My First Moves

The founders of the beloved sweet treat started small and scrappy -- and now they're ready to take over the ice cream aisle.

As founder and CEO of Metro PR, Tess Finkle has built a business that serves its clients and employees alike.

To create Rodial, Maria Hatzistefanis threw herself into a crash course on beauty manufacturing.

To create her on-demand furniture company, The Inside, Christiane Lemieux fused cutting-edge technology with the famously slow-moving interiors industry.

Katie Witkin co-founded AGW Group after working in traditional marketing roles -- and identifying opportunities that were being overlooked.

Shamanth Pereira was a young mom who struggled to regain confidence in her body after giving birth. So she built her own solution and launched Invisibelly leggings.

How Monica Zwirner and Lucy Wallace Eustice of MZ Wallace built a booming and beloved brand.

The founders of Dr. Brite had successful careers as a dentist and a surgeon. But they walked away from what they knew to build a natural mouth care brand.

Before Annie Bystryn created Cider In Love, she spent months learning about countless rules and laws that would govern her business.

The founders of Modern Fertility want to provide all women with access to fertility tests and education. But first, they need to gain the support of both Silicon Valley and the medical industry.

To get the frozen-food service off the ground, Rachel Drori wore many hats -- and convinced partners that the company was bigger than it really was.

The co-founders traveled the globe and even worked out of a grandmother's garage to bring their fair-trade operation to life.

Naomi Kelman is the CEO of Willow, a sleek breast pump that launched earlier this year. To get it just right, she and her team surveyed moms across the country.

Alexa Buckley and Sarah Pierson had a plan in place -- it just didn't involve launching a startup. Here's how they found the guts to follow their passion and launch custom-fit shoe company Margaux.

Lauren Kleban's fitness classes are beloved by Hollywood tastemakers, but she found a larger audience by filming and streaming her content.

Dana Pollack knew her macarons were different from others on the market. She just had to make sure her potential customers knew what set them apart.

Karen John's startup, Heartwork, creates sleek, functional office furniture. But before she launched, she had to focus her idea, support its development and ignore her family's advice.

After an entrepreneurial failure, Miko Branch launched a new business out of necessity -- and identified a lucrative, underserved market in the haircare industry.

Co-founder Rosie O'Neill looks back on the early days of building the brand with her now-fiancé: "All of the stories of how we found this concept are wound up in our love story."

Lara Mead, co-founder of athleisure brand Varley, quit her job and sold her house -- and it paid off.

At 18, Amanda Zuckerman co-founded dorm décor brand Dormify with her mom. Now, she's a 27-year-old creative director for the fast-growing brand she build from the ground up.