Innholdsfortegnelse for October/November 2019 i Entrepreneur Magazine

In 2018, I had my dream gig: I hosted a podcast that reached millions of listeners and gave me access to the world’s most inspiring entrepreneurs. Then my relationship with my business partners fell apart, and they emailed me to say I was fired. With that, I lost my livelihood, my calling, and my very sense of identity. For weeks, I sat on my couch dreaming up ways to reclaim my show. But I couldn’t; it was gone. Then I realized there was something I hadn’t lost: my relationships! I’d met incredible people throughout my career. And as I reached out to them, they’d become the insurance policy I didn’t even know I had—an insurance policy that would save me when I needed it most. In turn, these people made…

“Businesses throw away food all the time because it’s the easiest thing to do. So we’ve created waste management software that gives businesses a way to understand what is being wasted and why. We’ve built predictive analytics to inform purchasing decisions. Our clients benefit from tax deductions, savings from reducing waste, and corporate social responsibility marketing and PR.”—KOMAL AHMAD Founder and CEO, Copia, which has recovered and distributed more than one million pounds of unused food “We would love to respond to every disaster and help every community, but we simply don’t have the infrastructure to do that—yet. So we’re balancing our desire to expand with our ability to deliver. We do our best work when we have local roots and expertise where we’re operating. We match our customers with…

Jeff Farnell loves to lead. It’s a skill he learned and cultivated as a young man in the Air Force, but he didn’t realize just how much he loved to build teams and motivate people until he exited the military, got a job in satellite communications—and hated every minute of it. To refresh his nascent career, he pivoted to the restaurant industry and eventually landed in franchising, where a strong, communicative team is necessary for success. Now, as the director of operations for Dogtopia—a dog daycare, boarding, and spa franchise—he oversees more than 100 locations throughout North America and helps create a sense of community among the far-flung franchisees, enabling each to be a leader in their own towns and cities. You’ve worked in the franchise industry for almost 15…

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“I would be more confident in my own knowledge of the market. Anytime I listened to investors or partners who had not operated in Africa but were strongly advising me on switching direction, the company faltered. Our local knowledge is our strongest advantage.”—ELIZABETH ROSSIELLO Cofounder and CEO, BitPesa, a platform that uses blockchain to make financial transactions in frontier markets faster, cheaper, and easier “I spent too long doing the safe thing—the ‘right’ degree, the job I ‘should’ take—instead of following my natural talents. I would have made the jump from professional services into business sooner. When I finally made the leap, I got a job working for a CEO who let me run loose, and I found the power to back myself. Now I don’t hold back.”—NISHA DUA Partner,…

“Emily Weiss of Glossier walked into our first meeting with a wealth of knowledge and learnings from her blog, Into the Gloss, and used those insights to paint a picture of what not-so-obvious unmet needs existed in the industry and how her company would address them. A critical piece of any successful retail business is building a solution, and Emily was ready to bring much-needed value to eager shoppers.”—KIRSTEN GREEN Founding partner (right, with Eurie Kim, general partner, left), Forerunner Ventures, an early-stage VC firm “Rachel Drori of Daily Harvest was pregnant with her second child when we first met her, still making the smoothies herself in a commercial kitchen and running all over to meet investors. Many men we spoke with underestimated a woman at that stage in her…

What does a successful company look like? Marc Randolph offered an answer earlier in this issue. He’s the cofounder and first CEO of Netflix, and he suggested that every entrepreneur ask themselves a fundamental question: Why are we doing the things we do? “If people are doing this because they think they’re going to be rich? Not going to happen,” he said. “If they think they’re doing it because they’re going to be famous? Not going to happen. You have to do this because fundamentally, you love solving problems.” This is true—and it’s also a good way to set expectations. “Solving problems” is simply the only thing an entrepreneur can control. Nobody can engineer wealth or fame, but we can devote ourselves to the grinding, occasionally thrilling, deeply satisfying task…

“VETERANS ARE TYPICALLY calculated risk-takers,” says Navy veteran Ted Cockram of his decision to leave corporate America and open a Kiddie Academy franchise in 2012 with wife Hilda. Their Longwood, Fla., center consistently has a waitlist, they’ve just added their second center in Sanford, Fla., and are already scouting locations for a third. “The Navy fostered a sense of creativity in me as well,” says Cockram. “Owning and operating a Kiddie Academy presents many opportunities for me to think out of the box as we market our centers.”…

“VETERANS GENERALLY have an incredible work ethic and a ‘failure is not an option’ mentality,” says Jeff Moss, a Gulf War Army veteran and Bronze Star recipient. He credits those traits with the record-breaking success of the College Hunks franchise he opened last year. He had the highest-grossing first full month in business in the company’s history, was the fastest franchisee to achieve $100,000 in sales in a single month, and reached $1 million in sales in his first year of business.…

