Tapping into a winning model

If a business model is successful in one industry, than it makes sense to reproduce it over and over again in others. The founders of Echo Global Logistics, which filed for an initial public offering Wednesday, are going for a hat-trick in this regard.

Is this heaven? It's not Iowa
Brad Spirrison: Call it a bizarro Field of Dreams. In 2004, twenty-something Internet entrepreneurs Ian Andrusyk and Travis Schaffner relocated their company FastServers.Net to Chicago from Sumner, Iowa, hoping to go the distance. In addition to greener pastures, the two sought a deeper pool of tech talent and a place to ease the pain of not having much to do.

The science of a startup
Brad Spirrison: Of the seven telecommunications companies Mark McIlvane has helped launch, two have achieved billion-dollar valuations. McIlvane's formula is designed to carry any early stage outfit that hires him from point A to point Z.

Banking on MediaBank
Brad Spirrison: Part of the "Second City" narrative for local Internet and technology companies says that in order to raise serious venture capital, it is essential to jump ship to the coasts. This idea is part comedy, part tragedy, and, perhaps one day, all history.