How I learned To Focus

Arianna Huffington, the co-founder of the Huffington Post, surprised many when she announced last year that she would be stepping down. She is throwing her energy behind a second startup, Thrive Global. In just under six months, New York City-based Thrive has signed deals worth “multiple millions of dollars.” Clients include Uber (where she’s a board member), Accenture, and Airbnb. Thrive recently doubled its sales targets for 2017. The company generates revenue primarily by charging businesses for its workshops and seminars focused on health and wellness, and via branded content that runs on its platform, the Thrive Journal. It also sells some consumer products, such as a $100 iPhone bed. The biggest challenge, Huffington admits, has been learning how to focus.

- Zoe Henry

THE BIG CHALLENGE HAS BEEN prioritization. I’m the kind of person who wants to do it all and work with every company that comes to me. Early on at Thrive, though, we needed to decide what to focus on.

On the corporate side, we made the tough decision to create what we call “below the line”—potential partners that we’ll get to, but only after we take advantage of the big opportunities. For example, we recently launched with SAP, which will put us in front of more than 3,000 corporations in one fell swoop. We are also developing a digital coaching program with IBM’s virtual assistant, Watson.