If you’ve built a business from the ground up, it may be difficult to imagine a day when you’re no longer leading it. But sooner or later, every founder must face a humbling truth: the time will come to step aside and turn it all over to someone else. Whether you’re passing it on to family, a trusted executive, or a new owner, the process of succession planning is not just important, it’s essential to your legacy.

I’ve made succession planning one of my top priorities for the last 30 years. I’ve learned that the only way you will have a good transfer is if there are trained people in place with a strong plan. It’s no surprise, as I have three sons and three nephews who have worked in our company for many years. They’re all earning their way at United Franchise Group. When I leave, I expect to have a peaceful transfer of power to them.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the succession process and how you can manage yours when the time comes.

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

Start with the right mindset

The first and perhaps hardest step is accepting that your successor will bring their own ideas to the table. That’s a good thing.

Yes, your ideas built the business. Your strategies and values laid the foundation. But the next leader will inevitably see things differently, and they should. It’s not about replacing your vision, but building on it. You must be okay with the mantra “New leader, new vision.” It doesn’t mean everything has to change overnight; it means you can’t run your company from the grave. You have to let go at some point.

Related: I Walked Away From a Corporate Career to Start My Own Small Business — Here’s Why You Should Do the Same

Identify your successor early

The sooner you can identify the person or team who will take over, the better. If your chosen successor is already part of your senior executive team, they should know that you’re preparing to pass them the baton.

In larger organizations, one individual might not be enough to shoulder the entire leadership load. In that case, consider splitting the top role into two, such as a president and a CEO. Dividing responsibilities can create a more manageable transition and allow successors to play to their strengths.

Above all, look for someone who listens more than they talk. A great leader is curious, asks thoughtful questions and listens to the answers. They should understand and respect the company’s history but also be capable of rallying the team around a new, compelling vision.

Related: 3 Lessons I Learned Selling My Billion-Dollar Company

Train them — and the team — right

Once you’ve identified your successor, the real work begins: training. Start early. Don’t wait until the last year or quarter of your career to begin preparing your replacement. Ideally, you’ll have at least six months to a year to bring them along, but more time is always better.

Training doesn’t stop with the new CEO. You must also invest in your senior executive team and anyone else with decision-making power. The goal isn’t to preserve the company as it is at handoff, but to ensure that the new leadership understands how and why things have worked. That knowledge gives them a strong starting point from which to innovate.

Show them the systems, values and the people who drive your business. Give them context for your decisions and invite them to challenge your assumptions. Think of it as preparing your company to thrive without you. And remember: Be patient. If more time is needed for a smooth transition, take it. A staggered transfer of responsibilities can reduce friction and give the team time to adjust.

Related: 70 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2025

Prepare for the unexpected

Even the best-laid succession plans can hit unexpected bumps. Your chosen successor might leave the company due to a health issue, a change in personal circumstances, or simply a desire to do something different. Key team members may move on. Market conditions might change.

That’s why flexibility must be built into your succession plan. It should be a living document, not a rigid directive. Revisit it regularly. Be honest with yourself and your leadership team about what’s working and what isn’t. Contingency planning is critical for long-term success.

Related: TV Shows All Entrepreneurs Should Be Watching

Writing your next chapter

Once you pass the business to new leadership, there’s one last transition: yours, into retirement. Just as your business will continue without you, you will continue without your business.

This time in your life doesn’t have to follow the stereotype and be filled with golf. There are many other things that can make your next chapter rewarding: traveling, checking items off your bucket list, volunteering at your church, or favorite charity. Becoming a mentor to young executives can also keep you involved in the industry you love and enable you to give something back to it.

I haven’t retired yet, but when I do, I’ll know I’m leaving my company in capable hands — and I can’t wait to see where the new leaders take it.

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Codie Sanchez’s Bizscout, a fast-growing business acquisition marketplace, announced the appointment of Bobby Graham as President. In this role, Graham will lead operations, growth, and platform development, working alongside Sanchez to scale what has become one of the fastest-growing deal platforms in the U.S.

Graham, a veteran of high-growth marketplaces, brings deep experience building trusted transaction ecosystems. Prior to BizScout, Graham held senior roles at SeatGeek, where he helped scale the company from a startup into a nationally recognized ticketing marketplace, leading expansion across both primary and secondary business lines.

