In the past, it was easy. Corporations made money. Nonprofits helped the world. If a corporation wanted to help the world, it would donate to a nonprofit, or set up its own foundation.

That model is changing. Social ventures, a new kind of for- and nonprofit hybrid, are easing their way into the business world. From Good Capital, a socially responsible investment firm, to Google.org, which dedicates resources to helping urgent world problems, social ventures are proliferating throughout the country.

According to Andrew Greenblatt, NYU professor and Director of Products and Innovation at Criterion Ventures, the current generation of graduating college students will ensure that this trend becomes a fundamental part of our economy. To help today’s entrepreneurs navigate the confusing world of establishing a social enterprise, Greenblatt helps run Criterion’s Structure Labs, the country’s only one-day workshop on launching a social venture.

Business Pundit caught up with Greenblatt to discuss setting up hybrid ventures, where the movement is going, and how it will change the economy.

BP: Can you tell me more about the history behind Structure Labs? How did you guys come up with the idea?

AG: Criterion Ventures is a consultancy that launches social ventures, specifically with an eye towards things that have broader social impact. We also launch our own ideas. We identify some kind of need in society, find a sustainable way to address that need, and then launch a venture around it. We’re social entrepreneurs for hire.

Through this work, we’ve found out more about the problems faced by social entrepreneurs. Legal structures are an issue that came up over and over again. You’re either a for-profit, and your goal is to maximize profit. Or you’re a nonprofit charity, and your goal is to maximize making a better world.

Now we have all these blended, multiple bottom-line ventures coming together. Legal structures haven’t kept up. If you just want to maximize profit, there’s one structure. If you want to go out and have people give you money and use that money to do good in the world, there’s a different structure.

When you want to start blending your purposes, it becomes harder. So we created this 5-hour workshop that helps people understand what their options are, and what the advantages and disadvantages of all the options are. It’s fun and engaging. People can take their own projects to the workshop and work with their own real-life We got a grant from the Packard foundation, and that helped us create this, and now we are going around the country and offering the workshop, and that is really cool.

BP: What is a multiple bottom line?

AG: A single bottom line is profit. A second bottom line takes into account other stakeholders in the company. That could be the workers, so people could say that Costco cares about its workers, gives them health benefits, etc.

It could be their community, it could be their suppliers. For example, Ben and Jerry’s would hit cream crises (an oversupply of cream made prices collapse). When one of those cycles hit, and the price of cream went below the cost of maintaining the farms, then Ben & Jerry’s continued to pay the previous year’s to support the family famers.

The third bottom line is the environment. For example, is our carbon footprint growing or shrinking? Are we putting more toxic waste into the world, or less? That kind of stuff.

One beautiful thing about free-market capitalism is that there’s a really simple universal measure of success, and that’s profitability. When you start to add these other things–What does it mean to take good care of your workers? What does it mean to take good care of the environment and the community?–everything becomes squishier.

BP: If I want to launch a social venture, what are three of the most important things I should know, from a legal structure perspective, before I start?

AG: It depends on the social structure. If you want to start a foundation, because your Aunt Tilly died and left you $20 million to give away to save the pelicans, those 3 things you’re worried about are very different than if you’re trying to sell bednets in Africa. So the casual phrase of “social ventures” makes it hard for me to answer that question.

I can give you a broader answer, however. There are probably the three pieces of advice I would give to anyone.

Most people think, so this is my mission, that’s my job, and it’s my lawyer’s job to think about the structure. There are two problems with that strategy. The first is that unfortunately, some lawyers are better than others. The second is that people limit their own vision before they ever meet with their lawyer, because of their false assumptions.

And they go meet with their lawyer with their now-limited vision, and the lawyer says “yeah, I can do that.” Now, if they had a broader vision, then the lawyer would still say “yeah, I can do that.” But they’ve already clipped their own wings (when they limit their vision).

The second thing is that the legal structures have ramifications through different phases of your organization’s life. What your legal structure is will matter when you raise money, so lots of people start there, deciding on a legal structure based on whether they want donations or venture capital.

Some people go a little further. They think of their revenue streams, they think “how am I going to sustain this?” That might influence whether they’re going to be a for- or nonprofit. That’s usually as far as people tend to think.

The next thing that’s going to matter is how are you going to grow? You can franchise your operation, you can license out your intellectual property, or you can just grow. What your legal structure is will impact what options are available to you.

Then, there are issues about how you interact with your market. Being a nonprofit sends a certain message to your customers and your vendors. Being a for-profit sends a different message and allows you to interact with them in different ways.

The last thing that people don’t think about–that we have as the second thing you need to think about in our workshop–is your exit strategy. Someday you will exit this venture. If it means that God comes and takes you to heaven, I assure you, someday you will leave this venture.

Thinking through how you want that exit to be is crucial to how you set up your venture. If you think look, if this is wildly successful, and can sell someday, and I want to capture some of that money and retire, ok…well if you start a nonprofit, you can’t sell it.

So if you’re thinking 20 years from now, you’re retiring and selling this baby off, and you’re starting a nonprofit, we have some talking to do. Things like that.

BP: Let’s look at social ventures as an emerging economic movement. Where would you say we are right now on the timeline of that movement? Where are we going?

AG: Infancy. Elements of this have been around for a while. The idea that you can have sustainable ventures that encourage justice in the world is not new. You know, the YMCA’s been around for a long time. But as a movement, as people identifying it as a unique strategy and getting it moving, that’s pretty new.

It’s hard to choose a moment when this began. We didn’t have a Stonewall (Ed.: or any other major event to mark when this began). But it’s not more than 50 years ago that people started talking about being social entrepreneurs. It’s new.

