• Chad Tredway was a rising star at JPMorgan Chase before launching his own firm in 2021.
• In 2024, he returned to JPMorgan and now leads its $79 billion property investment arm.
• With stocks volatile and real estate on the rise, Tredway is trying to grab investor interest.

Chad Tredway charted a fast path into upper management at JPMorgan Chase, rising from an associate during the Financial Crisis to a senior position overseeing the bank's $20 billion lending business with some of the largest commercial real estate landlords and developers. Business Insider featured Tredway in its first Rising Stars of Wall Street list in 2017.

Then in 2021, he left to launch his own real state company, called Trio Investment Group. The company focused on sale-leaseback transactions where it purchased property assets from owners who occupied their spaces — such as manufacturers — and then leased it back to them.

JPMorgan brought him back by buying Tredway's firm in early 2024 for an undisclosed price and named him head of real estate investment in the Americas for JPMorgan Asset Management, an investment arm of the bank that owns about $79 billion of commercial property.

In May 2025, Tredway, 42, was promoted to global leader of that real estate investment business. In the new position, he regularly travels to meet with both existing and prospective clients, including some of the world's largest investors.

Business Insider caught up with Tredway on his career changes and the opportunities he sees in the real estate market amid a changing economy. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You spent 13 years at JPMorgan Chase and had risen to a leadership position. Why did you leave?

I left with the firm's blessing, and JP Morgan actually invested alongside me, but there is a major opportunity in the sale-leaseback industry. You could get 10-13% returns without taking inordinate amounts of risk. We had over 50 deals in 22 states.

What brought you back?

All the advantages the firm has. Being able to call literally the leading industry experts on everything from M&A to corporate real estate to lending is an advantage you can't get when you're on your own.

JPMorgan purchased your company. How did that deal come about?

The conversation was more: we think there's an amazing opportunity in real estate. We believe we're coming off of cyclical lows. We believe we can be much more entrepreneurial. George Gatch, who leads asset and wealth management, is absolutely phenomenal. I spent a lot of time understanding his vision for growth of the business.

You were a lender, and now you're on the investment side. What was that switch like for you?

Being a lender first really gives you a perspective on risk. Starting my own company gave me a great fundamental understanding of how you add value to clients on the investment side.

What are the themes that you hear from investors?

In the last 50 years, real estate values have only declined by more than 10% three times. We've now had, I think five or six positive quarters of real estate values increasing. I was in a meeting with an investor overseas. They said, look, I'm going to pair my gains in equities. And I'm going to shift into real estate. I'm hearing that conversation more and more.

What kind of an investor was that?

A pension plan. We also hear it from our wealth clients.

What are the big themes for your strategy?

We're focused on industrial outdoor storage. These are where the trucks go at the end of the night. The Amazon trucks, the UPS trucks, the FedEx trucks. Because we have information on half of the US population, for us to be able to see where goods are going, how clients need them, how they're thinking through their spend is something that only we have.

When I was a lender, the anchor of our portfolio was housing. We're doing the same thing here around the world. We have over 80,000 units of housing and we focus on non-luxury housing.

The third theme that we're really seeing is truly the power of manufacturing, whether it's advanced manufacturing or otherwise.

The other place we're finding value, which is also not unlike what I did as a lender, is we're finding more value in middle market real estate today.

This story is part of a series catching up with finance pros we once spotlighted as Rising Stars of Wall Street to see where their careers have taken them. See our 2025 list here.

What qualifies as a middle market?

What we used to see large firms doing was buying billion-dollar transactions. If you look at where we're playing today, our average transaction is between $50 million and $100 million.

Interest rates have come down only slightly, the economic outlook is uncertain, and inflation is stubborn. How do you invest at a time like this?

There are some things that always stay the same. People will always need a place to live. You are always going to want goods from your phone to your doorstep as fast as you possibly can.

What do you think of the booming data center market?

Technology risk is real. It's really difficult to predict what will actually happen with technology. When I look at overall size and just concentration risk, again, it's something that we're aware of.

Our focus today has been more on buying high quality real estate in great locations where we have an edge. We have not been focused in the data center space at this time because of that.

When do you move into JPMorgan's new offices at 270 Park Avenue?

I don't control the seating plans for 270. We have multiple buildings, as you know.

As a real estate nerd, one of my favorite things to do is walk through 270. It embodies New York; it embodies the strength of the largest bank in the United States. Clients have even commented on the detail and the focus and what it does.

