Starbucks Is Closing Down 187 Stores As Part of Its $1 Billion Restructuring Plan. Is Your Local Coffee House on the List?

The move will result in the elimination of 900 jobs across the company.

Key Takeaways

Starbucks is closing 1% of store locations in North America and cutting jobs, the company announced Thursday.
The changes will take effect before the end of September.
The company will end the fiscal year with about 18,300 total Starbucks locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Starbucks is cutting jobs and shuttering stores as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s billion-dollar plan to revive the coffee chain.

Starbucks announced the move on Thursday, stating in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that the company was restructuring its operations.

Niccol wrote in a Thursday letter to North America staff, also submitted to the SEC, that Starbucks would close about 1% of coffeehouses in fiscal year 2025, which ends on the last Sunday of September. The company will end the fiscal year with about 18,300 total Starbucks locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Meanwhile, the coffee chain also plans to cut its non-retail workforce by 900 roles and close many open positions. Affected employees will be notified on Friday morning and given “generous severance and support packages including benefits extensions,” Niccol wrote. He asked all employees who weren’t required to work onsite or in the office to work from home on Thursday and Friday.

This is Starbucks’ second round of layoffs under Niccol. Under his leadership, Starbucks laid off 1,100 corporate employees in February. According to CNBC, Starbucks employed about 16,000 corporate staff as of the end of 2024.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

When it comes to store closures, Starbucks is selecting which locations to shutter based on their atmosphere and financial performance. Niccol mentioned in the letter that coffeehouses that were “unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect” or that weren’t performing well financially would be closed.

“Our goal is for every coffeehouse to deliver a warm and welcoming space with a great atmosphere and a seat for every occasion,” Niccol wrote in the letter.

Despite the predicted closures, Starbucks still plans to remodel more than 1,000 locations with features to inspire customers to stay, like more comfortable seating and more power outlets, per CNN Business.

According to the SEC filing, Starbucks will incur approximately $1 billion in expenses related to store closures and restructuring activities, with 90% of the costs expected to occur within its North American business. The company expects to spend about $150 million in employee separation costs, as well as $850 million in store closures.

Starbucks’ restructuring plan is caused by a sales slump. In July, the company reported its sixth consecutive quarter of declining same-store sales. Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” plan intends to bring customers back to stores with new offerings, like protein cold foam with 15 grams of protein and no added sugar, and better service.

Key Takeaways

Starbucks is closing 1% of store locations in North America and cutting jobs, the company announced Thursday.
The changes will take effect before the end of September.
The company will end the fiscal year with about 18,300 total Starbucks locations in the U.S. and Canada.

Starbucks is cutting jobs and shuttering stores as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s billion-dollar plan to revive the coffee chain.

Starbucks announced the move on Thursday, stating in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that the company was restructuring its operations.

Niccol wrote in a Thursday letter to North America staff, also submitted to the SEC, that Starbucks would close about 1% of coffeehouses in fiscal year 2025, which ends on the last Sunday of September. The company will end the fiscal year with about 18,300 total Starbucks locations in the U.S. and Canada.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/starbucks-to-eliminate-jobs-under-1b-restructuring-plan/497579

We Must Teach Our Daughters to Stand Up For Themselves at Work — 3 Lessons as a Woman in Corporate America

If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would tell her to do the following to stand up for herself in the workplace.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

Direct confrontation is key to stopping workplace bullying — calmly assert your identity and correct mispronunciations or name changes.
Using humor can also be a powerful tool to reclaim control and highlight inappropriate behavior in a less confrontational manner.
It’s essential to set boundaries early on in professional settings to teach others how to treat you and not to tolerate disrespectful behavior.

As we celebrate National Daughters’ Day, here’s the advice I want to give to my daughter, and all of our daughters, on how to stand up for themselves in our workplaces.

While the world of work may look different when my daughter does join the workforce, one thing will still remain true: Bullies will continue to follow us from the classroom to the conference room table. There will always be individuals trying to take advantage of, undermine or overwork others in our workplaces. For my daughter and all of our daughters, how they speak up for themselves in the moments that matter can determine how others will choose to treat them.

Dear daughter,

My full name is Madhumita (pronounced “ma-doo-me-tha”) Mallick. My name has evoked a constant swirl of emotions for me: shame, pride, anxiety and joy. So for most of my life, I just went by Mita. But when I graduated from business school and rejoined corporate America, I attempted to reclaim my full name. I was used to having my name be mispronounced, misspelled and even repeatedly be mistaken for the only other brown woman in my town or team. I wanted to reclaim my name as a source of pride, identity and heritage. I wanted to embrace and honor my full name.

As I share in The Devil Emails at Midnight: What Good Leaders Can Learn from Bad Bosses, my former boss, The Sheriff, was the popular bully everyone liked at the company. He targeted me from the beginning, knowing that I had my head down, worked hard and wanted to do well in my job. When it came to my name, the Sheriff decided not to repeatedly and intentionally mispronounce my name. He decided not to give me a nickname that was short for something else. He decided to completely rename me. Because he couldn’t pronounce my full name Madhumita, and didn’t want to learn how to pronounce it. He decided to rename me and call me Mohammed. Because he could and he wanted to.

