Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Entrepreneur Magazine

RECENTLY, A CEO was venting to me about how he routinely pitches his business to reporters, but nobody writes about him. So I told him the five words that, harsh as they are, all entrepreneurs need to hear: Sometimes you’re not the story. But good news: You could be part of the story. Every month I use this space to explain how I make editorial decisions. I do this because entrepreneurs frequently want press, but they don’t often understand how journalists think—so part of my job, as I see it, is to demystify the process. And this distinction, between being the story and being part of one, is critical. I get it: You want the big showcase, the feature, the photo shoot. And you should! But the truth is, we…

Q How do I best evaluate my performance as chief executive? A A sober self-assessment is never easy. But Dr. Dee Soder, who has counseled hundreds of chief executives as founder of the CEO Perspective Group in New York, offers these steps. The good news: You don’t have to do it alone. Seek outside counsel. Cultivate what Soder calls a “personal cabinet,” three to five people who know you, know your business, and aren’t afraid to speak up. “It’s a way to stay out of the echo chamber,” she says. Reflect daily. Set aside 30 to 60 minutes each day to write down your thoughts. Sounds ridiculous—who has time for that, right? But it’s a practice long championed by management guru Tom Peters. Journaling gives you time “to listen to…

“I DISCOVERED A BIGGER PROBLEM: I’D SET OUT TO MAKE A DATABASE OF CAMPGROUNDS, BUT AMERICA HAS A SHORTAGE!” I WANTED TO SPEND New Year’s Eve of 2012 somewhere quiet and beautiful, but I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to find a campsite by the ocean. There are websites for county parks, state parks, and other federal land, but there’s no easy way to search them. Eventually, I found Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur, Calif. I arrived and began setting up my tent, and then realized everybody had a surfboard and a wetsuit. I walked to the beach and saw one of the most beautiful point breaks of my life. It was so frustrating, because I could have brought my surfboard—but I’d spent hours reading about the…

We know, we know—plenty of “smart” objects out there are pretty dumb. (Parents don’t need a sensor-laden diaper to know when their baby needs a change; a baby can sound that alarm on her own.) But the industry is evolving. “The problem isn’t delivering solutions as much as discovering opportunities,” says Nick Jones, an industry analyst at Gartner. Sensors, processors, and networking chips are now fairly cheap, and the opportunities for thoughtful entrepreneurs are countless. Says Jones: “This space is more limited by imagination than by technology.” These four products hint at our smarter future. EKO CORE DIGITAL STETHOSCOPE (1) For centuries, doctors relied on hollow, sound-amplifying tubes in stethoscopes to hear a patient’s heartbeat. The Eko Core Digital Stethoscope streams the sound waves to the cloud, where they become…

The first members of Generation Z will be graduating from college in a few years, and market researchers and trend forecasters are clamoring to tap into their psyches. Will this latest crop of youngsters reshape how we do business tomorrow? We put two generational experts—Scott Hess, EVP of human intelligence at Spark, and Jake Katz, VP of audience insights and strategy at Revolt TV—in the hot seat. Gen Z hasn’t yet flooded the workforce. Isn’t it a little early to start worrying about them? Katz: I’d rather be early than late. Generations tend to be innovative as they’re younger and then grow more similar as they get older. That’s a mistake folks made when talking about millennials. Employers thought the world would change, but there are always more similarities between…

Impossible burger: New York City’s Momofuku Nishi debuted Impossible Foods’ burger that “bleeds” though it’s made from potato proteins, wheat proteins, and coconut oil. Owner David Chang has also used his R&D lab to experiment with fermenting chickpeas, which creates a sweet umami bomb that now replaces the traditional Pecorino Romano in the restaurant’s version of cacio e pepe. Chickpea pisco sour: The liquid in canned chickpeas—aka aquafaba—makes for a surprisingly good egg substitute. Los Angeles restaurants Gracias Madre and Birch both use whipped aquafaba as a vegan stand-in for egg foam on classic cocktails, like pisco sours. Habanada sherbet: Michael Mazourek, a Cornell professor and one of the top plant breeders in the world, created the habanada pepper—all the floral notes of a habanero minus even a hint of…

THE TERM virtual reality is bandied about a lot. But with the exception of a few bulky, expensive headsets, most VR devices just use your phone’s screen and processor—and they don’t let you do much more than passively watch 360-degree video. Google’s Daydream View VR is different: It’s the first phone-based headset to let you do stuff. The gadget wirelessly syncs with the new Google Pixel smartphone (the only compatible device for now) to a Wii-like controller to create a virtual extension of your hand. Use it to move through Google Street View, swing a simulated baseball bat, and interact with virtual worlds. It won’t let you walk around a physical space and have your movements translated into VR—for that, you still need an expensive rig—but the Daydream will be…

