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Tag: inc 5000

  • These CEOs Scaled Up While Strengthening Company Culture During Big Pivots

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    Leaders who have scaled up their businesses know that protecting company culture is a key to successful change. At the Inc. 5000 conference, held last month in Phoenix, three leaders who have recently gone through big growth spurts shared their tips. Shuman Ghosemajumder, co-founder and CEO of the AI-powered cybersecurity firm Reken joined Kelly Johnson, founder of the advertising agency ANOVA Digital, and Ian Yang, the founder and CEO of the custom lighting design firm Gantri spoke about how they anchored their companies’ core values amid big shifts and rapid growth.

    Take Stock of Your Company Culture

    For Yang, the growth of his company Gantri was a long time coming, but it has made great leaps in a relatively short span since the pandemic. The Bay Area business, which clocks about $14.1 million in annual revenue, started out as a sustainable lighting and design firm in 2016, and this year launched a platform for designers to use Gantri’s manufacturing capabilities — including 3D printing — to bring their own products to market.

    “The process of mass-producing designs is very costly and very time-consuming, and so a lot of great designs don’t get to be brought to market and a lot of really creative, really amazing designers don’t get a chance to share their own ideas and build businesses,” Yang explained.

    As the company was growing, he consulted talent coaches, who asked the founder, “‘What do you want? What company culture do you want the company to exhibit?’ And I described all these things, and they’re like, ‘Those things are not present in your current company.’ And that realization I think was huge.”

    But with the company’s growth and diversification, “there was a difference between what the company culture was and what I wanted to be,” Yang said. “What I wanted was to empower my team was the idea of ownership, accountability, but most importantly the safety to take risks. I think with any startup, if you’re not taking risks, if you are not feeling a bit stressed about the decision you’re making, then you are not going to succeed because you’re status quo.”

    Make Hiring Decisions That Support the Culture You Want

    When Ghosemajumder, a veteran of Google’s trust and safety group, founded Reken in 2024, his aim was “building a platform to protect against scams and fraud that are enabled by AI that allows cyber criminals to be far more sophisticated than they’ve ever been before,” he said.

    Ghosemajumder said he took lessons from his long career and kept them in mind when building out Reken. “You’ve probably heard the quote from management theorist Peter Drucker, that ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast,’ so whoever you hire in your organization, they’re going to dictate what your culture actually is regardless of what you tell them to do,“ he said. “You can’t hire a group of people who operate a certain way and then tell them, ‘We want you to operate in a completely different way, our culture.’ And so from the very beginning, one of the things that we did was we wrote down what we believe in as a company.”

    You want demonstrate that you’re an organization that wants to learn as much as possible, he said, because that is a conscious break from some of the know-it-all aspects of tech culture. “It actually takes a higher level of both competence and humility to say, ‘I’m open to new ideas and open to being challenged, and I want to be able to learn what’s required in this particular role,’ because that’s actually the thing that is most important in a startup.”

    Look for Employees With Entrepreneurial Spirit

    As ANOVA, an agency that specializes in lead generation for professional services clients such as law firms and financial advisers, hit an inflection point, Kelly Johnson suffered severe health problems in 2022. She realized that the company needed a full-time team, and also that it had to shed some smaller clients that took a disproportionate amount of time and effort, because they were holding back growth. Her days as a one-woman powerhouse were over, and that realization made all the difference as the agency took off.

    “It was at that moment that I realized I can’t do this anymore. I need to hire, I need to grow this. I’ve got a great opportunity,” that required focusing on growth clients, she said. “We just basically pivoted and focus on where we had the most experience and making the most income.”

    But building a high-growth oriented team required a certain amount of balance in the workplace and outside it, she said. “I want people to feel authentic at work,” she said. “We brought on an HR consultant that does all the pre-screening, she makes sure everyone fits together. We wanted people that have an entrepreneurial spirit and they feel like they can really own what they’re doing. [Now,] we have a great team.”

    Set the Right Tone for Your Business

    While each CEO’s path to scaling progressed differently, a common thread emerged in the discussion. When it’s time to pursue scale and growth, leaders need to take a thoughtful, hands-on approach to hiring people who can produce in a hands-off environment.

    “Organizations that are highly decentralized that are able to make decisions at the lowest possible level that are able to then reorganize themselves in order to be able to constantly shift their strategy as opposed to having to make every decision in a top down monolithic fashion,” Ghosemajumder said.

    The mix of control and autonomy creates the ideal blend for growth culture, which the Google vet pointed out is never a one-size-fits all template.

    “We have an infinite amount of LinkedIn, fortune cookie wisdom that we get on how to create culture and how to manage effectively,” he said. “And when you look at the most successful companies ever, the one thing that they have in common is that they weren’t blindly applying somebody else’s methodology to their organization.”

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Will Swarts

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  • 5 Marketing Tactics to Turn Customers Into Evangelists—Without a Big Budget

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    Reproductive health and money are two things you’re not supposed to talk about in polite conversation. But Empify founder and CEO Ashley M. Fox and Wisp CEO Monica Cepak built businesses that do exactly that—and they’re marketing them by cultivating passionate communities around their businesses.  

    Atlanta-based Empify is an app focused on bringing financial wellness and investing advice to everyone. It placed No. 145 on the Inc. 5000 this year. In 2024, it had $8.1 million in revenue and 300,000 email subscribers. 

    “If you don’t come from wealth, chances are you don’t feel like you deserve a seat at the table,” Fox said at a panel at the recent Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala in Phoenix. “I wanted to create a company that translated Wall Street knowledge into a language that an everyday person could understand and make them a part of a journey.” 

    San Francisco–based sexual and reproductive telehealth startup Wisp serves close to 2 million women and takes its name from the word “whisper,” as in women should not have to whisper about their health needs and concerns. “We’re uniquely positioned to help destigmatize conversations around sexual and reproductive healthcare,” Cepak says. “We really lean into our community as a way to help break through the noise that destigmatize taboo topics.” 

    Cepak notes that the company has raised just $2 million in funding to date, so “we had to make our marketing dollars work harder and smarter,” Cepak says. That’s meant a focus on community building and conversation-starting social media posts. And it’s working: Wisp placed No. 2,611 on the Inc. 5000 this year, with annual revenue of about $100 million, and more than 100,000 followers on TikTok. 

    Here are Fox and Cepak’s top marketing tips for building buzz and a community around your brand.  

    Get Personal 

    Fox, a former Wall Street trader, lost everything when she set out to build Empify. Hit with unexpected costs, she had to give up her New York apartment and move in with her parents. She doesn’t shy away from telling that story—in fact, she thinks revealing the “uncomfortable pieces” of her backstory makes her more relatable to Empify members who may have had their own money struggles. 