I’m embarrassed to admit that for many, many, many weeks, I responded to a name that was not my own. Until I finally found the courage to leave. If I could go back and talk to my younger self, I would tell her to do the following.

Be direct and stand up for yourself

Let them know calmly and firmly that this behavior is not okay. Look them in the eyes and say: “Please call me by my name. You can learn to pronounce Madhumita. Or call me Mita.”

They might come back and say, “Oh, it’s just a joke.” In return, you can repeat firmly, “I don’t appreciate that comment. It’s not okay.” This reinforces that you won’t allow them to discredit your response and reaction. Bullies will often target individuals who look like they don’t stand up for themselves. They may see traits like shyness and being quiet as easy targets. And in my case, they also targeted me for having a “different” type of name. If you don’t stand up for yourself now, this bully will be back for more.

Give them a dose of their own medicine

If you get anxious about being direct, try using humor in the moment to get the same point across.

“Wow, that’s a bold interpretation of my name. Let’s try to pronounce it correctly together,” or “Sounds like a pronunciation error. Let’s reboot and start again. This is how you pronounce my name,” or “That’s a very artistic and creative take on my name. Let’s go with the original version though.”

You can also give them a dose of their own medicine and see how they like it: “Oh, I just thought of the best new name for you! Do you want to hear it?”

You can use this approach to be a mirror to show them how they are behaving. By using humor, you may be able to help take back control of the situation. The bully may be embarrassed by this mirror approach and move on.

Ask for help

Say or do nothing at the moment. Power dynamics in our workplaces can impact our ability to speak up in the moment. If the person bullying you is more senior, we can be afraid of retaliation during or after the incident.

Ask for help. Document what’s been happening, and find someone else you trust in the workplace to help with a plan of action. Someone more senior may be able to intervene. You don’t have to try to outsmart or put the bully in their place alone. Don’t suffer in silence. Lean on your family and community outside of work as well. We can all help you craft an exit strategy and help you move on to workplaces where you will be celebrated. Places where you are seen, recognized and where you belong.

Remember that the first time someone disrespects you in the workplace, it likely won’t be the last time they do it. Whether it’s your boss or a peer, set those limits early on what behavior you will and will not tolerate. We teach people how to treat us, so set your standards high and establish those boundaries clearly from the start. When you speak up for yourself, you will inspire others to speak up for themselves as well in our workplaces.

Key Takeaways

Direct confrontation is key to stopping workplace bullying — calmly assert your identity and correct mispronunciations or name changes.
Using humor can also be a powerful tool to reclaim control and highlight inappropriate behavior in a less confrontational manner.
It’s essential to set boundaries early on in professional settings to teach others how to treat you and not to tolerate disrespectful behavior.

As we celebrate National Daughters’ Day, here’s the advice I want to give to my daughter, and all of our daughters, on how to stand up for themselves in our workplaces.

While the world of work may look different when my daughter does join the workforce, one thing will still remain true: Bullies will continue to follow us from the classroom to the conference room table. There will always be individuals trying to take advantage of, undermine or overwork others in our workplaces. For my daughter and all of our daughters, how they speak up for themselves in the moments that matter can determine how others will choose to treat them.

Dear daughter,

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/i-wish-i-knew-these-3-things-as-a-woman-in-corporate-america/497380

Why Every CEO Needs to Follow This Critical Concept as They Plan for 2026

Lead your company into 2026 with clarity, purpose and this roadmap that serves your business and your life.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

Design your life first; let business become the vehicle for it.
Your Freedom Point defines when money works for you, not vice versa.
Aligning vision, systems and execution creates sustainable growth without burnout.

Most CEOs obsess over scaling their business, hitting revenue targets, expanding into new markets and driving efficiency. Yet many find that success becomes a trap: burnout, broken relationships and a life they never intended.

The solution? Start by designing your life first. This concept, Life by Design, which I learned from my friend Jack Daly, aligns perfectly with discovering your Freedom Point, the benchmark where your money works for you, not the other way around.

Life by Default vs. Life by Design

Too many leaders live in Life by Default: reacting to daily crises, pursuing growth without clarity and measuring success by short-term results. The cost is high: blurred priorities, strained health and compromised relationships.

By contrast, Life by Design starts with your 25-year vision, covering health, family, impact and finances, and builds your business as its vehicle. I discovered this after hitting rock bottom in my 30s: I wrote a detailed vision of the life I wanted and anchored every business decision to it.

Almost two decades later, 80% of that vision is reality. When leadership and life align, scaling becomes sustainable.

The Freedom Point: A financial anchor

The Freedom Point is where your assets outside the business can sustain your lifestyle without you working for a salary. It’s a clear financial target using a simple formula:

Define your annual needs (e.g., $100K).
Multiply by your desired horizon (e.g., 33 years = $3.3M).
Subtract your net assets outside the business.

That difference becomes your scaling target: turning your business into a tool for freedom, not a treadmill. Tools like the Freedom Calculator help bring clarity to this vision.

Why these concepts must coexist

Life by Design provides purpose. The Freedom Point provides clarity.

