Your Next Move

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.

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.

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.

Today’s episode comes from the Your Next Move vault and is a conversation between Lindsay Blakely and Gail Becker. Gail is the CEO and Founder of CAULIPOWER -- a food company that started with frozen pizzas with cauliflower crust.  This company, that started in Gail’s kitchen, quickly grew into a full line of vegetable-based frozen foods that can be found in Whole Foods, Walmart, and Target.

Building the right narrative about your brand can be the difference between success and failure for your business—no matter how strong a product you are offering. This episode offers detailed advice about building a successful brand narrative. It also features wisdom from the founder of Farmer’s Fridge, whose work as a traveling salesman motivated him to create a company to solve the problem of finding healthy food options while on the road.

Today’s episode comes from the Your Next Move vault and is a conversation between host Bea Dixon and guest Melissa Butler. Melissa is the CEO and Founder of The Lip Bar -- a vegan lipstick company catering directly to women of color.  In their conversation, they cover Melissa’s transition from the corporate ladder to becoming a lipstick chemist. Plus, her experiences with retail chains and direct to consumer marketing, and what it means to be focused on African American women while remaining inclusive to all.

Whether you’re crowdfunding, getting a bank loan, or seeking venture capital, you need to be able to pitch yourself and your business successfully. Today's episode features some of the biggest lessons learned from the founder of clean fragrance brand MOODEAUX, who has secured funding in an incredibly challenging market.

If you are already a fan of Inc., then you might be familiar with the Your Next Move virtual event series. This podcast takes those founder to founder interviews and gives you special, extended cuts of insightful conversations with some of today’s most innovative and exciting entrepreneurs and business leaders.. This season, Your Next Move is breaking down the essential information every founder needs to know on their entrepreneurial journey. You’ll hear conversations about how to get funding, designing your brand narrative, building community and so much more.  Subscribe to Your Next Move, the podcast, on spotify, apple podcasts or wherever you listen and stay tuned for new episodes this spring.