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Founders behind household-name brands, one-on-one with Cameron Nagle, live and in person.
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How they started.
Read the storyFrom Bootstrapped Ad Tech to Men’s Skincare: How Jared Pobre Built Caldera + Lab After Wyoming Wrecked His Skin
A Broadway Kid, a $1,000 Bet and a Land Cruiser Shop Everyone Thought Was Crazy
Read the storyHe Spent Every Dollar of His Pre-Sales Building the Product. Then Shark Tank Sent $100,000 a Day, and Ring Was Born.
Read the storyHis Company Produced Trump’s Inauguration and Drive-In Concerts for Hundreds of Thousands — Kinzie Foods’ Origin Story
Read the story$40 Million in Two Years, Almost No Paid Ads: How Meredith Cook Built Green Compass on Word of Mouth
Read the storyA Fire Destroyed $4 Million of Her Product. She Rebuilt Without a Single Outside Investor.
Read the storyHe Built TUMI Into a Public Company, Then Started Over to Fix What It Couldn’t Do
Read the storyHe Built a Company Worth Up to $4.15 Billion Without Taking VC Money — Now He’s Funding Music Discovery
Read the storyFrom a Chicago Salon Chair to L’Oreal’s Creative Director to His Own Shelf at Ulta
Read the storyA 370% Jump in Shipments: How a Family Cocktail Recipe Became a National Ready-to-Drink Brand
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Starting Small
The raw truth behind entrepreneurship and the American Dream, drawn from hundreds of founder interviews.
Starting small, learning and pivoting is the way to overcome that.
Hap Klopp · Founder, The North Face
Through interviews, education and events, Starting Small shows entrepreneurs how to avoid the mistakes we made…
Stacy Madison · Founder, Stacy's Pita Chips
There wasn’t a ‘Starting Small’ to help us make the decisions that would take us to the #1 sports footwear brand.
Joe Foster · Founder, Reebok
Building in public and learning from other people’s mistakes is the best way for new founders and operators to build efficiently.
Ronak Shah · CEO, Obvi
The first step is the hardest, so hearing how successful entrepreneurs scaled their ideas into something substantial is inspiring and motivating!
Fares Ksebati · CEO, MySwimPro
Starting Small
Summit 2027
Five founders behind household-name brands share how they got started, one-on-one with Cameron Nagle. Lineup announced Oct 9.





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Starting Small Media
Our philosophy is simple yet powerful: through transparent storytelling, we reveal the stories of successful entrepreneurs who, like you, once started from ideation. By sharing their experiences and insights, we aim to educate and motivate consumers that even the greatest of entrepreneurs once started where you are. From the earliest stages of ideation to the complex challenges of scaling and growth, we offer practical guidance and actionable advice to help you navigate the journey of entrepreneurship.