Zack Crockett Senior Writer at The Hustle

Zachary Crockett
Senior Writer, The Hustle

Business and entrepreneurship

What it looks like to ascend from sales to CEO at a Fortune 500 company

The new CEO of Clorox has an amazing resume. ...

Zachary Crockett • August 6, 2020

The collectors who spend thousands on rare Hot Wheels

By day, Bruce Pascal is a successful commercial real estate executive who brokers multimillion-dollar deals in the nation’s capital. By night, he buys $5k...

Zachary Crockett • August 1, 2020

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought with cash?

A few years ago, Roy Chong, a solar salesman living in San Diego, spotted the Rolex of his dreams on a watch forum. The...

Zachary Crockett • July 26, 2020

Money and Markets

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought in cash?

Fill out our survey, and we’ll share the most entertaining responses this Sunday. ...

Zachary Crockett • July 22, 2020

Meet the company that sells your lost airplane luggage

Imagine this: An airline loses your checked bag. After an extensive search, customer support comes up empty-handed. They compensate you and life goes on....

Zachary Crockett • July 11, 2020

How my dad got scammed for $3,000 worth of gift cards

At 2:30 pm on a recent Monday, my dad received a jarring phone call. A man claiming to be a federal agent (David White,...

Zachary Crockett • July 5, 2020

The house servant who pioneered the franchising business model

Martha Matilda Harper defied social roadblocks and gender norms to build a successful chain of hair salons. More than a century later, she’s still...

Zachary Crockett • June 28, 2020

3 stories of black-owned businesses damaged in the riots

In cities across the country, rioters have taken advantage of peaceful protests, damaging, looting, and destroying local businesses — many of them owned by...

Zachary Crockett • June 6, 2020

How a Florida couple “flipped” their way to a 6-figure income

Rob and Melissa Stephenson make a full-time living by scouring flea markets for discarded items — baby strollers, forklifts, prosthetic legs — and flipping...

Zachary Crockett • May 30, 2020

Silicon Valley’s favorite magician reimagines his act in the age of Zoom

Daniel Chan has stumped billionaires, CEOs, and engineers with his technology-driven tricks. Now, in the age of Zoom, he’s trying to pivot. ...

Zachary Crockett • May 10, 2020

The man feeding a remote Alaska town with a Costco card and a ship

When Gustavus, Alaska, was cut off from its grocery supply chain, one resident decided to take action. ...

Zachary Crockett • May 3, 2020

Everyone is baking — and entrepreneurs are rising up to meet the demand

A look at the numbers behind the latest quarantine craze, and the small businesses that are filling a gap in the market. ...

Zachary Crockett • April 18, 2020

small businesses

How small business owners survived the Great Recession

As COVID-19 rattles small businesses around the country, inspiration can be drawn from the stories of those who survived the last financial crisis. ...

Zachary Crockett • April 11, 2020

Meet the COVID-19 college graduates

On March 11, I opened my inbox to find an email from my soon-to-be-alma-mater, Pomona College: In light of COVID-19, I had a week...

Zachary Crockett • April 7, 2020

The end-of-the-world business is booming

There’s an old fable that doomsday preppers are particularly fond of: An industrious ant spends an entire summer gathering grain, while his neighbor,...

Zachary Crockett • March 28, 2020

Amid a pandemic, Uber drivers choose between health and livelihood

In the age of COVID-19 — of work-from-home quarantines, sweatpants, and Facetime cocktails — Mostafa Maklad’s routine is largely the same. His day...

Zachary Crockett • March 22, 2020

The economics of cruise ships

Cruise ships are often called “monsters” of the sea. If you’ve ever seen one in action, you’ll understand why: A vessel like Royal...

Zachary Crockett • March 15, 2020

How a small candy company became Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

If investing were a video game, you might suspect Warren Buffett of using some kind of cheat code. His holding company, Berkshire Hathaway,...

Zachary Crockett • March 8, 2020

How Mount Everest became a multimillion-dollar business

It is said that from the 29,029-foot summit of Mount Everest, you can see the curvature of the Earth. But for the hundreds of...

Zachary Crockett • February 23, 2020

The unpredictable economics of pawn shops

You’re down on luck, your funds are running low, and you’re in dire need of a few hundred bucks in cash — ASAP....

Zachary Crockett • February 15, 2020

The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

Few things epitomize America more than the all-you-can-eat buffet. For a small fee, you’re granted unencumbered access to a wonderland of gluttony. It...

Zachary Crockett • January 25, 2020

Why it only costs $10k to ‘own’ a Chick-fil-A franchise

In America, the majority of fast-food restaurants aren’t owned by the corporation itself, but by franchisees — individuals who pay for the right to...

Zachary Crockett • January 19, 2020

Can a corporation "own" a color?

On a summer day in 2019, Daniel Schreiber opened his mailbox to find a threatening letter from one of the world’s largest telecom...

Zachary Crockett • January 12, 2020

The economics of unused gift cards

The most desired item on wish lists this past holiday season wasn’t a pair of Airpods, a Nintendo Switch, or a Baby Yoda...

Zachary Crockett • January 4, 2020

Reminder: Your phone is tracking your every move (and the data isn’t so anonymous)

Anonymous cell phone location data isn’t so anonymous after all. Here’s what you can do about it. ...

Zachary Crockett • December 20, 2019

How much would it cost to buy all of the items in ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’?

If you’re looking to buy your lover all those turtle doves and gold rings, you better be ready to shell out $39k. ...

Zachary Crockett • December 19, 2019

The Baby Yoda black market is booming

Online platforms like Amazon and Etsy are rife with unofficial Baby Yoda merchandise. ...

Zachary Crockett • December 18, 2019

Millennials aren’t buying lottery tickets

Among the 121m hopefuls who buy lotto tickets annually, one group is woefully underrepresented: the young’uns. ...

Zachary Crockett • December 17, 2019

The man who made the “worst” video game in history

On April 25, 2014, a bulldozer ripped into a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and unearthed a trove of 30-year-old Atari video games....

Zachary Crockett • December 14, 2019

Why some of America’s top CEOs take a $1 salary

In the last few decades, a curious trend has emerged: A small but growing number of prominent CEOs have reduced their cash salary...

Zachary Crockett • December 8, 2019

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