Note to Hoosier entrepreneurs: Fight on!
Great leaders are not born out of good times â?? they are born out of severe challenge.
Entrepreneurship
Articles
Franchises can be safer business investments in tough times
What is the current state of franchising, given the tough economic environment?
IT veteran to teach entrepreneurship class
Indiana University will offer a new course on entrepreneurship in the information technology sector at the IU School of Informatics
at IUPUI next semester.
Indiana Venture Center shutting down
The Indiana Venture Center, a local not-for-profit that mentors Hoosier entrepreneurs and startup companies, is shutting its
doors.
Sashay Modeling and Finishing School successful in first year
After a 25-year real estate career, Claudia Lynch opened a modeling/acting school after she couldn’t find a quality school
where her own grandchildren could have fun, learn poise and gain confidence.
Despite recession, small businesses support charity
In the Indianapolis area, small-business owners told IBJ that they give in whatever
way they can, and would like to continue as long as their finances allow. But a Chronicle
of Philanthropy survey indicates that giving is already on the decline.
Teens not as eager to go it alone in biz
In its seventh annual "Teens and Entrepreneurship" poll, Junior Achievement has found that 13- to 18-year-olds are
less interested
in starting their own businesses than they were a year ago.
Purdue University launches Center for Energy Systems and Policy to meld research, business, public policy
Last month, Purdue University launched the Center for Energy Systems and Policy to make sure its researchers
are working early in the process with business and public-policy experts at the university.
Vaunted program hits turbulence
Ball State Universityâ??s entrepreneurship program has long been considered one of the stateâ??s crown jewels in
business academics.
Former funeral director Don Kuratko started the program before entrepreneurship was cool and pushed it to
national prominence. Real-world business types like the…
Indiana’s entrepreneurial hotspots
If youâ??re an entrepreneur, or dream of one day becoming one, which place in the state offers the best
opportunity?
Are you a fan of fast-growing exurbs like Fishers? If youâ??re into medical startups, is the best spot on
the downtown…
Progress with entrepreneurship
Compendium Blogwareâ??s announcement today that it raised $1.6 million in private funding is another brick in
the wall as the Indianapolis area and the state continue their push to build a culture of entrepreneurship.
Investors are showing more interest…
The next 100 years
Thereâ??s nothing like travel to change oneâ??s perspective on the world.
Graham Toft, perhaps the stateâ??s most experienced economic development expert, has traveled a lot in the past
couple of years, consulting to state governments worried about rebounding from their doldrums.
The…
The next Fortune 500 companies
Conseco has dropped off the Fortune 500, leaving WellPoint, Lilly, Cummins and NiSource as the only Indiana companies remaining. Several Indiana firms are closing in on the elite list, though. One is Steel Dynamics, the Fort Wayne company that recycles scrap metal….
About that other airline
As postmortems fly on ATAâ??s second, and final, nosedive into bankruptcy, another Indianapolis airline is
doing
a lot better and getting hardly any attention.
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. isnâ??t a household name because it quietly flies regional routes on…
Judge this elevator speech
Results are in for Purdue Universityâ??s second annual Elevator Pitch Competition, and a transcript of the winning
pitch for the graduate-level division is below.
Bob Caswell spit this out in less than two minutes, less time than the ride to the…
Angie’s List takes on health care
As of today, youâ??ll be able to scour Angieâ??s List for ratings on doctors, health insurance and other
health
services.
The Indianapolis company made its name by rating plumbers and other home repair services.
Will the same approach work with…
Adding to the life science corridor
For years, dreamers have envisioned a life sciences crescent stretching from West Lafayette down Interstate
65 to Indianapolis, then along State Road 37 to Bloomington.
The thinking was, this corridor would take advantage of Indiana and Purdue universities and IUPUI as…
Are these incentives a good deal?
Gov. Mitch Daniels dished out $6.3 million in incentives as part of Defender Directâ??s expansion announcement
yesterday. But was the carrot a good deal for us taxpayers?
Defender Direct, which sells home security and satellite dish systems, plans to add 1,100…
Firm that sells sunglasses for large heads lands Wal-Mart deal
In March 2006, USA Today picked up a local newspaper’s profile of Indianapolis-based Fatheadz Inc., the company Rico Elmore
and two partners founded in 2005 to sell eyeglass frames for larger heads. That eventually led to the company’s big break:
A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive read the article and ordered buyers to track down Fatheadz to make a deal.
Count ’em: two IPOs
Itâ??s been awhile since the Indianapolis area has had two initial public offerings in the works at the
same
time, but thatâ??s exactly what we have. And theyâ??re software firms to boot â?? businesses Indianapolis
and other
Midwestern cities have…