  - Tracking the No-Collar Nomads
- Busy professionals flee the suits and corporate suites for caffeinated days at the wi-fi coffee shop. One stomping ground: The Grind in Lincoln Square.
Thu Nov 09 2006
| |   - Form Meets Function for Dinner
- Crucial Detail makes the highly inventive serviceware for the world-renowned restaurant Alinea. Designer Martin Kastner and Alinea’s partners, Nick Kokonas and uberchef Grant Achatz, are expanding the product line beyond the trade market. Wed Nov 08 2006
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 - A Meeting of the Entrepreneurial Minds
- At the Chicago tech-scene gathering known as Chicago Beta, entrepreneurs networked and compared notes. Several got a chance to give 60-second pitches to run their business ideas past their peers. Tue Nov 07 2006
| |   - A Private Eye Gleans Intel from the Corporate World
- To help firms get an accurate picture of the competitive landscape, detective Jim Miller stakes out shipping yards and sends attractive investigators to trade shows. His advice: use a shredder and avoid paranoia. (This article originally ran on November 6th.) Mon Nov 06 2006
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 - Espionage Comes to College
- Working with an instructor and the beleaguered CIA's approval, a UIC marketing class created ads and a promotional event designed to lure fellow collegians into the "adventurous" life as an Agency employee. Fri Nov 03 2006
| |  - Spotlight on The Hypocrites: Past Performances, Future Funding
- The Chicago theater troupe rolled out the red Dada posters for their 10th anniversary fundraiser, with a goal to generate $20,000 of their annual $130,000 budget. During a journey back through earlier shows, company members discussed the economics of indie theater. Thu Nov 02 2006
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 - Start-up Execs Pitch Their Companies for a Suitcase Full of Loot
- At Freshwater Venture's Chicago Entrepreneurs event, reps from three new companies — GrubHub, Inkling Markets and PrepMe — touted their firms in front of a who's who of Web 1 and 2.0 all-stars. The prize: $500 in cash. Wed Nov 01 2006
| |  - Entrepreneur-O-Rama
- Last week at the U of C's Gleacher Center, Freshwater Venture got many of the most successful entrepreneurs and innovators in Chicago together in one room. Sharing their start-up stories were people from Peapod, Careerbuilder and Orbitz. Tue Oct 31 2006
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 - The Hops and Barley Approach to Innovation
- Goose Island has produced more than 200 beers over the years, including its flagship Honker’s Ale and recent top-seller 312. Brewmaster Greg Hall doesn’t rely on focus groups to greenlight his ideas. To do market research, he says, “I go out drinking.” Mon Oct 30 2006
| |  - Office 2.0
- Cleversafe needed a work space to reflect the new realities of the modern tech age — something for employees who don’t need personal desks, paper or wires. They tapped architecture students from IIT to help them build it. Fri Oct 27 2006
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 - Who Let the Dogs Out?
- Marc Matlin bailed out of a career in finance to start Chicago Dog Walkers, Inc. He now has a staff of 44, each responsible for anywhere from 8 to 16 canines daily. But it's a dog eat dog world: his fiercest competitors, he says, aren't potheads, but former attorneys and accountants. Thu Oct 26 2006
| |  - From Gold Watches to Hawaiian Trips: Touring the Employee Motivation Show
- The Motivation Show at McCormick Place featured a range of items, vacations and tactics designed to reward employees for their service. Wed Oct 25 2006
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