• Gigi Principe, 26, became a line-sitter in 2023 when her life was at a low point, she said.
• She has waited in lines for access to restaurants , sample sales, and trials for lawyers, the press, and the public.
• Principe said she has learned there are two key things people will pay for.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gigi Principe, 26, who has been working for Same Ole Line Dudes, a line-sitting company, since 2023 and is now a manager. Business Insider has verified her employment. It's been edited for length and clarity.

Life after graduating college in 2019 meant bouncing from job to job, burning myself out at each one. Getting furloughed during the pandemic didn't help, but I eventually started working odd gigs again and auditioning for acting roles. There were times when I would struggle financially, then do okay, then struggle, then do okay. It was a pattern that I hated, but a pattern I was used to. It was so stressful.

The job came at the right time

In 2023, at my lowest year personally, a friend referred me to Same Ole Line Dudes, a company that pays people to wait in lines on their behalf. My first gig was a Jimmy Choo sample sale in October of 2023. When I first got the Google Invite form for the job, I thought it was a scam. All I had to do was show up and sit in line, and I'd get paid around $74.

I was only planning to be there for four hours, but I relooped to the back of the line for another client and made extra money. I basically got addicted, and soon, I was hustling. Once the company figured out I was in it for the long run and was broke, they kept calling me back for more sample sales — The Row, Versace, McQueen. You've got to understand what 74 bucks was for me.

At my previous job, I had a moment where I wished someone would pay me to do nothing, and then boom. I didn't mind sitting out in the winter. Bring a blanket! It was sample sale, sample sale, sample sale, then Lucali's, a pizza place in Brooklyn that doesn't take reservations. It was a top restaurant for us at the time, so getting that job was a sign I'd made it in the company. Lucali's cost $32 an hour, and it was easy peasy to put someone's name down. I knew my way around Brooklyn and kept coming back despite the cold, because, again, I was broke!

Jobs got bigger and bigger

The managers started rewarding me, and eventually, they brought me on full time. I think I spent almost every day of 2024 line-sitting. Donald Trump's trial was huge for us — I would line sit from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., or sometimes midnight to 8 a.m., and then take the subway to my day job uptown. There were days I might have bailed if I hadn't had my tent.

I also did the Daniel Penny trial, the Luigi Mangione trial, and the Diddy trial. I can't talk about my clients, but I've sat for the press, lawyers, and the public. Sometimes, I travel for clients. (We charge for travel time, and clients pay for the tickets.)

How people spend says a lot

Hourly rates depend on the event — sometimes $25, sometimes $32, sometimes $50 — and I've been getting commission since I became a manager in March. This job is hard, it's taxing on the body, but it saved my life, and it really helps people. I get paid to wait, but also to watch wrestling videos, or write, or rest.

The money keeps flowing in, and that's also taught me a lot about what people are willing to pay for.

First, people will pay a lot for convenience. That's clear when I'm traveling and people pay for my plane tickets, train tickets, or rental cars.

And people will pay to be first. The number of times I hear, 'I want to be first in line,' or at least in the first group, is crazy. I want to make that happen for people, but it's not a simple request — because everybody wants to be first. But I've seen that the little things in life, like being first in the door, really matter to people.

• My wife and I moved to the small town of Nelson, British Columbia, in 2017.
• The lifestyle and pace here are much better for our family, but it's difficult to make friends.
• As an adult, I've had to be more intentional about meeting people.

When my wife and I moved from Calgary to Nelson, British Columbia, in 2017, we thought we knew what we were signing up for. We wanted a slower pace, more nature, and a place where our kids could grow up with freedom and space to explore. What we didn't fully consider, though, was how hard it would be to build new friendships as adults.

We swapped our busy city life with family, old friends, and familiar routines for a town of 11,000 people tucked in the mountains where we didn't know a single person. While the scenery, outdoor adventures, and more relaxed lifestyle were everything we hoped for, the friendships we left behind were harder to replace.

The quiet loneliness of small-town life

Nelson is beautiful in a way that's hard to describe until you've been here. The mountains rise straight from the lake, and the pace of life feels almost intentionally slower. It's the kind of place where people smile at the grocery store, where kids still walk to school, and where you can get across town in 10 minutes.

But there's a difference between being surrounded by friendly people and having real friends.

In Calgary, we had people who'd known us for years. Friends and family would come over for dinner, or we'd get together at a park with our kids on weekends. When we moved, we expected to find new versions of that here. Instead, what we found was a lot of surface-level friendliness but very little follow-through.

When our kids were younger, weekends were filled with playdates, birthday parties, soccer games, and built-in social plans that made it easy to connect with other parents. But now that they're getting older and developing their own lives, those interactions happen less often, and I've realized how much adult friendship requires deliberate effort.

