Owners enjoy Melody Inn's niche as well-worn music venue
Since Melody Inn owners Dave Brown and Rob Ondrish bought the 38th and Illinois streets mainstay in 2001, they figure more than 7,000 bands have played on the 18-inch-high stage tucked just inside...
View ArticleSurveillance trailblazer Exacq Technologies touts big clients, rapid growth
Clever adaptation of new technology has helped propel Exacq Technologies’ dizzying 1,624-percent growth rate in the last three years.
View ArticleOld-school costume shop survives new competition
Costumes by Margie isn’t a strip mall box store full of packaged—and disposable—costumes for sale. The shop has a variety of clothing and accessories for rent and a staff, including owner Cheryl...
View ArticleProduction firm turns out TV shows without leaving state
Indiana-based MMY Productions, an independent production company that specializes in reality TV, is working on a new show that chronicles action at Terre Haute's Crossroads Raceway.
View ArticleOffice-supply cooperative Stationers lands big contract
A local company whose mission is to help mom-and-pop office-products dealers survive has a new weapon in the fight against big-box retailers.
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INSIDE DISH: Saffron Cafe surges in second year
After a $150,000 startup and skin-of-their-teeth opening in 2009, sales at downtown's Moroccan eatery have spiked as word has spread.
View ArticleHoly Cross startup sees plenty of room for more craft brewers
A startup brewery called Flat 12 Bierwerks has ignited a revival along lonely Dorman Street in Holy Cross, one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods.
View ArticleWrecker business emerges from sad circumstances
After Tammy and Tony Hanna each lost a parent to cancer, the couple took $175,000 from their parents’ life-insurance policies to start Hanna’s Wrecker Service. It opened in October 2008 with five...
View ArticleFountain Square staple Peppy Grill thrives on independence
The sign behind the counter at the we-never-close greasy spoon sums up its distinct personality: “Cows may come and cows may go, but the bull in this place goes on forever.”
View ArticleRise of machines bodes well for tech firm Mesh Systems
The founder of Mesh Systems, a company that develops wireless “machine-to-machine” communications software and hardware, says his products have countless applications. Earlier this month, Mesh closed...
View ArticleFamily has steely plan for shifting business to next generation
Westfield Steel owners Karyn and Fred Prine are well on the way to transitioning to the next generation—son Fritz—thanks to timely planning.
View ArticleCustom work helps tiny sign shop land big clients
ACS Sign Solutions is a small Hoosier company with a far reach, landing recent deals to create signs for The New York Times offices and Avon Cosmetics’ corporate headquarters in Manhattan.
View ArticleBig-box connection helps duo fight microbes
An Anderson-based company plans to take on popular disinfectants like Lysol with a mold-preventive product that its two founders have already convinced national home-improvement chain Home Depot to sell.
View ArticleHomegrown firm creates stir with Bloody Mary mix
Hoosier Momma Bloody Mary mix started 18 months ago and already is a profitable entity available in 350 locations and six states. This month, Hoosier Momma expanded into Kentucky, thanks to a deal with...
View ArticleNot all fun and games for north-side comedy club
New owners' focus on business practices, bigger-name comedians put Morty’s Comedy Joint on stronger footing.
View ArticleBig ambitions for small planning firm
Eden Collaborative, the three-man company Adam Thies founded in 2004, is working to revitalize St. Clair Place on Indianapolis’ east side, among other projects.
View ArticleOwner launches HVAC business after selling family firm
Larry Howald sold his father’s 40-employee HVAC business to Lennox in 2000 during a wave of industry consolidation. He stayed with the firm for a decade, but has now left to strike out on his own again.
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Martinsville Candy Kitchen hangs hopes on handmade canes
Shop owners John and Pam Badger churn out more than 20,000 candy canes in November and December, but they'd like to boost business the other 10 months of the year.
View ArticleContractor uses 'process mapping' to overhaul business
ProClad Inc. founder Brad Hitzfield invested in a 30-year business veteran to help him remake his specialty construction firm when profits couldn't keep pace with revenue.
View ArticleStartup coaches clients on dating
Miss Pivot is a social-skills training company that offers one-on-one coaching from professional “wing” women, group classes on topics like starting conversations, and now a mobile app that promises...
View ArticleEntrepreneurs see early success with new liqueur
Blue MF is a vodka-and-rum-based liqueur concocted by three Indiana University fraternity brothers turned entrepreneurs. Their firm, Indianapolis-based More Fun Liqueur, launched its signature drink in...
View ArticleFirm finds opportunity helping employers with hiring
Rushville-based Barada Associates Inc. specializes in helping business clients make good hiring decisions—services that have become more popular as companies find themselves inundated with eager...
View ArticleImage consultant aims to meld personal, professional styles
Sola Adelowo, a certified image consultant and owner of Indianapolis-based ImageCube LLC, uses a surprisingly scientific process that starts with a personality-type assessment and results in...
View ArticleBuilding relationships pays off for contractor Gray
Steve Gray Renovations grew during the remodeling industry’s worst downturn in more than two decades.
View ArticleStartup aims to take business cards into digital age
Indianapolis entrepreneur Nick Carter thinks he’s found a way to eliminate the “black hole” of marketing data: smart business cards that track how recipients use them.
View Article'Prototyper' sees business gain fizz
TWeatherford Inc. was launched in 2006 as a reseller for additive manufacturing equipment, often called 3D printers or rapid prototypers. It has done well with the machinery sales and rentals, but has...
View ArticleEco-friendly lighting firm gains wattage after recession
Eco Lighting Solutions in Fishers designs and sells induction lighting, which costs less to install than LED and requires less energy than fluorescent. Induction lights work a lot like cheaper...
View ArticleAvon firm enters competitive video game industry to promote reading
An Indianapolis firm that makes software for libraries has teamed with an elementary schoolteacher to improve kids’ reading skills by using books’ longtime nemesis—video games.
View ArticleFirm that figured out how to sell hair-salon products online is snapped up by...
Indianapolis startup Loxa Beauty was barely generating revenue last year when one of the biggest companies in its industry offered to buy it.
View ArticleVeteran private investigator steps up cyber sleuthing
Overbearing spouses, disgruntled employees and corporate moles have a wide new path for spying, considering that nine in 10 adults own mobile phones. Aiding the hackers is protective software that’s...
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