Together, they prevent reactive leadership and replace it with intentional growth. Without them, CEOs scale without direction, while with them, businesses scale with purpose.

Practical steps to align business and life

Define your 25-Year Vision. Write a clear, measurable personal vision and break it into 10-, 5- and 1-year milestones. Strategic planning is essential in business and life, too, as highlighted in business leaders’ guidance on the importance of long-term planning to avoid stagnation and maintain alignment².
Build Life Systems as You Build Business Systems. Just as you set KPIs in the business, track health habits, family time and personal learning goals. Discipline liberates and leads to sustained growth.
Calculate Your Freedom Point. Knowing your target financial independence turns scaling into a strategic journey rather than a sacrifice.
Create a Personal Board. External accountability accelerates progress. CEOs benefit from advisory boards, and life goals deserve that too. Stephen J. Bronner emphasizes the value of advisory boards for business growth, and the same holds for your personal plan.
Share Your Vision. Transparency builds commitment. When those around you understand why your goals matter, your vision becomes collective, not solitary.

The CEO’s trap and the exit strategy parallel

Many CEOs assume that working harder and longer will deliver fulfillment, but they often end up unfulfilled. A business grows, but the founder falters.

The companies that truly scale consciously plan with the end in mind. Just like building with an exit strategy from day one provides clarity and avoids being forced out on unfavorable terms, designing your life and defining your Freedom Point gives you freedom with control.

Call to action for the 2026 strategic plan

If you’re crafting your 2026 strategic roadmap, pause and decide: What will life be like in 25 years? How much wealth will you need to live without working?

Embrace Life by Design, write your vision, align your values and measure your progress.

Know your Freedom Point, define what “enough” means, and make your business serve your life.

And once your personal vision is clear, move to execution. Every company needs discipline to translate strategy into daily action. For 2026, here are five key elements to run your strategic plan effectively:

Set annual goals and 3–5 key initiatives. Instead of scattering energy, focus on what truly moves the needle.
Develop a quarterly execution plan. Break down annual goals into achievable 90-day sprints.
Cascade the plan to all teams. Ensure alignment so every employee knows their role in achieving the bigger vision.
Focus your meeting agenda. Include celebrating wins, using Start/Stop/Continue, reviewing the OPSP (One Page Strategic Plan), and evaluating winning moves — current and new.
Establish accountability. Define goals, set priorities, assign success metrics and clarify responsibilities.

This structure ensures progress and ties your business execution directly to your life vision and financial freedom.

Final thought

Plans without purpose are wasted energy. Scaling without clarity breeds chaos. But when your life and business align, you don’t just build a company — you create freedom, legacy and authentic leadership.

As Jim Collins reminds us: “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice.”

Make the choice. Build your life by design. Know your Freedom Point. And lead your company into 2026 with clarity, purpose and a roadmap that serves your business and your life.

Key Takeaways

Design your life first; let business become the vehicle for it.
Your Freedom Point defines when money works for you, not vice versa.
Aligning vision, systems and execution creates sustainable growth without burnout.

Most CEOs obsess over scaling their business, hitting revenue targets, expanding into new markets and driving efficiency. Yet many find that success becomes a trap: burnout, broken relationships and a life they never intended.

The solution? Start by designing your life first. This concept, Life by Design, which I learned from my friend Jack Daly, aligns perfectly with discovering your Freedom Point, the benchmark where your money works for you, not the other way around.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/why-every-ceo-needs-to-follow-this-critical-concept/496978

The ‘Best-Led’ Company of 2025 Is Worth Over $4 Trillion

Leadership can make or break a business.

Key Takeaways

Seventy percent of a team’s engagement can be attributed to its leader, according to Gallup.
Glassdoor’s new “best-led” companies report ranks the most effective business leaders across industries.

Good leadership often translates to great business results.

After all, 70% of team engagement, which impacts retention and productivity, is attributable to the manager, per Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report.

So which leaders are taking their companies to the next level in 2025?

Job site platform Glassdoor decided to find out via leadership approval ratings based on the quantity, quality and consistency of Glassdoor-approved company reviews submitted by U.S.-based employees.

Companies considered for the list had more than 1,000 employees and received at least 75 ratings across two leadership attributes, such as CEO job performance and senior management.

Nvidia, the technology company that provides critical hardware and software for the AI sector and is led by Jensen Huang, topped Glassdoor’s “best-led” companies list.

As Nvidia‘s president and CEO, Huang helped the company achieve massive growth and become the first to reach a market capitalization of $4 trillion in July 2025.

Nvidia employees describe the company’s leadership as “groundbreaking,” “caring” and “agile,” according to Glassdoor’s data.

In-N-Out Burger, the fast-food chain led by billionaire CEO and owner Lynsi Snyder, and MathWorks, the software developer for engineers and scientists led by CEO and co-founder Jack Little, took second and third place in Glassdoor’s best-led companies ranking.

“It’s no coincidence that nearly half of this year’s Best Led Companies were also named among Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work,” Owen Humphries, president at Glassdoor, said. “In a time when business pressures are intensifying and employees are wrestling with fear and anxiety, leaders are facing tough realities.”

Read on for the full list of the 50 companies with the best leadership in 2025:

Company	Ranking
Nvidia	1
In-N-Out Burger	2
MathWorks	3
Crew Carwash	4
Keller Williams	5
Milwaukee Tool	6
EPAM Systems	7
Methodist Health System	8
Synchrony	9
ServiceNow	10
KLA	11
Progressive Insurance	12
SailPoint Technologies	13
Mars	14
KVC Health Systems	15
MSCI	16
Ryan	17
Bain & Company	18
Boston Consulting Group	19
Netflix	20
GE Aerospace	21
Fractal	22
Houston Methodist	23
Altimetrik	24
Ansys	25
Siemens Digital Industries Software	26
Parsons Corporation	27
Akamai	28
athenahealth	29
MSD	30
Intuitive	31
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	32
Orlando Health	33
Dynatrace	34
Trane Technologies	35
Genesys	36
Oliver Wyman	37
Motorola Solutions	38
Hudl	39
H E B	40
Databricks	41
Power Home Remodeling	42
Lockton Companies	43
AMD	44
MongoDB	45
SoftServe	46
Burns & McDonnell	47
Cotality	48
Nasdaq	49
Adobe	50

Key Takeaways

Seventy percent of a team’s engagement can be attributed to its leader, according to Gallup.
Glassdoor’s new “best-led” companies report ranks the most effective business leaders across industries.

Good leadership often translates to great business results.

After all, 70% of team engagement, which impacts retention and productivity, is attributable to the manager, per Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/nvidia-tops-glassdoors-50-companies-with-best-leadership/497534

It Takes Humans 1,000 Hours of Study to Pass This Exam for Finance Professionals. It Took AI Mere Minutes.

Passing the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) test could lead to a 53% salary increase for finance professionals.

Key Takeaways

A new study evaluated whether AI could pass the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam, an exam given to finance professionals for accreditation in the field.
AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic passed the test in minutes, even the difficult essay questions.
The researchers evaluated 23 AI models using CFA mock exams and found that AI from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google passed the test.

Two years ago, AI passed the first two multiple-choice parts of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam, but failed the third section due to the essay questions.

Now, some AI models are advanced enough to ace the test in mere minutes (and sans studying), according to a new report released earlier this week by New York University’s Stern School of Business and AI wealth management platform GoodFin.

The test, which finance professionals take to obtain a certification that can lead to a better salary, takes humans, on average, 1,000 hours of studying to prepare for. The study found that nine AI reasoning models were able to pass all three parts of the CFA exam in minutes — even the most difficult third level of the test, which focuses on portfolio management and wealth planning, and asks for answers to essay questions.

The researchers evaluated 23 AI models using CFA mock exams. OpenAI’s o4-mini (one of the models that powers ChatGPT), Anthropic’s Claude Opus, DeepSeek’s R1 model, and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash were part of the group that passed, using “chain-of-thought prompting,” a tactic that asks AI models to show how they arrived at an answer with step-by-step reasoning.

Meta’s Llama 4 Maverick, xAI’s Grok 3, and OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 nano were part of the 14 models that failed the test.

GoodFin founder and CEO Anna Joo Fee told CNBC that AI carries the potential to “transform” the investment management industry — but she doesn’t think that AI will make the CFA credential obsolete.

“There are things like context and intent that are hard for the machine to assess right now,” Fee told the outlet. “That’s where a human shines, in understanding your body language and cues.”

The CFA test is administered every few months to thousands of candidates and costs up to $4,600 for all three levels of the exam. Professionals who pass can see a 53% salary increase, according to research conducted by exam preparation site, 300Hours. The company that administers the exam, the CFA Institute, says the test is “one of the highest distinctions in the investment management profession.”

Despite now passing all three levels of the test, ChatGPT will likely never become a CFA charterholder or a professional who has earned the CFA credential. The CFA Institute requires 4,000 hours of work experience, two references, and the completion of practical skills training to fully obtain the CFA credential.

Key Takeaways

A new study evaluated whether AI could pass the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam, an exam given to finance professionals for accreditation in the field.
AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic passed the test in minutes, even the difficult essay questions.
The researchers evaluated 23 AI models using CFA mock exams and found that AI from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google passed the test.

Two years ago, AI passed the first two multiple-choice parts of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam, but failed the third section due to the essay questions.

Now, some AI models are advanced enough to ace the test in mere minutes (and sans studying), according to a new report released earlier this week by New York University’s Stern School of Business and AI wealth management platform GoodFin.

The test, which finance professionals take to obtain a certification that can lead to a better salary, takes humans, on average, 1,000 hours of studying to prepare for. The study found that nine AI reasoning models were able to pass all three parts of the CFA exam in minutes — even the most difficult third level of the test, which focuses on portfolio management and wealth planning, and asks for answers to essay questions.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/ai-can-now-pass-the-cfa-exam-in-minutes-nyu-study/497537

This Investment Expert Only Gets About 4 Hours of Sleep a Night. Here’s His Very Busy Daily Routine.

Jim Cramer, the host of “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” on CNBC, has been waking up at 3:15 a.m. for at least a decade.

Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Cantor Fitzgerald

Jim Cramer attends Charity Day 2025 Hosted by Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund at BGC Group on September 11, 2025 in New York City.

Key Takeaways

CNBC’s Jim Cramer only sleeps around four hours a night and goes through hundreds of emails every morning.
He shared his daily routine with Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast on Monday.
Here’s a look at his hectic routine.

Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager and host of the investment-focused programs “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” and “Squawk on the Street” on CNBC, has gone viral several times over his career for his high-energy reactions to daily financial news.

And apparently, he does it all on four hours of sleep.

Cramer told Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast on Monday that he wakes up at 3:15 a.m. and goes to bed around 11 p.m., which makes Cramer’s REM cycle a short one — just four hours in bed.

Cramer spends about 45 minutes reading through about 700 emails and several domestic and international financial-focused publications before his 4 a.m. workout.

Then, it’s off to the studio to write and film his shows.

Cramer said he tries to go to bed by 11 p.m., and his family is supportive of his hectic schedule, despite a decade of very early wake-ups — he told Business Insider in 2015 that he wakes up by 3:15 a.m.

“I have a great marriage,” Cramer said. But how does he (and it) survive on four hours of sleep?

Cramer told the outlet that he naturally wakes up with just a few hours of sleep. He tries to sleep in on weekends and gets at least 10 hours each day, which “lasts until Wednesday.” (He notes that this sleep schedule was not recommended by his doctors.)

Experts suggest that you can’t make up chronic “sleep debt” with a weekend catch-up, but some studies have found that sleeping in on weekends may help reduce the risk of chronic illnesses.

Key Takeaways

CNBC’s Jim Cramer only sleeps around four hours a night and goes through hundreds of emails every morning.
He shared his daily routine with Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast on Monday.
Here’s a look at his hectic routine.

Jim Cramer, a former hedge fund manager and host of the investment-focused programs “Mad Money with Jim Cramer” and “Squawk on the Street” on CNBC, has gone viral several times over his career for his high-energy reactions to daily financial news.

And apparently, he does it all on four hours of sleep.

Cramer told Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast on Monday that he wakes up at 3:15 a.m. and goes to bed around 11 p.m., which makes Cramer’s REM cycle a short one — just four hours in bed.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/how-financial-expert-jim-cramer-survives-on-4-hours-of-sleep/497529

The Hidden Cost of Chasing Unqualified Leads — and How to Create a Stronger Sales Process

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

Failing to qualify leads can cost your business more than it helps, draining time, inflating costs and filling your pipeline with poor-fit clients who churn quickly.
A balanced, thoughtful qualification process ensures stronger conversions, healthier client relationships and more sustainable growth.

Every founder loves a full pipeline. But what if many of those leads were never going to buy in the first place or were going to cause you more trouble than they were worth?

Chasing unqualified leads is one of the most expensive mistakes businesses make. It drains your team’s time and fills your client roster with people who are a poor fit, leading to churn and frustration on both sides.

The temptation to go for volume is real, especially in the early stages when every inquiry feels like an opportunity, but failing to qualify enough can hold your business back more than you realize.

The risks of not qualifying leads

When you skip or downplay qualification, there are a lot of explicit and implicit costs that you incur.

First comes the lost time, with your sales team spending hours on calls that never go anywhere. If even 25% of your leads are clearly unqualified, that’s 25% of your sales payroll spend that is being thrown away right off the bat.

Even if those customers do buy, you risk onboarding customers who drain resources, complain or churn quickly. If (and likely, when) those clients do churn, you end up with wasted time throughout your sales and onboarding process and a demotivated team across the board.

Why businesses under-qualify and the case for strong qualification

Underqualification is extremely common, especially from early-stage businesses. Leaders want to build their pipeline quickly, while appearing approachable to as many prospects as possible. When you’re a new business, the reality is that you may have to under-qualify on purpose to get case studies and experience, but once you pick up some steam, that story changes.

The right qualification process protects your team’s time and creates healthier, more sustainable growth. It can lead to much better conversion rates, with your time being spent on the leads most likely to close. Sales and marketing spend gets more efficient, and the client relationships that result are more productive and aligned.

A qualification self-evaluation

Not sure where you stand with respect to qualification in your sales process? Here are some quick litmus tests to understand where you might fall and what to do about it.

If your pipeline is big but conversions are low, it’s likely that you’re under-qualifying. Another big sign is client retention — if you’re having a hard time retaining your clients, and many of those churned clients are lost due to fit, that’s another sign that you’re under-qualifying!

Take a look at those churned clients and those that you spent time on in the sales process and didn’t sign, and look for patterns. Do they tend to be in certain industries or at certain points in their buying cycle? Those can be clues as to where you can qualify more effectively.

On the other hand, if conversion rates are great but volume is too low, you might be over-qualifying. Take a look at what you’re asking for from your prospects. For example, is your minimum spend significant for the size of customers you’re going after? Reducing the barriers to entry to work with you might allow some great leads through the door that you can upsell and nurture over time.