Working remotely makes it even harder

Most of my work happens at home. I split my time between freelance writing and architectural consulting, which means my "commute" is about 20 steps from the kitchen. This setup is fantastic for flexibility, but not for building community.

In an office, you naturally form connections through casual conversations, shared frustrations, and after-work drinks. Working remotely means those moments don't happen unless I create them. And in a town this small, there aren't many networking events or professional meetups to fill the gap.

There are days when I go hours without speaking to anyone who isn't my wife, my kids, or our dog. For someone who loves his work, I didn't expect it to feel isolating. But there's a certain kind of loneliness that comes from not having anyone nearby who really knows you — that special kind of friend who doesn't need context, who you can sit in a comfortable silence with. And I miss that.

Redefining what friendship looks like

I've learned that making friends as an adult looks different from how it did in my 20s. There's no shared dorm, no coworkers in the next cubicle, no built-in social infrastructure. You have to be more intentional, which isn't easy for an introvert who spends most of his day behind a screen.

It took a year or two before I met someone I'd actually call a friend. I got to know a guy at my gym who eventually invited me to join a small running group on weekends. I've also joined a band with one of my son's friends' parents. Through these experiences, I've realized friendship here is a slow process, built around consistency more than convenience. Now, I have a small handful of friends I've met through shared interests and saying yes when the opportunity comes up, even when it would've been easier to stay home.

I still keep in touch with friends back in Calgary, too. We text regularly and get together once every year or two when we're back visiting family. These friendships help fill the gap where the new ones can't, but the ones I've built here feel rooted in this specific chapter of life.

Living in a small town hasn't given me the bustling social circle I once had, but it's taught me that friendship as an adult isn't about how many people you know, it's about finding the few who make this chapter of life feel a little less solitary. And for now, that's enough.

• Edward Perotti is a celebrity event planner with clients including Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas.
• He got his start planning events after being laid off — now he refuses jobs he doesn't want to do.
• He told Business Insider the top trends among A-listers include holograms and hyper-local cuisine.

I fell into event planning by accident — tripped and landed in the mud, really.

Three decades later, I'm still dusting myself off and loving it.

Back then, I was working for one of the early online-publishing companies. When they acquired another firm in Cleveland, they shut down the California division, and I suddenly found myself unemployed, newly married, first child on the way, and panicking.

A friend, the director of catering at a hotel, listened to me whine and said, "My catering manager just quit. Come work with me."

I laughed. "What do I know about catering?"

She said, "I can teach you food. I can't teach you contracts or people."

Needing a paycheck, I said yes. Within six months, I learned that brides, their mothers, and chefs were a volatile mix — and that I was not built to referee that trio. But I loved hospitality, so I moved into hotel sales. That job introduced me to professional event planners. I had no idea the industry even existed.

From theater kid to event producer

I spent my childhood in the theater — acting, stage managing, and building sets. Event planning turned out to be a new version of that: someone gives me a script, I cast it, design the set, direct the lighting, and make sure the audience feels something.

That realization changed everything. Once I joined the planning side, my career just exploded.

Over time, I've worked with high-profile companies and private clients like Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas.

At this stage of my career, I say no more often than I say yes. I choose clients who share my ethics and understand that my job isn't to be a servant but to be of service. You hire me for my expertise and unique perspective. If you're looking for someone to agree with everything, I'm not the right person.

My team jokes that I'm the love child of Martha Stewart and Anthony Bourdain: I can make things exquisitely beautiful and on brand — but I'll walk out if a client crosses a line. I have opinions. I'm direct. But that's why people trust me.

I run my pricing like a law or architecture firm: you pay for my intellectual property and my team's time. Everything else is a pass-through cost.

If we rent furniture or hire a caterer, you'll see the exact costs. I'd rather a client sign vendor contracts directly than suspect hidden profit margins. My reputation is all I have.

Could I charge six figures for every event? Sure — and sometimes the numbers get there. But I can't hand someone a million-dollar invoice with a straight face unless the value is real.

I also push clients to incorporate community give-backs into their celebrations. If you're spending that much money, something good should ripple out from it.

What's in — and what's tired

If you describe an event you saw on "Page Six," I'll stop you mid-sentence. That was someone else's idea, for someone else's story. Let's find out what moved you and build from there.

Please, no more white-marble bars and faux-mid-century "modern" décor. We had a golden opportunity during the COVID-19 pandemic to reinvent how people gather, but most of the industry reverted to the same old formula: long tables, centerpieces, and predictable menus.

The trend I love most is local, local, local — sourcing food, wine, and design elements from wherever we're hosting the event. If you're in Montana, give guests trout, not imported fish. If you're in Paris, let them taste real French cuisine. People remember authenticity, not sameness.