Youpreneur Host Chris Ducker, founder of VirtualStaffFinder.com, and guests share their wisdom as solo entrepreneurs. Start with episode 172, for personal branding advice from Peter Shankman. chrisducker.com/podcast She Podcasts This female-focused show, hosted by Podcasting School for Women cofounders Elsie Escobar and Jessica Kupferman, covers topics such as landing guests for your podcast, getting sponsors, and interview etiquette. shepodcasts.com The Entrepreneurs Radio Show Host Travis Lane Jenkins started four local businesses in Houston on shoestring budgets and built them into multimillion-dollar enterprises. He talks business with other successful entrepreneurs. theentrepreneursradioshow.com Social Pros Podcast Host Jay Baer (of Convince & Convert) and Adam Brown (of Salesforce) talk with folks who do groundbreaking work in social media. Check out the insightful episode with Coca-Cola’s Doug Busk, discussing digital storytelling. socialpros.podbean.com…

FIVE YEARS AGO, I sold my startup and started working in venture capital. And while that sale made me very happy, it didn’t make me all that wealthy—especially not compared with the deals I see now, where big funding rounds and lucrative exits carry the day. So sometimes I wonder: What would I have done differently in my company if I could go back five years? Now that I’m working in VC, what bits of wisdom do I have now that I wish I had then? Here’s the first insight: Define “success” very early. Is it money? Changing the world? What do you want—and what, realistically, do you think is possible? I had built a company that sold gift cards over the internet; it was a fine idea, but not…

BRIC SIMPSON WAS a genuine movie buff: He hit the theater about five times a month. That also made him attuned to the finer points of snacking, and he had some problems. “You pay a premium price for popcorn, but they only butter the top layer. An inch down, you’ve got almost a whole bucket of popcorn that tastes like cardboard,” he says. In 2009, Simpson and his wife were shaking a popcorn bucket to distribute the butter when she said, “You know what we need? A lid.” Today, Simpson has made that lid—along with a company, Kernel King, that sells about 100,000 of them a month nationwide. But the process wasn’t easy. He had to juggle his business while working full-time for the Army National Guard, and he needed…

YES, DO IT! Roasting your own beans gives you more control over cup quality and can ultimately lead to wider margins. All three of our featured experts roast their own. Lehman’s primary reason: He’s able to source coffee from producers he trusts. “There are many business benefits to this as well, like brand building,” he says. NAH, NO NEED. If you don’t have buckets of startup capital or prior experience with sourcing and roasting, you’re better off working with a trusted local or regional roastery—at least to start. “Roasting requires an entirely different skill set than running a shop and preparing drinks,” says Steffy. “Don’t put yourself in a position where your roasting learning curve is up against your shop’s opening deadline.”…

Chris Fisher was a recent college grad with a pregnant wife and was considering taking a steady sales job. But he kept thinking about what his grandfather a WWII POW told him: Even if you’re not making a lot of money, be your own boss in America. “He came to the U.S. from the Netherlands with nothing and started farming, then bought some apartments,” says Fisher. So Fisher turned down the job, and in 1998 he opened his own thing: Golden Eagle Window Cleaning. The business always suffered at the end of each year, so in 2006 he added holiday-lights installation—and it provided such a boost that by 2011, he was ready to franchise. He rebranded as Shine Window Care and Holiday Lighting, and two of his longtime employees became…

I’m a leader. Wanna know why? Because I say so. I believe it and feel it and act on it. I’m “the guy” because I choose to be. Becoming a leader is not about waiting for someone to see your potential. It’s about stepping up, stepping in, and consciously deciding to be the one who brings it—the energy, the charisma, the excitement, the guts. A leader chooses to be the positive force needed in the world. You can’t be a leader unless you’re convinced you are one. You have to feel it in your bones and every molecule of your body. It takes confidence, self-trust, and a little blind faith, but the result is expansion into your full potential. And when you take responsibility for your leadership, those around you…

HEY, EVERYONE IN my imaginary office. Gather round. I have some new holiday rules for you all to follow. Here we go: General cheer is OK. Merriment will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The occasional burst of mirth will be tolerated. Kyle can wear his candy-cane pants. And here comes the really important one: Gifts—material and monetary—are banned unless you think really, really hard before giving one. I recognize that some of you enjoy giving gifts. I recognize that gift giving is a behavior central to human connection. I get that gift giving helps define and strengthen relationships. But the problem is not in the giving. It’s in the receiving. Every instance of workplace gift giving involves a quid pro quo. You give the quid. The receiver wonders if…

