Inc. Magazine – September 2019

Calendar Guys

When Freestar co-founders Chris

Stark (left) and David Freedman

started their business, it was built

on a very different idea than the

one that ultimately landed them

atop this year’s Inc. 500.

disputed the report on Twitter and said the reported losses

were a one-time write off; the company declined to comment

further on that story to Inc.)

Flood and his wife, Jacklyn, launched Gotcha in 2009

as a provider of free rides for college students. Colleges and

businesses, which could wrap ads around Gotcha’s cars,

paid the bills. The business grew slowly, then pivoted in

2015. It still goes only where it is wanted, securing a univer-

sity or municipal partner before entering a market. That

ask-permission-not-forgiveness approach diverges from the

confrontational stance of the rideshare giants, and “that has

resonated really well with the market, which had a visceral

reaction to the way others pushed it on them,” says Flood,

who signed Gotcha’s 100th partner in June.

Not every founder expects—or particularly wants—to

build a billion-dollar company. Madeline Haydon, a Vietnam-

ese immigrant who founded $19.1 million Green Grass Foods

(No. 13; 11,623 percent), required speed out of the gate to

create an unassailable market lead for her Nutpods nondairy

coffee creamer. “We wanted to get out there fast and tell an

earnest story about what we do and be able to fill orders,”

says Haydon. “Especially with food, when you are successful

you can have fast followers and knockoffs.”

Haydon ticks off multiple opportunities for the Bellevue,

Washington, company’s growth. Among them are the

expansion of existing channels (Nutpods has just 30 percent

penetration in conventional groceries); new channels (mass

market, shopping clubs, food service); and new regions

(Canada, Mexico, overseas). And of course, there will be new

products. But Haydon’s not champing to become a “platform

brand”—the dairy-substitute equivalent of Beyond Meat.

Rather, she just wants her creamer to achieve household-

staple status. “We have been growing fast. But at any time

that could get compromised,” says Haydon. “It’s important

not to get too big for your britches.”

A

t some point, even the most aggres-

sive entrepreneurs must accept the

realities of scale.

Consider Arrive Logistics, a tech-

enabled shipping-services broker based

in Austin. Arrive lands at a respectable

No. 413 on the list with 1,107 percent

growth. But it might have ranked

even higher had it not started from a substantial base of

$30.5 million in 2015—its mere second year in existence. (To

learn more about Arrive’s origins and growth, see page 114.) By

last year, CEO and co-founder Matt Pyatt had heavily invested

in its workforce, generating 2018 revenue of $369 million.

So how does Pyatt intend to keep up triple-digit annual

growth? He doesn’t. “As we near $1 billion in revenue for

2020, we plan to settle into a more sustainable growth rate

between 20 and 50 percent,” says Pyatt, who thinks Arrive

can maintain that pace for five years.

So, congratulate Arrive and its 499 fellow honorees on

their remarkable achievements. Then: Stay tuned.

LEIGH BUCHANAN is an Inc. editor-at-large.