When I was in law school, nobody knew about this. The fact that a few of us were graduating and wanted to go out and make a difference in the world was viewed as weird. This was 1990-3.

I went back to school to speak at Harvard about a year ago. Someone came from the business school to watch me speak, and we went out for drinks afterwards. He said that the largest student club at the Harvard business school today is the private equity club. The second largest club is the social venture club.

The world has changed rapidly, and it’s picking up speed. Students today are way ahead of where we were as students. That’s going to impact this world bigger, faster, stronger for a long while to come.

If you’re a recruiter for the mainstream economy, and you go to the business school today, you’ll be confronted with the fact that one of the biggest groups is the social entrepreneurs group. If you’re Rape and Pillage Inc., you’re going to have trouble recruiting talent.

I’ll give you one other example. There is a new corporate form out there. It’s called L3C, the low-profit limited liability company. It’s kind of an LLC, but also a new corporate form.

It was created in Vermont less than two years ago. It’s now available in 5-6 states. Just that there is a new corporate form says something, and the fact that it’s being picked up by other states so quickly is saying there’s a real hunger for this.

I think that this is a very young movement, and it is rapidly gaining speed. Economic forces will continue to push that. I think it will snowball faster and faster.

BP: How do you see this movement of social ventures changing the economy?

AG: In response to this? That’s a really complicated question. I’ll give it a shot.

I think more and more of the entrepreneurial energy will move in this direction. Most entrepreneurs start in their twenties. They usually really hit their stride in their forties, but they start in their twenties. And entrepreneurs in their 20s are doing this.

So, 20 years from now, this is what entrepreneurship is going to be. Currently, venture money is moving in this direction. Later on, expansion money is going to have to follow. As so many ventures mature, buyout money will move in this direction, too.

That’s already happening with certain consumer brands. Odwalla was bought. Danone yogurt bought Stonyfield Farms because that’s the part of the yogurt market that’s growing. You can still by Dannon yogurt, but it’s the part of the company that’s shrinking. You’re already seeing it begin to happen. It will happen more and more.

The dominant view now is a shareholder ROI economy. Things that can make money for investors get done. If you look at the trillions of dollars of investments that happen in America every year, the majority are driven by ROI for the investor. They fuel the bottom line.

That’s going to shift slowly to the multiple bottom lines. Ultimately, it will be more profitable to do that. Companies that don’t give a crap about anyone else will become less profitable. People won’t want to work there, won’t want to shop there. It will hurt your bottom line to be that company.

Today that’s not true, but you could make the argument that we’re starting to see it. For example, you can look at Costco versus Wal-Mart, and their stock price over the last 10 years or so. The recession may have changed this, but over last 10 years or so, Costco’s perfomrance has continuously been better than Wal-Mart in terms of P/E ratios. That’s partially because people view Wal-Mart’s relentless strategy of single bottom line as a detriment to them. Costco, which treats their workers better, cares about other stakeholders, etc., is viewed as the smarter long-term play.

If you look at who’s graduating from the top business schools today, that’s the talent pool that’s going to answer that question. But I don’t really know what’s going to happen.

We’re still trying to figure all that out.

BP: Anything else you’d like to share?

AG: Some people think that some of these ideas are good business, and they would have survived anyway, and that by painting it with some sort of social gloss is just decoration.

For example, Wal-Mart is way ahead of every other large retailer on the environmental front. They’re pushing their vendors, for example, to reduce packaging.

Pushing is the wrong word. They’re saying if you want to be on our shelves, you have to get rid of that excess packaging. It’s that simple. If you want to be in their stores—20% of the market or whatever—you’ve got to reduce packaging.

Some people are looking at that and thinking well, great, they’re protecting the environment. From Wal-Mart’s perspective, not doing it means more packaging in their trucks and less shelf space.

Yes, it’s good for the environment, but it’s good for the bottom line. They’re doing all kinds of cutting-edge energy management. They use very high-efficient lighting, and it’s off when it should be off, and all kinds of stuff. Again, why waste money?

Some people will say to the extent that any of this matters in business, only the stuff that goes to the first bottom line anyway gets picked up. So Costco will say we give good health benefits, train our workers better, and pay higher wages because it’s cheaper than having high turnover, and because our customers, when they ask where something is in the store, expect the right answer. Having someone who just started yesterday isn’t going to help that.

Some of that stuff that gets shed, is just stuff that costs money. It will help that first bottom line. That’s what some people will say who are watching all of this happen. Because clearly things are happening. You’re watching all this and can’t pretend that this is nothing. They’ll think that’s what’s happening.

I think they’re half right. The things that help the first bottom line are the things that will be picked up fastest and go quickest into the market.

But I think that the mindset of the public is changing generationally. That will have deeper impacts over time that we’re just starting to see. For example, if you want to hire the best and the brightest out of the best schools, you have to offer them more than just a high salary. There will be a generational shift that will go deeper than just “it makes sense to turn the lights out when nobody’s in the store.”

*

Andrew Greenblatt is the Director of Products and Innovation at Criterion Ventures. He is an entrepreneur, lawyer, professor, and social venture expert. Find out more about Andrew and Criterion here.

Images: Steffen’s blog, Harvard Social Enterprise Club, Yarek Waszul

Ingram, the founder/CEO of VA-based executive search and IT staffing firm Capital TechSearch, probably sleeps better now. The company’s revenues increased 63% in 2008, earning it a place on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies—the second time the company had been honored.

Yet this successful entrepreneur hasn’t taken his learning curve for granted. “When I was in such a bad spot several years ago, I wish that I had a book like this one to reassure me and help me stave off insomnia.”

