Bernadette Castro: My Biggest Mistake
Bernadette Castro Commissioner, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and former CEO of Castro C... Read story
Mike Hofman
Capital Customer
Starting a company? Consider using your first customer as an ersatz incubator. That's what Scott Mitchell did to get his business, Learning Productions, i... Read story
Upstarts: Obsession Marketing
Taking their cue from the Beanie Babies mania, some start-ups hope to create the next big consumer fad. Plus: Q A with the man responsible for impo... Read story
Al Shugart: My Biggest Mistake
Founder and chairman of Al Shugart International, a venture-capital firm based in Santa Cruz, Calif.; and founder and former chairman of Seagate Techn... Read story
Software to Watch over Me
What if you could mine your employees' e-mail for useful information? You can, thanks to Tacit Knowledge Systems. But will visions of Big Brother watching ov... Read story
Sign of the Times: Culture Gets Benched
When college dropouts Andrew Perlman and Mark Land founded Cignal Global Communications, a fiber-optic data-communications company, five years ago, they r... Read story
The Store Next Door
Erstwhile competitors Crate and Barrel and the Container Store discovered that working together and selling side-by-side can boost the bottom line for both r... Read story
War Stories
Reviews of three new business books -- one on why starting a company is like waging war, one about a high-profile venture capital firm, and one on why you sh... Read story
Sign of the Times: Culture Gets Benched
When college dropouts Andrew Perlman and Mark Land founded Cignal Global Communications, a fiber-optic data-communications company, five years ago, they r... Read story
War Stories
Reviews of three new business books -- one on why starting a company is like waging war, one about a high-profile venture capital firm, and one on why you sh... Read story
Any Given Start-Up
In years past, only a Super Bowl ring could light up the eyes of a burly football player. Now he's just as likely to perk up over a new dot-com. Pro athletes... Read story
Obit: Restaurateurs Lose Grip on Star's Coattails
What better celebrity to endorse your restaurant than Michael Jordan? But when the owners' friendship with their celebrity patron deteriorated, it was only a... Read story
Urban Outfitters
Inner-city businesses are finding that some of their best friends are in city hall. The mayors of many cities across America -- including Austin, Chicago, Cl... Read story
What? Me Worry?
Reviews of four new business books -- two on minimizing risks and competing with the big guys, one on how to effect change, and one about setting up a home o... Read story
Lost in the Translation
Communication is tough. It's even tougher when workers don't speak your language Managing workers who don't speak English as their... Read story
Your Basic qué pasa?
Communicating with non-English-speaking workers isn't just an intellectual exercise; it's a daily, hands-on challenge, says Lisa Willis Johnson of the Soc... Read story
Hot Tip: Executive Recruiter
Need great people? Add an executive recruiter to your management team. That's the move Madeline Schroeder made when she was hired as CEO ... Read story
Hot Tip: Integrated Employers
If you own more than one company, you may risk losing your small-business exemption under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) . The De... Read story
The European Road Show
By most accounts, getting ready for an initial public offering is a bear. For days at a time, a CEO must schlepp from city to city, pitching his or her co... Read story
Nina Zagat: My Biggest Mistake
NINA ZAGAT Cofounder of Zagat Survey LLC, a New York City-based publisher of restaurant and travel guides When m... Read story
Wage Wars
An employee who makes $35,000 a year might think that's a great salary. But if he learns that a peer makes $40,000, suddenly he's an Upton Sinclair charac... Read story
Nina Zagat: My Biggest Mistake
NINA ZAGAT Cofounder of Zagat Survey LLC, a New York City-based publisher of restaurant and travel guides When m... Read story
The Metamorphosis
Roy Wetterstrom saw his successful high-tech consulting company about to hit a dead end. So he's risking everything to remake it from top to bottom. Read story
The Incredible Shrinking Web Site
Remember the "level playing field" theory of the Web? How in cyberspace size didn't matter because even the most picayune start-up could conceal its lack ... Read story
The Razor's Edge
With a hip target market and a cool product concept, Todd Greene hopes to carve out a niche for himself in the tough razor industry. But can the HeadBlade cu... Read story
Why Stuff Happens
Reviews of five new business books -- two books about why some products fly and others fail; two business novels; and a new edition of a treasured favorite. ... Read story
In a Former Life: Merrie Spaeth
MERRIE SPAETH, 51 Present life: Founder of communications-training consultancy Spaeth Communications Inc., hea... Read story
Everything I Know about Leadership, I Learned From the Movies
A look at 10 films that can help teach you how to inspire your organization, earn loyalty and respect from employees, turn crises into triumph, and become a ... Read story
The Metamorphosis
Roy Wetterstrom saw his successful high-tech consulting company about to hit a dead end. So he's risking everything to remake it from top to bottom. Read story
The Incredible Shrinking Web Site
Remember the "level playing field" theory of the Web? How in cyberspace size didn't matter because even the most picayune start-up could conceal its lack ... Read story
Myth 3: Smart Money Makes You Smart
Think any Internet start-up can get venture capital? Not true. Entrepreneur Cliff Young had to grow his company before the VCs came calling. Read story
Myth 5: Brand Is Everything
NetGrocer.com's interim CEO Fred Horowitz shifted his site's focus from branding to selling groceries -- and created a spectacular turnaround in the process. Read story
Myth 7: Community, Community, Community
Think you need a chat room on your Web site to be successful? Here's how Paramount Services realized that not every Internet business begets a cult. Read story
Undiscovered Country
Sunpoint Products Inc., in Lawrence, Mass., a maker of cleaning products, has been using every bit of packaging real estate to establish and extend its br... Read story
Hot Tip: Budget Branding Campaign
Alexandra Volkmann, CEO of Heavy Duty skin products, in Carmel, Calif., knows how to get creative on the cheap. She needed some art for h... Read story
The Lesson You Never Forget
Even when you're a high-end prestige-service provider with rich customers, price matters. Take, for example, Auto Glass Plus (AGP) in Carrollton, Tex., wh... Read story
In a Former Life: Chris Rooney
CHRIS ROONEY, 58 Present life: Rooney is the CEO of Cignal Global Communications Inc., a three-year-old teleco... Read story
Myth 5: Brand Is Everything
NetGrocer.com's interim CEO Fred Horowitz shifted his site's focus from branding to selling groceries -- and created a spectacular turnaround in the process. Read story
Myth 7: Community, Community, Community
Think you need a chat room on your Web site to be successful? Here's how Paramount Services realized that not every Internet business begets a cult. Read story
Myth 3: Smart Money Makes You Smart
Think any Internet start-up can get venture capital? Not true. Entrepreneur Cliff Young had to grow his company before the VCs came calling. Read story
