Inc. Magazine – September 2019

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EDITOR’S LETTER

James Ledbetter [email protected]

Born in Liberia,

educated in the

U.S., and prevented

from going back

home by recurring

political violence,

Richelieu Dennis

and his mother,

Mary, created a line

of products that

revolutionized skin

and hair care for

millions of Ameri-

cans. In my exclu-

sive interview with

him (page 40),

Dennis discusses

scaling and selling

his company, his

purchase of the

iconic media prop-

erty Essence, and

his plans to invest in

businesses run by

women of color.

ith the rise

of video games in the late 20th century

came the rise of cheat code culture: “Buy

this book [or visit this site] and you will

learn everything you need to win at Galac-

tic Insect Invasion.”

The advice is usually effective, if a little

unsavory. But, in case you need a reminder,

most of life—and starting a business in

particular—is not like a video game. The

annual Inc. 500 list serves as a colorful

and potent reminder that there is no cheat

code for business growth, no single path

to success.

Take, for example, Josh Levin, founder

of Empowered Electric (No. 210 on

this year’s list, and featured on page 108).

He is about as far from the Harvard MBA

path as it’s possible to get. He may never

even have become an electrician were

it not for a fateful call from his future

mother-in-law. But he quickly developed

a vision for how a good and fair company

should operate—and an instinctual

sense that electrical contractors were

underrepresented on Instagram. Or our

subscribers’ cover subject, Krystle

Mobayeni, the daughter of Iranian immi-

grants, who, on page 34, discusses the

winding road she took (and the stomach-

churning moment when she feared she’d

endangered her company’s funding)

en route to making BentoBox (No. 305)

a restaurant-industry mainstay.

Another unusual success story

comes from Loren Brill, founder of

Sweet Loren’s (No. 114, page 100),

whose cookie company grew out of a

desire to take charge of her diet during

chemotherapy. The founders of this

year’s No. 1 company, the online ad

operations firm Freestar (page 19),

started off in the improbable business

of publishing pinup calendars. It took

more than one major pivot before they

landed on the idea that would shoot

them to the stars.

To the extent, then, that there is

a cheat code for business, it’s not a

degree or a bank account or a set of

lessons that everyone learns. It’s

more about creativity, flexibility, and

persistence. At Inc., we won’t guaran-

tee that you will win the game. But

we guarantee we will show you those

qualities on every page.

No

Single

Path

10 ● INC. ● SEPTEMBER 2019 ●● ● ●● ●