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Local startup generates ripe software sales prospects: LeadJen quadruples revenue in less than two years

Salespeople dread dead-end leads. They’re eager to pitch to CEOs, so they’re livid when the prospecting process leads to meetings with janitors. “You can’t make a bad sales rep good just by giving him good leads,” said Bill Johnson, CEO of Indianapolis-based startup LeadJen. “But you can tell quickly if your message is [reaching] the people you want to hear it.” Johnson knows the dilemma well. He has two decades of experience selling software and is best known locally as…

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Bank exec forms electric-vehicle biz

Banker Steve Tolen is attempting to resuscitate the electric car. Tolen believes conditions are ripe for an upstart automaker
to launch a safe battery-powered vehicle capable of rapid acceleration, highway speeds and over 100 miles of distance between
charges.

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Will state’s job growth always trail nation’s?

You usually have to swallow your pride when it comes time to forecast the growth of the Indiana economy. That’s because no matter what your heart says, your head tells you what the best forecast will be. That is the one that pulls up well short of growth in the rest of the country. There are a lot of talented people working hard around the state trying to change that. And if the full truth be told, most of our…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Want to launch a rocket from your USB port?

I’m as much of a capitalist as anybody, but even I’m amazed sometimes at what a free market can come up with. Thanks to one little tiny addition to modern computers, a whole industry has opened up. That addition is the USB port, a little slot on the case of almost all present-day computers. Most now have two or more, in fact. “USB” stands for “universal serial bus,” and it’s replaced the older D-shaped serial ports, round PS2 mouse and…

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Fascination with fans pays off: Fanimation’s unique designs sustain company amid tough competition

Try saying that three times fast. Or better yet, check out Frampton’s eclectic innovations at the local showrooms that stock them. Frampton, 51, is president of Fanimation Inc. in Zionsville, a designer and distributor of custom fans that circulate a cool breeze in ways rivaled only by his collection of bizarre antique models that often provide his inspiration. Foremost among his unusual creations of ceilingmounted fans is the futuristic Enigma, which sports a single blade and was featured in a…

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PROFILE: Iasta.com Inc.: From chemicals to coatings E-sourcing software streamlines purchasing cycle

Iasta.comInc. From chemicals to coatings E-sourcing software streamlines purchasing cycle Companies wanting to gain a strategic foothold in today’s fast-paced Internet-based supply chain marketplace are turning to companies like Indianapolisbased Iasta, an e-sourcing software and services company. Co-founder David Bush, senior vice president for business development, said Iasta’s software product allows companies to be more competitive in tracking work flow and to conduct reverse auctions where suppliers can bid for their business. An Indiana University environmental science graduate, Bush started…

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Reaching the Pinnacle: Local women forge a path to the top in health care management

Local women forge a path to the top in health care management Health care is the second-fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing more than 12 million workers, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Women make up nearly 80 percent of the health care work force, and increasingly they’re moving into the executive ranks. Locally, St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, Riley Hospital for Children and Noblesville’s Riverview Hospital all have women at the helm. And women hold top…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Despite the doomsayers, manufacturing still matters

From a manufacturing perspective, the United States in the 21st century is a curious place. In 1950s, science promised us the day when high-technology advances would perfrom a whole range of mundane work, thus releasing humanity to the pursuit of more noble intellectual and fulfilling activities. A half-century later, much of that promise-at least from the technology side-has been fulfilled. Yet, curiously, when the natural evolution of the free market affects U.S. manufacturing, all manner of handwringing and doom-saying emerge….

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PROFILE: KARLA SNEEGAS: Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana

PROFILE KARLA SNEEGAS Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana Karla Sneegas is primed for battle. With the fervor of an ancient Crusader, this pint-sized warrior is fighting a “just war” to reduce Indiana’s addiction to tobacco as executive director of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency. At 4 feet, 11 inches, Sneegas is well-prepared for all foes. She’s armed with knowledge learned as a public health professional and as former director of South Carolina’s…

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IU life sciences startup attracts former Lilly exec: INphoton attempts to commercialize high-tech cellular imaging techniques

It doesn’t have a headquarters or any full-time employees yet. But local life sciences startup INphoton LLC has attracted something equally important: an experienced manager. This month, INphoton hired Steven Plump, Eli Lilly and Co.’s former chief marketing officer, as its CEO. Plump, who retired from Lilly in 2006 after a 30-year career there, hopes to commercialize the high-tech research imaging techniques that INphoton’s founders discovered in Indiana University laboratories. In the process, INphoton could cut pharmaceutical companies’ cost of…