Bizscout has expanded from zero to over 100,000 users and has facilitated more than 25,000 connections between qualified business buyers and sellers. The next focus of his Presidency will be BizScout’s launch of DealOS, its proprietary deal management software. Hand holding buyers and sellers of businesses with a custom CRM, data room, off market deal searching and loan options all on platform.

“Established marketplaces encourage bad actors to take advantage of buyers who are eager to try their hand at ownership and freedom,” said Graham. “BizScout is changing that. We help serious buyers find genuine deals, and sellers sell for more and faster. I’m focused on offering the highest quality, most legitimate businesses for sale anywhere on the internet.”

Sanchez, who remains BizScout’s CEO and strategic lead, emphasized Graham’s fit and timing.

“Bobby is a builder. He’s scaled billion-dollar platforms and knows how to earn trust in fragmented markets,” said Sanchez. “At BizScout, we’re building the rails for Main Street ownership. Bobby is the right operator to take this movement from early traction to full-on scale.”

BizScout is currently rolling out new features designed to streamline and accelerate the acquisition process. These include AI-powered buyer-seller matching, listing analysis to boost seller exposure, free business valuations, financial verification tools, and expanded onboarding flows. The goal is simple: help legitimate sellers close faster, and help serious buyers find better deals, all without the noise and uncertainty of outdated listing sites.

With Graham now formally at the helm, BizScout is doubling down on infrastructure, speed, and trust to define the next era of small business acquisition.

About BizScout

BizScout is the verified marketplace for serious small business acquisitions. Founded by Codie Sanchez under the Contrarian Thinking umbrella, BizScout connects vetted buyers and sellers through DealOS, its proprietary end-to-end platform designed to close deals faster and more reliably. With over 100,000 users and growing rapidly, BizScout is the go-to destination for qualified business buyers, legitimate listings, and real ownership opportunities. Learn more at bizscout.com.

In boardrooms and Zoom calls everywhere, the same excuses are repeated:
“Our industry is too competitive. We’re fighting for every dollar and every employee.”
“We have one of the highest turnover rates out there — it’s just the nature of the business.”
“This is just how it is. It won’t change.”

Here’s the truth: It’s not your industry. It’s your company. More specifically, it’s your culture. High turnover, low engagement and poor retention aren’t industry mandates — they’re signals of internal issues that need attention. And if you want to build a resilient business, you need to stop outsourcing the blame.

Transactional leadership isn’t working

Start with the employee experience. If your relationship with your team is purely transactional — do your job, collect a paycheck — then you’re not building loyalty. You’re building burnout.

What do employees say about your culture when leadership isn’t around? What do they really think about their opportunities, support or team dynamics? If you haven’t asked, you don’t know — and you’re guessing.

Transformation begins when leadership shifts from managing output to investing in people. Every industry with high turnover also has companies that defy the odds. What sets them apart? A culture built on trust, purpose and shared growth. This is available to every business, but only the ones willing to earn it.

Related: How Businesses Can Build Resilience, Stay Ahead of the Curve and Seize Opportunities for Long-Term Growth in 2025

Culture isn’t cosmetic — it’s core

Your company may be profitable. You might have strong external branding, marketing or even an award-winning product. But if your internal culture is weak, cracks will appear. Innovation will slow. Employee burnout will rise. Talent will leave — quietly or loudly — and reputation will suffer.

Culture isn’t a feel-good initiative. It’s a core business driver. And if you want to fix it, you need to start from the inside.

How to start your transformation

If your company culture needs a reset, here’s how to begin:

1. Assess the reality
   Use anonymous surveys, team interviews and 360-degree feedback to understand how people really feel. Consider bringing in a neutral third party to remove bias and uncover blind spots.

2. Align leadership
   If the executive team isn’t fully aligned on values, goals and expectations, culture work will stall. Alignment creates consistency. Inconsistency breeds distrust.

3. Rebuild trust through action
   Employees don’t trust what you say — they trust what you do. Small, visible actions that reflect new priorities will go further than a dozen all-hands meetings.

4. Use the right tools
   Personality and team dynamics tools like Myers-Briggs, DISC or AEM-Cube can help teams better understand how to collaborate and make decisions. But don’t stop at labels. Use these insights to drive real change in how teams operate.

