  - 9 entrepreneurs. 9 new business ideas. 60 seconds each to present them. Go.
- At the Goose Island Brewery, a group hoping to ride the Web 2.0 wave came out to network, knock back some beer and pitch their start-ups. Fri Oct 06 2006
| |   - Corporate America's Version of the Conference Room Gets an Extreme Makeover
- At the offbeat meeting facility known as the Catalyst Ranch, there are toys on the tables and orange paint on the walls. The idea? Get people to think differently. Thu Oct 05 2006
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  - Playing a Different Tune: Handmade Instruments in the Age of Cheap Imports
- Sure, Lakland Basses has a model made in Korea, but the 300 instruments they crank out here each year are beloved by bassists from U2, Aerosmith and Bob Dylan's band. Wed Oct 04 2006
| |  - The Treasure Hunter
- When it comes to finding things like Japanese textiles and African ceramics, world traveler/art dealer Douglas Dawson will only work with people he knows — or people who know what they have. Plus: how to smell a fake. Tue Oct 03 2006
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  - Freezer-door Graphics, Talking Coal-Miner Dummies, Giant Inflatable Tacos
- This year's In-store Marketing Expo at McCormick Place offered point-of-purchase marketers a range of tools to build brands and drive sales. Mon Oct 02 2006
| |  - Want a New Porsche 911 Turbo? Better Get in Line.
- When the last generation came out in 2002, the carmaker was criticized by dealers for oversaturating the market and softening up prices. Now, demand far exceeds supply in Chicagoland. Fri Sep 29 2006
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 - Prime Time for a Greener Industrial Cleaner
- For most of PortionPac’s 42-year history, “environmental” was considered a dirty word. That’s changing, as companies see that portion-controlled cleaners make sense from a safety and efficiency standpoint. Their latest convert? The State of New York. Thu Sep 28 2006
| |  - Uncommon Households: Inside the Mind of Architect Mark Peters
- His award-winning homes are high-end, enigmatic and ultra-contemporary. Yet one of his main inspirations comes in a far more cruder form: the concrete block.
Wed Sep 27 2006
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 - A 'Modern' Retail Concept Takes Aim at the Modern Age
- In the competitive world of fashion boutiques, Hejfina owner Heiji Choy tries to distinguish her store by steering customers not toward a specific look so much as an entire lifestyle. Tue Sep 26 2006
| |  - Portrait of the Artist as 'Sane, Reasonable' Business Man
- Iconoclastic Chicago painter Wesley Kimler's works can command $50k. So how does he determine his prices? Not by time invested or psychic torment endured, but by square footage. Mon Sep 25 2006
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 - Hand Jive
- When Chicago design firm 15 Letters created the "Leroy the Hand" character for client Hostway, they devised an entire back story for him -- and gave him everything from a glitzy showbiz career to an extensive porn collection. Mon Sep 25 2006
| |  - Going Once, Going Twice
- The 12 to 15 auctions Sean Susanin holds a year gross from $350,000 to $1 million in sales. In 2005, they brought in close to $7 million total. Some bidders “know no limits, know no boundaries,” he says, a fact which is never bad for business. Mon Sep 25 2006
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