hilton la Madeleine French Brass Tap
Preschool/educational Upscale midprice hotels Economy hotels Upscale hotels and resorts Bakery & Cafe Craft-beer bars
childcare French bakeries and cafes
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST STARTUP COST STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $12.1M–$23.2M $2.6M–$3.9M $21.99M–$69.3M STARTUP COST $780.7K–$1.3M
$619.9K–$760.6K $1.5M–$2.3M
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 741/0 910/437 397/0 (Franchised / Co.-Owned) 46/1
482/0 48/32

22 26 30 34 37 44
Salons by JC Express Oil Change Camp Bow Wow Roy Rogers
Sky Zone Salon suites & Tire Engineers Dog daycare, boarding, ProSource Restaurants
Trampoline playing courts
STARTUP COST Oil changes, tire services, training, grooming; in-home Wholesale Roast beef sandwiches,
tune-ups, repairs pet care Wholesale kitchen, bath, and chicken, burgers
STARTUP COST $550.6K–$1M
$1.3M–$2.7M STARTUP COST STARTUP COST flooring products
STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS $783.5K–$1.5M
TOTAL UNITS (Franchised / Co.-Owned) $1.9M–$2.5M STARTUP COST $868.3K–$1.6M
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 81/10 TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS $509.6K–$518.3K
TOTAL UNITS
180/1 (Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS

23 27 114/116 137/9 (Franchised / Co.-Owned)

139/3
31/21

Red Roof Inn

McAlister’s Deli
31 35 45
Economy hotels
Sandwiches, salads, baked
potatoes Fuzzy’s Taco Shop Rockin’ Jump 38 Schlotzsky’s
STARTUP COST STARTUP COST Baja-style Mexican food Indoor trampoline arenas
and party spaces
Del Taco Fresh Sandwiches, pizza, salads
$3.5M–$5M $762K–$2M STARTUP COST Mexican Grill STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST Mexican/American food
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS $597K–$1.3M $503.8K–$787.98K
$1.4M–$2.9M
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
TOTAL UNITS STARTUP COST
TOTAL UNITS
386/126 355/32 (Franchised / Co.-Owned) TOTAL UNITS $859.7K–$2.1M (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
117/7 339/25
24 28 38/4 TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)

Hand and Stone American 32 252/314

46
Massage and Facial Family Care Zips Dry Cleaners
Spa Urgent-care centers Dry cleaning 39 KFC US
Chicken
Massage and spa services STARTUP COST STARTUP COST Slumberland STARTUP COST
STARTUP COST $829.5K–$1.3M $855.4K–$1.1M Franchising $1.5M–$2.6M
$500.6K-$604.3K Home furnishings
TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS TOTAL UNITS
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) (Franchised / Co.-Owned) STARTUP COST (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) 130/66 51/2 $545.5K–$1.99M 19,463/1,363
378/1

47
TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
74/53
Hooters
40 Casual restaurants
STARTUP COST
RNR Tire Express & $956.5K–$4.3M
Custom Wheels
Tires and custom wheel TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
sales and rentals
225/207
STARTUP COST
$500K–$1M
TOTAL UNITS
48
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) Gyu-Kaku Japanese
98/15 BBQ Restaurant
Japanese barbecue
41 restaurants
STARTUP COST
Farmer Boys $1.3M–$1.6M
Restaurants
Burgers, breakfast, TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
sandwiches, salads, sides
705/21
STARTUP COST
$1.1M–$1.6M
TOTAL UNITS
49
Tide Dry Cleaners
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BL ACK BEAR DINERS

(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
55/34 Dry cleaning
STARTUP COST
42 $640.4K–$1.5M
Black Bear Diners TOTAL UNITS
(Franchised / Co.-Owned)
Family restaurants
48/12

Black Bear Diners/ No. 42

STARTUP COST
$912.8K–$1.8M
TOTAL UNITS
50
(Franchised / Co.-Owned) Old Chicago
74/42 Pizza & Taproom
WHEN BRUCE DEAN and Bob Manley opened the first Black Bear Diner in 1995, they were both Pizza, pasta, burgers, salads,
craft beer
working 16-hour days, but they couldn’t yet afford to pay themselves—except with spare change. As
STARTUP COST
Manley explains in a video on the company’s website, “On Mondays we would go in and raid the $1.4M–$2.2M
jukebox and get the quarters—and that was our pay for the week.” They persevered, and their TOTAL UNITS
concept proved popular enough to franchise in 2002. Today, there are more than 100 Black Bear (Franchised / Co.-Owned)
35/73
Diners—and every one has a jukebox.