    “I found a way to meet my customers where they were, and I brought them into a space of empowerment,” says Fox. “People say, ‘Okay, she knows what it feels like to not be able to have $80,000 in debt, but she also has figured out how to pay it off.’” 

    Deploy Humor with Care 

    Wisp is known for its bold marketing and social media choices—and for being the first brand to use the word “vagina” on a billboard. Often, the company relies on humor as a way into awkward topics. The company worked with two comedians to create Bill, a recurring character in the company’s TV and TikTok videos. He’s a father of three daughters trying to navigate having conversations about health with his daughters.  

    Despite good intentions, humor can be tricky: What seems hilarious in a boardroom may not travel, and some jokes may inadvertently offend people. Cepak says Wisp tests ads on platforms like TikTok or Meta and solicits feedback before putting major dollars behind TV marketing. “We want to make sure that it resonates,” says Cepak. “We also build focus groups and ask our patients directly, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? Do you think your friends would like it?’” In some cases, customer feedback has changed the direction of ads.  

    Make Customers the Center of Attention 

    Wisp’s focus on customers extends to bringing them into conversations and even featuring them in online spots and ads—a smart strategy as influencer and celebrity endorsements are becoming less effective. “People feel like they can trust their peers,” says Cepak. “You want to hear from someone who’s been in your shoes, another woman who got stuck with a UTI in Vegas for the weekend and was in a bind but managed to get fast, affordable care. It starts with those micro conversations.” When Wisp does work with influencers, it ensures that they have already used its services. 

    As for Fox of Empify, she says she’s also beginning to tell the stories of her members, 94 percent of whom are first-time investors. “My video editor produced a video of an 80-year-old woman on camera with her daughter talking about she didn’t have her money in order, but now not only is she investing, she’s passing down this knowledge and her daughter is next to her and her daughter has two children,” says Fox. 

    Pick the Right Channels 

    TikTok is a great way to amplify your marketing message without a lot of work, says Cepak. “You can produce a few videos a day and very quickly iterate, test and learn, see what works. Maybe one of them goes viral, might take you a week or a few months, but that viral video puts you on the map in a way that is very difficult to replicate on other channels.” 

    Wisp is also investing in creating content likely to be picked up by generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude—dubbed GEO (generative engine optimization) or AEO (answer engine optimization). In fact, in her experience, the conversion rate for GEO is about five times that of traditional search engine optimization.  

    Fox found Empify gets the most traction on Instagram. And she says she hires younger people who can advise her on what’s doing well online and sample scripts. “I am allowing myself to trust the younger generation because I don’t want to master social media,” she says. “I want to be talent, wear the clothes, get the makeup done, and go back to running my business.” 

    Move the Conversation Offline 

    Customers increasingly want opportunities to build offline connections and have in person experiences, and both Wisp and Empify are working to fill that demand. “I go to as many of those events as I can. It’s a moment for real talk,” Cepak says. In some cases, people she has met have gone on to appear in Wisp ads or help with product development.   

    “It doesn’t have to feel super produced,” Cepak adds. “You don’t have to spend $50,000. We can literally be at a coffee shop, and I typically bring some stickers and some swag. It can feel more genuine and authentic that way as well.” 

    Fox is beginning to explore setting up chapters around the country and hosting events where members can sit around a table discussing how to build wealth. “People do want that human connection, even though they can learn on their own,” Fox says. 

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Jennifer Conrad

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  • How to Run a Family Business Without Driving One Another Crazy 

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    About a quarter of all businesses in the U.S. are family businesses—but that doesn’t mean working with family members is easy. “A lot of people aren’t built for it,” said Allison Ellsworth, chief brand officer of Poppi, the soda brand she co-founded with her husband, Stephen, and sold to PepsiCo for $1.95 billion in May. 

    “Any successful business relationship or marriage is really based on trust,” Stephen added. “If you have the ability to trust them and you’re committed 100 percent, I think that’s where the magic really happens.” 

    The Ellsworths joined Diego and Natalia Boneta, the brother-and-sister team behind the film and TV production company Three Amigos, on stage at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix last week. Three Amigos, which signed a first-look deal with Amazon Prime Video in 2022, recently produced Killing Castro, which stars Diego as Fidel Castro and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. 

    “The number-one rule that we established from the get-go was family first,” said Diego. “If anything happened to the business, if there was a big decision that we really disagreed on that was detrimental to our personal relationship, we would always pick our relationship with siblings.” 

    In conversation with Sammi Cohen, the CEO of Social Currency Media, the panelists laid out a few more ground rules they’ve learned along the way for building and scaling a successful family business. 

    1. Set Midyear Relationship Reviews 

    Allison Ellsworth said that in the early years of Poppi, they were “a little bit wild and chaotic as entrepreneurs and just kind of swung from the hip.” But as Austin-based Poppi became one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the country, the Ellsworths realized they needed to put formal processes in place. 

    Allison says she and Stephen settled on a system of sitting down a couple of times a year to align their goals for their family and business and set a schedule for the year. “For the longest time, it was just business and kids. We kind of forgot about, oh, we’re married. We need to work on that and have those conversations,” Allison said. “Taking a step back and working on [how] personal life can align with professional life was a really big game changer for us during those growth years.” 

    2. Check in as Family First 

    When Diego and Natalia Boneta are working in different cities, they check in about once a week on the status of their projects—but they don’t neglect their relationship as siblings.  

    “We have a simple rule: If the house isn’t on fire, we first ask how each other is doing personally,” Natalia said. “Take care of the personal, and then you can take care of the business 10 times better. If one of our lives is in shambles, then we need to be able to really step in and help each other out and be good teammates to one another.” 

    But, Diego added, they keep that support behind the scenes. If he were to step in as the “protective older brother,” he said he felt that he could undermine Natalia professionally. 

    3. Let Each Person’s Strengths Shine 

    “I’ve learned three magic words: You’re the boss,” Diego Boneta said, explaining that he and his sister have complementary strengths.  

    “I cannot multitask for my life,” he added. “But damn, I’m a great perfectionist and I’ll focus on one thing … That’s where I think we win, knowing and trusting each other in that regard—and also being able to have fun.” 

    Allison and Stephen Ellsworth agreed that allowing each person to focus on the areas in which they excel was the key to a successful family business. When they launched Poppi, Allison took charge of the creative and branding, while Stephen ran the supply chain and product innovation.  