Culture change isn’t a one-time fix

Transformation isn’t a workshop. It’s a commitment. Culture shifts require consistent reinforcement, not just big kickoff meetings. Just like you track revenue, leads and customer satisfaction, you should also track employee engagement, burnout risk and internal alignment.

Culture is a living system. Without regular check-ins and adjustments, it will drift, often in the wrong direction.

Your team comes before your customer

This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s true: Happy, engaged employees build better businesses than stressed, replaceable ones. The companies that outperform in “high-turnover” industries invest in their people like they invest in their customers. They don’t accept excuses. They create environments people want to stay in.

If your business is struggling with retention, morale or engagement, don’t blame the industry. Look inward. Lead forward. And do the hard work of building the culture your team deserves.

Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.

Starbucks has constructed a 4,624-square-foot office in Newport Beach, California, which is a five-minute drive from CEO Brian Niccol’s Orange County home.

According to documents and photos reviewed by Business Insider, the 13th-floor office was completed on July 2 and designed by Gensler, a leading architectural company that also designed the Chase Center in San Francisco and Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest building.

Related: Starbucks Pins Its Turnaround Hopes on ‘Green Apron Service.’ What Is It, Exactly?

A floor plan for the office, seen by BI, instructs Gensler and the contracting team, Pacific Tusk Builders, to build a space with “luxury” accents, including “white oak” floors and custom countertops. It also asks for “elegant lighting.”

Plans for the office were first disclosed in an August 2024 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing outlining Niccol’s compensation package. The filing stated that Starbucks would begin planning to establish a “small remote office” in Newport Beach and “employ an assistant” for Niccol of his choosing.

“This office location will be maintained at the expense of the company,” the filing reads.

Starbucks told BI that other employees can use the new office, though it’s unclear how many other employees will be working from the office, how long the space took to construct, and how much it cost Starbucks to build.

Related: Here’s How Much 8 CEOs Made, From JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to Disney’s Bob Iger

Starbucks also awarded Niccol a $1.6 million base salary, a $10 million signing bonus, and a $75 million equity grant over the next three years in his compensation package.

^{Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images}

Niccol had previously been commuting at the company’s expense, flying 995 miles on the company’s private jet from his home in California to company headquarters in Seattle, Washington, to work from the office at least three times a week as part of the company’s return-to-office mandate.

Related: Starbucks Is Hiring a ‘Global Content Creator’ to Travel, Drink Coffee, and Get Paid Six Figures

Earlier this month, Niccol sent a letter to employees stating that corporate staff will be required to return to the office four days a week starting in October, an increase from the three-day schedule set in 2023. He wrote that employees do their “best work” when they are together.

Employees can choose to receive a cash buyout of an undisclosed amount if they prefer to leave the company instead of working in the office.

“The default for support partners should be working in person, in a Starbucks office,” Niccol wrote in the letter. “We understand not everyone will agree with this approach.”

Related: Starbucks Is Offering Executives $6 Million Performance-Based Stock Grants

Niccol became Starbucks CEO in September after leading Chipotle for six years as CEO. Under his leadership, Starbucks has tried to turn around slumping sales with a “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan that has resulted in cuts to its menu, less wait time for coffee, and customers’ names written on cups in Sharpie.

On Tuesday, Starbucks also reported financial results for its 13-week fiscal quarter ending June 29. Global store sales dropped 2%, with North American store sales also falling by 2%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of declining sales. Net revenue, however, increased 4% to $9.5 billion when compared to the same time last year.

The earnings report also mentioned that Starbucks opened 308 net stores in the quarter, for a total of 41,097 global stores.

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Starbucks has begun training for its “Green Apron Service,” which aims to bring a more familiar feel to customer service interactions. The coffee giant has reported five consecutive quarterly losses, according to its latest earnings release reported in April.

Starbucks told CNBC Monday that a pilot run of its “Green Apron Service” in 1,500 stores showed numerous improvements, including increased sales. Now, the service goes national.

Related: Starbucks Tells Employees to Return to the Office or Take a Buyout

It’s all a part of the “Back to Starbucks” plan enacted by CEO Brian Niccol. In June, Niccol told Reuters that the “Green Apron” model for service and staffing would be implemented in all stores in North America before the end of the summer.

What Is Green Apron Service?

The plan aims to improve the in-store customer experience after years of focusing on mobile and pickup orders.

