Daily Telegraph Starting Out profiles:

(Note (6/10):  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 wrote for this slot, which ran over the eight years I wrote for it on Saturdays, then Tuesdays, then Sundays. The column was suspended, we're hoping not permanently, in June 2010.

• Pub serves up new ways to make money: The Brasenose Arms (4/24/10) - That's how legends are made: "aging hippies" Karen Banks and Alan Tattersall take over the pub where Fairport Convention practiced as teenagers to provide a retreat for NGOs as well as great music.


• Clean break pays off for car valet: Inside and Out Mobile Valeting (9/19/09).


• A model way to make a living: Flag Model Making (6/14/09). Marine & architectural models, sculpture, engineering, toy prototyping, automotive design.


• Hair clips prove a successful internet niche: Stone Bridge (5/11/09). Unique and unusual hair accessories.


• Hotel vouchers prove a lucrative experience for Kaye Taylor: SK Chase (3/21/09). Online gift voucher company for hotel experiences.


• The perfect local restaurant: Sam's Brasserie and Harrison's. (11/29/08). Sam Harrison's restaurants.


• Guest housing the Scarborough way: The Crown House Hotel, Scarborough. (10/11/08). A special place to stay.


• Writing was on the wall for Cult Pens' success: Cult Pens. (6/24/08). Selling weird and wonderful pens online.


• Delivering tunes and composing a sector: Consolidated Independent. (5/20/08). Delivering music to online retailers.


• An L of an idea: Energist (3/18/08). Energy-efficiency advice for builders of new homes.


• Breaking the tyranny of time billing: Convex Conveyancing (2/26/08). Conveyancing online.


• 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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