    “We realized what our superpowers were really early on,” Allison said. “I was the person who was jumping off the cliff as he was trying to catch me, while building the business plan while trusting me to next time jump higher.”  

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    Jennifer Conrad

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  • Here’s How—And Why—These Inc. 5000 Founders Go it Alone

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    How can one person take an idea and turn it into one of the fastest-growing companies in America? With a whole lot of freelancers in some cases, and in other cases, just grit and determination. But the bigger question? Why? 

    Inc. asked three solo operators from the 19 solopreneurs on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list about the method to their madness, and why they choose to go solo.

    Here’s what they said.

    As Jeffery Mason’s father struggled with Alzheimer’s, Mason realized there was a lot he didn’t know about his dad. Growing up, his father worked, provided, taught, but didn’t share about his childhood. Mason wrote down questions he wanted to ask his father.

    Those questions are now writing prompts in 27 different journals that Mason’s Elk Grove, California-based business, Hear Your Story, sells to customers trying to capture their loved ones’ memories. The company launched in 2020.

    The business has grown revenue from around $500,000 to over $14 million in revenue in just a year. TikTok’s been a part of that growth, and Hear Your Story had the sixth- and seventh-highest-selling books on the Amazon Books chart in 2024. The books went from boutiques to Target and Barnes and Noble. He formed an imprint with Source Books which allowed him to expand his operations. 

    “This time last year, I’d be in the garage every day packing books,” Mason said.

    Mason brought in freelance talent to handle his design, social media marketing, and even sales. He’s now in the process of trying to bring them on with W2s and making them officially part of the company.

    Eighty percent of Mason’s books are printed in the U.S., insulating him from tariff uncertainty. But many of his products are sold in boutiques and other small businesses, and he’s noticed sales have decreased from where they were at this point last year. 

    “Typically right now, people would already be buying for the fourth quarter,” Mason said. “So people are keeping their cash flow careful.”

    Mason’s currently beginning the process of bringing a few employees onboard full-time, he says, despite the economic uncertainty. The freelancers he’s worked with have been a huge part of his growth in the past year, and now, his business has outpaced what one person can do alone.

    David Rao started his Ninde, Virginia-based insurance company, Guru of Insurance, right before the Covid-19 pandemic. He opened up in-person offices, which he quickly closed. He used to travel a lot for work. Thanks to the pandemic’s normalizing online work, he meets mostly on Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

    “I get to see my kids wake up every morning. I get to put them to bed every night,” Rao said.

    The company has generated over $2 million in revenue in the past year. Rao services 50 to 75 different clients, and he says he’s never spent a dollar on marketing. His leads come through referrals, and he doesn’t have to make cold calls.

    Rao saves the money on overhead by working entirely from home. He’s leveraged tools like Excel to automate his claims process, but hasn’t had to use AI implementations to grow his business. While he’s not against AI, he sees customer service as a key factor of his brand as an insurance benefits provider.

    Rao doesn’t want to expand his employee count. He doesn’t outsource to freelancers, and, he says, he “doesn’t intend to.” When he used to work at a bigger brokerage firm, he had plenty of employees under him, but says at the end of the day, he made $10,000 less.

    “I was taking phone calls left and right, day in, day out, midnight, everybody was calling me and I had to answer to be able to help,” Rao said.

    He likes the white-glove and hands-on approach he can provide his clients now. And, despite the fact that Guru of Insurance is a one man show, Rao “has no inclination” of stopping his growth soon. 

    After decades in the container shipping industry, Steve Ferreira saw invoice errors left and right. He started Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Ocean Audit 20 years ago with the goal of resolving those billing errors.

    Ferreira’s had a busy few years. Across the backdrop of international trade war and shipping crises caused by Covid, Ocean Audit has thrived. As a logistics auditing tool, it’s positioned in a unique spot, where more uncertainty is actually beneficial for the company, Ferreira said.

    “It’s a little selfish, but I believe that the more volatility there is, the better it is for my business, because obviously customers want to be on the front side of correcting the volatility,” Ferreira said.

    Will Ocean Audit scale up its workforce? Ferreira says no. He’s comfortable with the direction of the company, and making the Inc. 5000 was a goal of his when he started, a goal he’s finally achieved. The company’s revenue in 2024 was just over $2.2 million.

    Ferreira’s son interned for him this summer, and Ferreira was impressed with how his son’s technical prowess in AI made an impact on Ocean Audit’s operations. He finds freelance talent on Upwork who’ve helped him on branding and scheduling, but the auditing is all performed by him, with the help of organization software like Airtable and Zapier. His mindset remains on being solo.

    “It’s not ‘Ocean Audit’—it’s ‘Ocean Audit by Steve Ferreira,’” Ferreira said.

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    Ben Butler

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  • 5 Tips for Building a Brand Like Nike

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    “If we asked you what Nike sells, some of you might say shoes or apparel,” Ramonita Smith, senior director of strategy at ONA Creative and co-founder of the Focus Group, said at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix last Thursday.

    The reality, however, is different. Here’s what Smith says she and Sanja Komljenovic, founder and CEO of ONA Creative, learned the brand truly sells by working on its marketing team for 10 collective years: “The belief in human potential.”

    By tapping into intrinsic motivators like belonging, identity, aspiration, and goal setting, Smith adds, Nike is able to avoid chasing trends to get this message across. In fact, according to her, Nike has been telling its consumers the same story for 50 years. “Somebody sets out with an audacious goal, then at some point in the journey, they hit this massive setback or this massive obstacle, and then there’s this defining moment,” Smith says. “Do they try again, or do they give up?”

    That’s where the brand’s famous slogan, “Just do it,” comes in—and the athlete defies all odds.

    When, like Nike, your business roots itself in “human truth,” Smith says “you go beyond selling” and become a company that truly serves its customers. Here’s a five-step framework you can use to do so.

    1. Listen to your customer

    If you have a brick-and-mortar location, go there and “just watch people pass through your spaces,” says Smith. If you don’t, spend time reading social media comments and customer service emails.

    2. Dive deeper

    Ask yourself why your customer feels the way they do. Smith recommends taking customers through the five-whys exercise by asking them why they do or believe something five times in succession. “It is so simple,” she says, “but when you make somebody continue to tell you why, you actually get to the core of what you’re observing, and that’s oftentimes how you’re unlocking an insight.”

    3. Boil the insight down

    Once you understand what’s driving your customer, you need to boil it down to a simple statement. Nike’s “Just do it” slogan, for example, is the answer to the dilemma its athletes face on their journeys.