“The strategy is to reconnect our partners with our customers,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Grams told CNBC on Monday. “When you walk through that door, you’re greeted with a smile. You are greeted again at handoff, a perfect cup of coffee … and you’re met with that connection.”

The Green Apron and Back to Starbucks plans present a slew of changes, including a new dress code featuring the green aprons for baristas, upgraded interiors, writing names on cups again (which meant buying 200,000 Sharpies), ending its open-door policy for restrooms, cutting menu items, making drinks in four minutes or less, and more.

Starbucks also recently reduced the maximum allowed number of drinks for mobile orders, from 15 to 12, to help with speed during peak times.

Bloomberg previously reported that Starbucks is testing an algorithm to sequence mobile orders with pickup time slots.

Related: Starbucks Is Hiring In-Store Human Workers After Replacing People With Machines — and Finding It Didn’t Work

Starbucks reports its latest quarterly earnings after the bell on Tuesday.

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A major shift is underway in the way consumers discover, research and purchase products online — and it’s being driven by artificial intelligence.

OpenAI is rolling out new features and exploring integrations with platforms like Shopify that could allow users to shop directly through ChatGPT. This means customers could search for and buy products from Shopify merchants without ever leaving a chat interface.

For decades, online shopping began with a Google search. Consumers typed in keywords, skimmed links, compared reviews and then clicked “buy.” That model is quickly being replaced by something faster, smarter and more personalized: AI-assisted shopping.

According to Adobe Analytics, 39% of U.S. consumers say they’ve already used generative AI for shopping-related tasks. More than half (53%) plan to use it this year to research products, get gift ideas, compare pricing and discover unique brands.

Instead of browsing dozens of web pages, AI assistants summarize product options instantly, personalize recommendations and even build shopping lists tailored to individual needs. Here are the latest developments you need to know:

Related: The Future of SEO — 3 Trends Every CEO Should Know

AI-powered shopping: what’s already happening

This shift isn’t just theoretical — it’s already taking shape:

• Even before fully integrating with Shopify, Open AI has improved ChatGPT’s product search and memory, allowing customers to buy products surfaced by AI chat responses.
• Amazon recently launched a “Buy for Me” feature that allows AI agents to purchase products from other brand websites when they aren’t available on Amazon.
• Perplexity introduced a Pro Shopping Assistant in 2024, designed to streamline decision-making by providing AI-curated product summaries

This new generation of intelligent shopping tools is redefining what it means to be “discoverable.” For e-commerce brands, that means adapting fast, or risk being left out of the conversation entirely.

What does this mean for your business?

To stay competitive in an AI-driven marketplace, brands must rethink how they present their products online. Here are five practical steps you can take today:

Step 1: Shift from SEO to AEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) dominated digital marketing for decades. Brands invested heavily to optimize their websites and content with keywords for search engines – a race to be listed at the top of Google’s search results. That’s how companies stood out among competitors, driving traffic and boosting sales.

But searching for products on Google forces consumers to scroll through various websites and click a lot of links to read reviews, compare product features and evaluate pricing and shipping times. While convenient and fast compared to traditional, in-person shopping, AI now offers an even more efficient shortcut.

AI chatbots can instantly search everywhere, scouring the Internet for websites and feedback, and then provide an easy-to-follow summary of findings. With customers increasingly using AI instead of Google to shop, SEO is becoming less relevant. In addition to SEO, what you now need is a way to make sure your products are included in ChatGPT’s recommendations and responses.

Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the new SEO. While this shift is just getting underway, tech and consumer behavior are moving fast. If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to start adapting your strategies now to optimize for AI.

Step 2: Make sure AI can understand and recommend your products

As platforms like Shopify become more integrated with AI systems, you want to make sure the AI chatbot suggests your products, not your competitor’s. To be recommended, brands need to organize and present their data in a way that’s accessible and readable by ChatGPT. And, as consumers engage in conversation with chatbots – by adding or taking away criteria, for example – updated responses will surface in real-time.
Brands will need support designing their Shopify storefronts and listings in order to stay ahead of ChatGPT’s nuanced recommendation engine.

That means:

• Optimizing your Shopify product listings with clear, conversational copy
• Using standardized formats for pricing, availability and shipping
• Highlighting your most competitive features in plain language

When consumers interact with AI assistants — adding preferences or asking follow-up questions — the AI dynamically updates recommendations. If your product data isn’t accessible or detailed enough, your brand could be left out.