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BULLS & BEARS: Shift to restricted stock not always good news

In recent decades, companies accelerated their use of stockbased awards as a compensation method. The key argument for these compensation plans was that they align managerial interests with stockholder interests. The modern stockoption plan originated at the young technology firms-which, short on cash, instead issued equity to compensate and motivate employees. As the riches began to flow, option programs escalated at larger firms that weren’t cash poor but proclaimed the alignment-of-interests theme. The option largesse was encouraged by accounting fantasy,…

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Service drives education software maker: Angel Learning quickly weathers PR setback

When The Indianapolis Star reported on its front page in mid-May that Indianapolis Public Schools had accidentally exposed thousands of private student records online, it was a potentially enormous public relations setback for locally based education software maker Angel Learning. Angel Learning had provided the software, and CEO Christopher Clapp said he immediately asked staffers to send explanation emails to all 300 of his customers. They then followed up with phone calls. He wanted to assuage clients’ worries right away….

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Is techno-speak making your mind spin?

A BBC online story from November got me thinking about funny looks. I get those a lot, and not just because most mornings I look like a poorly repaired sidewalk. I get them because of the words I use. But I can’t help it. Nobody in technology can help it. When we talk about technology, we always sound like we’re mumbling jargon, even when we’re not. The article (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6118828.stm) dealt with the frustration workers have with supposedly cool business jargon,…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: ‘Rip’ is just right for CICP

It’s been 15 months since Central Indiana Corporate Partnership CEO Mark Miles wrote in these pages that he felt like Rip Van Winkle when he returned to the city after being away for 15 years. Miles has done anything but sleep since he got back. Neither has the CICP board of directors. That group should be congratulated for making an outstanding choice of a new leader and for taking bold steps forward. This seems to have been a perfect match…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Infrastructure is costly to improve, but costlier to ignore

A recent article in Strategy+business magazine estimated that “the world’s urban infrastructure needs a $41 trillion makeover” between now and 2030. The article explained that $41 trillion is roughly equivalent to the “2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world.” Some experts think that “new technology” will be the answer, and it may be when nanotechnology takes over the world. For now, however, the trend usually reinforces the trend, and we do the same…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Creation of state officer reconfirms value of GIS

Virtually unnoticed in the spate of bills that emerged from the 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly was creation of a new officer in state government who can be extremely helpful in the state’s economic development efforts. The law creating a Geographic Information Officer, or GIO, gives official status to an important discipline that has been blossoming over the last 25 years and is increasingly relied upon in business and political decision-making. A Geographic Information System is a collection…

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Techpoint honors Indiana companies, educators: Judges narrow 80 nominees to 13 Mira winners

This year’s recipients of Techpoint’s Mira awards include some of the area’s best-known technology startups as well as lower-profile firms that have racked up big achievements. On May 18, the technology trade group was scheduled to acknowledge the accomplishments of Hoosier entrepreneurs in information technology, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and education with its eighth annual gala at the Indiana Roof Ballroom downtown. “It’s always good to recognize companies and give them a pat on the back, put them on the…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Wireless world making research more difficult

If you’re thinking of getting a job as a researcher, you should know it is a lonely life we lead. The world outside our offices sees issues in black and white that appear to us as infinite shades of gray. And when we occasionally emerge from our cubicles to deliver our results to the public, we are told either that we have a stranglehold on the obvious or that we have no concept of the real world. But the world…

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NOTIONS: Beyond election reform, electorate re-engagement

I once spent a day serving as an Allen County election official. I was 20-something. I worked for Fort Wayne’s mayor. And on Election Day, the mayor expected us to work the polls. For the sake of nostalgia and monotonyinterrupting conversations, I got myself assigned to the precinct at my high school. On the appointed Tuesday, I showed up at 5:15 a.m., did my voter-watching/guardagainst-shenanigans-by-the-other-party thing for 12 hours and helped with votecounting for two hours after that. Then I…

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Full Perspective Video Services Inc.: Marketing firm is one-stop shop Company stays agile thanks to logistics unit

After a stint in public accounting, Whetzel went to work for Fleming Packaging Co., a firm that duplicated and distributed videotapes. After taking some losses on a couple of projects, the owners of Fleming didn’t see the potential for video duplication and distribution, so Whetzel and business partner Charlie Seldon bought the company in 1991. Doing the deal wasn’t easy. “I borrowed from family, refinanced the house, and took everything out of savings,” he said. “I was dead broke and…

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