    4. Translate it into action

    Next, make it actionable. Build your campaigns and your messaging around this human truth—then deliver it. “This is really where creativity comes alive,” Smith says.

    5. Test it out

    Last but not least, test out how the message is resonating with your customers. If all fails, go back to the first step and try again.

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    Annabel Burba

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  • How to Build an HR Department Your Employees Won’t Hate

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    Human resources is not popular with workers — many would go so far as to say they hate working with their HR department. Some 86 percent of U.S. workers are actually afraid of approaching these professionals and have no desire to talk to them about their grievances, according to a survey by MyPerfectResume. Of those that did bring concerns to HR’s attention, 90 percent said their grievance was not handled properly. Meanwhile, 65 percent of startups do not have an HR department at all, according to a BambooHR survey.

    But it doesn’t have to be that way, especially when you’re building your own company. One of the perks of starting your own company is you can build your team exactly the way you want to—and that includes HR. In a breakout session at the Inc. 5000 conference in Phoenix, I spoke with Christie Horvath, CEO and founder of Wagmo, a pet wellness company and employee benefit, about how she built her dream HR team. It didn’t happen overnight and mistakes were made, she said, but she eventually found the solution that works best for her company.

    “When you are cash constrained — which I think the vast majority of startups would consider themselves — figuring out where you’re going to put that incremental dollar matters a lot,”  Horvath said. “And it’s a really hard decision when you’ve got the option to invest it in customer acquisition that’s going to directly drive revenue or go hire someone to run your HR division.”

    For a while, Wagmo operated without HR for that very reason, but after the company raised Series A funding, investors told Horvath she should start thinking about adding HR. Investors, Horvath said, see HR as a tool to prevent internal lawsuits because “at some point you’re going to have an employee issue, it’s inevitable.”

    To appease investors, Horvath hired a vice president of people with a long work history in HR — it was “a disaster,” she said. The person hired was “awesome,” Horvath said, but not the type of HR person the company needed. This person’s specialty was in “employee relations,” but Wagmo needed someone to build internal systems like “employee reviews” and “career ladders and compensation bands.”

    Not only was this employee’s experience a poor fit for the company’s needs, their salary and job title were a drain on the company’s finances. The VP of people’s salary was upwards of $200,000 — which was “an insane amount of money to be paying when you are a Series A stage company with 15 people,” she said. 

    “If you don’t know what to look for as a startup founder, you can find yourself spending quite a lot of money on someone that’s objectively very skilled at their job, but that’s not actually the job that you need done,” Horvath said.

    Ultimately, Wagmo’s VP of people departed the company “on amicable terms” because it “wasn’t the right fit,” Horvath said. After the VP’s departure, Wagmo contracted an independent consultant the company used for the past few years as a “factional HR” role. The consultant was able to implement the internal reviews and processes the company needed, but because she only works part-time, Wagmo was able to pay her $7,000 a month — considerably less than the former VP.

    The company eventually grew to 30 employees, with plans to hire 10 more in the future, Horvath said. At this point, Horvath said it seemed like a more appropriate time to look for a full-time HR role because a staff of 30 plus workers is “when internal issues start happening.” This time around, Horvath knew she didn’t want someone with a traditional HR background. She was looking for “someone pretty entrepreneurial, pretty scrappy, and who’s willing to roll up their sleeves and get in there.”

    For Horvath, that person ended up being her chief of staff, someone who’s been her “right hand woman for the past couple of years.” This employee approached Horvath about taking on some HR responsibilities within the company because she wanted to learn them. While Horvath noted that hiring someone without HR certifications and experience is “risky,” the role can be learned if the person in question is a go-getter. 

    “She’s got that entrepreneurial fire in her belly where she fully recognizes she’s not been in HR, but she went and she found a coach that comes from that category,” Horvath said. “She’s got all the right component parts, she’s simply missing experience.”

    In addition to lessons from an executive coach, the new people officer is taking the necessary classes and training for HR certification on her own. But when it comes to building trust with the workforce, Horvath said this employee already has it because she’s an internal candidate — someone who understands the frustrations of her peers. In Wagmo’s case, building an HR team with an internal candidate has made all the difference. 

    “I personally think that hiring non-traditional people, it’s actually easier, because these people aren’t necessarily coming in with baggage or playbooks that may have mirrored what you’ve seen at other large companies,” Horvath said. “They do things a bit differently, which is always helpful.”

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    Kayla Webster

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  • Doug Emhoff Says Trump’s ‘Authoritarian Slant’ is Bad For Founders, IP Protection

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    Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff says American competitiveness is facing great strain from the Trump administration’s repeated power grabs and its tariff policies.

    At the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Emhoff, a partner at the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, warned that it will become increasingly difficult for entrepreneurs to protect their intellectual property if the Trump administration continues to push the limits of the law.

    Emhoff spoke on a panel examining the future of U.S. competitiveness with Inc. editor-in-chief Mike Hofman and former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

    “One of the problems with the erosion of the rule of law is all the pressure being put on it by the administration, and what’s happening with the DOJ is going to make our efforts to protect IP less predictable,” Emhoff said at the conference. “One of the great things about our system prior was our strong courts and the enforcement–both to protect your IP and to prevent people from stealing your IP–and the more that erodes here, the less protected you’re going to be.”

    President Trump has sought retribution against his enemies, law firms, and universities as some examples, in addition to rolling out executive orders that have been ruled by the courts as unconstitutional.

    It’s something entrepreneurs should pay attention to given that some 765,000 trademarks were registered in the U.S. last year. Intellectual property theft is a significant battle that the U.S. is contending with: Estimates suggest the country is losing up to $600 billion each year due to IP theft from China alone. 

    Each year thousands of disputes come before the World Intellectual Property Organization, which helps resolve IP disputes. In 2024, the group saw 6,1,68 unique cases.

    But the new age of tariffs and reshuffling of global trade is also hampering American innovation. Former Sen. Flake emphasized that if the U.S. is going to take on China, then “you want the rest of the world with you.”

    “We know that if we don’t have our allies with us, then China can go around us, and if we’re not a reliable trade partner, other countries will find China and go to them,” Flake said. “That’s my concern: We desperately need to take on China on these IP issues and some of the other issues, but let’s have our allies join us.”

    Emhoff concurs, adding that the Trump administration’s tariff policies will cause businesses to drift away from the U.S. and they will look to do business with nations abroad. That applies to talent as well.

    This isn’t just a red state or blue state issue, he added, but a bipartisan economic one. 

    Emhoff also took a jab at those who are donating to the Trump administration or those making grand contributions to advance their own business interests, nodding to the gaggle of tech CEOs who have cozied up to Trump in recent months. (There’s a bevy of tech companies including Google, Amazon, and Palantir that donated to Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project).

