(Note (12/8/07): these are profiles of small (£1 million or less), relatively young (two to five years), preferably profitable businesses, normally based on interviews with the founder/CEO or whoever is most responsible for the business's success. Four or five other freelances write for this slot, which runs on Tuesdays (as of early 2007, used to be Saturdays), but I'm always interested to hear about businesses that fit these specifications and would make an interesting profile, so if you have one or know of one you think might suit, please get in touch by email (don't expect an immediate response, since my editor has to approve too). Bear in mind that you do need to be willing to discuss the company's finances in detail, including sources and amount of initial and continuing funding, turnover, profit, or lack thereof.) We do consider companies that don't quite fit the above parameters if there's a really good story in it.
- Delivering tunes and composing a sector: Consolidated Independent. (5/20/08). Music distribution for the digital age.
- An L of an idea: Energist (3/18/08) - It's not easy being green; that's a business opportunity.
- Breaking the tyranny of time billing: Convex Conveyancing (2/26/08) - Conveyancing - reinvented.
- Internet swapshop: Miroma Group (12/4/07) - Swaps make money now?
- Advanced warning system of things to come: T-mac (10/23/07) - Brother and sister spin off from the family business, FAW Electronics.
- Noisy PC leads man to riches: Quiet PC - Quiet computer, noisy typist.
- Teams bowled over by winning designs: MKK Sports (7/5/07) - Cricketer James Kirtley turns businessman.
- Skipping to success on the web: Topskips (5/22/07). The Web comes to skip hire.
- Creatives clued in to "Generation C": Schulze and Webb (5/15/2007) - Availabots and other contemporary designs.
- On Bond Street, you only float once: Venue Solutions (5/1/07) - The not-fun of going public.
- Artisan du Chocolat (3/31/07). Read the article, try the chocolates. We recommend the liquid salted caramels.
- The jumper that was a runner: Smart Turnout (1/27/07) - Company/school/regimental colors, translated into casual clothes.
- Good advice comes cheap: Ann Edwards Art (1/06) - An artist becomes a business.
- With nothing to do at work, he launched his own business: mPhone (11/11/06) - SIM-free phones and accessories.
- Keeping it in the family: By Chaat House (10/20/06) - Supplying Indian foods, spices and drinks.
- The kings of online gaming: St Minver (8/12/06) - Online gaming may not be legal in the US, but it is in Europe, and it's hugely profitable.
- Agency that covers the waterfront: Riverhomes.co.uk (7/29/06) - Finding a niche in the real estate market.
- Sewing up the nappy market: Babeco (6/3/06) - Keep the babies dry and the landfill small.
- No privates on parade for ex-Marine's butlers: Butlers in the Buff (5/27/06). Who could resist a nice, naked man pouring a drink? (Well, I could, but I'm not the target market.)
- Let your mobile do all the asking: IssueBits (5/13/06) - What Colly Myers did in his retirement from Symbian.
- Interior designer who saw the fabric of her life...: Fabrics and Papers (4/22/06) - She wanted a shop, she got a Web site.
- Banker who switched from junk bonds to junk: Any Junk (4/1/06) - Reinventing the rag-and-bone man.
- Natural winner in good health: Eat Natural (2/25/06) - Reinventing the snack bar.
- A tidy profit in period details: Period Features (2/18/06) - A department store for period houses. (Mistakenly attributed to Widget Finn.)
- Tim's cool way to rack up £1m a year: Kell Systems (1/21/06) - Can a computer really be cool *and* quiet?
- Survival of the softest: Interfauna (11/26/05) - Stuffed animals, as in soft toys, as in everything from aardvark to zebra.
- Kiss the rat race goodbye: Stepping Off (11/19/05) - Give up two really good jobs, move to Scotland, teach how to downshift.
- Software firm finds its white knight has clear vision: Relcon (11/5/05) - Opticians' software.
- A key player in the music market: White Label (10/22/05) - Department at Universal Music becomes independent business.
- Starting Out: Kitcatt Nohr (9/5/05) - Will you remember today forever? The ad agency that thought up that question.
- Starting Out: Splendid Catering (8/22/05) - Why would a service that supplies waiters to catering services go into property rentals?
- Starting Out: Scansafe (6/26/05) - Filtering Web traffic.
- Starting Out: PC Buyers (6/13/05) - Come to work on a farm, wind up running your own business.
- Starting Out: Cybercandy (5/9/05) - An expatriate's dream: where to find the candy of your homeland.
- Starting Out: Tampopo (4/25/05) - Fledgling restaurant chain.
- Starting Out: Phytoceutical (4/11/05) - Chinese herbal skin creams, Western standards.
- Starting Out: Urban PA (2/7/05) - Shared PAs for people who can't afford their own to do the jobs they never get around to.
- Starting Out: Destiny Pharma (1/3/05). Developing a cure for "superbugs".
- Starting Out: Kizoom (11/15/04). The people behind the online and SMS train schedules.
- Starting Out: Queens (11/8/04). What do Cyndi Lauper, fairy bears, and a pink poodle chandelier have in common?
- Starting Out: Market Clusters (9/20/04). Understanding by maps.
- Starting out: nGame (9/6/04) - Profile. What happens when timing makes your company's road a harder fight than you bargained for?
- Starting out: Microgenix (8/23/04) - Profile. An inventor with no science background designs a new type of air purifier.
- Starting out: Dynamic Solutions (7/26/04) - Profile. Sometimes the road to self-employment is long and hard.
- Starting out: Origin Care (6/28/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: Mountgrange Heritage (5/31/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: CY4OR (4/5/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: Virtalis (3/29/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: Simply Barefoot (2/23/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: FrostFrench (2/16/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: Virulite (1/26/04) - Profile.
- Starting out: Covelink Marine (11/10/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Buffalo House (10/27/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: The Landscape Agency (9/29/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Resonance Instruments (8/25/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: History and Heraldry (8/4/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Powabyke (7/21/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Reef One (6/30/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Airtek Safety Ltd (6/9/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: 1E (4/14/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: The Source (3/31/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Anything Left-Handed (2/3/03) - Profile.
- Starting out: Bravissimo (12/2/02) - Profile.
- Starting out: Simply Books (11/11/02) - Profile.
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