Read About Women Entrepreneurs, Brilliant Business Ideas

What happens to women entrepreneurs after the moments of inspiration?

We began recognizing women’s inventive business concepts in and of themselves by way of our Brilliant Business Ideas lists back in 2022. This week, we’ll be announcing this year’s winners – and we can tell you now, it’s a list that’s full of clever innovations with the potential to make positive differences, big and small, in the world.

But what happens after publication? We circled back to our inaugural winners from 2022, to see what they were up to, and to find out how those brilliant ideas developed and changed over time. Some women reported that their firms are still going and growing strong, while others had to make adjustments. And others, still, found that a different path awaited them than the one they’d set out to traverse two years ago – one that took them away from their businesses altogether.

Read on to find out how four of those startup journeys are going – and be sure to check back this week, when we’ll be announcing our newest crop of honorees!

Johns’s business, To & From, uses patent-pending technology to figure out what to get for your friend’s birthday, your cousin’s anniversary, and everything in between. And it was “not even a year old at the time of publication,” Johns noted when we caught up with her. 

Back then, she says, the startup was focused on “the human-to-human level of what the [customers’] needs are,” and developing software to accommodate that. But, Johns soon figured out, “it doesn’t matter what tools you build, or how great your tech is – if you don’t have the right gifts for people [to buy], it doesn’t matter.”

So, later in 2022, curation became a significant focus, she says – To & From now has over 10,000 products from over 1,000 brands on offer for clients (many of those brands being mission-driven and sustainable, and owned by marginalized founders). Last year, To & From also forged new partnerships with content hubs in need of gift-guide fodder, and private concierge firms that regularly need small gifts on-hand for clients. “It’s really adding value for both companies and consumers,” she says.

And all of this growth came without any investor assistance, Johns says. “One of the things I learned [through starting up] is that I really like control,” she admits, and in light of that, she avoided accepting funds from VCs who might want a turn at the reins. Instead, Johns executed a friends-and-family fundraising round back in 2021; she has another planned for later this year.

This year, in addition to trying to get more cash on hand, she also wants to expand the company’s partnerships – and incorporate AI technology into her own software, to better serve clients. In short: “Lots has changed, in a great way, since we started.”

First, the big news: Mabrie and her business partner, Alexa Lombardo, decided to press “pause” on health-focused e-commerce grocery store Zippy Pantry. “It’s hard to say if it will be closed forever. Good ideas come back around,” she says.

But at present, Lombardo’s branding and marketing agency, Atomic Number 8, has been active in its own right – especially after Lombardo’s move to London. At the same time as Lombardo’s life shifts, Mabrie found herself getting increasingly involved with a nearby community garden, as a hobby at first, which reconnected her with the joy of tech-free work. 

“I was using my hands, spending all of this time doing very tactile – and amazing – things. It helped reinvigorate my passion,” she says. With online-based Zippy, by contrast, “I felt removed from the process. I believe in what we were doing, and that people wanted these foods,” but the business model felt too hands-off. 

Mabrie’s love of baking, her heightened sense of joy around literal hands-on work, and her desire to still connect people with quality foods led to the launch of a new-this-year venture, Faery Good Bakeshop. People near her in New York City can place orders for drop-off, while those further away can still order online. And, she uses seasonal, garden-grown ingredients to bring her self-made offerings to the next, freshest level. 

“I’ve been thinking a lot about the journey, how everything comes together,” she says – about things circling back. And, she points out, “Zippy’s soul shows up in my gut-healthy baking.”

Camryn Pickworth, Founder of The First Pick VA Group

Pickworth’s company – which connects companies throughout the U.S. with virtual-assistance freelancers – was conceived of by the founder while she was still in college.

Unlike most ideas that come to mind during one’s undergraduate years of study, this one was a winner, per Pickworth. The company is still going strong, she says – in fact, it’s even expanding its offerings. “In addition to [finding roles for] full-time freelancers, we offer efficiency coaching as well, for business owners looking to set up organizational systems to improve workflows and best practices.” The business is also securing placements for full-time, in-person freelancers now, too.

Those updates are relatively new, she adds, having both been implemented around the start of the new year. But initial responses from clients have been positive, and “we are looking to grow even more,” namely through new hires.

To spread the word, Pickworth has been working the podcast circuit, using her appearances on various business-focused shows to discuss her experiences and philosophies as a founder, and to increase brand awareness. “It’s been a really cool experience,” she says.

So far, hers has been a tale of incremental yet steady scaling. “It’s been such an amazing thing – seeing something you started, settle into growth,” she says. And best of all, she adds, is the fulfillment she gets from her work. “It’s been a really fun journey so far.”

Not long after publication of our 2022 list, Suchman tried to court investors for her games-focused professional development company. She took part in an accelerator program, and began researching firms to pitch. 

But Suchman says that path ultimately didn’t feel right for her, or the company. “Once you start going down the investor route, there’s often pressure to water down, or compromise, your core values … to maximize profitability.” And, simply put: “We didn’t want to do that.” 

However, this left her at something of a loss. “We had to go back to the drawing board, to figure out our business model, a path for growth, etc.” 

Like some of her fellow honorees, she’s been diversifying her company’s offerings to foster expansion. “Two years ago, working with teams and companies [by bringing them] play-based, experiential learning.” Now, they’re also teaching others how to bring those experiences to their companies’ workshops, retreats and more, by way of an in-house certification program. “We see a lot of our future growth in building that community.”

In the short term, she is focused on refining Barometer XP’s current suite of offerings. Looking further ahead, she wants to partner with larger companies, and envisions training whole teams to develop their own games-based curriculums – all in service of creating “a stronger sense of community” for the workers of America, and office environments that value “psychological safety, trust and curiosity.”