    Trump is known to value loyalty and some very well might chalk it up as an added cost of doing business with an administration that doesn’t mind meddling in private business dealings.

    “Authoritarianism and corruption are not good for entrepreneurs who are out there just trying to compete the right way, the fair way,” Emhoff says. “The business community has to step up and come together because you have power,” he adds, “the power to change this.”

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    Melissa Angell

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  • There Are 3 Types of Leaders, Says Jay Shetty, and Only 1 You Want to Be

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    If you want to know the leadership secrets behind iconic brands like Microsoft, Netflix, Bridgewater, Fanatics, Skims, Robinhood, or Rare Beauty, you could ask the companies co-founders—or you could ask Jay Shetty.

    The best-selling author and life coach has sat across the table from Bill Gates, Marc Randolph, Ray Dalio, Michael Rubin, Emma Grede, Vlad Tenev, and Selena Gomez, interviewing them for his hit podcast, “On Purpose,” which averages around 500 million views a month and has surpassed 20 billion views in total since launching nearly a decade ago. After spending hundreds of hours peppering some of America’s most high-profile business leaders with questions, Shetty has learned something about leadership styles. 

    “There’s three types of leaders. There’s purpose-driven leaders, who focus on impact. There’s performance-driven leaders, who focus on goals, and then there’s power-driven leaders who focus on themselves. And I think we’re living at a time now where we can clearly see all three of them,” said Shetty, during a conversation with Julia Hartz, the co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix on Thursday.

    Purpose-driven leaders are the most effective, according to Jay Shetty. “Purpose-driven leaders are building from a place of what they didn’t have,” said Shetty, who specifically mentioned Rare Beauty founder Selena Gomez and Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton as some of the people he has interviewed who fall into that category. “They’re trying to create for other people what they wish they had for themselves.” He added, “When they failed, the purpose driven leader never changed their purpose. They just found a new way.”

    Shetty leveled with the audience of founders and CEOs, who run some of the fastest-growing private companies in the country, and said building a purpose-driven corporate culture is incredibly difficult. To do so effectively, the culture cannot depend just on the leaders, he added. Instead, it comes down to the C-suite creating an entire organization of leaders, down to the entry-level employee. 

    “Culture is dependent on how many other leaders you create that can also feel a part of that mission, and the leader in that mission doesn’t need to be a leader in your organization,” said Shetty, who knows this himself as the co-founder of Juni, an adaptogenic sparkling tea brand with 10 full-time employees. “It’s giving everyone—someone who’s just walked through the door all the way to someone who’s been there since the beginning—the permission to demonstrate leadership in different ways.”

    That strategy starts—and ends with—hiring. As Shetty told the audience, “You can’t recruit badly and create good culture. I don’t think it’s actually possible.”

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    Ali Donaldson

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  • There Are Lots of Ways to Raise Capital. Here’s How 3 Inc. 5000 Founders Did It

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    Looking to scale your business? You’re going to need money to do it—and unless you’re planning on bootstrapping indefinitely, that’ll probably involve some outside capital.

    But with lots of different ways to secure third-party investment, from venture capital and private equity to grant programs and the public markets, how’s an entrepreneur to choose?

    Attendees at this week’s Inc. 5000 conference in Phoenix got a first-hand look at some of the different paths that high-growth business leaders have followed to success during a panel on Thursday featuring creative growth capital strategies. On stage were three Inc. 5000 founders: Tony Lamb of the shaved ice truck business Kona Ice (No. 1935 in 2014), Vanessa Rissetto of the telehealth nutrition startup Culina Health (No. 564 this year) and Kim Vaccarella of the beach bag brand Bogg Bag (No. 434 in 2020).

    All three founders achieved impressive scale with their startups, but financed them in very distinct ways. Vaccarella started Bogg Bag as a side hustle, using money from her kids’ college savings plan and husbands’ pension to kick things off before eventually inking a deal for a minority investment. Rissetto, meanwhile, built up Culina with referrals from doctor friends, then went down the venture capital path, closing a $7.9 million Series A late last year. And Lamb bootstrapped Kona Ice for a while before private equity eventually bought out his co-founder’s shares, leaving him with a 51 percent stake; following a second PE deal, he now owns around one-third of the company.

    People have very mixed feelings about PE funds, he told the Inc. 5000 audience, but “no one brings value like private equity brings value.”

    Of course, not every financing opportunity bears fruit. Lamb said he fielded meetings with 15 different prospective investors before landing on the right one, while Rissetto turned down an early offer from a VC fund that said it would back Culina if it had $10 million EBITDA—to which Rissetto responded, “If I was $10 million EBITDA, I would not need you.”

    Vaccarella also turned down a major deal with a public company because it would’ve given them full control over Bogg—something she was unwilling to sign over.

    “I was not ready to give up my baby yet,” she says of the proposal, which would’ve been worth over $100 million had she taken it. She went into “a little bit of a depression” after rejecting the offer, she says, in part because she’d told her nieces and nephews that she would take them all to Disney when she thought the deal was going to happen.

    But “better things come along,” she adds. Still, she encourages her fellow entrepreneurs to listen to their guts when it comes to working with the people on their cap table.

    “They’re going to have a million ideas for you, because they’ve done it all a million times,” Vaccarella said. “The people that they were bringing in had so much more experience in bigger brands than Bogg Bag—but at the end of the day, what I do know is, I do know Bogg Bag. I know my customer. So I needed to forcefully, in the nicest way possible, come out and say, ‘No, this is the way I want to see it done. This is what we need to get back to.’”

    She added: “Sometimes you lose yourself when you take on all those partners, and you’re intimidated by them. So finding that balance has been important for me.”

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    Brian Contreras

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  • How Taraji P. Henson Took Full Ownership of Her Beauty Brand  

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    Actress Taraji P. Henson isn’t the kind of celebrity who just slaps her name on a product line and cashes a check. With every product in her beauty line TPH by Taraji, she asks herself, “Is this something I would purchase if I was not involved?”  

    In 2020, she launched TPH by Taraji in collaboration with Maesa, a beauty incubator that also backed Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty.  

    TPH by Taraji later expanded to body care, but along the way, Henson became “frustrated” with the direction of the company. In April, she paid Maesa an undisclosed sum for full ownership, making her part of a growing cohort of female founders who bought back their companies.  

    “It feels amazing because I don’t have anything in the way of my vision and my creativity,” she told Inc. Editorial Director Bonny Ghosh at the Inc. 5000 conference in Phoenix on Thursday. 