I'm also obsessed with weaving technology into live experiences without losing humanity. We've used holographic greeters that interact with guests, and we can now beam in a keynote speaker from another continent as a life-size hologram onstage. It's the theater kid in me, still staging illusions that make people feel wonder.

Wellness is another growing focus, but I don't treat it as a side station. It's part of the event's DNA. Perhaps that means a zero-proof bar alongside the cocktail bar or quiet areas where guests can unwind and decompress. Inclusivity matters: no one should feel singled out for drinking — or for not drinking.

The real luxury

For me, luxury isn't excess — it's intention. It's creating moments that feel personal, ethical, and rooted in place.

I'm comfortable financially, and my business supports my family—including my youngest son, who's autistic and will always need care. That's what drives me: building something sustainable enough that he'll be secure when I'm gone.

I don't need a sports car. What I love is hopping on a plane to Paris with my family, sitting in a café, and knowing that my work lets me do that.

After all these years, I'm still in the theater — just with a bigger budget and a better audience.

• I love being a mom more than anything, but it's also the hardest job I've ever had.
• I have one daughter, and I don't want to have another child.

People warned me that motherhood "would change everything," and they were right. However, some of the things I was told were different from my experience. After my beautiful daughter turned one, I waited for the feeling that many parents talk about — the feeling of yearning for another baby. The excitement I often heard of when trying for baby #2, along with the fantasy of pushing a double stroller around the neighborhood.

But what I felt instead was something different. I felt at peace. I felt complete. I felt like my family of three brought me certainty. I wasn't secretly hoping for another baby to add to our family. I felt done. And for that, I'm not (and never will be) sorry.

I love my daughter, but motherhood is also a job

I love being a mom more than anything in the world. I love my daughter so much that it brings tears to my eyes just to think about her. But it's also the hardest job I've ever had — and that's a part of motherhood that's talked about less often when the topic comes up. More often, people talk about the magic of having kids and how it goes by so fast. However, there's also the mental load that crushes you some days. And no matter how much you love your child, you can still crash out from exhaustion and overstimulation.

I'm one and done because I know myself and what I can handle. I don't see myself doing multiple rounds of this rodeo. I know what an incredible mother I can be when I'm not stretched past my edge, and I think having another child might do exactly that.

As a new mom, I discovered the narrative that "good moms" are supposed to want more — and want to do more. More children, more overstimulation, and more sacrifice. And that's where I draw the line. Personally, I feel like having a second child would be incredibly taxing for my mental health. I'm already stretched thin — I'm a host on the syndicated morning radio show "The Fred Show," the CEO and founder of The Mami Collective, and the primary caregiver (or, depending on who you ask, the default parent) to my 18-month-old daughter.

Having another baby would likely push my marriage to the ultimate test. I've also spent 12 years building my career — the one I'm so proud of, that brings me so much joy — and I feel it would make me compromise much of that hard work. So, instead of having another child, I'm choosing myself. And because I'm choosing myself, my daughter has the most fulfilled and happiest version of me.

I'm making this choice for myself, my husband, and my daughter

I'm choosing to do what I can to prevent becoming a mom who is hanging on by a thread. I want to pour everything I can into my daughter and give her the best version of myself, and to do so, I need to have emotional bandwidth. While I'm glad to be a mother, I think being the mother of an only child will allow me to do all these things in the best balance — for my daughter, for my husband, and for myself.

I know some people may judge my choice not to have another child, but I don't want to disappear into motherhood. I have an identity outside that part of myself. And I'm not here to fit into anyone's narrative that wants me to lose myself to prove that I love my child.

I'm allowed to say that my body has been through enough from my pregnancy. I'm allowed to say that my mental health matters. I'm allowed to love my child with everything I have, while also loving my decision to be "one and done." Because motherhood doesn't come with an award for burnout. My daughter doesn't need a sibling to be whole, and I don't need to sacrifice myself to prove I'm a good mom.

• Niki Leondakis became CEO of CorePower Yoga after losing her husband and home in a 12-month period.
• She said her decades-long yoga practice helped her heal and the CEO role at CorePower Yoga felt like "a calling."
• Leondakis told her sister she wanted to lead CorePower Yoga before the brand approached her.

Before becoming the CEO of CorePower Yoga, Niki Leondakis led three hotel companies and worked as the CEO of Equinox.

Roughly a year into her tenure at Equinox, she stepped down after her home burned down in a wildfire. Then, exactly a year after that, her husband died of a sudden heart attack.

"I found myself in this 12-month period without a husband, without my career, and without a home," Leondakis told Business Insider.

