The Anderson-based Flagship Enterprise Center is on a roll. In the last two months, the small-business incubator
and growth-stage accelerator signed up two new clients: software developers Soveryn Inc. and Coeus Technology.
In the recession, folks with former big-company careers
are increasingly taking jobs with small businesses. For some downsized executives, it’s about the desperate need for
a paycheck. Others, who felt impotent and pigeonholed in corporations, discover they prefer the challenge of entrepreneurship.
Cristi Melson started Purrs & Gurrs 2-1/2 years ago with an idea and some fliers she distributed door to door. She
didn’t have a formal business plan then and still doesn’t.
If nothing else, you have to admire the patience shown by ExactTarget and Aprimo, two of the area’s hottest tech companies,
as they await better conditions to launch their initial public offerings.
Industry groups in the life sciences, medical and information technology realms have helped lure companies to the region
and foster upstarts. Funding is almost always an issue, but it’s not the only barrier. Getting medical
devices to market often requires product design, development and marketing resources that aren’t
always apparent to upstarts.
Eighteen students from Indianapolis’ Haughville neighborhood sold their wares— ranging from caps and sunglasses
to purses
to home-baked cookies—as part of a summer business-education program
for low-income youth.
For a city feverishly growing its technology and life sciences sectors, it seemed a bit anticlimactic last January when
Purdue University dedicated its new technology center with only one tenant. But the lone tenant in the $12.8
million complex, FlamencoNets, a high-tech telecommunications firm, is about to get some company.
Federal stimulus funds and greenhouse-gas legislation have the potential to spark a green version of the Gold Rush. Many Indiana
firms are retooling to sell products or services that are or might soon be in demand.
The Hamilton County Alliance economic development group has spun off its Entrepreneurship Advancement Center, which serves
fast-growing startup businesses in Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield and the rest of Hamilton County.
Many young women who have participated in the Governor Bob Orr Indiana Entrepreneurial Fellowship program have landed at high-flying local technology firms.
More emerging life science companies have found life in the form of federal
Small Business Innovation Research grants.
After working in retail management for four years, Rich and Jodi Scheve decided to take business into their own hands—and
their own garage. Passing on business plans for Subway and South Bend Chocolate Co. franchises, the couple
skirted heavy franchise fees and started Twisted Wick Candle Co.
For four decades, Jim Ashby worked as a manufacturing floor manager, first for General Motors Corp., then, after a buyout,
for an Ingersoll Rand subsidiary. He likes to relax and fish, but Ashby considers himself too energetic for retirement. He’s
now 67 years old. And a first-time entrepreneur.
Certified public accountant Dave Norris bought a 1976 Good Humor truck and started his family-owned U Want Ice Cream mobile
route in 2007, aiming to make a personal connection with people—along with
a little extra money.
Nobody familiar with the intricacies of naming a business thinks the process is easy. Not if the messages
words send to potential customers are grasped.
So itâ??s easy to understand why the Indianapolis area is filling up with companies one way…
In this deep recession, many local small-business owners suffer a harsh dilemma: Heavily tied to a single supplier,
customer or industry, they must diversify or die.
Beneath Americaâ??s financial woes lies a lack of innovation, a recent BusinessWeek article argues. A paucity
of breakthrough products could have triggered the nationâ??s borrowing binge and ultimately the financial meltdown,
it says.
Hereâ??s the logic: A decade ago,…
Former Indianapolis Mayor Steve Goldsmith, never one to let grass grow under his feet, has started a not-for-profit
with one-time presidential candidate Howard Dean to promote Goldsmithâ??s pet cause of public-private partnerships.
The Council of Project Finance Advisors aims…
Since January, Heartland Distillers has turned out several small batches of its first signature spirit—Indiana Vodka—available at about 300 area retailers.
With sales slowed to a crawl, some entrepreneurs must take second jobs working for others to make ends meet.