He didn’t have the right book, because the market didn’t offer him one. So Ingram proceeded to do what entrepreneurs do best: He created the product. The book, released in late September 2009, presents fifteen real-life business challenges, many from Ingram’s own experience. He covers the story, implications, and resolution of each challenge in every chapter of the book. At the end of each chapter, he presents readers with a short list of questions to help them work out similar challenges in their own companies.

Essentially an advice book, 15 Bedtime Stories covers important lessons that every entrepreneur growing a business from a startup to a platform (self-sustaining) organization should know. Each chapter presents a real-life business challenge, from cash flow to ethics. The human resources-related chapters were especially strong. This is not surprising, given Ingram’s industry focus on people.

One of the book’s most endearing qualities is its frankness. Ingram isn’t afraid to address the thorny stuff. One chapter recounts Ingram’s friend John’s experience of choosing to implement company health benefits after heavy deliberation. Soon afterward, John hired an employee who was diagnosed with cancer the same day the company brought him on. Another chapter tells the story of how a company’s top sales performer brought the rest of the team down, confronting the CEO with a difficult firing decision.

Ingram doesn’t gloss over things, but he doesn’t discourage you, either. In fact, he encourages you to learn from his mistakes rather than making those same mistakes yourself. His detailed descriptions and resolutions of business issues make the book a valuable reference source. Ingram could easily compile a longer book of lessons, for entrepreneurs to keep around as a desk reference.

If you’re curious about entrepreneurship, in the midst of it, and or just looking to improve your general business-running skills, 15 Stories is for you. Even seasoned vets can learn something from this fun and valuable book. Business Pundit recommends it.

25. Bra

Image: Wikimedia

New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob patented the modern bra as the result of an unsuitable corset. When she found her whalebone corset poking out of an evening gown before an event, Phelps used silk handkerchiefs and ribbon to build herself a primitive bra.
When friends and strangers started asking for their own bras, Phelps knew she was onto something. In 1914, she patented her “Backless Brassiere,” then started a business that sold it. She later sold the patent to the Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500; that company, in turn, earned $15 million from bras during the next three decades.

24. Graham Cracker

Image: JustinGunter

The Reverend Sylvester Graham claimed you could suppress carnal urges through diet. According to Graham, bland foods curbed sexual tendencies like masturbation. To help his followers adapt to his prescribed diet, Graham invented his namesake Graham Cracker in 1829. Hundreds of followers chowed down, paving the way for the modern, sexually unaffected graham cracker consumer.

23. Microwave Oven

In 1945, Raytheon engineer and inventor Percy Spencer stood in front of a magnetron—a radar component—and noticed a chocolate bar start to melt in his pocket. Curious about the magnetron’s potential, Spencer obtained a bag of popcorn kernels and watched them pop next to the magnetron. The microwave oven was born.

Radarange, the world’s first microwave oven, was 6 feet tall, weighed 750 pounds, and cost around $5,000. It wasn’t until 1967 that a popular countertop model costing $495 hit the market. Today, most Americans own much cheaper and more efficient models.

22. Post-Its

Image: Quirkyalone

After experimenting with adhesives, 3M scientist Dr. Spencer Silver found himself with a reusable, mildly sticky glue in 1968. Though he hadn’t intended to create this specific substance, he tried promoting it within the company, as a spray or glue for temporary bulletin board notices. His efforts did not gain traction until fellow employee Art Fry attended one of Silver’s presentations. Fry, frustrated that his bible hymnal bookmarks constantly fell out during church choir practice, realized that Silver’s glue was the perfect bookmarking solution. Fry proposed the bookmark idea to management. Within five years, 3M introduced Post-it Notes. They have been indispensable to the modern office ever since.

21. German chocolate cake

Image: Stu Spivack/Flickr

In 1852, English chocolatemaker Samuel German created Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate, the essential ingredient upon which the cake’s name is based. A Texas homemaker sent a newspaper a recipe for German’s Chocolate Cake in 1957, popularizing the cake recipe. General Foods, owner of the Baker’s Chocolate brand, forwarded the recipe to newspapers across the country in a push to increase chocolate sales. Somewhere along the line, newspapers dropped the “s” at the end of German’s, resulting in the “German” chocolate cake.

20. Corn Flakes

Image: Eplacencia

In the late 1800s, entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg teamed up with his brother John, an MD and nutrition expert, research healthy diets for patients. While making bread one day, Will accidentally let the dough stand too long. As a result, the dough produced flakes when he rolled it for baking.

Feeling experimental, Will baked the flakes, creating a crunchy cereal that patients loved. Will refined the recipe with corn. He co-founded a cereal mail order company with Jon, then started the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flakes Company, the first “ready-to-eat cereal” operation in the world. Kellogg’s followed, and corn flakes remain a classic.

19. WD-40

Image: North Harvest Beangrowers

In 1953, three rocket scientists at San Diego’s Rocket Chemical Company tried to develop a substance that would prevent corrosion in rockets by displacing water. They finally succeeded on their 40th try, naming the substance “Water Displacer—40th Attempt.” More than 15 years later, Rocket company executive John S. Barry made the product a household name. Today, WD-40 resides is the lube of choice in as many as 80% of American households.

18. Shopping cart

In the late 1930s, Oklahoma City grocery store owner Sylvan Goldman and an employee came up with a new way for shoppers to move larger amounts of groceries. At the time, customers lugged their goods in baskets, making for a heavy and difficult shopping experience. They patented the “Folding Basket Carriage for Self-Service Stores” in 1940.

To advertise the new invention, the store discouraged customers from carrying baskets. At first, people avoided them. However, after Goldman marketed them through demos and models, they caught on like wildfire. Today’s shopping carts are a larger version of Goldman’s invention.

