Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2025 i Entrepreneur's Startups

Go North Group was founded in 2021, as an aggregator, bringing together small businesses on Amazon with the intention of improving and expanding them. Now, with a portfolio of 33 brands spanning home, animal, and lifestyle categories, Go North is on a mission to deliver “products with purpose.” “Our products each solve a problem our customers have, and we keep that customer focus in all aspects of our business, including packaging,” says Ryan Looysen, CEO at Go North Group. “Customers want to receive their items safely without the hassle of excess cardboard and plastic to dispose of.” In November 2023, the company collaborated with Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging program (SIPP), which allows sellers to ship items to customers in their own product packaging without any Amazon-added material. The program…

Color. Typography. Design. These are all essential elements of a company’s logo. It takes a special combination of these things to create an image that not only represents a brand or idea, but is relevant, timeless, and evokes emotion and response. And let’s face it: Time-strapped entrepreneurs don’t often have the skills or bandwidth to create a logo using complicated design software, or the funds to hire a professional designer. That’s where VistaPrint comes in. With an array of logo design tools and support options, VistaPrint helps businesses of all sizes create impactful logos that quickly communicate their brand and resonate with customers. Take it from these three small businesses that worked with VistaPrint to create custom logos as well as a wide array of marketing materials that help their brands…

Ever wish your business could go for bigger marketing opportunities, but you simply don’t have the employee bandwidth or extra budget to hire an outside agency? You may be right about the resources. But you’re wrong about pursuing those opportunities. These days, with a few handy tools like ChatGPT or Claude AI, which are free or around $20 a month depending on your usage needs, you can quickly create a highly effective, standout promotional campaign targeted expressly to the audience you want to reach—no need for a marketing team. Once you’re familiar with generative AI’s potential, there’s no end to how imaginative and profitable you can get. To see how this can play out, consider the following case study. Jeff J. Hunter is an entrepreneur who helps companies use AI…

I feel bad saying this, but I have accidentally bankrupted many companies. I didn’t mean to! I was a senior buyer at Target, which meant that I was one of the people responsible for identifying new brands, getting them onto shelves, and (hopefully) setting them up for success. I tried only working with brands that were truly ready for retail, but sometimes I got it wrong. Founders might have said they were ready and showed me evidence that they were ready, but they were not actually ready. I’d put them on Target’s shelves, and the impact would destroy them. This is the stuff that founders never see. It’s what I want you to know before you make the same mistake. I’ve spent decades working in retail, and I see…

Unfortunately, natural disasters have become an increasingly common fact of life. That creates a lot of need for franchises that respond to those disasters. These brands help get customers’ homes and businesses back to normal as quickly as possible—which makes them more important (and more recession-proof) than ever. AdvantaClean Mold removal and remediation and water damage restoration STARTUP COST $116.9K-$197.4K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 92/0 All Dry Services Water and mold remediation and restoration STARTUP COST $105.9K-$311.95K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 109/1 Best Option Restoration Disaster restoration STARTUP COST $185.9K-$230.4K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 72/0 Blue Kangaroo Packoutz Contents restoration STARTUP COST $241.2K-$518.6K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 129/1 Content Recovery Specialists Personal property restoration STARTUP COST $135.5K-$294K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 22/1 DRYmedic Restoration Services Disaster restoration STARTUP COST $187.97K-$311.8K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 54/22 FRSTeam…

How responsive are leagues, and even strangers? Now, be honest: Have you ever really thought about that? You should. “I find responsiveness to be one of the qualities I value most in people, and some of the best leaders and people I know are responsive,” the pop artist Artie Sandstone recently wrote me. “On the flip side, so many people I love and respect seem to place responsiveness on a lower level of importance. Why? It requires little talent and adds so much value.” Great question. Responsiveness might be the easiest, simplest, and yet most overlooked thing you can do to make people happy, show them respect, and create new opportunities. I reply to almost everyone who emails or DMs me, and have benefited enormously. I get it—responding to people…

1 ▶ Direct-to-consumer will be a bigger piece of the marketing pie. For years, brands with new products had a simple playbook: Drive sales on Amazon. That’s where customers were, after all. But now, small businesses are renewing their focus on direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies instead of trying to win the Amazon game. “There is huge, huge competition on Amazon, and new entrepreneurs are finding it’s really hard to invest all this money to be in the first pages,” says Hope Khoury, a cofounder of Go Vertical ICM, which has worked with over 250 inventors on developing their products and launching their small businesses. “They are relying on [other] sources so they can boom and have brand awareness elsewhere.” In order to incentivize more DTC sales, small business owners are getting…

CLAUDE AI ▶ An advanced natural language model capable of generating longform, humanlike content—with minimal editing needed—from raw outlines. Claude is better than ChatGPT for training on large datasets and copywriting. CHATGPT ▶ A popular conversational AI that can dynamically understand and respond to multifaceted prompts. Leveraged for ideation and creation across assets and analyses, ChatGPT is great for a fast workflow and handling multiple tasks. DESCRIPT ▶ An audio/video editing application with integrated AI speech to text allowing seamless voice overdubbing and manipulations to footage by editing the transcript. CAPTIONS ▶ A cost-effective video service that uses AI to auto-generate text captions and enables footage augmentation like eye and head movements. ENVATO ELEMENTS ▶ A stock media marketplace providing ready-made digital assets to incorporate in video and other projects.…

