1.

How does ...
Issue: March/April 2010
the FDA approval process make it harder to start a biotech company?

2.

Lenz Crafters
Issue: March/April 2010
Author(s): By Sarah FIlus
A device coming to market this spring by a Chagrin Falls company improves how doctors evaluate the risk of preterm labor.

3.

Pet Project
Issue: December 2009
Author(s): Colleen Smitek
George needed serious medical care attention. Luckily, a $24-a-month insurance policy taken out on him helped defray the $1,701 in medical bills tied to the amputation of his injured tail. See, George is a 4-year-old chocolate Lab, and he is among the half percent of dogs and cats in the United States whose owners, like Kirsten Fitos, of North Olmsted, are buying insurance policies for them. Currently, there are about 10 such companies in the United States competing for that half percent. You may look a...

4.

Just Press Play
Issue: October 2009
Author(s): Colleen Mytnick
Turn down an industrial drive in Solon, pull into the complex and park your car in front of the squat brick building. It’s all pretty unremarkable until you open the door, hear the rock music blaring, smell the coffee brewing at the Playaway Café and see the jeans-clad young people (the average age is 28) appearing to actually enjoy their jobs. It’s surely all very cool. But it’s more than that; it’s a culture of take-charge creativity nurtured by founders Mitch Kroll, Blake...

5.

How to... Mentally Prepare to Start Your Own Business
Issue: August 2009
Author(s): Yuliya Franklin
Entrepreneurship can be a wonderful way to build wealth and do something you love without answering to somebody else. But you have to be mentally ready to take the leap. Conduct an honest self-analysis to determine if you are fit for the challenge of entrepreneurship — and being truthful with yourself is key. An entrepreneur must be realistic about the financial risks that come with owning a business. If the thought of losing $20,000 is devastating, then owning a business is probably not right for...

6.

Paradigm Shift
Issue: August 2009
Author(s): Colleen Mytnick, Photograph by Eric Mull
Gene Groys was hosting a dinner party at his Moreland Hills home in 2006 when StaffKnex was conceived. “You know,” said a friend who ran a nursing home, “I think I have the next great idea for you.” Nursing homes — as well as many other businesses, of course — rely on shift workers. When they call off, it takes time to find a replacement. Typically, it’s either an administrato...

7.

Phil of the Future
Issue: July 2009
Author(s): Sarah Filus
Phil Davis remembers April 26, 2004, as the worst day of his life: the day he closed the downtown location of his award-winning Phil the Fire chicken-and-waffles restaurant. The popular Southern-style, comfort-food restaurant chain collapsed in a swirl of controversy, financial negligence and legal battles after a business partnership went sour. It was Davis’ second failed Cleveland-based venture. He was broke and couldn’t afford health insurance for his only daughter. No one in the restauran...

8.

Rental Center
Issue: May 2009
Don Werner’s system wasn’t working. As president of the Metrex Property Group in Denver, he manages 18 rental properties with 800 units. He has almost 200 vendors that help his 15 employees keep his buildings running. And he has to keep track of them all. Work orders, unit status reports, apartment painting schedules: all of that had to be tracked. Werner was working in QuickBooks, spreadsheet programs and Microsoft Word to keep his documents in order — which didn’t actually keep...

9.

Rental Center
Issue: May 2009
Don Werner’s system wasn’t working. As president of the Metrex Property Group in Denver, he manages 18 rental properties with 800 units. He has almost 200 vendors that help his 15 employees keep his buildings running. And he has to keep track of them all. Work orders, unit status reports, apartment painting schedules: all of that had to be tracked. Werner was working in QuickBooks, spreadsheet programs and Microsoft Word to keep his documents in order — which didn’t actually keep...

10.

Spine Signaling
Issue: April 2009
Author(s): By Matt Tullis
A patient suffering from low back pain stands in front of a doctor wearing what looks like a heating pad dotted with dozens of deep-penetrating electrodes. The device is hooked to a computer. After a few seconds, the screen comes to life.   On top of the skeletal background of a lower back, colors begin to appear. There is green, yellow, maybe some red. The latter indicates something wrong with the lower back. The patient goes through this scan nine times — sometimes standing upright, other t...