Starting a business is hard because it’s a fight with yourself, an internal battle – gaining the courage to get started, etc. Scaling a business is different – the challenges you face are mostly external to yourself. Each challenge has a million mini-challenges. We wanted to create a space for conversations and stories around growth and scaling. Below, you’ll find stories and insights from successful entrepreneurs across a variety of industries and markets.

Maddy Kelman

Honestly, it came down to niching down. When I first started, I thought my hot sauce had to be for everyone — every heat level, every flavor preference, every market. But the truth is, when you try to speak to everyone, you end up speaking to no one.

For both personal reasons and business development, we decided to focus on the Kosher market. There was a clear gap in that space for a high-quality, clean-ingredient, farm-to-table hot sauce, and we stepped in to fill it. By serving fewer customers but truly dominating one specific market, we’ve actually been able to grow faster. Read more>>

Paul Guglielmo

We were amateurs, hand bottling every jar of sauce, and doing so slowly and inefficiently in a way that would probably never be profitable.. something needed to change.

There were 3 things that needed to happen to scale up:

1) A period of muscling the business: We didn’t have any fancy equipment in the early days. And thus, we would need to work harder to produce more. The existing crew and I needed to have the type of relationship where we would run through a wall for each other. They needed to work their tails off, and I needed to be right alongside them, doing every single thing I was asking them to do myself. Read more>>

Lacedrick Brantley

The truth is, nothing about my journey was “overnight.”
People see the $100K months now, the students winning, the brand growing — but they don’t see the late nights, the failed campaigns, the months I questioned everything.

After I made my first few wholesale deals, I knew this business could work… but it wasn’t predictable. I’d go weeks without a deal, then hit one and feel like I was back in the game. That rollercoaster almost made me quit — twice. Read more>>

STACY MITCHELL-HOGAN

Hi. Let’s get started. As a career hairstylist in the beauty industry for 24 years I’ve seen so many Stylist burnout. It’s not a career that you can be successful in without tough skin and hard work. I remember as a high school student telling family and friends that I would love to be a hairstylist when I graduate. The feedback was always demeaning and negative. Everyone assumed I would go to college. I was told that hairstylist could not be successful. But hairstyling and beauty are my passion. Through hard work, education and loyal client’s , I have been a successful hairstylist for 24 years. Read more>>