Leondakis, who joined the yoga chain in 2020, said she wouldn't have re-entered the corporate world for just any opportunity. She said becoming the CEO of CorePower Yoga was her "dream job," even before it was offered to her.

A core part of her life

Prior to leading CorePower Yoga, which has over 220 studios across the country, Leondakis said she always had a "strong discipline around physical activity." The CEO said she's been practicing yoga for over three decades.

"I started yoga because I thought it would help my running when I was marathon training," Leondakis said. Eventually, though, she said she found herself doing less running and more yoga.

Leondakis became so passionate about the practice that she received her 200-hour yoga certification — not because she wanted to become a teacher, but because she desired a deeper understanding of the history and philosophy behind it.

When Leondakis found herself in a turbulent period following the loss of her husband and home, yoga became key to her healing process. Yoga, she said, helped her find gratitude for what she had, rather than focusing on what she lost.

"The one thing that anchored me, grounded me, and helped me process all my emotion was getting on my yoga mat every single day," Leondakis said.

The CEO said she's been practicing with the same yoga teacher for over a decade, and at the time, she was also practicing at CorePower Yoga, near where she lived in San Francisco.

"It carried me through the most difficult times," Leondakis said.

Getting the job

Leondakis had her eyes set on leading CorePower Yoga before she knew there was an opening.

After the loss of her husband, the CEO said she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. When her sister asked her: "If you could lead any company in the country today, what company would it be?" Leondakis said she responded immediately with "CorePower Yoga."

Her sister then went on LinkedIn to find out who the current CEO was.

"I looked at his profile and said, 'Well, he's been there just a couple of years, and this is a great job, based on what he's done in his past. He's not going anywhere,'" Leondakis said. "And I didn't think another thing of it."

Sixty days later, in July of 2019, Leondakis said she got a call from a search firm asking if she was interested in the CEO position.

"I really, truly felt like it was a calling," Leondakis said. "The universe kind of punched me in the stomach a few times. I was struggling with that, but I felt like it was sending a bluebird my way."

CorePower Yoga's founder, Trevor Tice, wasn't the company's most recent CEO, but he passed away in 2016 from an accident. Leondakis said she felt a sense of purpose in joining the company and believed she had the skills to help build its brand.

"The company had its own tragedy, and I just felt like it was a calling for me to come lead this company into its next chapter," Leondakis said.

• Palantir CEO Alex Karp swears by a method that helps employees get to the root of a problem.
• Karp has said the Five Whys method "can often unravel the knots that hold organisations back."
• The approach is often credited to Taiichi Ohno, a Toyota executive during the 1970s.

Palantir's Alex Karp is not the typical tech CEO. It makes sense then that one of the big data company's foundational principles is rooted in the lessons of a 1970s Toyota executive.

Karp is a firm believer in the Five Whys, a simple system that aims to uncover the root cause of an issue that may not be immediately apparent. The process is straightforward. When an issue arises, someone asks, "Why?" Whatever the answer may be, they ask "why?" again and again until they have done so five times.

"We have found is that those who are willing to chase the causal thread, and really follow it where it leads, can often unravel the knots that hold organisations back," Karp and Nicholas Zamiska, Palantir's head of corporate affairs, wrote in "The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West" which was published earlier this year.

During a recent interview, Karp pointed to his adherence to the approach as a potential reason that Peter Thiel, once his roommate, entrusted him to lead Palantir when they co-founded the software company in 2003 alongside Stephen Cohen, Joe Lonsdale, and Nathan Gettings. At the time, Karp was a Stanford law school grad who, instead of practicing, went on to pursue a Ph.D. in philosophy in Germany.

"The same things that made Peter the world's best value investor—he finds people that understand the sixth, seventh, eighth derivative of a problem in a business context. And we were friends. I do think there's a Germanic overlap, in our aptitude for understanding the consequences of a decision very far out," Karp told Wired in November.

Karp credits Taiichi Ohno, a senior executive at Toyota Motor Corporation, who wrote about about his management approaches for turning him onto the practice.

A 2012 article in the Issues in Information Systems journal praised the Five Whys approach, essentially labeling it Palantir's special sauce."

"To truly define values in the eyes of the customers, Palantir Technologies emphasizes the need to talk with customers throughout the development process, keep asking 'why?' but never ask 'why?' without implementing the answers, and be very disciplined at every step of the process," the authors wrote. "Their success in both the government and financial sectors began with the very first lean principle — identifying the values of customers."

Palantir's culture is almost as iconoclastic as its leader. Employees at the company, named for the magical seeing-stone in The Lord of the Rings, don't have formal titles — many employees report only to their teammates. Karp abhors higher-ed culture; there's even a video devoted to employees who dropped out of college to join Palantir.