As education needs evolve, access to quality, personalized learning is more important than ever. Many states offer government-funded programs to help families afford school tuition, homeschooling resources, and supplemental learning tools. However, various compliance and logistical challenges can complicate accessing these funds. Enter Odyssey, a New York City-based company that helps families and students access high-quality, personalized education opportunities, thanks to a fintech platform that transforms how families manage education savings accounts (ESAs). By handling applications, eligibility verification, digital wallets, and payments, Odyssey removes the complexities of government-funded programs — allowing families to focus on their children’s education. Connecting families with funding and the supplies they need most Because ESA funds must be used strictly for approved expenses, Odyssey helps drive compliance by directing payments only to authorized educational products…

With 75 percent of protected U.S. SealMaster franchise territories sold out, just 10 are available nationwide. SealMaster franchisees are leading suppliers in the pavement maintenance industry, offering a full line of pavement maintenance and sport surfacing products and equipment. Customers include asphalt contractors, government road and parks departments, the property management industry, public and private institutions, and others responsible for maintaining paved assets and sport surfaces. “Sales-minded entrepreneurs should definitely have their eyes on SealMaster,” says Franchise Development Director Jason Hedlesky. “Asphalt is everywhere. The market is huge.” Furthermore, SealMaster is recession resistant, as evidenced by consistent, year-over-year growth for more than 30 years, according to Hedlesky. “As essential businesses, our franchisees didn’t shut down for a single day during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Beyond that, large, protected territories—some are entire…

The National Council on Aging reports that nearly 58 million Americans are 65 or older. With that number expected to climb to 88 million by 2060, the demand for assisted living facilities, placement services, and in-home care for those wishing to maintain independence has nowhere to go but up. Acti-Kare Nonmedical home care STARTUP COST $32.5K-$57.6K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 145/0 Always Best Care Senior Services In-home care, assisted-living referral services, home health care STARTUP COST $89.7K-$145.9K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 260/0 Amada Senior Care Home care, medical staffing, assisted-living placement STARTUP COST $116.8K-$278K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 197/6 AmeriCare Nonmedical home care STARTUP COST $167.3K-$206.9K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 33/0 A Place At Home Nonmedical home care, care coordination, senior-living placement, staffng solutions STARTUP COST $89.99K-$168.1K TOTAL UNITS (FRANCHISED/CO.-OWNED) 45/1 Assisted Living Locators…

Your business will take off when you nail two parts of an important equation: You must have something valuable to offer, and you must present it in a way that attracts the right buyers. Once you find that sweet spot, revenue should start to accelerate. This may sound obvious. But let me emphasize the words that entrepreneurs often overlook: the right buyers. Many entrepreneurs chase any buyers, or just hope that by blasting their message out across every possible channel, the sright buyers will simply reveal themselves. It doesn’t work like that. Instead, you must strategically simplify who you’re talking to and how you’re talking to them. I call it the “Rule of One.” I’ve seen this work for companies large and small. I was once the director of strategic…

Artificial intelligence isn’t a tool for only enterprises anymore. As generative AI tools have become increasingly accessible, small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs) have been integrating AI into their everyday operations. As it turns out, 75% of SMBs say they are investing in AI, and growing SMBs are nearly two times more likely to invest in AI than their declining peers 1. That’s huge. These businesses recognize the importance of embracing AI and prioritizing data strategies that provide speed, reliability, and a clear understanding of their customers. As the wave of generative AI gives way to a new era of agentic AI—allowing AI systems to act autonomously, making decisions and taking actions without constant human oversight—SMBs are realizing even greater opportunities. “We’re embarking on a new chapter of human productivity potential…

Tiffny Consoli is thriving in the pool industry. She was the first-ever Pool Scouts franchisee, and now operates a $3 million business with 24 vehicles and 19 routes in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area. Given her success, people are sometimes surprised to learn: At the start, she knew nothing about pools. Instead, Consoli came from a career in retail management. She loved customer service, but wanted to run her own business. She started looking for a franchise to buy, and in 2016, she took the leap and joined Pool Scouts. As she’d discover, a lot of her old skills proved valuable in her new business—often in ways she didn’t necessarily expect. Here, she explains how she learned the ropes, and why she believes the home services sector is an excellent…

This essay is excerpted from Siebert’s book, The Franchisee Handbook. Franchisees and franchisors should be collaborators. A relationship should benefit you both financially, and you should think of yourself on equal footing. Unfortunately, however, it doesn’t always end up that way. There are a few minefields that potential franchisees may encounter during the sales process. By interacting smartly with the franchisor, you’ll be better able to understand the opportunity, assess the business you’re getting into, and determine whether it’s the right fit for you. This is what I do for a living: As the CEO of iFranchise Group, my team of consultants helps emerging and established franchisors grow. We see the insides of these businesses, and we know what makes the best ones work—and the worst ones fail. In this article,…