WHO: RAAJA NEMANI AND AARON FIRESTEIN, COFOUNDERS OF ARTIST-DESIGNED SNEAKER BRAND BUCKETFEET For Aaron: “We met volunteering in Argentina in 2008—we would have never crossed paths if we both didn’t love travel,” Raaja says. “Aaron loves going off the beaten path, so having a suitcase that’s nimble is important. This brand is superinnovative—it has Bluetooth tracking and ports for charging your devices.” (Raden A22 Carry, $295; raden.com) For Raaja: Aaron will also honor their roots with a travel-related treat. “Having a fun little map that helps you remember and collect your experiences from your trips is perfect,” he says. (Scratch Map Deluxe, $32; uncommongoods.com) WHO: PAUL AND NIK STEWART-STAND, THE HUSBAND-AND-WIFE TEAM BEHIND STEWART/STAND STAINLESS STEEL WALLETS For Paul: “I’d love to get Paul immunotherapy shots so…

Q I suspect one of my employees is taking gifts from customers, which, I’ve made clear, is against our policy. How do I make sure? I don’t want to wrongly accuse someone. A NO MATTER HOW good you are at solving crimes before a TV detective does, things get tricky when the mystery is at your business. Best-case scenario, there’s a misunderstanding over what constitutes “gifts.” Worst case, customers are being pressured into kickbacks or are offering presents for preferential treatment. Either way, you need facts and evidence. Don’t presume dishonesty. If you can’t handle this with objectivity and diplomacy, then find someone experienced on your team. Some questions to consider before you start sleuthing: Are a disproportionate number of customers receiving discounts without legitimate business reasons? Have customers…

IMPLICIT BIAS IN HIRING IS SO HARD TO ROOT OUT BECAUSE, well, it’s implicit. Even when managers talk a good game about increasing diversity at the office, their actions rarely match their intent: In three studies, researchers at MIT and Indiana University found that organizations that tout meritocracy actually show the greatest bias against women. And homogeny isn’t only unfair—it’s bad for business. Companies with the most ethnically diverse teams are 35 percent more likely to have returns above the national industry median, according to McKinsey. But how can a company fix the problem, and avoid fueling managers’ conscious and subconscious biases? A new crop of startups has a solution: blind recruitment. It’s a hiring method that conceals candidates’ gender, race, and education background—enabling a person to interview or perform…

WHAT TREND ARE YOU READY TO SEE END? “Viewing fusion as the f-word. The debate between authenticity and fusion is no longer interesting. The most innovative chefs are artists who meld cultural influences and diverse cooking techniques to create unexpected new classics.” —Danielle Chang, founder of Asian food festival LuckyRice “I’d like to see retail markups die. They don't add any value to product quality and don't benefit the customer.” —Jason Hairston, founder of hunting-apparel company Kuiu “The faceless apparel brands that are making loads of money on sales of cheap clothing made from discounted fabric. It dilutes the market with so much noise that manufacturers making high-quality apparel don't have a shot.” —Bayard Winthrop, founder of apparel company American Giant…

In the United States alone, consumers spend north of $62 billion on cosmetics, skincare, and haircare products each year. But younger women are increasingly venturing outside their Maybelline and Dior standbys, embracing smaller brands. As the crowded market grows more crowded (hello, Kylie Jenner Lip Kits), we talk to three startups that stand out. The brainchild of beauty editor Emily Weiss, GLOSSIER (1) skincare and makeup launched in late 2014—arguably inspiring the rush of beauty brands hitting the market today—and quickly became a favorite of cool girls everywhere. “One of our points of distinction is that we’re a very conversational brand that lives only digitally, but we’re not speaking primarily through advertising,” Weiss says. “Most of our growth has been through owned, earned, peer-to-peer traffic. We’re serving the woman who…

SOME ENTREPRENEURS FOLLOW their gut. Others follow their education—and schools across the nation are increasingly catering to the ambitions of future business leaders. That’s why we partner with The Princeton Review to publish an annual survey of more than 2,000 colleges and universities, determining which best serve the entrepreneurial spirit. On the following pages, we list the top 25 undergraduate entrepreneurship degree programs and top 25 graduate programs in the U.S. (and one in Mexico)—places determined to hone students’ game-changing ideas, give them access to world-class mentors (i.e., professors and alumni), and perhaps provide classmates turned cofounders.…

