State spending $9M on one-stop business portal
Secretary of State Connie Lawson is spearheading the effort to make it easier for businesses to take the steps they need to get registered and get started.
Small Business
Articles
Uber launches luxury car service in Indianapolis
Want to be chauffeured in a Mercedes from Broad Ripple to downtown? The ride-sharing service is betting upscale vehicles will resonate with modest Midwesterners.
Startup now giving Interactive Intelligence big boost
Interactive Intelligence CEO Don Brown invested three years ago in a startup formed by an exiting employee. Last year, Interactive bought that startup–OrgSpan–and the move is starting to pay off.
Anderson company participates in White House Demo Day
President Barack Obama hosted the first White House Demo Day on Tuesday with more than 31 startup companies throughout the country represented, including one from Indiana.
As Angie’s List hits crossroads, shareholders get antsy
For years, the reviews company has sold memberships to consumers and advertising to service providers, but recently it’s been trying to become a marketplace that brokers transactions and gets a cut.
Few Indy companies embrace state’s new crowdfunding option
Regulations that went into effect July 1, 2014, allow Indiana businesses to solicit capital from rank-and-file Hoosiers in increments of $5,000 or less per investor. The main stipulation: Both the business and the investor(s) must be Indiana-based.
Fishers faces shortage of offices for small businesses
For businesses looking for small offices, Fishers is practically booked up. The demand for office spaces of 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet has ramped up recently in the fast-growing suburb, but supply hasn’t kept pace.
SBA loan approvals resume after Congress lifts lending limit
Loan approvals resumed after going on hold Thursday, when the SBA reached its $18.75 billion annual limit for loan guarantees.
Once-fringe Gen Con powers game industry
Indy’s annual Gen Con convention has become a powerhouse in the growing $880 million international hobby game business—and a boon for homegrown gaming startups, including Plowgames.
Indy-based health data firm snares $1.5M in VC round
Healthiest Employers LLC, which collects and measures corporate health information, plans to use the funds to drive sales of its analytics software.
Anderson tries to make downtown hip for millennials
City leaders want to establish Anderson as a cultural hotspot, patterned after Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and other places where the millennial generation is flocking.
Eight young, powerful execs show what’s next for Indy tech
All have led some of the most promising companies and organizations in the city’s burgeoning tech space for at least three years—bootstrapping and collectively raising more than $12 million in venture capital and employing about 150 people along the way.
Indy launches biz portal aimed at streamlining permitting
Indianapolis has joined about a dozen cities in hiring a California startup to develop a portal designed to help small business owners cut through red tape.
Obama overtime pay proposal raises concerns in Indiana
Owners of Indiana small businesses say a proposal by the Obama administration to give overtime pay to up to 5 million more people could force them to cut workers' hours or make changes to pay structures.
Brownsburg entrepreneur is a cryogenic-tooth-banking pioneer
Michael A. Byers’ Tooth Bank is one of a tiny group of U.S. companies catering to the latest iteration of stem cell therapy: harvesting stem cells from the pulp inside baby teeth and extracted wisdom teeth, then culturing, freezing and storing them at a cryostorage facility for later use.
Pioneer in 3D printing has high hopes for education startup
Kim Brand and a business partner have launched a “maker space” startup focused on the education market, called 1st Maker Space. It targets students in formal and informal class settings, and 3D printers are just a part of its arsenal.
Local startups’ aim: Remodel home-services industry
Angie’s List has long been considered the 800-pound gorilla in the home-services market, an industry estimated to be worth at least $400 billion annually. But three tech startups from its own back yard believe they can better connect consumers and service providers.
Fix-it man keeps typewriters clacking
Terry Vorten witnessed firsthand the death throes of a once-world-beating analog technology—the typewriter. Its destruction turned his lucrative profession repairing the machines into an anachronistic cottage industry.
Services proliferate that provide to-your-door restaurant delivery
The online ordering and delivery sector in and around Indianapolis is on the rise, with several firms either setting up shop or expanding here, hoping to capitalize on restaurant and consumer demand.
Tech firm Bookacoach calls audible on business plan
Company officers are pleased so far with a bold decision last fall to ditch the consumer marketplace entirely and instead start selling software that helps sports academies run their businesses.