I sat down with Don Tarinelli, Chief Development Officer at Franchise FastLane, to take a clear-eyed look at how franchise development works in 2026. The conversation did what the best interviews do; it opened up better questions. Why are more founders gravitating to franchise sales organizations now? What truly signals…

When Magnolia Bakery first opened its doors in 1996 on a quiet street corner in New York’s West Village, nobody could have guessed it would become a globally recognized brand synonymous with mouthwatering cupcakes and legendary banana pudding. Now, nearly three decades later, Magnolia Bakery’s CEO & Chief Baking Officer…

There is a concept in Olivia Fox Cabane’s book The Charisma Myth that stopped me cold when I first read it. Cabane describes what she calls “focus charisma,” the rare ability to make another person feel, in that precise moment, as though they are the only person in the room.…

Franchising a business is not a single event. It is a series of decisions, each one made at a different stage of growth, each one carrying its own set of risks. For brands navigating that journey without a roadmap, the margin for error compounds quickly. For those who work alongside…

When you talk to Daniel McCarty, you don’t get the feeling you’re speaking to a man tinkering at the edges of an old idea. You get the feeling you’re talking to someone tearing the whole thing down, just to rebuild it better. From his home base in San Antonio, McCarty…

Daniel Boone has a goal that sounds almost like a punch line until you realize he means it. “I’ve always had a goal, for quite some time now, to live to be 120,” Boone said. That kind of long-view thinking is what eventually pulled him out of the furniture business…