A framework for smart qualification

There are lots of opinions out there on how to best qualify leads, with some people pointing to fixed frameworks like BANT as the holy grail. These frameworks can be a helpful start, but strong qualification doesn’t have to be rigid! Instead, think about it in stages with increasing stakes along the way.

Upfront, use simple questions on forms or quick discovery calls to weed out obvious misfits (like budget or geography). You can direct leads that are disqualified to referral partners, or kindly turn them down using a redirect to a landing page. This avoids wasting any time or resources on leads that are purely unqualified from the start.

Then, add checkpoints as prospects show more interest. For example, you can build in questions about what the client is looking for, why their previous attempts or purchases might not have worked or about things like urgency and buying power, into those initial touchpoints, like during the sales call booking process.

Using this information, combined with the typical information you discover through the sales process, you can direct top-tier leads to a higher-touch sales process immediately, nurture mid-tier leads with marketing and keep low-fit leads in light-touch awareness campaigns.

Being willing to qualify leads provides better outcomes

Consider that you can also qualify based on your interactions with the lead over time and whether those interactions align with your optimal client profile. If the prospect talks poorly about their team or makes inflammatory comments in the sales call, that may be a sign that no matter their potential deal size, they might end up being more costly than beneficial to your business.

Not qualifying leads enough may feel like playing it safe and maximizing your growth, but it’s actually extremely risky. It leads to wasted time, inflated costs and unpredictable growth. A thoughtful qualification process, balancing efficiency with openness, is what keeps your pipeline strong and your business sustainable in the long run.

Key Takeaways

Failing to qualify leads can cost your business more than it helps, draining time, inflating costs and filling your pipeline with poor-fit clients who churn quickly.
A balanced, thoughtful qualification process ensures stronger conversions, healthier client relationships and more sustainable growth.

Every founder loves a full pipeline. But what if many of those leads were never going to buy in the first place or were going to cause you more trouble than they were worth?

Chasing unqualified leads is one of the most expensive mistakes businesses make. It drains your team’s time and fills your client roster with people who are a poor fit, leading to churn and frustration on both sides.

The temptation to go for volume is real, especially in the early stages when every inquiry feels like an opportunity, but failing to qualify enough can hold your business back more than you realize.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/the-hidden-cost-of-chasing-unqualified-leads/496547

This Multi-Unit, Multi-Brand Owner Reveals the Secrets to Growing Franchises Fast

Key Takeaways

Don Allen grew Orangetheory Fitness in Florida from single digits to 32 studios and led an eight-figure private equity deal.
He later invested in KidStrong and then helped build dozens of F45 Training sites before joining Zoom Room.
His advice to aspiring multi-unit franchisees: Be well-funded, prioritize culture and follow proven systems.

Since stepping into franchising in 2014 following decades in the private fitness business, Don Allen has built a track record of scaling multiple brands quickly and sustainably. From health to child development and now pet services, he’s applied the same playbook: build systems, protect culture and make growth repeatable.

Now, as COO of Zoom Room — an indoor dog training gym ranked #220 on the 2025 Franchise 500 — Allen is applying decades of business experience to one of the fastest-growing sectors in franchising. In this interview, he shares what it really takes to expand into multi-unit and multi-brand ownership, why systems and culture matter more than ever and how he’s helping Zoom Room position itself in the $150 billion pet services industry.

You’ve worn many different hats in business. How did you get into franchising?
The first two-thirds of my career I spent in privately-owned fitness businesses. At 19, I started working at Gainesville Health and Fitness while attending the University of Florida. I had no idea it was one of the top health clubs in the world, but it was a leadership and business factory disguised as a gym. I thought I was just getting a part-time job, but I ended up learning how to run businesses. From then until my early 50s, every day of my career was in health and fitness.

Then, in 2014, I was recruited to lead Orangetheory Fitness in West and Southwest Florida. That was my first time working inside a franchise system and, honestly, I was worried. I’d always been in environments where we could do whatever we wanted creatively, with no guardrails. I thought franchising would be restrictive. Within a few months, though, I realized it was the opposite. The brand handled all the things I didn’t enjoy — marketing, the website, branding — so my team and I could focus 100% on culture, client retention and running the best studios possible. I fell in love with franchising.

At Orangetheory, you helped grow your region from a handful of locations to 32. What was the key to scaling that quickly?
First, I’ll admit I caught the brand at the right moment — just before it hit its stride. But we also figured out why some studios outperformed others. One of the biggest breakthroughs was when Orangetheory centralized the workout design. Early on, trainers were creating their own workouts. That meant only highly specialized people could coach, which would never scale. Once programming came from corporate, we could hire more charismatic, people-oriented coaches and focus on delivering a great experience. That’s what allowed Orangetheory to grow from hundreds of units to thousands.

You later became an investor in KidStrong. How did that happen?
That was pure luck. In December 2019, private equity acquired our Orangetheory group at its highest valuation ever. Three months later, the world shut down for Covid. That timing was a blessing. I wasn’t operational with KidStrong — I invested with a friend from Orangetheory — but I loved the concept. My son was too old for it, but I saw how much stronger he would’ve been if he’d had that program. It’s a great brand and I still have investments there.

