Leadership and entrepreneurship · National

How to get featured in Inc.

How to get featured in Inc.: how its staff, columnists, and Inc. 5000 work, how to pitch founder stories, and how the paid Inc. Leadership Forum differs.

Website: inc.com
Owner: Mansueto Ventures
Lead time: Online stories: days to weeks. Magazine features: months. Inc. 5000: applications close months before the list publishes.
Last verified: October 16, 2026

At a glance

Audience. Founders, owners, and leaders of growing private companies.

Starting and growing a business
Leadership and management
Founder stories
Money and fundraising
Technology and AI for small business
Rankings such as the Inc. 5000

Staff reporting: Staff editors and reporters produce features, founder profiles, and the Inc. 5000 and other rankings, alongside a roster of columnists.
Contributed articles: Executive bylines on Inc.com come mainly through the Inc. Leadership Forum (formerly Inc. Masters), a paid membership community whose members can publish with editorial support.
Opinion and op-eds: Inc. does not run an open op-ed page. Opinion appears through staff, columnists, and Leadership Forum members.
Press releases: Press releases are not published as editorial content. Inc. wants founder experiences, lessons, and data, not announcements.

Pitching Inc., step by step

Pitch the lesson, not the company: a decision, mistake, turnaround, or growth strategy other founders can learn from.
Find the staff editor or columnist covering your topic through recent Inc.com bylines.
Bring specifics: revenue growth, headcount, pricing changes, or what you would do differently.
Apply to the Inc. 5000 and other Inc. award programs through the official process during each cycle.
Treat Leadership Forum membership as a paid publishing route, separate from earned coverage.

How Inc. decides what to cover

Inc., published by Mansueto Ventures, writes for founders and leaders of growing private companies. Its coverage centers on how businesses are built: strategy, hiring, fundraising, pricing, culture, and the hard decisions in between. The Inc. 5000 list of fast-growing private companies is its signature franchise, and many companies’ first Inc. appearance comes through that list or related award programs.

Stories that work at Inc. teach something. A founder’s mistake and what came next is usually more useful to Inc. readers than a polished success story.

How to pitch Inc.

Find the staff editor or columnist whose recent work matches your topic. Pitch a specific lesson with real numbers: how you changed pricing and what happened to churn, how you cut a team and rebuilt, how you raised in a hard market. Keep the pitch short and lead with the takeaway for other founders.

Agency guidance on pitching Inc. is consistent on one point: straight company profiles and product pitches tend to miss. Ask what you learned, not what you sell.

For rankings, apply to the Inc. 5000 and other programs through Inc.’s official entry process during each cycle.

Contributed articles and op-eds

Inc. does not run an open op-ed or guest post program. Executive bylines appear mainly through the Inc. Leadership Forum, previously called Inc. Masters, a paid membership community. Inc.’s own app listing describes the premium Masters tier as including the opportunity to publish thought leadership on Inc.com. We could not confirm current pricing from Inc.’s pages, so check directly with Inc. before committing. Content from this route is owned thought leadership, not earned coverage.

Frequently asked questions

Can you pay to be featured in Inc.?

You cannot pay for staff coverage or ranking placement. The Leadership Forum is a paid membership that includes publishing opportunities.

Does Inc. accept guest posts?

Not through an open program. Bylines come from staff, columnists, and Leadership Forum members.

Who should I pitch at Inc.?

The staff editor or columnist covering your topic, identified through recent Inc.com bylines.

A PR-led agency approaches Inc. by finding the founder lesson inside a company’s growth story and preparing strong ranking applications. See how we run media relations for founder-led companies.

Mistakes that get pitches ignored

Straight company profiles or product pitches with no founder lesson.
Pitching a columnist on a topic outside their usual focus.
Calling a Leadership Forum byline earned media.
Missing Inc. 5000 application deadlines.

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Sources for this profile (3)

Profiles describe public editorial processes and are reviewed periodically. Digitize is not affiliated with Inc.. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected].