Entrepreneur: A former engineer for Volvo, Curtis Jacobson, 38, made toys as a hobby in his spare time–frequently using his eight nieces and nephews to test-market his innovations. But he knew he was onto something when he got the idea for ArtHouses. “You could have the kids designing their own wallpaper or siding, and that got me to the idea […]

PSFK: Genuardi’s.com launched their home-delivery service today in some of regions of Philadelphia. Customers get to specify how ripe they want their fruits and how thick they want their steaks. Customers get free delivery on their first order. -Via Philadelphia InquirerAcme started home-delivery last year. And now grocers like Genuardi’s are offering such services. The deliveries are done in a […]

Entrepreneur: As an African-American, Dr. Rick Kittles wanted to know who his ancestors were and their countries of origin. So the geneticist decided to create a database of African lineages. After working on this database for several years, Kittles, 38, who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology, joined forces with businesswoman Gina Paige, 38, to start a company that allows […]

Entrepreneur: At a speed-dating event last summer, Melissa English walked away with more business contacts for her sister Sonia’s web design company than she did phone numbers for herself. At the same time, Sonia attended a business-networking event hosted by the local chamber of commerce and walked away with nothing. Sensing a perfect match between speed dating and networking mixers, […]

Springwise.com: Beautiful people have always had it easier, but in today’s appearance-obsessed society it really pays to be one of the Beautiful Ones. As no event, party, night out, shopping spree or fancy dinner is complete without pretty people serving, tending, hosting, welcoming or just chatting, a whole new market for renting out aspiring models who can just ‘be’, is […]

Entrepreneur.com: For people who long to party like P. Diddy, but don’t have quite the celeb status needed to bypass the velvet ropes, PartyBuddys is a lifesaver and, according to co-founder James King, “like a traveling VIP party.” Founded by two longtime friends, the idea is that, for a fee (the average cost is $2,500 for four people), PartyBuddys will […]

Telegraph: Purveyors of speed-dating, the frenetic method of finding love through dozens of noisy three-minute encounters, will have you believe it is responsible for thousands of relationships, more than 50 marriages and at least six babies. The events are thought to generate up to £5 million a year and about 4,000 people a week take part. But for the 15 […]

USAToday: Brian Scudamore keeps proving that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. The 35-year-old businessman has gone from high school dropout to CEO of a fast-growing trash-removal empire that aims to become to the junk world what FedEx has become to package delivery. His company, 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, operates franchises in large metropolitan areas in the USA and Canada, including Los […]

NetImperative: Tesco has announced it plans to sell houses over the Internet, claiming it will charge customers as little as £50 to sell their house online. The supermarket giant is targeting home sellers who do not wish to pay estate agents’ fees, who usually charge between one and two per cent of the selling price as commission. According to a […]

Entrepreneur.com: While typical “Mommy and Me” classes can be great fun, Molly Snyder, 30, decided to give the old format a spin when she started Metropolitan Moms. Instead of classes focusing solely on the children, Snyder’s idea was to organize classes for moms who wanted to explore local New York City culture while taking their children along for the ride. […]