Articles

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…

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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….

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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.

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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…

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‘Creative class’ debunked?

The Wall Street Journal carried an interesting op-ed piece yesterday by a researcher who claimed cities are
putting their eggs in the wrong basket by trying to attract young single professionals with a â??brew-latte-and-they-will-come-approach.â??

Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow at Chapman University,…

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Home entrepreneurs test child-care waters

Motherhood is a common path to the home-based child care business, but more childless women looking for self-employment options
also are getting into the field. Nearly 3,000 Indiana child-care providers are licensed to provide services in their homes–including
469 in Marion County.

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Ex-banker creates empire by buying, boosting sleepy businesses

Riverside Manufacturing was a sleepy New Castle firm with $5 million in sales when Fred Merritt bought it to try his hand
at running a company. Five years later, Riverside’s sales have grown a whopping 800 percent, it dominates its industry, and
Merritt, 39, is ready to work his magic on an Indianapolis company.

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New Chamber forum lets startups have a shot

The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce is developing a new weapon for local startups-Slingshot, a business-networking
forum that will give budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to swing sales meetings directly with high-ranking corporate executives.

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