In 2021, 195 CEOs Have Already Left Their Posts | This Five-Month Old Startup Allegedly Hits Unicorn Status

Plus: A Wannabe Tech Entrepreneur Stole Identities Of Care Home Patients—And His Own Mother—In $1.5 Million Covid-19 Fraud

Danielle DuBoise and Whitney Tingle have been through a lot together. Since becoming best friends in their Sedona, Arizona, seventh grade math class, they’ve turned organic plant-based meal delivery company Sakara's—started with $700 out of a 500-square-foot New York apartment—into a profitable nationwide service with $150 million in annual revenue.

Still close friends, now co-CEOs and moms, DuBoise and Tingle spend weekdays breast-pumping during board meetings and weekends FaceTiming to keep their business booming. They’ve so far managed this growth with only $4.8 million in series A funding—but yesterday they announced a $15 million series B round, largely to expand consumer packaged good offerings. In this week's must-read Forbes Under 30 story, reporter Alexandra Sternlicht takes you inside Sakara's astronomical growth.

Must Read Stories For Young Entrepreneurs

On top of running a Forbes Under 30 $2 billion-valuation design software startup, Dylan Field has become a leading collector and advocate for digital art. The CEO talks Beeple, NFTs, environmental impact and the "metaverse."

Some 195 CEOs have stepped down in the first two months of 2021, according to recruiting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Several of those departures have been high profile founder-CEOs.

Stratia Skincare blew up on Reddit in 2016 with its Liquid Gold moisturizer. In the five years since launch, founder Alli Reed continues to personally formulate each bottle and reject almost "every major beauty retailer."

Eight years and 76 investments later, BBG Ventures has proven its investment thesis backing consumer startups with at least one woman on their founding teams. Now it's gearing up again with a new $50 million early stage fund for women founders.

Pacaso, a marketplace for second homes, has raised $75 million in Series B financing that gives the five-month-old business a valuation north of $1 billion, the company announced on Wednesday.

The Pursuit

This week's collection of expert tips from Forbes contributors around the world for those building and running a business. Click to sign up instantly for The Pursuit, a biweekly essential briefing by Senior Entrepreneurs Editor Maneet Ahuja.

While Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has called working from home an “aberration” that will be “corrected as quickly as possible”, the boss of Unilever, Alan Jope, has said his office workers will never return to their desks five days a week.

Across Forbes