Forbes released its most recent Next 1000 list earlier this month. On it are four Richmond-area entrepreneurs, including the founders of two fast-growing tech startups, Linebird and AnswersNow.
The list is a year-round initiative that showcases sole proprietors, self-funded shops and pre-revenue startups throughout the country. Each of the founders on the list have under $10 million in revenue or funding but have proven to be driven businesspeople.
Forbes Next 1000, which is fueled by nominations, will be comprised of 1,000 names by the end of 2021. The first 250 were released in February. The most recent batch of 250 was released on June 16 and included Linebird founder Michael Beiro, AnswersNow co-founder Jeff Beck and Summit Human Capital founder Glenn Diersen, all based in Richmond, and Marla Rene Beauty founder Marla Dornell-Leak, based in Midlothian.
Beiro, who spoke to Inno earlier this week, said he found out about making the list in the early morning the day it was published.
"I hadn’t had my morning coffee yet, so I was still a little groggy," he said. "I smiled, I put down my phone, and I turned to my wife, and said, 'I’m in Forbes.'"
Linebird, founded by Beiro in 2018, builds specialized payloads, tools and sensors that allow work on live power lines to be done using drones. The startup secured its first major investment in February and is just a few weeks away from launching its product to the public. The list, Beiro said, has served as a reminder that his constant grind over the last three years was worth it.
"It's been a nice reminder that a lot of people appreciate what we’re doing and think it’s meaningful," he said. "We’ve been in kind of a product development sprint the last couple of weeks, so we haven’t had as much interaction with the outside world. The people we have talked to have lent even more credibility to what we’re doing."
AnswersNow, founded in 2018 by Beck and Adam Dryfus, is a telehealth startup specializing in autism support. The startup raised a $1.8 million round earlier this year that is being used to expand its counseling services outside of Virginia. Major insurers like Anthem and Aetna use AnswersNow's platform, which has served more than 1,000 families since its launch.
Summit Human Capital, founded in 2018 by Diersen, is a self-funded company specializing in providing IT human capital solutions to industries including IT, healthcare and government services.
Dornell-Leak founded Marla Rene Beauty in 2013 to create non-toxic face products for women-of-color. She told Forbes her business was "born out of navigating the grief of losing my mom to cancer." Dornell-Leak is now working on creating products that are produced without toxins and other harmful substances.