You also helped build more than 30 F45 Training sites. What did that teach you?
It taught me resilience. I joined as employee number one and we scaled across five states. Eventually, I realized I was traveling too much and wanted something more sustainable.

Now you’re involved in Zoom Room. What led to that?
I wanted another “Orangetheory moment” — a young brand with white space, real differentiation and a founder who inspired me. I’ve also always rescued and fostered dogs, so the mission clicked. When I met the founder and the team, I was sold. It felt like the right place to spend the next 10 years.

How are you applying your past experience at Zoom Room?
Franchising is franchising. At Orangetheory, we train humans; at KidStrong, we train kids and at Zoom Room, we train dogs. The same operational principles apply. I’ve brought in structure: updated training manuals, a rebuilt LMS, new processes — moving Zoom Room from a scrappy mom-and-pop to a scalable franchise system. The goal is to be ready for sophisticated multi-unit owners who want to diversify. When they look under the hood, we want them to see a system built for growth.

Culture is central to scaling, but how do you preserve it as you expand?
It starts with who you let in. At Zoom Room, we’ve shifted from “selling licenses” to “awarding licenses.” Not everyone qualifies. Charisma matters more than skill — because you can teach someone to train dogs, but you can’t teach them to light up a room. I’ve also developed a seven-part framework for building culture, something I first created with my Orangetheory team and have since presented around the world. Culture isn’t a quick fix — it’s a crockpot, not a microwave — but if you systemize it, measure it and reinforce it, you can protect it as you grow.

For entrepreneurs who want to become multi-unit or multi-brand owners, what’s your best advice?
Be well-funded. Passion is great, but if you’re undercapitalized, you’ll be stressed, anxious and unintentionally destroy your own culture. Having the right capital lets you weather delays and problems without panic. And the flip side is true, too: Growth builds culture. Nothing excites your team more than hearing you’re opening more locations. That’s when opportunity and culture feed each other.

Key Takeaways

Don Allen grew Orangetheory Fitness in Florida from single digits to 32 studios and led an eight-figure private equity deal.
He later invested in KidStrong and then helped build dozens of F45 Training sites before joining Zoom Room.
His advice to aspiring multi-unit franchisees: Be well-funded, prioritize culture and follow proven systems.

Since stepping into franchising in 2014 following decades in the private fitness business, Don Allen has built a track record of scaling multiple brands quickly and sustainably. From health to child development and now pet services, he’s applied the same playbook: build systems, protect culture and make growth repeatable.

Now, as COO of Zoom Room — an indoor dog training gym ranked #220 on the 2025 Franchise 500 — Allen is applying decades of business experience to one of the fastest-growing sectors in franchising. In this interview, he shares what it really takes to expand into multi-unit and multi-brand ownership, why systems and culture matter more than ever and how he’s helping Zoom Room position itself in the $150 billion pet services industry.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/a-franchise-insider-reveals-the-secrets-to-multi-unit-growth/497093

Steph Curry Was Overlooked Early in His Career — Now He’s Creating a Platform So Others Aren’t

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Key Takeaways

Curry has turned his underdog story into a purpose-driven business built on equity and opportunity for student-athletes.
The program develops athletic talent while building real-world leadership skills.

It might sound crazy now, but for much of his early basketball career, Stephen Curry was overlooked. Coming out of high school, he carried no major accolades and only a three-star recruiting rank. Two MVPs, four NBA championships and an Olympic gold later, that chip on his shoulder is still there — and now he’s using it for something bigger.

With Underrated Golf, Curry has turned his underdog story into a purpose-driven business built on equity, access and opportunity for student-athletes from every community.

“The Underrated brand started as a badge of honor,” Curry says. “It was about creating a platform to find the underrated, the undervalued, the overlooked. Leveraging my story, I knew there were so many kids in that same position — full of talent but without the right opportunity to reach their full potential.”

Elevating talent on and off the court

On the court, Steph Curry is known for making the game easier for those around him — whether it’s through dazzling assists or his signature off-ball voodoo that opens up the floor. He brings that same mindset to his off-court ventures, especially Underrated Golf.

Underrated initially focused on basketball, but it didn’t take long for Curry to set his sights on another passion: golf.

The Underrated Golf tour hosts junior tournaments on championship courses, giving overlooked junior golfers the chance to compete at a high level and experience the sport at its best.

“Golf brings people together from all walks of life,” Curry says. “Underrated Golf is about making the game a vehicle for equity, access and opportunity.”

Image credit: Underrated Golf

Curry was introduced to golf by his father at 10, and was instantly hooked. But he never dreamed of being a part of the golf world beyond the green. It wasn’t until later in his career that he realized the profound influence the sport had on his life.

“I realized how much golf has given me — not just hitting the ball and playing, but the people I’ve met, the conversations I’ve had on the course, and the places it’s allowed me to travel,” Curry says. “Seeing the common ground you can find with others through the game, that’s what I wanted to bring into my own space in it.”

Futures beyond the fairway

The tour capped its fourth season with the Curry Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey.

“It really aligns with our mission at Liberty National — promoting diversity, inclusion and reflecting the spirit of the Statue of Liberty, which is central to our vision,” says Dan Fireman, co-founder of Liberty National.