Despite being a major defense contractor around the world, Karp recently said that non-US clients shouldn't expect to be wined and dined if they want access to Maven, Palantir's AI-powered platform for security and defense.

"We're not selling you sick dinner, we're not selling you our charm," he told podcaster Molly O'Shea while walking around the company's office.

The Five Whys approach seems to be working. Shares of Palantir are up over 100% year-to-date, and Karp's net worth is estimated to be roughly $15.7 billion.

Why not.

• Joe Lamy started small groups at senior centers to help older adults combat loneliness.
• Inspired by the loneliness epidemic, Lamy expanded these community groups nationwide for all ages.
• Activities like pickleball and singing have helped Lamy and others build lasting social connections.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Joe Lamy, a 77-year-old in Seattle who started groups at his local senior center to combat loneliness and now helps more groups develop across the country. It's been edited for length and clarity.

During our first small group meet-up at my local senior center, I remember asking everyone if they felt like they had anyone to talk to. When only half of the attendees raised their hands, it just broke my heart. I knew we needed to do more to foster social interactions.

I was inspired to start organizing meetups at my local senior center in Seattle in 2023 after Vivek Murthy, the former Surgeon General, declared loneliness an epidemic.

However, the group meant even more to me than that. As a retired teacher, I no longer saw people at work every day, and the social interactions I had grown to value were no longer guaranteed.

My small group inspired me to help people across the country start small groups in their own communities through AARP's "Create the Good" forum.

I've found that people want to find ways to get together. All it takes is a few people willing to talk to each other.

I found a sense of belonging at my senior center meet-ups

Our conversations initially followed a structured format, using online question prompts, but they gradually evolved into free-flowing discussions where we would discuss whatever was on our minds. I tried to steer clear of political topics that could alienate people and instead focused on the ultimate goal — inclusivity.

Starting the group helped me feel more connected to my community. I created so many new friendships and activities that I barely have any time to worry about aging.

The senior center has opened up to younger people seeking connection

I've since stopped serving as a facilitator at my local Seattle senior center, but it has expanded significantly in the past year. It now offers more classes, special lectures, and presentations — and it has even rebranded from a senior center to a "Center for Active Living," expanding its focus to the 50+ community. I've noticed an increase in people in their 50s coming in, along with more activities, such as line dancing and fitness classes.

It's not just older adults who desire connection. While younger generations might still have family ties and social interactions through their careers, they're hungrier than ever for long-term connections.

It's so rewarding to see new groups popping up everywhere

I'm now focusing on larger community efforts and building other small groups, and it fills me with joy knowing that people are enjoying their connections and are richer for the new bonds they've formed.

I've seen some groups go to restaurants on a weekly basis, and others that meet at a local library or church. Some groups even gather around a few picnic tables at a public park and just chat.

The more they get to talk with each other, the more trust they can build, and the more they become vulnerable and open to sharing situations about themselves.

Pickleball and singing have become my own sources of community

While helping to build these communities, I've also begun to focus more on pursuing my own passions. I've taken up pickleball, which has been great for my health and helped me build new friendships. We respect each other on the court, and we can talk about what we've been up to off the court. The laughter and conversations have nourished me in ways hard to put into words.

I've also joined a singing group for older adults and pay a small fee to participate in Seattle Town Hall's various events, which include intellectually stimulating lectures and discussions.

Our social health depends on the connections we can incorporate into our lives, and for me, these social interactions have been a lifesaver. I'm grateful for the chance to empower so many others to find the connections that bring them a sense of belonging.

• A new AI startup says it can help you maintain your professional relationships.
• The startup, Goodword, recently raised $4 million in seed funding from investors.
• Read Goodword's pitch deck that explains how it plans to help people network in the AI era.

Adding someone to your professional network is as easy as clicking a button. But how many of those people get lost in the abyss of LinkedIn connections or in endless feeds of content?

Goodword, a new professional networking startup, says it can help people maintain those relationships using AI.

"We're more digitally connected than ever before, but we still have the same constraints of the human brain," Goodword CEO Caroline Dell told Business Insider.

Goodword is leveraging AI to build tools that encourage closer connections, including a search function, reminders for follow-up conversations, and a method of making introductions. The startup describes its product as a "networking copilot" and has an AI assistant that users can chat with to keep track of meetings and people they meet. The platform is built using large language models from OpenAI, chief product and technology officer Chris Fischer said.

Goodword isn't necessarily looking to take on LinkedIn head-on as the next giant professional network. LinkedIn, in Fischer's words, is the "world's most important professional stage" and a "content machine," but Goodword aims to solve a different problem.

