Indy Chamber fights shrinking membership
The chamber has lost 19 percent of its members since the start of 2011, even while other chambers of commerce around the country see renewal rates recovering along with the economy.
Small Business
Articles
Ex-Hoosier funnels millions back home to local tech firms
West Coast investor Parker Hinshaw and his wife, Jean Balgrosky, in 2012 founded San Diego investment firm Bootstrap Incubation LLC and in 2013 the Bootstrap Venture Fund, which have funded three Indiana companies in less than a year. A fourth deal is about to close.
Tricky transition: Pillows balance family, business as son preps to take over
Even before taking over, Eddie Pillow is making changes at the logistics and courier company his dad started in 1988.
Reimbursement snag trips up local DNA testing firm
Strand Diagnostics LLC’s Know Error test uses DNA analysis to make sure a tissue sample that has been declared cancerous does, indeed, belong to the patient doctors think it does. But Strand is having trouble convincing Medicare that the test is medically necessary.
Breweries turn to outside investors to underwrite growth
Six breweries and two distilleries in Indiana have sought outside investments since January 2013, a few of them multiple times, federal records show. That’s up from just one brewery in both 2009 and 2010.
Flex-office operator adds 58 suites in Mass Ave area
Regus Group plc, which has other locations in the Indianapolis area, has taken more than 10,000 square feet downtown to open its latest flex-office center, where business owners can rent space by the day, week or month.
Fishers health analytics firm to expand, add workers
Healthiest Employers LLC plans to move software development to its Fishers headquarters in an expansion that will add up to 90 jobs by 2017.
Angie’s List Grand Prix sponsorship targets service providers
It was no surprise that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway approached the Indianapolis-based consumer-review service about sponsorship of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis before the inaugural event in May. But the first response from Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle was no.
Record number of Hoosier upstarts hunt for investors
Indiana companies are lining up for private investments in record numbers—a trend driven by the growth of dozens of Indianapolis technology companies that have left the startup stage and want to quickly hire and expand.
Fledgling local organization crusading for innovation
Jerry McColgin saw firsthand the power of innovation during his 15 years at Whirlpool Corp., starting on the factory floor and working up to lead an Evansville-based team of 35 people scattered across 17 countries.
Carmel retailers play defense against U.S. 31 construction
Business has skidded for some eateries along the corridor as work crews transform it into a limited access highway. Proprietors are reaching out to customers with promotions but gripping the bottom line.
Sundown Gardens moving from Carmel to Westfield
Longtime Carmel garden center Sundown Gardens is transplanting its operations to Westfield, where it’s planning an outdoor showroom and an agritourism-focused retail area.
Housing developer hopes farm hooks new residents
A growing number of housing developers thinks farms, rather than golf clubs, are the perfect hook to lure residents. The first to experiment with the concept in central Indiana is Mike Higbee of Central Greens LLC, with his Seven Steeples Farm on the site of the old Central State Hospital.
Former restaurateur Peter George partnering on small new eatery
George, 60, is targeting an August opening for Tinker Street, a chef-driven and plant-based concept he’s launching with business partner Thomas Main, 56, who also has a restaurant background.
Surge in craft breweries strains hops supply
Hops, used as a flavoring agent, are in high demand by microbreweries that need the crop to give their pale ales and other varieties more taste than what’s found in traditional mass-market beers.
Upstart chip-maker wins space on shelves of local groceries
Mark McSweeney launched Broad Ripple Potato Chip Co. last year out of his existing business, a franchise of Great Harvest Bread Co.
Sharks decline to take Carmel firm’s bait
Carmel-based Baker’s Edge may not have landed an investment on the season finale of ABC hit “Shark Tank,” but co-founder Matt Griffin nevertheless feels good about the experience.
Angie’s List namesake extends company brand with nationwide how-to segments
Chief Marketing Officer Angie Hicks-Bowman spends an hour and a half each month recording consumer-advice segments hat are downloaded by more than 100 television stations around the country and incorporated into their own consumer news segments.
Grab-and-go meals on menu for Patachou owner
Local restaurateur and entrepreneur Martha Hoover wants to open kiosks offering healthy meals on the go in public places, including along the Monon Trail.
Sparks fly as high-tech RV-maker parts ways with CEO
Charles Hoefer Jr. charges in a lawsuit that he was fired as CEO of Global Caravan Technologies as part of a conspiracy by other company insiders to defraud him of “rightful majority ownership."