17. Penicillin

Dr. Alexander Fleming, as part of his bacterial research, was growing Staph cultures in his London lab when he decided to go on vacation. He failed to wash out one batch of bacteria before he left. Two weeks later, when he came back, he found his petri dish covered in mold. All the bacteria in the dish had died. Fleming had discovered Penicillin, entirely by accident.

16. Teflon

In 1938, chemist Roy Plunkett was researching refrigerants when perfluorethylene, one of his ingredients, polymerized inside a pressurized, iron-lined container. The iron had catalyzed the reaction, helping create an inert, low-friction seal. Plunkett’s company, Kinetic Chemicals (a DuPont-General Motors joint venture) patented the polymer in 1941. Four years later, it registered the Teflon trademark. The chemical continues to coat pans around the world.

15. TNT

In 1863, Joseph Wilbrand discovered 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. It took people 28 years to develop a high-velocity initiator to detonate the compound. The German army started using it as a shell filling in 1902. In 1914, during World War I, it became commonplace. People around the globe still explode it today.

14. X-Rays

Renowned German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen was experimenting with cathode rays in 1895 when he discovered the x-ray. Röntgen had covered his cathode tube with thick black paper. When he ran an electric current through the tube, a nearby fluorescent screen started glowing. The screen, coated in barium platinocyanide, stopped glowing when Röntgen turned off the current. He realized that a mysterious kind of ray must be making the screen glow. He codenamed the ray an X-ray, and proceeded to write books on it. His discovery earned him the first-ever Nobel Prize in physics.

13. Bubble Gum

Image: ImpactLab

In 1928, accountant Walter Diemer worked at a rubber company, but experimented with gum recipes on the side. One of his ingredient combinations was less sticky and stretchier than other gums. He discovered that it he could blow bubbles with it.

Excited by the new gum’s potential, Diemer brought two kilograms of it to a grocery store. It sold out in one afternoon. It didn’t take long for bubble gum to catch on with kids; years later, in 1951, the Topps Company added a stick of it to their baseball card packages, replacing the old gift of a cigarette. It became an instant tradition.

12. Velcro

Image: Jim Ekstrom/Exeter Univ.

After a 1941 hunting trip, Swiss engineer George de Mestral and his dog were both covered in burdock burrs. De Mestral examined some of the burrs under a microscope. He found that their hook-shaped spikes would latch onto loops in fur, hair, or clothing, making them incredibly sticky. He realized that materials could be bound together in the same way, if the hooks and loops were constructed properly.

After years of experimentation, de Mestral found a way to make hooks and loops from nylon, then mechanize the process of weaving the hooks. Ten years after making his discovery, he submitted his hook/loop combo for a Swiss patent, which was granted in 1955. Worldwide patents and manufacturing plants followed, although it took more than a decade for Velcro to gain widespread acceptance.

11. Gatorade

Image: Nerd Fitness

In the early 1960s, University of Florida Gators football coach Ray Graves grew tired of watching his players grow tired in the tropical summer heat. When he asked his team doctor for help, the doctor inspired a research team to create a hydrating mixture of water, salt, sugar, lemon juice, potassium, and phosphate. Dubbed “Gatorade,” the drink supported the team during their first Orange Bowl win. Soon afterwards, researchers partnered with foodmaker Stokely-Van Camp to distribute the drink. Quaker later took over, helping the drink become an international sensation. The University of Florida, meanwhile, still receives royalties for Gatorade on an annual basis.

10. Maybelline

Before mascara was invented, women used to smear Vaseline and coal dust on their eyelashes. When American chemist T.L. Williams saw his sister doing this, he headed to his lab to create a more convenient product called Lash-Brow-Ine. Local women liked the mixture, but its name hardly rolled off the tongue. So he rebranded it Maybelline, a combination of his sister Maybel’s name and Vaseline. After Maybelline redefined modern mascara, it became a national cosmetics giant.

9. Slinky

Image: Lighten Up

In 1943, US Navy engineer Richard James was trying to develop a spring for ship instruments when he stumbled across the Slinky. He knocked a spring from a shelf and watched it “step” its way down to a pile of books, then a table, then to the floor. His wife Betty named the toy “slinky,” and a company was born.

In 1960, Richard, fed up with success, left the family to join a religious group in Bolivia. Betty continued to run the company until 1998.

8. Silly Putty

Image: DIYHappy

During World War II, the United States experienced a severe rubber shortage. As a result, the government funded scientists’ efforts to find a cheap rubber replacement. One such scientist, General Electric’s James Wright, was working on a synthetic rubber substitute when he dropped boric acid into silicone oil. The stretchy, bouncy mass now known as Silly Putty resulted.

Wright’s “nutty putty” made the scientific rounds, but nobody could find a use for it. Finally, in 1949, businessman Peter Hodgson ran across the stuff at a party. After buying production rights from GE, he dubbed the substance Silly Putty and repackaged it. A worldwide sensation ensued.

7. Popsicle

Image: Charlotte’s Fancy

11-year-old Frank Epperson left a stirring stick in a soft drink out on his porch one night in 1905. The next morning, when he discovered his accident, he found that record low temperatures left the pop frozen to the stick.

Epperson did nothing with his find until 1923, when he patented his “Eppsicle” ice pop. He changed the name to Popsicle when his kids started calling it that. After making the iced treat in a few different flavors, he sold production rights to New York’s Joe Lowe Company, which gained it a wider audience. The Popsicle, now owned by Unilever, today comes in more than 30 flavors.

