
What I Know
The greatest businesses weren’t born from moments of genius. They emerged after years of discovery--and often after years of failure. What I Know from Inc. magazine takes you inside the messy, painful, and--every so often--transcendent journey of starting a company. Through candid interviews, Inc. senior writer Christine Lagorio-Chafkin draws out the real grit and true lessons behind innovative companies and remarkable brands.
Latest episodes

Nov 14, 2024 • 11min
Glenfiddich presents the inaugural Legacy Award to Smarsh - FROM INC. STUDIO AND GLENFIDDICH
This is a special segment in collaboration with our partner at Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Inc. Editor-in-Chief Mike Hoffman spoke with Smarsh Founder Stephen Marsh about his remarkable journey, the legacy he has built, and the honor of being the first recipient of the inaugural Legacy Award presented by Glenfiddich at this year's Inc. 5000 gala.

Oct 1, 2024 • 1h 3min
Rahul Vohra’s Productivity Playbook
Aisha Bowe talks with Rahul Vohra, founder of Superhuman. Designed to integrate seamlessly with Gmail and Outlook, Superhuman uses features like AI, summarization, and split inbox to create the fastest email experience ever made. Nothing is more valuable to founders than time. This episode offers wisdom from experienced founders about navigating the marathon of entrepreneurship, with insights on how they keep themselves and their teams productive on a day-to-day basis without burning out.

Sep 24, 2024 • 46min
How to Build Brand Awareness Without Social Media
For many small businesses, social media is the only way to reach customers. But are echo-chamber algorithms stopping you from reaching the right customers? Beatrice Dixon talks with Rachel Roff, Founder of Urban Skin RX, about creating inclusive marketing campaigns, and come away with proven strategies for freeing your brand’s dependence on social media.

Aug 20, 2024 • 50min
Managing Cash Flow to Drive Startup Success
On today’s episode host Aisha Bowe talks with the two founders of Farther: Brad Genser and Taylor Matthews. Farther is a technology-centric wealth management firm -- combining expert knowledge with cutting edge tech to create a more holistic approach to money management for their clients.In all stages of its growth, your company’s success or failure will be determined by how you manage its cash flow. This episode offers hard-earned advice from founders about how to make sure well-managed cash flow lets your company scale to its next level.

Aug 6, 2024 • 51min
Investing in the Next Generation of Brands
Today’s episode comes from the Your Next Move vault and is a conversation between Bea Dixon and Jenny Fleiss. Jenny is a powerhouse entrepreneur who co-founded Rent the Runway to solve the problem of how to attend multiple weddings per season without either a limitless budget or reusing the same attire endlessly.In their conversation, they discuss how this idea became a super successful reality, and how Jenny learned to trust her people… and herself as a leader

Jul 23, 2024 • 44min
Becoming the Best Leader for Your Growing Company
Aisha Bowe talks with Shan-Lyn Ma, co-founder and co-CEO of Zola. One of the biggest challenges of being the founder of a high-growth company is adjusting to the changing demands of leading that enterprise. This episodes offers advice on how to navigate growing and managing teams through all of the stages of a company and how those needs change as a company progresses. It also features hard-earned wisdom about these journeys.

Jun 25, 2024 • 51min
Building the Best Entrepreneurial You
Patrick Dossett, co-founder and CEO of Madefor, talks with Bea Dixon about how his time in the Navy SEALs prepared him for founding his own startup and his tips for success. Discover ways to think differently about how you lead and grow your business.

Jun 11, 2024 • 45min
Creating a Roadmap to Profitability
It’s hard to plan a trip when you’re not sure how to get there. So, it helps to ask for directions. For Your Next Move, founders who’ve successfully charted a course to long-term financial success and big valuations share the paths they took—and also how they were able to right-size their roadmap as their companies grew. In this episode, host Aisha Bowe interviews Suneera Madhani, Founder and CEO of Worth AI.

May 28, 2024 • 52min
Building a Company for the Next Generation
Today’s episode comes from the Your Next Move vault and is a conversation between Bea Dixon and Tim Brown. Tim is the co-founder and co-CEO of AllBirds -- a mission-driven clothing brand focusing on innovating around sustainable materials. In their conversation, they cover Tim’s evolution from professional soccer player to entrepreneur and how to build a strong team.

May 14, 2024 • 48min
Building Your Team
Hiring and retaining the right team to help your company grow is essential at all stages of a well-run business. This episode offers detailed advice on how to build and retain a highly effective leadership team, from what roles to prioritize hiring for to how to find the best talent to meet your company’s needs. It also features hard-earned wisdom from a founder, Seth Goldman, who has worked at all life cycles of a company from launch fresh from business school to exit to rebuilding again.Seth Goldman is Co-Founder of Eat the Change®, a planet-friendly snack and drink company that recently launched Just Ice Tea, a line of organic bottled tea to go along with the company’s Cosmic carrot snacks. Seth and his co-Founder, Celebrity Chef Spike Mendelsohn are also co-founders of PLNT Burger, a plant-based quick-serve restaurant that offers delicious burgers, fries, and soft-serve. Seth is also the Co-founder of Honest Tea and Chair of the board of Beyond Meat. In 2023 he took on a new role as Chair of the Mission Guardians for Tony’s Chocolonely, an international chocolate company committed to creating an exploitation-free supply chain. He has been widely recognized for his entrepreneurial success and impact, including the Washington DC Business Hall of Fame, Partnership for Healthier America’s CEO of the Year, and EARTHDAY.ORG’s Climate Visionary of the year. He is a graduate of Harvard College (1987) and the Yale School of Management (1995). Seth and his Honest Tea co-founder, Barry Nalebuff are the authors of The New York Times bestselling comic book, Mission in a Bottle.
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