The Business Model by Inc.

Leaders from Salesforce, SaaStr, and Asymbl discuss how fast-growing businesses are using AI to sharpen decision-making and scale smarter. 

The gap between where a business stands today and where it could be is often driven by manual processes, disconnected tools, and inefficient workflows. Inc. correspondent Shibani Joshi moderates a panel featuring Adam Alfano, president of global SMB and emerging product sales at Salesforce; Amelia Lerutte, chief AI officer at SaaStr; and Brandon Metcalf, founder and CEO of Asymbl to discuss how SMBs are scaling smarter with AI and unlocking significant gains. 

Almost every founder goes through a humbling experience when they launch their brand, and these founders in the food and beverage industry are no strangers to that.  

In today’s Founder Group Chat, we’re talking origin stories with three founders: 

Ron Holloway’s Woofbowl: A food truck for dogs serving up delicious dog treats 

LeAnn Darland’s TALEA Beer Co.: New York City’s first women-owned brewery 

Gabi Lewis’s Magic Spoon: Fun, high-protein, keto-friendly, gluten-free cereal 

We’ll learn about how each of these founders overcame early challenges and their advice about launching a business. 

After nearly 15 years, Snapchat’s parent company is still chasing profitability. Co-founder Evan Spiegel is still at the helm of Snap Inc. An activist investor demanding change, a controversial layoff of 1,000 employees, and an over $3 billion bet on augmented reality glasses raises the question: Is Spiegel still the right person to lead Snap? 

On this episode of The Business Model, David Lidsky, head of editorial strategy for Fast Company and Inc., joins senior editor Rebecca Deczynski to make the case that it's time for Spiegel to step aside and what that could look like. 

Back when Chad Janis was in graduate school, his little gummy bear company was the butt of his Stanford classmates’ jokes.  

Now, nobody’s laughing. Except maybe the wise few who invested early in Grüns and saw their money multiply by 100x.  

Janis’ gummy bear supplement brand, Grüns, was recently acquired by Unilever for a reported $1.2 billion. Close listeners to The Business Model feed will note that’s more than double the company’s $500 million valuation, which we covered with shock and awe a mere six months ago.  

It’s been a frenzied rise for a brand that first went for sale just three years ago. Inc.’s Jennifer Conrad has the story on Grüns’ explosive path and she joins Tim Crino to talk it over on this episode of 1 Smart Business Story.  

The AI cloud-computing company CoreWeave is at an inflection point. It's brought on ex-Amazon executive Jon Jones as its chief revenue officer to hyperscale the company. But can he deliver?  

For a recent Inc. story, senior staff writer Melissa Angell chatted with Jones to learn more about his strategic approach. On this episode of The Business Model, Angell joins Inc. staff reporter Chloe Aiello to share insights from that conversation and what they reveal about the company’s customer opportunities, infrastructure challenges, and the potential impact of local politics on its ability to scale. 

It can feel impossible to get the word out about your company. Social media audiences are fragmented. Email can feel as old-school as a TV or radio commercial. Plus, advertising anywhere is so expensive, you can’t afford to get it wrong.  

If you’re not sure where to go, you’re not alone. But this week’s Founder Group Chat gets some answers from Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and Hugh & Grace’s Sara Jensen.  

They discuss paid social, user-generated content, events, and a big question: What do you do when social media buzz dies off?  

Many people are familiar with private equity, but private credit is largely unknown. Award-winning business journalist and author Bethany McLean recently investigated the private credit boom and reported why she’s worried about what she discovered.  

On this episode of The Business Model, Bethany joins Inc. staff reporter Ali Donaldson to explain what private credit is, the incentives that propelled its popularity, and the risks that come with it.  

If you want to scale your company and get in front of new audiences, there are two cheat codes: Brand collaborations and retail partnerships.  

However, these are some of the trickiest deals to land. 

On this Founder Group Chat, we learn how from three founders who have figured it out: Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and Hugh & Grace’s Sara Jensen. 

As you’ll hear, sometimes the side door is the best way into a deal — if you don’t just go crashing through the front.  

The biggest threat to the human resources status quo is a podcast.  

Not just any podcast, though. The HR Besties podcast is hosted by three HR veterans — Ashley Herd, Jamie Jackson, and Leigh Henderson.  

The three have built an audience by telling the oft-hidden truth that HR professionals see inside corporate America. It led to HR’s most powerful trade group asking the court to issue a gag order.  

Inc.’s Kayla Webster got the whole story on the Besties and joins Chloe on this episode of 1 Smart Business Story.  

What do a fashion label, a hair care brand, and a wellness retailer have in common? Supply chain woes, of course!  

On this Founder Group Chat, Mizizi’s Paakow Essandoh, Arey’s Allison Conrad, and Hugh & Grace’s Sara Jensen explain how they have scaled their companies.  

While their companies are more cult-favorites than household names, they face the same challenges that bigger companies do. From building a supply chain to managing logistics to getting investment