But the Underrated experience extends beyond the course. The day after the Curry Cup, title sponsor KPMG hosted its Leadership Development Day, transforming competitors into classmates. Inside NBC’s iconic 30 Rock studio, the golfers met with C-suite executives and worked through a curriculum covering everything from public speaking and personal branding to business networking and emerging technologies like AI.

“The soft skills are so important, and those don’t change. But giving these athletes exposure to what’s happening in the business world is invaluable,” said Melissa Taylor, Vice Chair, Client & Markets for KPMG U.S. “If we can help contribute to their readiness for life after golf, it feels like the perfect match.”

From long-range shots to long-term impact

With KPMG anchoring the business element, Curry leans into what excites him most: the golf itself.

“I like to have fun with everything I do,” he says. “There’s always a lot going on, on and off the court, but I try to stay real, honest and authentic in how I show up and who I partner with. It’s about working with like-minded people who want to have fun too, but also recognize the meaningful opportunity to, as we say, ‘elevate the under.’”

Legacy might not be Curry’s priority, but he has nonetheless built a bulletproof one. Curry Brand is only five years old, and Underrated just four, yet both already feel like institutions. Steph may call them “babies,” but if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the player once dubbed the Baby-Faced Assassin, it’s that a youthful appearance doesn’t preclude a lasting impact.

Key Takeaways

Curry has turned his underdog story into a purpose-driven business built on equity and opportunity for student-athletes.
The program develops athletic talent while building real-world leadership skills.

It might sound crazy now, but for much of his early basketball career, Stephen Curry was overlooked. Coming out of high school, he carried no major accolades and only a three-star recruiting rank. Two MVPs, four NBA championships and an Olympic gold later, that chip on his shoulder is still there — and now he’s using it for something bigger.

With Underrated Golf, Curry has turned his underdog story into a purpose-driven business built on equity, access and opportunity for student-athletes from every community.

“The Underrated brand started as a badge of honor,” Curry says. “It was about creating a platform to find the underrated, the undervalued, the overlooked. Leveraging my story, I knew there were so many kids in that same position — full of talent but without the right opportunity to reach their full potential.”

https://www.entrepreneur.com/living/steph-curry-was-overlooked-early-in-his-career-now-hes/497372

OpenAI CEO Admits ‘People Are Worried’ About the Company’s Massive Infrastructure Projects: ‘Growing Faster Than Any Business’

The project sites require as much electricity as it would take to power five million U.S. homes.

Photographer: Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Key Takeaways

OpenAI is building five new AI data centers in the U.S. over the next three years.
The company’s CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that “people are worried” about the scale of AI spending.
Altman says that the projects are necessary to keep pace with demand for AI.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Tuesday what he called the “largest infrastructure project of the modern Internet era” — an expansive AI project with building sites in Texas, Ohio, and New Mexico.

OpenAI revealed on its blog that it plans to build a network of five AI data centers over the next few years through Stargate, a collaboration with Oracle, Nvidia, and SoftBank that was announced in January. The new structures will require seven gigawatts of electricity, which is about three-and-a-half Hoover Dams or enough power to fuel over five million U.S. homes. It requires about $400 billion in investment over the next three years.

If this sounds big, even Altman acknowledges the scale of the investment.

“People are worried,” Altman told CNBC on Wednesday. “I totally get that. I think that’s a very natural thing. We are growing faster than any business I’ve ever heard of before.”

Altman said that there had been a tenfold increase in the number of ChatGPT users within the past 18 months. According to Bloomberg, 700 million people use ChatGPT every week. Building AI infrastructure is “what it takes to deliver AI,” Altman explained to CNBC. Unlike other technological revolutions, there is “so much infrastructure that’s required,” he noted.

“This is a small sample of it,” Altman told the outlet.

Critics have cautioned that there could be an AI spending bubble, and Altman himself has also warned of it. In August, at a press dinner, Altman said that investors were “overexcited” and that AI startups have achieved “insane” valuations.

“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI?” he said at the dinner. “My opinion is yes.”

Meanwhile, tech giants like Oracle, Nvidia, and Microsoft all depend heavily on OpenAI to help build AI and data center infrastructure.

Earlier this week, Nvidia announced plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to build more data centers to develop and run AI models.

Key Takeaways

OpenAI is building five new AI data centers in the U.S. over the next three years.
The company’s CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that “people are worried” about the scale of AI spending.
Altman says that the projects are necessary to keep pace with demand for AI.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced on Tuesday what he called the “largest infrastructure project of the modern Internet era” — an expansive AI project with building sites in Texas, Ohio, and New Mexico.

OpenAI revealed on its blog that it plans to build a network of five AI data centers over the next few years through Stargate, a collaboration with Oracle, Nvidia, and SoftBank that was announced in January. The new structures will require seven gigawatts of electricity, which is about three-and-a-half Hoover Dams or enough power to fuel over five million U.S. homes. It requires about $400 billion in investment over the next three years.

If this sounds big, even Altman acknowledges the scale of the investment.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/people-are-worried-about-openai-data-centers-sam-altman/497530