HIP STARTUPS often have dogs roaming the office—and although it’s become a cliché, these businesses could be onto something. “A dog’s presence in the workplace reduces stress for owners and may increase their productivity and job satisfaction,” says Dr. Randolph T. Barker (real name!), a professor emeritus of management at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, who has studied the effects of canines on organizations and workplace stress. Here’s how to make work more pet-friendly. The human-mattress darling Casper now brings us the Casper Dog Mattress ($125 to $225; casper.com), the product of nearly a year of dog sleep studies. Its microfiber cover is machine-washable and resistant to claws and teeth. When your four-legged office friend is done napping and wants to play, there’s the Nerf Dog Tennis Ball…

After building your product, pricing it is the hardest puzzle you’ll face. Get it right and making a profit is easy. Get it wrong and you may bankrupt your business fast. But it isn’t a guessing game; there is a right price, and you can figure it out by answering these three questions. 1. What’s your overall operating budget? Once you know what your monthly ongoing expenses are, you’ll know how much income you need to break even. Just apply that number to your production run. For example, if you plan to produce 10,000 items in a year, you’ll know how many you need to sell a year to break even. With your budget in place, you can then test various pricing scenarios—charging more and selling fewer units, or cutting…

As the year draws to a close, four established entrepreneurs look back on their early days and tell us what they would have done differently. —Nina Zipkin “I was constantly studying and reading business books and chasing after the right answers for everything so I wouldn’t look so clueless in front of my team. Instead of looking for the right answers to tell, I wish I had spent more time seeking out the right questions to ask.” —Ben Chestnut, CEO and cofounder, MailChimp “I would have trusted myself more. There were a lot of moments where I hesitated. Looking back, because the space was new, I really couldn’t get anything wrong. Every time I got it wrong, I was learning. I didn’t fully appreciate that when I was in it.”…

NATE MARTIN’S timing was perfect. ¶ “Escape rooms” were having an international moment—starting with one business in Kyoto, Japan, in 2007, and then rapidly expanding across Asia and Europe. They’re like an interactive puzzle: People pay to be locked inside a room and work together to complete a series of tasks in order to “escape.” In August 2013, just as the concept was expanding in the U.S., Martin invested $7,000 to build one called Puzzle Break in Seattle, and he made his money back by the end of the year. He then franchised in Long Island and struck a deal with Royal Caribbean to install escape rooms on cruise ships—grossing $660,000 in 2015, and putting him on track to more than double his revenue in 2016. Despite his success, he…

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2017, our picks for the most exciting franchise categories of the year include several that are going strong and show no signs of slowing, and a few that are beginning to ramp up to their true potential. You’ll find up-and-coming business opportunities such as computer coding for kids, trampoline parks, and fusion hot dogs, as well as the tried-and-true: fitness studios, pet care, and disaster restoration. What do they all have in common? A still unquenched capacity for growth. As you page through, bear in mind that this list is not intended as an endorsement of any particular franchise. Even the hottest concept can grow cold in the wrong hands, so always take your time to do your due diligence before you invest. Review all legal documents,…

Ben’s Barketplace is the brainchild of former California state trooper and K-9 handler Brad Romero and his wife, Sally. Romero recognized the importance of nutrition in keeping his partners at their peak, so the store, named for his first drug-detection K-9, Ben, focuses on offering healthy options for dogs and cats, including raw diets and high-quality dry and canned foods. Pet-nutrition experts consult with customers to find the best choices for their individual animals based on breed, age, weight, activity level, and special needs.…

BENJI WAGNER KNOWS A DIRTY LITTLE secret about the outdoor apparel industry: Big brands like Patagonia and The North Face may advertise their gear being put to the test in the highest mountains and at the ends of the Earth, but 83 percent of all camping trips in the United States actually take place within a few feet of a car or a house. So Wagner is going straight at those consumers—people who want to feel comfortable inside a tent perhaps just a few feet above sea level. “The outdoor industry was founded on mountaineering, but most people are wearing their jacket to go grocery shopping,” says Wagner, cofounder and creative director of Poler Outdoor Stuff, which, since its 2011 launch, now sees double-digit growth every year. “The industry went…

CONSUMERS HAVE MORE INFORMATION at their fingertips than ever. E-commerce has changed how people shop. And yet many industry traditions have remained—like, say, fashion’s longstanding insistence that brands create four collections a year. But even the most deeply embedded rules are starting to crack. Tanya Taylor is one of the changemakers: She’s a fashion designer who remade her schedule to focus on just two strong collections a year—which in turn will spend more time on the retail floor, rather than being relegated to the sale section to make room for an impending precollection. Taylor tells us how she bucked expectations—and why it worked out. You launched in 2012 with two collections a year and in 2015 expanded to four: resort and prefall in addition to spring and fall. But this…