My company, FORE Enterprise, is developing infrastructure to support both customers and brands through this AEO shift. By connecting your company’s own data to ChatGPT, we help ensure the accuracy of the information shoppers receive about your brand.

Related: Predictive AI Search Is Here — Is Your Brand Ready for It?

Step 3: Differentiate or disappear

AI assistants rely on data to make decisions, and that means only the best-positioned products will be recommended.

To stand out, you need to clearly communicate:

• What makes your product different
• Why it’s worth the price
• What value it offers over similar options

Ask yourself: If a consumer were using a chatbot to shop, what would they want to know about your product? Price? Durability? Eco-friendly packaging? Award-winning design?

Start by identifying your brand’s unique value propositions, then ensure those qualities are clearly reflected in your listings and website content.

Step 4: Write like a human, not a spec sheet

AI tools like ChatGPT rely on natural language understanding, so your product pages need to speak the way humans do.

Instead of jargon-heavy descriptions or overly technical language, focus on conversational, customer-focused storytelling:

• Answer common questions customers might ask
• Highlight use cases and real-life benefits
• Use bullet points, bold text and digestible formatting

The more your content resembles how people actually talk and shop, the easier it is for AI to understand — and recommend — your products.

Step 5: Start now — not later

The AI shopping revolution is happening quickly. While the concept of AEO is still evolving, the companies that move first will have the biggest advantage.

Right now, there’s a narrow window to position your brand at the forefront of AI-driven discovery. This means:

• Auditing your product content and structure
• Rewriting listings for clarity and AI-readability
• Partnering with experts to connect your data to AI platforms

Final thought: adapt early, win big

This isn’t just a new tech trend. It’s a fundamental change in how people find, evaluate and purchase products online.

Brands that succeed in the next era of e-commerce will be those that understand how AI thinks, speaks and recommends. If you want to ensure your products are seen — and bought — you need to act now.

Let AI work for you, not against you.

Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.

Dropbox was born because Drew Houston was sick of emailing himself files. ConvertKit came from a blogger who was tired of clunky email automations. Notion grew out of the chaos of managing scattered notes and documents.

These weren’t random startup ideas pulled from a pitch deck. They were solutions to personal problems. And that’s what made them powerful. When you build what you need, you shortcut months of guesswork. You skip the focus groups, the theoretical personas and the assumptions. You already understand the problem deeply because you live it.

Related: Got a Startup Idea? Here’s What It Really Takes to Make It Work

Start with friction, not vision

The first step to building a meaningful product isn’t to identify a trendy niche or chase a hot market. It’s to pay attention to the moments in your day that feel harder than they should. The tasks you procrastinate. The tools you silently curse. That friction is your opportunity.

Forget disruption. Forget scale. The best early-stage products come from irritation, not inspiration. What’s broken in your workflow? What are you duct-taping together every week just to get by? Start there. That’s where urgency and empathy already live.

Talk to people like you

Once you spot a problem, skip the massive surveys. Talk to a handful of people who share your situation. If you’re a freelancer, speak with freelancers. If you’re a working parent with a side hustle, speak with others juggling the same chaos. The more overlap between you and your early users, the faster you’ll know if this is a real pain or just a minor inconvenience.

What you’re looking for is emotional signal — frustration, not politeness. You want someone to say, “I’d pay for that today.”

Build the painkiller, not the platform

You don’t need to launch a polished product. In fact, polish is usually a waste early on. Your first version can be a spreadsheet, a Notion template, a Zapier automation — whatever works. The goal is to prove the fix, not win design awards.

Don’t aim for elegance. Aim for utility. If it works, users won’t care that it’s scrappy.

Test willingness to pay as soon as possible

This is where most people hesitate. But if your product solves a real problem, people will pay — even if it’s ugly. Even if it’s early. Real payment is the difference between “interesting idea” and “actual business.” And it doesn’t have to be much. Charge a small onboarding fee or ask for a credit card to reserve early access. You’re not trying to trick anyone. You’re testing commitment.

Too many founders wait until everything is perfect before asking for money. By then, they’ve burned time, budget and momentum. Pricing is feedback. So get it early.

