Notebook

Statistics and miscellaneous information about start-ups.

By Leslie Brokaw | 
 

They're everywhere, part I: one in eight people harbors a secret desire to start a company. That's according to a University of Minnesota study. What's more, when contacted a year later, a quarter of them had actually gone out and opened a business.

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They're everywhere, part II: 19% of executive and professional women are planning to go into business for themselves, and another 19% are considering taking the plunge. So says a survey of members of professional women's associations.

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Forty-six percent of last year's INC. 500 companies were family businesses. The breakdown:

Spouses 52%

Sons 22

Siblings 21

Daughters 17

Parents 16

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A Montpelier, Vt., business is nuts for the forest -- the Brazilian rain forest, that is. Started by ice-cream guy Ben Cohen after he met a nut importer at a Grateful Dead rain-forest benefit, Community Products' stated purpose is to provide a market for Brazil's renewable resources. With sales of Rainforest Crunch nut brittle projected at more than $1 million this year, 60% of profits are dedicated to environmental and peace groups.

-- Leslie Brokaw