    That doesn’t mean getting back her company was easy. She brought in new business managers who helped her negotiate the purchase. “I prayed a lot,” she added. “God was sick of hearing from me. It’s like, ‘I have the whole world to tend to. I can’t just keep listening to you, Taraji.’” 

    Henson’s journey to founding a haircare line began when she realized that caring for her scalp could help her mend her own damaged hair. She created treatments for herself, and when friends loved them, she realized there might be a bigger need for both the products and for better consumer education about scalp care. “If it was missing for me, then I knew there were other women out there that needed it,” she said. “I would go to the mall, and I would be like, I know her scalp is not clean.” 

    She still helps develop TPH products, and right now she’s focused on creating new formulas and scents for a planned 2027 relaunch. “I have a salon in my house, and that’s where I’m like a little scientist,” she said.

    “I’m building the minimal viable product there. I have the doll heads that they have in cosmetology school with the different kinds of hair. 

    “I would have been a cosmetologist if this acting thing didn’t take off,” joked Henson, who, of course, has had an extremely successful acting career, with starring roles in in Empire, Hidden Figures, and What Men Want. 

    Walmart, she said, added a scalp care section to its aisles in response to the popularity of TPH. And her products are so beloved among fans that when they’re sold out, customers will sometimes trade among themselves, rather than buying from another line. “That lets me know I have a community that I have to cater to,” Henson said.  

    “My scalp care was a game changer,” she said. “I know what I have. It’s just taking back control of the narrative.”  

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    Jennifer Conrad

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  • Startups Are Trying to Help People Live Longer. Longevity Researchers Say They Should Focus on This Instead

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    Human longevity science has seen a surge of commercial investment in recent years, as venture capitalists and private financiers flood the space looking to develop medical interventions and therapies that purport to extend the human lifespan. 

    At the Inc. 5000 conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday, the scientific researchers Jay Olshansky and Allen Wang discussed the human longevity boom alongside Mark Rivers, the CEO of Canyon Ranch, a hospitality group. 

    The trio all agreed that the explosion of investment and hype surrounding human longevity can sometimes muddle a vital point: It’s important the industry focuses on improving people’s health, rather than lifespans. 

    “I came into the [human longevity] field a couple years ago, and really the philosophy that all the researchers enforce is that our research is extending the health-span, not the lifespan,” Wang, an epigenomic researcher at the University of California, San Diego, said. 

    “A year of healthy life has an extraordinary value that I think we don’t often understand or appreciate,” Olshansky, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois at Chicago said, echoing Wang. 

    While eliminating disease is a noble and worthwhile goal, that isn’t the goal of longevity research. Rather, Olshansky’s field seeks to understand how to expand the years of healthy life enjoyed by most people. “The longer we live, the more difficult it becomes to live longer,” he said. 

    It’s easy to see how a startup promising the elixir of youth could be seen as peddling snake oil, Olshansky argued. But longevity is a broad category, encompassing apps that track certain biometric markers, supplements that purport to promote longevity, as well as companies like Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical firm staffed by PhDs that develops therapies for cellular health. 

    There’s also full-body MRIs, hormone therapies, and perhaps most popular, GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backs a longevity startup called Retro Biosciences, and the field has grown thanks to the influencer Bryan Johnson, whose attempts to become immortal have become a pop-culture phenomenon portrayed in a Netflix documentary. 

    What often gets lost in all the hype surrounding longevity, Olshansky said, is that there aren’t a lot of revolutionary therapies available for the common person. At least not yet. Canyon Ranch offers a retreat called Longevity8, which immerses attendees in a protocol of screenings, tests, and various mental health programs. It costs $20,000, and Rivers said “it’s not a panacea,” but it still gets people coming back. “In this space, there are mercenaries, and there are missionaries,” Rivers said. “We are devout believers in science.” 

    Rivers explained that Longevity8 combines “eastern modalities, mental health, and spiritual wellness” programs with board certified dieticians, sports medicine specialists, and Dexabody scans, which measure bone density. 

    That kind of treatment might not be affordable for most people. Luckily, there are plenty of ways for the vast majority of humanity to heighten their chances of living longer. “Get a good pair of walking or running shoes,” Olshansky said, “because exercise is about the only equivalent to a fountain of youth that exists today.”

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    Sam Blum

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  • Vertosoft Ranks No. 2,086 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

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    LEESBURG, Va., August 21, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Inc., the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future, announced that Vertosoft is number 2,086 on the annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The list provides a data-driven snapshot of the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment – it’s independent, entrepreneurial businesses.

    “We’re honored to be recognized once again on the Inc. 5000 list, climbing to No. 2086 – a reflection of our consistent execution, the strength of our mission, and the relentless drive of our team. As we continue to expand our impact in the public sector technology space, we remain focused on delivering innovative solutions, deepening strategic partnerships, and creating lasting value for our customers.” said Hannah Xiu, CFO of Vertosoft.

    This year’s Inc. 5000 honorees have demonstrated exceptional growth while navigating economic uncertainty, inflationary pressure, and a fluctuating labor market.

    “Making the Inc. 5000 is always a remarkable achievement, but earning a spot this year speaks volumes about a company’s tenacity and clarity of vision,” says Mike Hofman, editor-in-chief of Inc. “These businesses have thrived amid rising costs, shifting global dynamics, and constant change. They didn’t just weather the storm-they grew through it, and their stories are a powerful reminder that the entrepreneurial spirit is the engine of the U.S. economy.”

    Vertosoft is thrilled to share their placement on the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth year in a row. By achieving 3-year growth of over 200%, Vertosoft continues to show their commitment to delivering innovative software solutions to Federal, State and Local, and Higher Education government sectors. Fueled by the dedication of our team and the support of our partners and suppliers, the milestone reflects our mission to accelerate public sector transformation through emerging technologies and strategic collaboration. This recognition underscores our role as a trusted partner in modernizing government operations and driving software innovation. As we celebrate this achievement, we remain focused on expanding our impact and empowering government agencies to meet their next challenges with agility and confidence.

    Methodology

    Companies on the 2025 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2021 to 2024. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2021. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2024. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2021 is $100,000; the minimum for 2024 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

    About Vertosoft

    At Vertosoft, we are a trusted, value-driven distributor of innovative technology solutions. Our experienced team and tailored services equip our channel partners and suppliers with the tools, contracts, and secure systems needed to succeed in the public sector market.

    About Inc.

    Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for the entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

    Source: Vertosoft

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  • JAR Systems Ranks No. 892 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

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    With a Three-Year Revenue Growth of 475.24%, This Marks JAR Systems’ First Appearance on the List


    LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL, August 12, 2025 (Newswire.com)
    –
    JAR Systems, a leader in device charging and management solutions, has been ranked No. 892 on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list, which is the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The list provides a data-driven snapshot of the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment-its independent, entrepreneurial businesses.

    “Being named 892 to the Inc. 5000 is an honor and a significant achievement for our team,” said Axel Zimmermann, CEO of JAR Systems. “While our commitment to delivering innovative charging solutions for education has always been rewarding to us internally, this recognition is another welcome reminder of the positive impact we’ve made over the last 21 years. We are grateful to the schools, districts, and partners who continue to trust us, and we look forward to building on that strong foundation for many years to come.”

    Not only did JAR Systems make the Inc. 5000 for the first time, but it also achieved an impressive three-year growth of 475.24% in the face of economic uncertainty, inflation, and other challenges. Having introduced the first USB-C PD classroom charging station to the market in 2019, the company values its many customers who have invested in its vision to streamline educational technology. JAR Systems is trusted by over 1,000 school districts across every state and province in North America.

    JAR Systems is transforming how schools approach technology infrastructure by helping IT leaders support classroom technology more efficiently than ever before, ultimately reducing disruptions to instructional time. The company’s growth mirrors a larger industry shift, as schools move beyond short-term purchasing based on upfront costs and towards long-term solutions that reduce maintenance costs, increase device uptime, and free up IT resources.

    About JAR Systems: JAR Systems provides more versatile ways to charge and manage ever-evolving technologies. The company collaborates closely with its clients to develop products that support and streamline the use of mobile technology for learning and working in real-world environments. JAR Systems’ focus is on being a leading manufacturer of innovative charging solutions and designing efficient products that will work dependably for many years.

    About Inc. Inc. is the leading media brand and playbook for entrepreneurs and business leaders shaping our future. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of its community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating the future of business. Inc. is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow leading business publication Fast Company. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

    For the full list, company profiles, and a searchable database by industry and location, visit: www.inc.com/inc5000.

    Source: JAR Systems

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  • For the 3rd Time, Vertosoft Makes the Inc. 5000, at No. 2289 in 2024

    For the 3rd Time, Vertosoft Makes the Inc. 5000, at No. 2289 in 2024

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    LEESBURG, Va., August 14, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Vertosoft is thrilled to announce its placement on the Inc. 5000 list in 2024, an annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This respected ranking gives us a clear view of the top-performing companies in the economy’s most dynamic segment – the independent businesses run by entrepreneurs.

    The Inc. 5000 class of 2024 represents companies that have driven rapid revenue growth while navigating inflationary pressure, the rising costs of capital, and seemingly intractable hiring challenges. Among this year’s top 500 companies, the average median three-year revenue growth rate is 1,637 percent. In all, this year’s Inc. 5000 companies have added 874,458 jobs to the economy over the past three years. 

    “We are incredibly honored to be recognized on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire team. Our commitment to innovation and excellence has driven our growth, and we are excited to continue this momentum as we strive to deliver even greater value to our customers and partners,” said Hannah Xiu, CFO of Vertosoft.

    This recognition shows Vertosoft’s dedication to innovation and the company’s entrepreneurial spirit. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our dedicated team, partners and loyal customers, who have played an integral role in this achievement. As we continue to grow, we remain dedicated to helping the government get access to emerging technology while delivering exceptional value to our customers.  

    About Vertosoft

    Vertosoft is a high-value distributor dedicated to providing the most coveted innovative and emerging technology solutions to the government. Our comprehensive solution portfolio coupled with our elite services provides channel partners and suppliers with the enablement, inside sales support, contracts, and compliant systems required to drive growth in the government market.

    Methodology 

    Companies on the 2024 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2020 to 2023. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2020. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent — not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies — as of December 31, 2023. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2020 is $100,000; the minimum for 2023 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places.

    About Inc. 

    Inc. Business Media is the leading multimedia brand for entrepreneurs. Through its journalism, Inc. aims to inform, educate, and elevate the profile of our community: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters who are creating our future. Inc.’s award-winning work achieves a monthly brand footprint of more than 40 million across a variety of channels, including events, print, digital, video, podcasts, newsletters, and social media. Its proprietary Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since its launch as the Inc. 100 in 1982, analyzes company data to rank the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The recognition that comes with inclusion on this and other prestigious Inc. lists, such as Female Founders and Power Partners, gives the founders of top businesses the opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

    Source: Vertosoft LLC

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  • Ignite IT Announces Inc. 5000 Placement

    Ignite IT Announces Inc. 5000 Placement

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    Ignite IT ranked No. 298 overall on the annual Inc. 5000 list, as well as being ranked as the 7th fastest-growing business in the Government Services sector, and the 10th fastest-growing business in the state of Virginia.

    Press Release
    –

    Aug 22, 2022


    LEESBURG, Va., August 22, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Today, Inc. magazine announced that Government Services Technology Company, Ignite IT, has been ranked No. 298 overall on the annual Inc. 5000 list, as well as being ranked as the 7th fastest-growing business in the Government Services sector, and the 10th fastest-growing business in the state of Virginia.  

    The list represents a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent businesses. Some of the largest businesses today in their respective sectors gained their first national exposure on the Inc. 5000 list.    

    The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 not only have been successful, but also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 500, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144%. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years. 

    Ignite IT is a digital startup born from a group of expert IT architects and engineers obsessed with delivering world-class Cybersecurity, Agile Development, DevOps Security and Risk Management, IT Modernization, and Automation solutions. Ignite IT has found marked success in the government sector as a key member of one of the largest agile software factories in the world, as well as with its groundbreaking innovation lab. Ignite’s teams operate across the country as they and their customers focus on winning the future together.  

    “Ignite’s placement on the Inc. 5000 list confirms what its staff, partners, and customers already know—that Ignite IT has been successful because we’ve built a company focused entirely on delivering for our customers,” said Steven Pichney, Ignite’s CEO. “Ignite has focused on bringing to bear the best talent in the sector to go above and beyond for our customers, and that has clearly been recognized in the results we deliver.” 

    Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. 

    “The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “We’re thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.”  

    Inc. 5000 Methodology 
    Companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 are ranked according to percentage revenue growth from 2018 to 2021. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They must be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of Dec. 31, 2021. (Since then, some on the list may have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2021 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places. The top 500 companies on the Inc. 5000 are featured in Inc. magazine’s September issue. The entire Inc. 5000 can be found at http://www.inc.com/inc5000. 