Narrate the build, don’t just build

While you’re creating your product, share the journey. Post what you’re building, what you’re stuck on and what you’re learning. Whether it’s Twitter, LinkedIn or a Substack, showing your process builds trust. You’re not selling — you’re storytelling. And that attracts the right people: others who feel the same pain you’re solving.

Make your first users successful

Don’t rush to scale. If you’re still explaining what your product does, you’re not ready to grow. Focus instead on helping your early users get results. Support them. Follow up. Ask who else they know who needs this. Word-of-mouth isn’t a viral fluke — it’s the byproduct of usefulness.

Related: The One Simple Task That Will Help Your Startup Succeed

Build from conviction, not theory

When you build for yourself, you don’t need to fake insight. You don’t have to invent personas. You already understand the stakes. That shows up in the product, the copy and the customer experience. And most importantly, it builds trust. You’re not a startup guessing at what might matter—you’re a person solving something that already does.

Drew Houston didn’t plan on building a billion-dollar company. He just wanted a faster way to move his files. That pain became Dropbox — and millions of others felt it too.

You don’t need permission. You don’t need a grand strategy. You need to notice the problem that keeps nagging at you — and build the thing you wish already existed.

That’s where real businesses begin.

Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.

Last fall, Chipotle announced that it was using an AI tool named “Ava Cado” to speed up its hiring process. And so far, it is working out well for the burrito maker.

Chipotle Chief Human Resources Officer Ilene Eskenazi told CNBC Monday that since implementing the technology, the number of applicants the company has received has increased “dramatically.”

Eskenazi said that the company has seen an 85% application completion rate, much higher than average, because the tool helps candidates fill in fields, which cuts down the time it takes to complete.

Related: Chipotle’s New Robots That Can Crank Out Nearly 200 Burrito Bowls an Hour

“[It] has greatly increased our funnel so that we’re serving up many more candidates for our managers to evaluate,” Eskenazi said.

“Ava Cado” interacts with job candidates, answers questions, collects information, and schedules interviews with (human) hiring managers. It also speaks multiple languages: English, Spanish, French, and German.

In October, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said the tool reduced hiring times by up to 75%. This week, Eskenazi gave an example and said that it used to take 12 days to get a candidate from application to hire-ready. Thanks to Ava Cado, it now takes three and a half days — and they show up much more prepared.

“They’re much more informed about what the job really is, and so then we know that the applicants are that much more interested in the job by the time they’re meeting a hiring manager in person,” Eskenazi said. “I personally have been pleasantly surprised by how much candidates have enjoyed interacting with Ava.”

It hasn’t helped with sales, though. Last week, Chipotle reported that traffic had declined for the second quarter in a row.

New federal filings reveal what the world’s largest private employer, Walmart, with over two million global employees, pays its workforce.

Top tech companies can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries, with Meta paying up to millions, and Walmart is no different. According to the filings, seen by Business Insider, Walmart pays software engineers up to $286,000, comparable to the $263,700 made by top engineers at rival Amazon.

Other tech giants offer high compensation for similar roles, including Microsoft, which can pay $284,000 for top engineering talent. At Meta and Google, the same roles can pay up to $480,000 at Meta and a maximum of $340,000 for Google.

Related: Top-Performing Walmart Managers Can Now Make $620,000 a Year

The filings also show that Walmart, which is the world’s largest company by revenue, compensates staff product managers anywhere from $136,500 to $286,000. Meanwhile, data scientists take home a range of $138,333 to $286,000.

The data arrives from the 1,750 filings Walmart submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor in the first half of this year. Companies are required to submit pay information when hiring foreign workers through the H-1B visa program, which allows highly skilled workers to take on specialty occupations.

The documents show base annual salaries for H-1B visa workers and do not include additional forms of compensation, like signing bonuses and stock options. They present a snapshot of compensation, but not the entire picture.

Related: This ‘Sweet’ Role Is the Highest Paid Position at Walmart After Managers

The filings reveal that Walmart pays other roles as follows:

• Distinguished Architect: $184,827 to $338,000
• Senior Product Manager: $121,000 to $286,000
• Senior Design Researcher: $142,002 to $234,000
• User Experience Design Senior Manager: $183,227 to $286,000
• Software Engineering Director: $190,486 to $312,000
• Product Management Director: $201,323 to $338,000

While these roles can pay six figures, they are outside the typical salary for most Walmart employees.