"We're not trying to build a networking app, per se, that's helping you network more and more," he said. "We're building something that allows you to spend time with the right people and build deeper relationships."

Dell, who was an early employee at Chief, an executive networking organization for women, teamed up with Fischer, who has worked at several startups, in 2024. In October, the startup released the beta version of its product and announced it raised a $4 million seed investment round led by Human Ventures, with participation from January Ventures, Bain's Future Back Ventures, and angels like Andrew Yeung and Chief's cofounders.

Goodword's recent funding will be used to develop its product, add more data integrations, cover the costs of large-language models, and expand its research and development team. The startup is based in New York and has a team of five full-time staffers and three contractors.

The product costs about $200 for an annual subscription, and offers a free trial. Fischer said the startup plans to introduce a monthly membership, but wants its early users to commit to a year, as the team works closely with them on developing the product.

Goodword's tech integrates users' LinkedIn networks, calendars, and email, and plans to add integrations for other tools people use regularly, like note-taking apps.

While Goodword automates some of the networking steps for its users, Fischer emphasized that Goodword is not an AI agent tool that replaces the networking experience.

"One of our differentiators is actually keeping the human at the center," Dell said.

Professional networking has been a hot category, and new startups are attempting to disrupt the status quo with the help of AI. Other startups, including Boardy, an AI agent that makes introductions, and Gigi, an AI-powered professional networking platform, have raised millions from investors.

Read the pitch deck Goodword used to raise its $4 million seed investment:

Note: Some slides and details of the deck have been either updated or redacted by Goodword in order to share the document publicly.

Goodword pitches itself as a platform that goes 'beyond networking'

The deck starts by outlining a problem in professional networking

"Networking today is doomed to fail due to the constraints of the human brain," the slide reads. The slide includes a cartoon and cites inspiration by anthropologist Robin Dunbar, who coined the "Dunbar's number" theory, which poses a limit to the number of relationships any person can have.

Goodword's deck dives into data points

"Now is the time to redesign networking for the AI era," the slide reads.

It ties together four categories: technology, markets, culture, and the future of work.

Here are the stats the slide includes:

• 80%: Data generated today is unstructured, LLMs can now unlock relationship data unlike ever before
• 1: Entrenched incumbent with a pay-for-connections and advertisement revenue model
• 136M: Professionals suffering from the "loneliness epidemic," creating demand for real connections
• 79%: GenZer's believe strong relationships are a key factor in wellbeing, driving a cultural shift towards authenticity

Then the startup maps out the market of social apps

"25 years of innovation in other relationship-based categories has left the professional networks ripe for innovation," the slide reads.

It lists companies in social, dating, and professional networking on a timeline — from Facebook to TikTok to Hinge. In the professional category, it only lists LinkedIn and labels a "graveyard of 'personal CRMs'" for the last decade.

Goodword outlines the opportunity for the space

"$200B+ global opportunity, starting with 171M users with more digital 'connections' than they can manage," the slide says.

It also identifies the types of potential users Goodwood would attract.

Here's what else the slide says:

Connectors — 2k+ connections: Natural network helpers. Often serve as a network node, believing in "karma" or "give to get."

Cultivators — 1k+ connections: Know they need to pay into the system to achieve success. Have a large network, but need prompting to effectively leverage it.

Opportunists — 500+ connections: Put pressure on their network when in acute need. See the value of connections, but barriers today are too high.

While it's an AI startup, Goodword emphasizes 'human relationships'

"We're in a time when professionals are more connected digitally yet feel a growing gap in human connection," the slide says. "Goodword addresses a paradox of the AI era — technology that strengthens human relationships."

Next, the deck introduces the cofounders

"30+ years of operating experience plus deep network expertise makes us the right duo to uniquely solve the problem," the slide says.

Here's what the slide says:

Caroline Dell, CEO

"Connector," 4K+ Connections

• About me: Top-tier startup operator with deep network expertise. Scaled Chief to 20K members and $120M+ in ARR in four years.
• Superpowers: Ambitious, operational horsepower, recruiting top talent, high velocity, navigating chaos, judgment.
• Earned Secret: A high willingness to pay for a powerful network is thwarted by the pain and friction of activating it.

Chris Fischer, CPTO

"Connector," 3K+ Connections

• About me: Serial (8x) startup builder of incredible technology products and world class teams (0>1 through IPO).
• Superpowers: Competitor, work ethic and grit, building high output teams, systems design, complex data infrastructure.
• Earned Secret: The most powerful technology is the one that allows customers to do something they couldn't do before.

