Business Stories Magazine FAQ

An independent online magazine publishing long-form interviews with founders, creatives and small business owners across the United States. It has been publishing since 2018 and is produced in Los Angeles, California by Michael Huston, with Steve Gladwell as editor.

Yes. It is an independent online magazine published by Michael Huston and edited by Steve Gladwell in Los Angeles. Every interview names a real founder and their business, carries a date and a byline, and stays online at a permanent address. You can read the masthead, see what featured founders have said, and check our verified Instagram account, which more than 12,000 people follow. If you want to look us up before replying, we would rather you did.

Because we read something you did. We approach founders after reading their work or an earlier interview, not from a purchased list. If you received a note from us, someone here read your story first and thought it belonged in the magazine.

Our editors write to founders from a few addresses of their own, so the sender will not always end in businessstoriesmag.com. A genuine note comes from an address ending in businessstoriesmagpress.com, businessstoriesmagmedia.com, businessstoriesmagnews.com, businessstoriesmedia.com, businessstoriesmagazine.com or businessstoriesmag.co. If you want to be certain, forward the message to michael@businessstoriesmag.com and we will confirm it came from us.

It starts with us deciding whether the story is a fit, and that is the part not everyone gets past. If it is, we send you a set of written questions. You answer them in your own time. There is no call to schedule and no camera. Our editor edits for length and clarity, you read the finished piece, and once you are happy with it we publish.

Most founders spend under an hour. The questions are written, you answer whenever suits you, and there is no call to schedule. You can finish in one sitting or return to it over a few days.

A great, authentic story, told in your own words in the written answers, and a few photos: a clear picture of you for the cover, plus any of your work, your team or your space. Phone photos are fine if they are sharp.

Yes, always. Nothing is published that you have not read. You can correct anything that misstates what you meant, and you can ask us not to publish at all.

Yes. Answer the ones you want to answer. Most interviews run to about a dozen questions and no one answers all of them.

Yes, permanently, at the same address. We do not take interviews down. A feature that quietly disappears is worth nothing to the person who sat for it.

Write to the editor and we will correct it on the original page: a new company name, a new role, a new web address, years later if need be. There is no time limit and no charge, and the link you already shared keeps working.

Yes. Share and quote your interview anywhere (your site, a pitch deck, a newsletter) and use our publication logo when you link to it. We ask only that quotations link back to the original page.

Yes. We share features on our Instagram, where founders are tagged so they can repost to their own audience. Not many magazines do this for the people they feature, and it is one of the things founders tell us they love most: the post is often how new people first find their story.

Yes. Interviews are built so they show up when someone searches your name or your business. Founders tell us customers and clients read the piece before booking or buying, because people want to know who they are dealing with.

No. We approach founders whose work we have already read, and we are looking for a story with something real in it: a genuine turning point, a decision that cost something, a business that was built rather than bought. Not everyone we speak to ends up in the magazine. We would rather publish fewer interviews than fill the archive with pieces nobody would read twice.

Most interviews start with us approaching a founder, but you are welcome to pitch your founder story and we will consider it. Write to michael@businessstoriesmag.com, tell us what you are building and why now is an interesting moment for it, and include a link to your work. We read everything that comes in, and we will tell you either way.