    Contact: Joey Reid | jreid@igniteitservices.com | 703-447-4339 | igniteitservices.com

    Source: Ignite IT

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  • International Citizens Group Inc. Makes Inc. 5000 List for Third Time

    International Citizens Group Inc. Makes Inc. 5000 List for Third Time

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    Defeating Geopolitical Headwinds, International Citizens Group Ranks 3,222 on the List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies

    Press Release
    –

    Aug 16, 2022


    HINGHAM, Mass., August 16, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    International Citizens Group Inc. (ICG, InternationalCitizens.com), a global leader in individual international health insurance, made the Inc. 5000 annual list of fastest-growing private companies for the third year in a row. The company, which ranked 3,322, drove growth primarily from its international insurance business, which grew 159% over the past three years.

    “It’s the hard work of our expert staff that has made this growth possible,” ICG CEO Joe Cronin said. “ICG combines state-of-the-art automation and the wisdom of knowledgeable advisors to cut through a confusing marketplace and ensure that every customer gets the international health insurance plan or travel plan they need. Our customers return because they know we will advocate for them for the life of the policy.”

    “The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.”

    ICG was established to create, provide, and market high-quality resources, tools, and advice for expatriates, global citizens, and international travelers. The team at ICG has deep experience in both international travel and the insurance industry. This experience allows them to simplify the challenging process of selecting international insurance for their clients and ensure they get the best plan for their needs.

    International Citizens Insurance (www.InternationalInsurance.com) is owned and operated by ICG. The company’s mission is to educate consumers on the value of global medical, life, and travel insurance while providing a resource to research, compare, and purchase plans for their relocation abroad or international trip. The company offers expatriate plans, corporate group plans, international health insurance, international group benefits, travel insurance and insurance for international employees. 

    Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and a sortable interactive database by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.

    Contact:
    Nicole Gustas
    Director of Marketing
    media@internationalinsurance.com

    About International Citizens Group Inc.

    International Citizens Group Inc. provides expatriates and globally mobile citizens outside their home country access to resources and advice on moving, living, and working abroad. As a leading international insurance brokerage via InternationalInsurance.com, its goals are to educate consumers on the variety of available plans and help them find the best option for their health, well-being, and peace of mind.

    About Inc. Media

    The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc., offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. For more information, visit www.inc.com. 

    Source: International Citizens Group, Inc.

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  • For the Seventh Time, Brillient Appears on the Inc. 5000, Ranking 1,845 With Three-Year Revenue Growth of 338%

    For the Seventh Time, Brillient Appears on the Inc. 5000, Ranking 1,845 With Three-Year Revenue Growth of 338%

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    Press Release
    –

    Aug 16, 2022


    NEW YORK, August 16, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Inc. Magazine today revealed that Brillient Corporation is No. 1,845 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The list represents a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment—its independent businesses.  

    “Growing 3X in three years is simply brilliant. All credit to our incredible Brillient employees and executive leaders who work hard every day to live up to our lofty name, Brillient. The bigger you get, the harder it is to make this list, and I am gratified we made it the seventh time,” said Brillient’s Founder and CEO Sukumar Iyer.  

    The companies on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 5,000, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144%. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years.  

    “The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.” 

    About Brillient

    Brillient is an award-winning Full Spectrum Digital Transformation company enabling clients to transform through the continuum of analog, to digital, to analytics leading to insight-driven decision-making and mission execution. We help clients achieve better efficiencies and lower costs in their digital government and IT modernization initiatives enabling friction-free interaction with citizens and businesses.

    Media Contact:

    Julia Brainin

    Senior Marketing Manager

    703-994-4232

    Julia.Brainin@brillient.net

    Source: Brillient Corporation

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  • Blockchain Powered Fintech Company, Unbanked, Ranks No. 327 on the 2022 Inc. 5000 Annual List

    Blockchain Powered Fintech Company, Unbanked, Ranks No. 327 on the 2022 Inc. 5000 Annual List

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    Press Release
    –

    Aug 16, 2022


    NEW YORK, August 16, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Today, Inc. revealed that Unbanked, a blockchain-enabled fintech company well known for its crypto debit card platform, has been ranked No. 327 on its annual Inc. 5000 list. The Inc. 5000 list is the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America and represents a one-of-a-kind look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment — its independent businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000. 

    “I am thrilled that Unbanked is ranked number 327 on the Inc. 5000 list and broke into the top 7% of companies in our very first year,” said Ian Kane, CEO & Co-founder of Unbanked. “It’s not only a testament to the hard work the entire Unbanked team has put in over the past four years, but an example of how quickly the digital asset space is growing and the need there is for a product like ours for consumers wanting to make cryptocurrency-enabled payments.”

    Companies like Unbanked on the 2022 Inc. 5000 have not only been successful, but have also demonstrated resilience amid supply chain woes, labor shortages, and the ongoing impact of Covid-19. Among the top 500, the average median three-year revenue growth rate soared to 2,144 percent. Together, those companies added more than 68,394 jobs over the past three years. 

    Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000. The top 500 companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine, which will be available on August 23. 

    “The accomplishment of building one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., in light of recent economic roadblocks, cannot be overstated,” says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that have established themselves through innovation, hard work, and rising to the challenges of today.” 

    Unbanked is the leading provider of white-label cryptocurrency payment cards and other crypto-friendly banking services built on blockchain, allowing for easy on and off ramps for digital currencies. Unbanked’s card issuing platform empowers crypto-focused foundations and businesses to create and scale fully customized payment cards using digital assets as a means of funding. Powered by APIs, Unbanked gives its B2B partners the ability to create fully customized payment experiences, on-ramps to digital assets, and a streamlined experience to end users.

    Approximately two weeks remain for those interested in investing in Unbanked. The general public has the opportunity to invest in Unbanked’s current equity round on Republic for as little as $150. Learn more about investing in Unbanked now. 

    CONTACT: 

    marketing@unbanked.com

    About Unbanked 

    Unbanked is a global fintech solution built on blockchain. Predicated on the ethos that financial access and control is a fundamental human right, Unbanked connects traditional enterprise, fintech, and banking systems with blockchain infrastructure, expanding the utility of cryptocurrency for investing and everyday purchases. The company has a suite of highly bespoke financial products which enable both the banked, unbanked, and underbanked to create a financial experience as unique as the life they live. You can learn more about Unbanked at Unbanked.com or by following them on social media (https://linktr.ee/UnbankedHQ).

    About Inc. 

    The world’s most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels, including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. The associated Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit www.inc.com.

    Source: Unbanked

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