Then it showcases how the product works

"Goodword integrates seamlessly across all the platforms and tools used for networking and intelligently organizes your relationships, surfaces the right connections, and helps you act on them at the right time," the slide says.

The deck wraps up with a quote from an anthropologist

The slide includes a quote attributed to Dunbar.

As well as a link to sign up for early access

The deck included an extra slide that highlights key features

"A networking copilot that helps professionals harness the power of their relationships," the slide says.

Here's what the slide says:

• Seamless Integration: Connects across contacts, calendar, notes, and social platforms to unify your network.
• Relationship Intelligence: Automatically organizes contacts by context, get timely reminders and personalized recommendations aligned to your professional goals.
• AI-Powered Copilot: Chat-based assistant to capture meeting details or serendipitous connections in real time.
• Smart Search: Draws from your interactions and context to help you find the right person instantly.
• Curated Introductions: Goodword's team facilitates purposeful connections that help you grow your network — and your impact — as a connector.

• Chapter 11 protections allow companies to reorganize debts in order to become profitable again.
• Companies like Hooters, Marvel, Converse, and GM have used the process to come back stronger.
• Here are 10 household name brands that have bounced back after filing for bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy often marks the end of a company — but not always.

While corporate bankruptcies have been on the rise in recent years, some brands have used the process to rebuild.

Chapter 11 protections mean that declaring bankruptcy doesn't necessarily signal the end of a company.

With the right restructuring strategy, brands can get back on their feet and emerge from bankruptcy stronger than ever.

Here are 10 household names that used the bankruptcy process to restructure their debt and get back into the black.

Marvel filed for bankruptcy in 1996 and dominated the silver screen a decade later.

Marvel Entertainment filed for bankruptcy in 1996, citing declining comic book sales. After merging with Toy Biz and selling film rights to characters like Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, the company managed to regain its footing.

Disney purchased Marvel for $4 billion in 2009, and its Avengers franchise has become a cash cow for the House of Mouse.

Converse filed for bankruptcy before being bought out by Nike.

Faced with rising debts and a falling stock price, Converse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001. Sold at auction, Converse's new owners tapped a former North Face executive to revive the brand, eventually selling to Nike for $1.9 billion in 2003.

Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and spent a year and a half restructuring.

Delta exited bankruptcy in 2007 after cutting 6,000 jobs and reducing labor costs by $1 billion. By maximizing use of its Atlanta hub, expanding its international reach, and cutting costs, the company bounced back.

Six Flags filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and eliminated its debt a year later.

Six Flags eliminated $1 billion in debt in 2010 by offering bondholders ownership of the company. The amusement park chain went on to post nine straight years of record revenue, and in 2024, the company merged with former rival Cedar Fair.

It seemed like Hostess was closing for good in 2012, but the beloved brand is back.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, and it seemed like the end of Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Ring Dings.

The company was bought by a private equity firm in 2015, which invested $375 million in the company, took it public, and reduced costs, bringing the classic Americana pieces back to store shelves.

The comeback captured the attention of J.M. Smucker Co., which completed an acquisition in 2023.

American Airlines was profitable three years after declaring bankruptcy.

American Airlines filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and spent the next several years reducing its workforce and restructuring its business. After merging with US Airways, the company returned to profitability in 2014 and has largely managed to stay in the black, aside from during the COVID-19 pandemic.

General Motors filed for bankruptcy at the height of the Great Financial Crisis.

When GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009, the US government spent $50 billion to bail it out and save autoworkers' jobs. The Treasury Department said in 2013 that the moves ultimately lost about $11.2 billion, but that the alternative would have been much worse.

The lifeline for GM helped the company transform into one of the world's best-run car companies and has contributed to the revitalization of Detroit.

Betsey Johnson filed for bankruptcy and closed all 63 stores in 2012 before relaunching her fashion brand.

Betsey Johnson had planned a massive expansion during the 2008 financial crisis. Instead, the company ended up $4 million in debt.

After filing for bankruptcy, the brand was acquired by Steve Madden in 2010, and Johnson has since revamped her fashion line to focus on lower-priced items to be sold in department stores.

Hooters filed for bankruptcy in 2025 and was sold back to a group that included the chain's founders.

Chicken-wing and skimpy-uniform restaurant chain Hooters filed for Chapter 11 protection in March and emerged several months later under a deal with the company's original founders to "re-Hooterize" the brand.

At Home's CEO said exiting bankruptcy represents 'an exciting new beginning.'

Texas-based housewares chain At Home filed for Chapter 11 protection in June and emerged in October with $2 billion less in debt, $500 million in exit financing, and a new ownership agreement among a group of its lenders.

CEO Brad Weston said the chapter now represents "an exciting new beginning."