When I was a kid, my dad, J.R. “Pete” Peterson, was the president of three liquor distributorships in Illinois. He wasn’t an entrepreneur, but he was great at what he did. I eventually started asking questions about the business and why he was so successful. In response, he told me this: “When things are bad in business, you’re forced to pay attention to the details. When things are going great, you stop paying attention and spend more time golfing or at long lunches—and that’s when a giant caribou jumps out of the tall grass and fucks everything up.” In other words, be on heightened alert even during the best times—so you never get caught off guard. It’s good to enjoy your accomplishments and pat yourself on the back, but it’s…

WE’RE TOLD THAT we should love customer service. We’re told that, as entrepreneurs, our passion should be to make people happy. We’re here to serve, to solve problems, to spread joy! And that’s all true. Good customer service can also be good fun. It’s a blast to help someone enjoy the thing you’ve made. But let’s be honest: Sometimes customer service is not pleasant. Because sometimes people are not pleasant. And that’s when we, as entrepreneurs, need to kick into a different gear. We need something to help us stay focused—to not get dragged down by frustration. In short, we need a reminder of what people really want. When I hear from an angry or unpleasant customer, I play a little game. My goal is to disarm them—to rid them…

Q I’ve spent a year investing in a new product, but it just isn’t getting anywhere. What’s next? Do I just keep at it?—KARL, PITTSBURGH IN NEARLY 10 years of consulting, there’s one question I wish more clients asked: Is my business idea a good fit for the market? This is the first place we start when working with a client. A company has to identify core customers, understand how to engage its audience, and build a custom plan that sells the benefits of a business or a product. But you can’t truly scale until you’ve found product market fit—that magical match when people simply can’t get enough of what you’re offering. It’s the Holy Grail for businesses, and often completely misunderstood. Recognizing product-market fit is a superpower, and also…

Cindy Mi Founder and CEO, education platform VIPKid “I deeply admire Cindy’s dedication to democratizing access to education through technology. Her platform gives rise to the foundational tools that shape people’s lives, perspectives, and futures.” Lilly Singh YouTuber and founder, Unicorn Island Productions “I am such a fan of who Lilly is as a person and the message she stands for. Nothing’s more powerful than a network of strong women who encourage each other, and Lilly is a huge driver in spreading this idea, inspiring women to support one another.” Nia Batts Cofounder and CEO, beauty bar Detroit Blows “Nia has built a business founded on accessibility and community. Aside from being a success in her own right, she’s using the platform she’s built to help advance the entrepreneurial aspirations…

“I’m naturally introverted. It’s hard to walk into a room of strangers, let alone a room of potential investors. For me, it was learning that the best way to build a network is by offering value first—asking how you can serve someone else before asking them for help in return. Gradually, I learned how to become more extroverted and started creating spaces for others to network based on this ethos.”—LISA WANG Former Olympic gymnast; founder and CEO, SheWorx, a global platform and event series that has helped more than 20,000 female entrepreneurs succeed “I knew what kind of beauty company I wanted to build, but I knew nothing about operating one. On launch day, our team of 15 huddled around a laptop to watch the orders come in and then…

“We spend our days talking to directors of facilities about why menstrual products should be freely accessible in their bathrooms. To engage, we start with humor. Everyone has a period story. First there is blushing, then there is gushing with laughter and vulnerability. From there, we move to the facts, like offering menstrual products in schools increased girls’ attendance by 2.4 percent in a New York City public school.”—CLAIRE CODER Founder and CEO, Aunt Flow, which helps businesses and schools stock their bathrooms with feminine products “So many brands in this space perpetuate the idea of ‘You can feel great on your period!’ or ‘Don’t be embarrassed to buy lube!’ and I think this is the wrong approach. When trying to get women to open up, we take a vulnerable…

Back in Vinnie Sposari’s day, plumbing was considered a good, honest living. Before shop classes started disappearing from high schools and four-year college was championed as the only respectable career path, Sposari could put a classified ad in Sunday’s paper and have six or eight résumés on his desk by Monday. Good résumés, too. But those days have gone the way of print newspapers. “Very, very rarely will you get a licensed, skilled plumber calling you,” says Sposari. He’s 55 now and spent his career rising up in the plumbing business. He started straight out of high school and soon founded Sposari Plumbing. In 1992, he bought into a plumbing franchise called Mr. Rooter to “learn the business side of things,” and today he owns Mr. Rooter territory throughout western…

REGINALD FOSTER has come full circle with the opening of his third Tropical Smoothie Cafe location—on Fort Gordon Base, where his Army career began 30 years ago. Foster, a former telecommunications officer, and his wife, Zenna, considered more than 50 franchises—but they always came back to Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a restaurant they loved to frequent. They opened their first unit in Augusta, Ga., in 2015, a second two years later, and the Fort Gordon location just this year.…

WHEN THEY learned of the opportunity to purchase a Meineke franchise in York, Pa., in 2012, brothers Nate, Josh, and Ben Ramsay didn’t let the fact that two of them were deployed in Iraq stop them. They pooled their funds, and Ben, who had experience managing a Meineke, began running the car care center until his brothers, both serving as Army staff sergeants, completed their service in 2013. In the six years since, the brothers have opened four more locations.…