6. Play-Doh

Play-Doh began life as Kutol brand wallpaper cleaner. Just when Kutol, a family business, was going broke in the early 1950s, a magazine published an article about using wallpaper cleaner to make Christmas ornaments. Employee Joe McVicker’s sister-in-law Kay tried making wallpaper cleaner ornaments with local schoolkids, and found that they loved it.

Her find inspired the owners to swap detergents for colorant in their cleaner, add a more pleasant smell, and renamed it Play-Doh. The new product first took off in schools around Cincinnati, then became the national sensation it is today.

5. Potato Chips

Image: North Carolina State U

In 1853, George Crum served as the head chef of New York’s Moon Lake Lodge, famous for its French fries. When a customer sent back a plate of fries, complaining of their thick cut, Crum retaliated. He cut the potatoes as thin as he could, fried them in grease until they were crunchy, and sent them back.

Surprisingly, the guest was delighted. So many other guests requested the thin-fried potatoes that Crum named them “Saratoga Chips.” The chips became so popular that other people started imitating the recipe and trying to sell them as a snack food. By the early 1920s, grocers began selling them. In 1926, Laura Scudder put potato chips into bags; six years later, Herman Lay turned his Lay’s potato chips into the first national brand. Today, bagged potato chips are one of the country’s favorite snack foods.

4. Saccharin

Johns Hopkins scientist Constantin Fahlberg discovered saccharin while experimenting on toluene derivatives, normally found in coal tar. When Fahlberg found that a residue from his experiments tasted sweet, he devoted more time to researching it. He later patented the substance and named it saccharin.

Saccharin was introduced as a food additive in the US in 1900. It gained more traction as a sugar substitute during WWI, when sugar was rationed. Now, it is most popularly known as Sweet N’ Low.

3. Wheaties

In 1922, a health clinician was preparing bran gruel for his patients when he accidentally spilled some onto a hot stovetop. The gruel hardened into flakes, which the clinician found tasted good. The clinician showed the flakes to the Washburn Crosby Company (now General Mills), which perfected and packaged them as “Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes.” The company renamed the flakes Wheaties after a public naming contest. Nine years later, General Mills began sponsoring baseball broadcasts, and Wheaties became the now-famous “Breakfast of Champions.”

2. Scotch Guard

Scientist Patsy Sherman was working on inventing jet fuel line rubber for 3M in the early 1950s. One of her latex emulsions fell onto the flood, splashing a lab assistant’s shoes. Sherman and her team couldn’t wash it off—instead, water and solvents would bead on the surface of the latex, then run off. Sherman started researching the latex as a fabric protectant. In 1955, Scotchguard, which protected fabrics from liquids, was released to the market.

1. Kotex

Image: Well.ca

During World War I, paper manufacturer Kimberly Clark sold the Army an ultra-absorbent bandage called Cellucotton. Military nurses also started using the absorbent bandage material as sanitary napkins. When the war ended, Kimberly Clark decided to market Cellucotton for precisely that purpose. Dubbed “Kotex”—cotton + textile—the new product became the precursor of the modern maxi pad. Today, Kotex is one of Kimberly Clark’s best-known brands.

Sources: Each source is linked in this blog post. We drew heavily on the Lemelson-MIT program’s inventors list, which deserves special mention.

I was surprised yesterday, while browsing the booths at a local business women’s conference, to see a spread for The Trump Network. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

I didn’t want to encourage the woman who was eagerly showing me the scientific looking test tubes which I had assumed were some sort of at-home drug testing kit for and therefore possibly very practical, but which would actually be used to collect my urine so that customized Trump vitamin supplements could be crafted. My extreme curiosity about all things Trump won out. I grabbed a few brochures.

Could it be true? Donald Trump launching a network marketing company? It is, and they’re selling vitamins and pre-packaged meals. Oh, Donald, I just don’t know about this. I mean real estate is so sexy, but laxatives? Not so much.

According to Trump it’s time to take back the American dream. The official launch of the company is set for November in Miami. You can find out more on their website here, but beware – there are a lot of video clips of the Donald shouting. But we wouldn’t have him any other way, would we?

My big question is this: why not hair products?

Image Credit: screenshot, www.trumpnetwork.com

One of my favorite Business Pundit posts of all time profiles 25 visionary entrepreneurs who “created empires from virtually nothing.” While entrepreneurial success stories are always inspiring, the best ones always seem to be those that people can relate to. All due respect to the entrepreneurial geniuses of past centuries, but not many of us are aiming to become a railroad tycoon these days.

Here are some amazing success stories of entrepreneurs that started small.

1. Judi Sheppard Missett
Jazzercise

The founder of this wildly successful fitness company started teaching dance classes after hanging up her professional dancing shoes. When turnout dropped, she had an epiphany. The women weren’t coming to class to learn the precise steps to a dance, but to lose weight and tone up.

Sheppard Missett picked up the pace, turned up the music, and created a fun class that was soon packed. She trained additional instructors to teach the routines she choreographed, which eventually lead to a franchise deal. The company now has over 7,500 locations worldwide, a clothing line, and an extremely loyal fan base–all from a dance class.

2. Brian Scudamore
1-800-GOT-JUNK

Scudamore started his company, which he describes as “the FedEx of junk removal,” with $700 in start-up capital and his own beat-up truck. He dropped out of college with only a year left to run the business full time. 1-800-GOT-JUNK now has nearly 100 franchised locations across North America.

3. A.J. Scribante

MAJERS

A.J. Scribante started off selling bleach to supermarkets and other stores around the Midwest. But Scribante had bigger things in mind. He wanted to find a better way to compare regional differences in retail prices, so that he could make more sales.