Walmart’s workforce mainly consists of hourly store workers, who average an hourly wage of close to $18. As of 2021, Walmart employed 1.2 million part-time and full-time hourly store workers in the U.S. out of 1.5 million overall U.S. employees. As of the time of writing, more than 75% of Walmart’s 45,201 open jobs globally are for positions in Walmart stores and warehouses.

That composition is reflected in broader assessments of Walmart’s pay levels. According to Walmart’s annual proxy statement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year, the median Walmart employee made $29,469.

In comparison, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon earned a total annual compensation of $27,408,854, or 930 times more than the median employee.

^{Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images}

The statement also showed that Walmart has increased its workforce over the past few years. As of the end of fiscal year 2024, Walmart employed approximately 1.6 million U.S. employees and had about 2.1 million workers worldwide, making it both the largest employer in the U.S. and in the world.

Related: Here’s How Much 8 CEOs Made in 2024, From JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to Disney’s Bob Iger

Some Walmart market managers who manage a cluster of stores can make $420,000 to $620,000 in total compensation. Walmart gave these managers a pay increase of up to $100,000 from last year.

Additionally, with revenue of $681 billion last year, Walmart beat Amazon, which earned $638 billion across the same period, to the top spot of the world’s biggest company by revenue.

Walmart stock was up nearly 9% year-to-date at the time of writing. The company has a market value of over $780 billion.

^{Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.}

When I launched my first startup, hustle culture was the playbook. You worked nonstop, obsessed over the product and hoped customers would show up later. Everything revolved around the grind.

But the next generation of founders? They’re building smarter — not just harder.

They’re rejecting outdated startup myths, reshaping what success looks like and, frankly, doing it better. Here’s what they’re getting right — and what every founder should learn from them.

Related: How To Use Entrepreneurial Creativity For Innovation

They build community before product

We used to build first, sell later. The customer was an afterthought. As a result, we built in silos and hoped it resonated. Today’s founders flip that. They gather an audience early and then co-create solutions with them.

Take LEGO. Even with a global fan base, they invited users to collaborate on designs. That shift from selling to users to building with them turns buyers into loyal advocates and drives better products from day one.

They lead with purpose, not just profit

For my generation, business started and ended with revenue. Culture, wellbeing and ethics were nice-to-haves — not priorities.

But today’s founders build companies that stand for something. Whether it’s sustainability, mental health or social impact, they align their mission with their market. Profit follows purpose and creates deeper, longer-lasting loyalty.

They choose authenticity over polish

Back then, founders were expected to be polished and perfectly poised — especially in public. I remember prepping endlessly for interviews, trying to appear “flawless.”

Now? Founders are showing up as themselves. No suits, no script, just transparency. And audiences love them for it. People don’t want curated personas — they want someone real they can relate to.

They use data as a compass, not a crutch

We treated data like gospel. If the numbers said no, the conversation ended. But younger founders use data more intuitively. It’s a compass — not a cage.

They combine analytics with gut instinct and on-the-ground feedback, leading to more human-centered decisions and better company cultures.

They start digital and scale smart

We defaulted to physical spaces, then added digital as an extra. Today’s founders do the opposite. They build digital-first businesses — fast to launch, easier to test and scale and designed to reach global audiences from day one.

They prioritize inclusion from the start

Our hiring playbook focused on “culture fit.” Today’s leaders prioritize diversity of thought, background and experience — not as a checkbox but as a core strength.

The result? More creativity, stronger teams and products that speak to broader markets.

They’re not afraid to say, ‘I don’t know’

Founders used to believe they had to be the smartest person in the room. Decisions were top-down. Feedback was limited.

Now, the best leaders are learners. They listen, ask, adapt and bring their teams into the process. That humility isn’t a weakness — it’s a competitive edge.

Related: Gen Z Is Quitting Corporate for a Different Kind of Business Opportunity: ‘The W-2 World Doesn’t Hold the Same Allure’

The future belongs to the flexible

The game has changed. Startups aren’t won by those who work the longest hours or chase the biggest valuations. They’re won by those who lead with intention, build with empathy and adapt with the times.

If you’re still building the way we used to, it’s time to evolve. The future belongs to founders who listen more, assume less and build not just for their users, but with them.

Ready to break through your revenue ceiling? Join us at Level Up, a conference for ambitious business leaders to unlock new growth opportunities.