Many founders engage their customers with some type of membership or subscription model. But what’s perhaps more important is building a community.  

On this episode of The Business Model, we present a Founder Group Chat of women who have made real relationships around their brands. 

Inc.’s Sarah Lynch is joined by a trio of Female Founders 500 honorees who have done just that—Rachel Liverman, founder and CEO of Glowbar; Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer of Little Spoon; and Priyanka Jain, co-founder and CEO of Evvy.  

Each of these founders has gone beyond the basics of community building. Listen and watch for their insights on why a strong community makes a strong brand.  

It’s been nearly a year since President Trump unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariffs, making the markets go haywire and creating sky-high duties for all kinds of businesses. 

“It was stunning for a lot of founders,” says Inc.’s Melissa Angell, who recently filed a deep report on the first year of Trump’s tariff agenda. While the Supreme Court eventually struck down Trump’s initial tariff slate, he hasn’t given up the fight and businesses are still reeling.  

Angell joined host Chloe Aiello on this edition of The Business Model to review how businesses have responded to the year of uncertainty and discuss what comes next — including potential refunds and a new practice of “tariff stacking.”  

Women manage $32 trillion in global spending and three-quarters of discretionary spending. Still, women are really dissatisfied with the products and services available to them, according to a 2024 BCG study.  

This presents a unique opportunity for businesses founded by — and focused on — women. 

On this episode of The Business Model, we’ve brought back three of this year’s Female Founders 500 honorees who are taking advantage of this moment: Rachel Liverman, founder and CEO of Glowbar; Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer of Little Spoon; and Priyanka Jain, co-founder and CEO of Evvy.  

If you’re an early-stage founder, striking the right balance between building a sustainable business model and raising capital to get there is one of the hardest challenges you’ll face. 

Inc. editorial assistant Annabel Burba recently spoke with Tovala founder and CEO David Rabie about exactly that topic. Rabie opens up about how his startup nearly ran out of runway and how a series of pivots and emergency funding rounds saved it. His big takeaway? “I no longer count my chickens the way I used to.” 

On this episode of The Business Model, Annabel joins Inc. senior editor Tim Crino to discuss why Rabie’s story stuck with her and what early-stage founders need to know about fundraising, including why the timing of when you raise can matter just as much as how much you raise. 

*In the interest of full disclosure, Joe Mansueto, who owns Inc., is an investor in Tovala. 

Last year, female-founded companies got barely over 1 percent of venture capital investment. It’s a shocking statistic, but not a surprising one to this week’s Founder Group Chat.  

For this round, our panel includes three of this year’s Female Founders 500 honorees: Rachel Liverman, founder and CEO of Glowbar; Angela Vranich, co-founder and chief product officer of Little Spoon; and Priyanka Jain, co-founder and CEO of Evvy.  

With Inc.’s Sarah Lynch moderating, these three tell their own fundraising stories and share how they cleared one of the biggest hurdles women face when starting a business.  

You’ve probably heard about Anthropic’s ongoing battle with the Trump administration. It started with disputes over the federal government using Anthropic’s technology to kill autonomously and spy on Americans en masse. Then Trump deemed the leading AI firm a “supply chain risk,” prompting a countersuit from Anthropic and a sea of questions from users of Anthropic products, like Claude.  

On this edition of The Business Model, Inc. AI reporter Ben Sherry joins Inc. host Chloe Aiello to explain the latest news, and how businesses and solopreneurs are responding to the government’s blacklisting of a top technology firm. 

President Trump has ousted Kirsti Noem, the Department of Homeland Security secretary. The man tapped to replace her is Republican U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin. 

Mullin has established himself as the most influential business owner in Trump’s Washington.  

On this bonus episode of 1 Smart Business Story, our guest is journalist Issie Lapowsky. She’s been tracking Mullin’s ascent and just happened to be finishing up a feature on the senator when this news broke.  

Lapowsky joined Inc. senior editor Rob Verger to explain how Mullin went from blue-collar businessman to nominee to inherit the most divisive and politically explosive federal agency.   

Whether you’re an Olympic athlete or a business leader, sleep optimization is key to improving performance. Inc. staff reporter Chloe Aiello recently spoke with performance coach Sam Neame, who shared six strategies for sleep optimization. 

“Something I found interesting about Sam’s recommendations [was] that your best night of sleep actually starts first thing in the morning,” says Chloe.  

Chloe weighs in on unexpected practices that could lead to better rest. On this episode of The Business Model, she shares with Inc. senior editor Rebecca Deczynski why this topic resonated with her, what business leaders can learn from Olympic athletes about sleep for peak performance, and how they can apply these strategies in their business.  

As a founder, chances are that you’re the best possible spokesperson for your brand. You’re its face and voice. 

But you’re also in charge of running a business, managing people, developing the brand—the list goes on. How’s one person supposed to balance everything?   

On this episode of Founder Group Chat, we’re giving you an insider’s take on how to do it all from three women who know how to do it all.   

Inc. senior editor Rebecca Deczynski is joined by Sarah Paiji Yoo of Blueland, Dianna Cohen of Crown Affair, and Elly Ross of Lil Sweet Treat for the final installment of this Founder Group Chat. 

The next big thing in artificial intelligence probably won’t look like OpenAI or Anthropic.  

"Companies aren't really attempting to make their own big, foundational AI models anymore," says Ben Sherry, lead AI reporter at Inc. “Where founders are at today is saying, 'I don't have the money to make an AI model because it costs billions and billions of dollars and months and months of time and thousands of people. But I can use the AI that's available and create a really killer application or  collection of services that will kind of help me stand apart or solve a really specific, niche issue.’” 

Ben recently hand-picked eight companies that are poised for massive growth this year. On this episode of The Business Model, he shares with Inc. reporter Chloe Aiello how he made his list and why these companies could be the next big thing — even if they’re not the next OpenAI.