He started collecting newspaper grocery store ads from various cities to show to grocery stores in different markets. He put all those ads into a single booklet. He realized how valuable the information was when companies started requesting price data for competitors. Thus, the idea for MAJERS, what would become a multi-million dollar marketing information company, was born.

4. Jill Blashack Strahan
Tastefully Simple

Blashack Strahan started her gourmet food company with $6,000 in savings, a backyard shed for storage, and a pool table as a packing station.

In her own words: “I remember sitting outside one day, thinking we were three months behind on our house payment, I had two employees I couldn’t pay, and I ought to get a real job. But then I thought, No, this is your dream. Recommit and get to work.”

She had the idea to sell at taste-testing parties, and sales began slowly picking up. In 12 years, Tastefully Simple has grown into a $120 million dollar business. ()

5. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield
Ben & Jerry’s

The now-legendary duo decided to open a business after taking a correspondence course on the art of ice cream making. They discovered that just about the only college town without an ice cream shop was Burlington, Vermont. With $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 loan, they leased an old gas station in Burlington, purchased equipment, and began coming up with ideas for “unique” flavors. Twenty years later, the company was taking in $237 million in annual revenue.

6. David Hauser and Siamak Taghaddos
Got VMail/Grasshopper

Hauser and Taghaddos came up with a great idea for an inexpensive VoIP phone system for small businesses. They got their startup money the hard way, by asking friends and family to help fund their business.

The idea for GotVMail was to give smaller companies a way to sound as professional as larger, established firms, allowing small businesses to set up voice-mail boxes that can route calls to cell phones and get messages via e-mailed MP3 files. GotVMail, now Grasshopper, generates about $5 million in revenue per year.

7. Seth Goldman
Honest Tea

Goldman started out brewing the tea in his kitchen and storing it in thermoses. After only five weeks spent perfecting the brewing process, he brought samples of and a mock-up label to a meeting with the company that is now Whole Foods Market, hoping that they would place a small order. They asked for 15,000 bottles. Honest Tea is now the top-selling bottled organic tea in the U.S.

8. Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor
Juicy Couture

Skiast-Levy and Nash-Taylor didn’t want to start a business in debt. Instead, they started their clothing empire with $200 of their own money, and applied for a revolving line of credit. Neither took a salary for two years while they designed and produced the now-ubiquitous terry and velour tracksuits that would make them famous. Juicy Couture Clothing is now sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman-Marcus, and Bloomingdales.

9. Jake Neuberg and Ramit Varma
Revolution Prep

Neuberg and Varma, who both had experience as tutors, met in business school and launched their test prep company in 2002, financing themselves with personal credit cards. After nearly going broke the first year, the company started becoming profitable. By 2004, Revolution Prep had more than $1 million in revenues, and by 2007, their first-quarter sales topped $3 million.

10. Ryan Hoak, Michael Benbow, and Todd Essman
RealGM.com

Hoak and Benbow “met” on an internet message board and came up with the idea for a site that lets fans analyze hypothetical NBA trades. Based in Illinois and Australia, respectively, the two collaborated on Trade Checker, later enlisting the help of Essman.

Not only was the idea a hit among NBA fans, it also attracted the attention of real NBA general managers. In addition to licensing RealGM software to teams for approximately $30,000 a year, RealGM.com has become one of the world’s most popular sports websites, attracting over 20 million page views per month.

11. Mena and Ben Trott
Six Apart

Husband-and-wife team Mena and Ben Trott developed Movable Type as a tool for Mena’s personal blog posts. When they offered it online, there were over 200 downloads within the first hour. From their apartment, the Trotts (who were also high school sweethearts) launched software company SixApart, now a multi-national provider of blogging tools with more than 10 million estimated users.

12. Dana Levy
Daily Candy

The snappy email newsletter that highlights everything from restaurant openings to eyebrow waxing was first sent in March 2000 to a 700-name email address list, authored by Levy herself. In a few short years, the subscriber base approached 3 million, e-mails were targeted locally, and spin-offs (Daily Candy Kids) became profitable in their own right. Comcast purchased Daily Candy in 2008 for $125 million.

So there you have it–a few inspiring success stories we all can relate to. At Resource Nation, we work with thousands of entrepreneurs a month, and one thing is apparent: There’s no “sure thing” business or industry. Whether you’re starting a software company from your garage or an exercise class at your local community center, dream big. These entrepreneurs are proof that those dreams really do come true.

Merrin Muxlow is a writer, yoga teacher, and law student based in San Diego, California. Merrin writes extensively for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs. She frequently contributes to several sites and programs that offer tools for business owners, including Dell, BizEquity, StartUpNation, and bMighty.

The new trend of co-working allows entrepreneurs to build community in shared work spaces that are inexpensive and professional. Co-working space provider OfficeLinks hopes to grow the market for this service and lure lonesome work-at-homers out into their ready-to-use offices and meeting rooms with Free Fridays.

Workers in Chicago and New York can try the Co-Working Offices – office spaces with enterprise-grade technology and workplace infrastructure – for free on Fridays. The offices are fully-furnished and staffed. They can be accessed on a transactional basis – as needed. The Co-Working program includes access to modern workstations, free WIFI, as well as refreshments and snacks to fuel the brain.

Interested professionals may register by calling (646) 512 – 5700. Each Friday starting on August 28th there will be ten no-charge spaces available.

“The current economic climate has created a new category of mobile professionals who are demanding affordable, business-ready places to work, on-demand,” stated Harsh Mehta, chief operating officer and executive vice president of OfficeLinks.