AMERICANS HAVE LONG BEEN OBSESSED with all things eating, and now that means obsessing over how clean their diet is—vegan, gluten-free, organic, or additive-averse. To keep consumers happily fed, chefs and food manufacturers are figuring out how to maximize taste without any suspect ingredients. “We’ve pushed the limits of how well a crop ships or how long it can sit on a shelf, but when you don’t make flavor a priority, it gets lost,” says Lane Selman, an agricultural researcher at Oregon State University and founder of the Culinary Breeding Network, which connects plant breeders with farmers and chefs to create better-tasting grains and vegetables. But it’s the hearty dose of attention from venture capitalists and tech firms that has recently transformed the granola world of “clean eating” into a…

Academics & Requirements Schools were asked if they offer a major, a minor, or a degree program in entrepreneurship; how many courses in entrepreneurship are offered in topics such as e-business, family businesses, franchising, and venture capital; the availability of internships, experiential learning, and opportunities to consult for small-business owners; and whether they provide cross-discipline opportunities to work with students in other majors (e.g., working with computer engineering students to develop a product). Outside the Classroom Schools provided information on whether they maintain partnerships with other schools that allow access to their entrepreneurship programs; the number of officially recognized clubs and organizations for entrepreneurship students; the number and size of scholarships available; and the number of outside mentors working with students. Annual business-plan or new-venture competitions, hackathons, and pitch-deck or…

Podcast listening in the U.S. shot up 23 percent last year, to 57 million people. That means more Americans now listen to podcasts than actively use Twitter—a huge potential audience to help market your business, says Baer. In fact, a recent survey found that nearly two-thirds of listeners are more willing to consider products and services after hearing about them on a podcast. • GAUGE YOUR AUDIENCE A podcast isn’t a great idea if yours is a purely local business. Your potential audience will be too small to be worth the time commitment. Also, podcast listeners are generally young (72 percent are ages 18 to 54), so if your customers are 55-plus, stick to what you know already works for that demo. • BUY THE BASICS A decent podcasting setup…

JEREMY WEAVER NEEDED credit. He runs a Chattanooga-based startup, Wind River Tiny Homes, which builds small but elegantly crafted houses, and wanted to expand. In order to afford it, he needed lumberyards and other vendors to give him an advance. They’d provide him with materials, and he’d pay them back when a house was sold. He’d come to vendors prepared to talk numbers, but one time, a lumberyard owner took him by surprise: “My wife follows you on Facebook,” the guy said, in part to explain why he was saying yes. Weaver had stumbled onto something called social finance (or, groan, so-fi for short). Some lenders, in evaluating whether a person is a good loan candidate, would scour their social media networks. The more upstanding people were in there—family, gainfully…

“Don’t forget the internet! There are many tools that can be easily used to capture additional revenue by offering your most unique products online.” BEN LEHMAN CO-OWNER CREMA NASHVILLE What can a coffee retailer do online? Plenty! Lehman’s site, Crema-coffee.com, sells bags of beans, gift certificates, coffee subscriptions, home-brew necessities from respected brands, and even books and travel guides—because coffee can be a lifestyle as much as it is a drink. “Define your identity, but adapt. When we started, we only did pour-over. Morning customers asked for a quicker option, so now we brew by the batch, too.” PHIL GOODLAXSON OWNER CORVUS COFFEE ROASTERS DENVER COFFEE SHOP MATH To start, Goodlaxson estimates: $40,000 in equipment $10,000 in marketing 30% to 35% of monthly revenue should go to monthly operating expenses…

Bikes are Francesca DeRanzo’s world. For 10 years, she worked at bike shops or companies, including a brief but happy stint as an East Coast sales rep for the high-end bike manufacturer Specialized. In that time she also cycled across the U.S., exploring thousands of miles of trails and country roads. But then she tried separating her work from her passion, selling traffic signs for a Wichita-based company. It didn’t go well: She was miserable, and her coworkers didn’t get her obsession with two wheels. “I thought about how we spend most of our time working and sleeping, and the only thing we can change is where we work,” DeRanzo says. She considered opening a bike shop but found a bricks-and-mortar loan daunting. That’s when she came across Velofix, a…

Hansel Lynn was surprised when he couldn’t find an after-school coding program for his kids (in Silicon Valley, no less!), so he used his experience as a School of Rock franchisee to create the Coder School with buddy Wayne Teng. While the Coder School offers curriculum-based classes, its primary focus is individualized coaching that allows kids to work on whatever interests them most. “We see coding as an ‘art’ that has no ending, as opposed to an academic subject you graduate from,” says Lynn, who also founded the International Alliance of Youth Coding Educators.…