128 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018

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A Hat Tip to Hard Work
By Jay Fulcher, CEO, Zenefits
E
ven though I’ve passed my 50th birthday, most days I still
wear the Silicon Valley startup uniform to work: jeans,
Converse sneakers, an occasional hoodie. But when I’m not
at my day job at Zenefits—an HR, benefits, and payroll
software company—it’s an old cowboy hat that completes
my ensemble, much to my wife’s chagrin.
The hat, which hangs in my home when I’m not wearing it,
is a daily reminder to love the work, even when the days are
long and hard. I put that hat on and it transports me to my family’s
horse ranch in north central Washington State, which my brother and
I have operated for 25 years.
Every ranch has a slightly different purpose. Ours is to provide
irrigated pasture and safety for our 90 horses. If I’m there in the
winter when there’s three feet of snow on the ground, we’re feeding
them from a flatbed truck or a sleigh. In the summer, they’re either
grazing or being used for equine therapy for Girl Scouts or disabled
youth across the country.
It’s not entirely glamorous work—mending fences, hauling feed,
WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Tell us about a story, person, object, or something else that pushes you forward, and we may include it in a future issue. And we may make you
photograph or illustrate it, too. Email INSPIRE@ENTREPRENEUR.COM with the subject line “WHAT INSPIRES ME.”
132 / E N T R E P R E N E U R . C O M / October 2018
→ OUT OF OFFICE
The author’s beloved hat
at his family’s ranch.
tending to the horses. But on a ranch, you have to embrace the grind.
Caring for other things really helps you appreciate where you fit in the
grand scheme of things. Colts are born, horses die, and that cycle of
life actually has a positive impact on how I think about seasonality
and opportunity. It makes me consider how I want my work to affect
other people, and how I want to be in service to other people.
When I took over as CEO of Zenefits 20 months ago, I relied a lot
upon that perspective. The company had once been a fast-growing
software darling, but off-the-charts growth resulted in the business
infamously running afoul with regulators and losing sight of its
workplace culture. No shortcut could fix it. We needed to unite our
team behind the business fundamentals that are critical to sustainable
P H O T O G R A P H C O U R T E S Y O F J AY F U L C H E R
success. We’ve since built a new leadership team, reset our values and
culture, and changed our business model. It was—and is—a lot of hard
work, but it’s paying off for us and for our customers.
Every time I step into the office, I get the same feeling as when I put
on my old cowboy hat: It’s time to get to work. You can’t hack your
way to success. You’ve got to embrace the grind.
“My unlimited 2% cash back is more
than a perk. It’s our healthcare.”
— Ken Jacobus, Good Start Packaging CEO

ĉĝĦ ĈęěħĚĭī ĪĝĜĝĝĥĝĜ "% ġĦ ěęīĠ Ěęěģ Ĭħ ħljĝĪ ĠĝęĤĬĠěęĪĝ Ĭħ Ġġī ĝĥĨĤħıĝĝī
ćĥęğġĦĝ įĠęĬēČĊćċćĒăĂ!vāÿđĆĀÿāĉěħĭĤĜĜħĞħĪ ıħĭĪĚĭīġĦĝīī

āęĨġĬęĤčĦĝěħĥ×đĥęĤĤĀĭīġĦĝīī
ĐĝęĤ ěĭīĬħĥĝĪī ĨęġĜ ĞħĪ ĪĝęĤ īĬħĪġĝī āĪĝĜġĬ ęĨĨĪħĮęĤ ĪĝĩĭġĪĝĜ
čljĝĪĝĜ ĚıāęĨġĬęĤčĦĝĀęĦģÕēđÿÖČÿƣ! 'āęĨġĬęĤčĦĝ