“We launched OfficeLinks Co-Working product based on strong customer demand. We also recognize that people who are not familiar with this leading-edge workplace concept may want to take a test drive first. As such we are offering Co-Working Fridays free through the summer so that they may try our next-generation workspace and experience whether Co-Working is right for them. We are confident they will enjoy the ability to access our professional workspace with the same ease they would a coffee shop or hotel.”

I’m sure we’d all be curious to hear from anyone who takes advantage of Free Fridays.

Image Credit: Nate One, Flickr

John Schnatter embarked on a nationwide road trip this summer to find the beloved 1971 Z28 Camaro he sold more than 25 years ago in order to help his dad’s tavern survive, and ultimately launch Papa John’s Pizza. And when he found it, Papa John’s paid $250,000 to Jeff Robinson from Flatwoods, Kentucky. And to celebrate the victory, they’re offering a free pizza to Camaro owners today.

To redeem, Camaro owners must arrive at their nearby Papa John’s restaurant in their Camaro to order and pick up their free pizza. Limit one pizza per Camaro, and one visit per Camaro.

“The Camaro represents what I gave up to start Papa John’s,” said Schnatter. “Words cannot capture the emotions I am feeling in getting back that part of my history. I didn’t have much back then, but for my business dreams to come true, I had to part with the one true asset I had to my name, and even then, there were no promises of success. I never gave up hope that someday I would get that car back.

“The foundation of Papa John’s was built on my decision to sell the Camaro, and while it may not appear to be a huge sacrifice to some, it represents my roots in this business. And, perhaps it can serve as proof to others that hard decisions today can pay off for you later, if you’re willing to believe in what you are doing. I’m extremely grateful for the success of Papa John’s, and really wanted this critical piece of our history back.”

Go on, Camaro drivers – your free lunch awaits!

Image Credit: dave_7, Flickr

When the baby bedding business is booming, you have to wonder how bad the economy really is. Babybedding.com, the website of baby linen manufacturer Carousel Designs, was featured in the August 2009 issue of Fortune Small Business.  As part of the magazine’s makeover series Babybeddingcom will receive  a complete business strategy consult from the Fortune team.

Fortune Small Business generally chooses makeover subjects that are high potential companies with at least one million dollars in annual gross revenues. Carousel Designs has that and more. Jonathan Hartley bought the family business from his parents in 2007 and then hired former West Point classmate, Allan Sicat, to be the company’s President. Drawing on their rigorous West Point training and subsequent business experience Hartley and Sicat have set out to help transform the company into an Internet success story.

Hartley and Sicat hope the Fortune makeover will help them build the brand awareness and stronger operational framework they’ll need to go up against the big names in baby bedding – like Pottery Barn Kids. Currently they leverage advanced search engine marketing techniques and innovations such as “Design Your Own Custom Crib Bedding” feature to grow the business.

The magazine enlisted three of the top business minds in the country, free of charge to consult on these matters. For the makeover, the experts toured the Carousel Designs’ factory and held discovery sessions before imparting insights and advice in the areas of brand marketing, finance, operations and customer loyalty programs.

“It was invaluable to spend the day with experts hand picked by Fortune Small Business,” said Mr. Sicat. “We hope to apply many of the ideas drawn from the makeover in the coming year.”

In addition to valuable consulting services, Carousel Designs received feature-length coverage in the August 2009 Fortune Small Business, available at newsstands and bookstores this month, as well as on CNNMoney.com. And that’s something money can never buy.

Image Credit: www.babybedding.com

Several years ago, getting paid to drive a brand-wrapped car was bordering on popular. The trend later fizzled, but, thanks to the recession, branded “free cars” could be making a comeback. Matzav.com details how it works:

Here’s the basic premise of the “paid to drive” concept: A company seeks people — regular citizens, not professional drivers — to go about their normal routine as they usually do, only with a big ad plastered on their car. The ads are typically vinyl decals, also known as “auto wraps,” that almost seem to be painted on the vehicle, and which often cover a large portion of the car’s exterior surface.

The companies usually select drivers who live in desirable locations such as high-traffic, urban areas. A company’s ideal driver can vary depending upon the target demographic they want to reach, according to Brandon Clarke of DrivenMedia, a Phoenix-based advertising company that specializes in creating branded vehicle campaigns for clients. For example, a tech or electronics company may seek drivers who live on or near college campuses, so as to gain exposure with the college crowd.

Companies may also track drivers’ locations via GPS. That way, they ensure that drivers spend enough time in desired areas, according to the article above.

How do you sign up? FreeCar Media, one of the major suppliers of branding services, explains the process for its cars:

Advertisers choose the drivers they want based on the information you provide us. When you are chosen, your vehicle will be wrapped in an attractive advertisement and you will get paid up to $900 a month. Most programs average 3 months but some are longer and others shorter.

The more information we can give advertisers about you, the easier it is for them to choose you. So please be as detailed as possible. So, take a little time to fill out the application and we’ll do our best to put you in the driver’s seat.

Note that you probably won’t get a free car. Instead, you’ll sacrifice your existing vehicle to the advertising gods for a few months, and receive a nice little paycheck in return. From the sounds of it, moms are a choice target this time around. “With active families being such a coveted demographic, incorporating their vehicles is ideal since they’re getting tremendous exposure parked in the pick-up line at school, at the Saturday morning soccer games, etc,” says DrivenMedia’s Brandon Clarke, as quoted in the Matzav article.

If you’re interested in signing up, go to Drivenmediaonline.com or FreeCarMedia.com. Avoid sites that try to charge you a fee to sign up. These sites may try to scam you.

Update: We don’t work for these companies, so unfortunately, we can’t help you land a car-wrap gig with them. Please follow the links above to find out more on how to get a job with them.

This isn’t your grandfather’s business show. And guaranteed: No pleated pants.

With these words, David Siteman Garland introduces another episode of The Rise to the Top. The syndicated show is nearing its second season, and the 20-something Siteman Garland couldn’t be more enthusiastic.

“It’s a talk show on steroids,” he says of the entrepreneur-focused show, which airs both online and on ABC30 St. Louis. The show uses both traditional and new media to reach out to more than 50,000 viewers. Each multi-segment episode features tips, interviews, inspiration, advice, and other fodder for entrepreneurs. To boot, The Rise to the Top hosts community events, such as networking dinners and a summer-themed business event including Anna Kournikova in July.

Almost singlehandedly, Siteman Garland has built an exciting small-business community in St. Louis. Judging by his extraordinary levels of energy and commitment, the Midwest is just the beginning. Business Pundit interviewed Siteman Garland to find out more, so to speak, about how he runs the show.

BP: How’d you get into TV production?

DSG: The story is crazy. After I graduated from college at age 22, I started a professional in-line hockey league in St. Louis. It was like getting an MBA in two years.

I had a knack for doing sponsorships, so I ended up with a radio show talking about in-line hockey on 1380 St. Louis, a major station. While I was still doing that work, I sat down with a friend at a coffee shop and realized something. I said I felt like there was nothing on TV right now that would be designed for forward-thinking entrepreneurs, the young and the young-at-heart. I said, “I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m going to do it. I think the show will catch on, and we can do good things for the community.”

I had no idea what to do when I started the show, so I found people who did know what was going on. I would ask anyone that would listen to me, I would say “look, I want to do a TV show. I don’t know what I’m doing. If you think it’s a bad idea, tell me now. If you think it’s good idea, and you think someone can help me out with this, I’d appreciate if you could nudge me in right direction.”

As a result, I got networked into some of the top people who could make this a reality, including one of the top media people in St. Louis. The original plan was just get on cable access and see what happens. Next thing you know, the head of this network station (my46 http://www.my46stl.com/) in St. Louis is nice enough to say “let’s give this a shot and see what happens.” It all happened through networking and relationship-building.

I poured everything I had, including all my savings, to get the show going. I made my own production studio, but that’s another story.

BP: What happened?

DSG: I hired a production company when we first started, but things didn’t go as planned. Costs escalated. Our price per episode was more than $8K, which was a huge amount when we were trying to get started. We had budgeted far less than that.

We were going bankrupt in a hurry. It got to the point where we either had to pack up shop, or try to get a loan or investors. We also didn’t have a lot of time, had 1.5 weeks to shoot the next episode.

I thought: “I just have to take action.” I decided to start a Craigslist competition for video editors (that’s the most important role). I put out an ad on Craigslist. Two days later, I had 98 resumes, from someone with 5 Emmies to some guy who just emailed “Yo, my name’s Jay, I do video.”

I weeded the candidates down to 50. Then, I interviewed 25 video editors in person in two days in 2 different coffee shops. By the end, we had narrowed it down to five decent editors.

I created a competition where I paid each candidate a small amount to edit an entire episode. I told them the best one would go on TV. Through the contest, I built great relationships with some of the editors. We got high quality content for less, and with the money saved, we were able to purchase our own equipment.

We had no place to shoot, so we transformed my condo into a studio. We created the most extensive studio in condo history! I’m actually looking at a couple set pieces as we speak. It’s sort of like living in a funhouse.

BP: How many employees do you have?

DSG: We have a team of fewer than ten people. I’m the principal owner of the company. I’ve created a Dream Team of entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and college interns. We have people in internet marketing, graphic design, web development, media planning/buying, video production, and logistics. Our tasks include signing sponsorships; shooting the show; producing, creating, and editing the show; events, and more.

My hands are in a lot of different buckets right now. It can get a little overwhelming in terms of doing everything at once.

BP: Who’s your demographic?

DSG: 62% of viewers meet our target demographic, which covers ages of 25-49. 29% of our demographic is in the 50+ age range, which I didn’t see coming. They’re attracted to our forward-thinking attitude. We’re getting some high-end people who want to know what the “kids” are up to. 9% of viewers are 18-24 years old.

BP: What has your experience with advertisers been?

DSG: We try to offer a different level of engagement than many advertisers. We like to create an experience where advertisers come to events. We try to keep it different.

We also use social media more. For example, the Sub Zero Vodka Bar in St. Louis spends $0 on advertising every year. We created an off-the-menu sponsored drink called The Rise to the Top. It’s a vodka mojito with 3 secret ingredients. The only way you find out about the drinks is through our show, events, Twitter feed, and other show-related media. It creates a sort of “cool factor.” People feel like they have a secret code when they go to the bar and get the drink. It’s been trackable and highly successful.

The idea was to get brand awareness so that we get people through the door. The key for working with any sponsorship or advertiser is to listen, to pay attention to exactly what the advertiser looking for.

You have to have the ability to say no, to tell them “I think you’re money is better spent elsewhere.” It comes back to you tenfold in the long run, because people know that you’re the person who is paying attention to users. You get a reputation for knowing what kinds of products, etc. users are interested in.

BP: What keeps you going?

DSG: My strongest personal assets are energy and taking action. I have a ridiculous amount of energy all the time. It scares people. I’m always bringing energy into everything, and I just don’t stop.

Taking action is also a major thing. Being able to pick an idea and being able to do something about it is key. I’m not a super planner, but being able to take action is the number one thing.

Part of this process is that you really have to be able to hustle and get it done in the beginning. The rewards are in the long run.

See David Siteman Garland in action at The Rise to the Top. The second season starts in September 2009, on ABC30 St. Louis and on the Rise to the Top website.