Small business news – CNNMoney.com

• It's pancakes. In a can. It's made $15 million.
  In 2001, Sean O'Connor was a co-owner of Thee Parkside, a San Francisco club that served up punk bands alongside yak burgers and bear-meat chili. When the dot-coms collapsed, he pared down the menu to focus on cheap, creative snacks. During an experiment with whipped cream canisters and funnel cake -- a project that failed miserably -- he stumbled on a […]
• Raise your communication IQ
  How would you rate your skill at communicating? Excellent? Average? You prefer that someone else do the talking? Everybody knows that effective communication is essential to entrepreneurial success. So how can you raise your communication IQ?
• Selling jewelry in chic Charleston
  Entrepreneurial spirit and parental advice don't always jibe, but sometimes mother does know best. It was Heather Key Tiller's mom, Susan Foxworth, who in 2001 noticed the FOR RENT sign on an empty store at 47 John St. as the two left a nearby French restaurant. At the time, Tiller worked as an office manager at a local jewelry store while also des […]
• An American gondolier stays afloat
  Venice's canals aren't the only ones with gondolas. In Southern California, American gondolier Michael O'Toole is steering his fleet through the recession.
• Minnesota's Mardi Gras on ice
  For more than an hour I watched half-naked revelers jump into the 34° waters of Leech Lake. Some held hands, and others did backflips; all wore costumes. There were young women in prom dresses; gray-haired ladies with pink boas; big, furry men holding up their trunks with suspenders; and one gutsy woman who wore nothing but pink hot pants and a flimsy white […]
• Profiting from complaints
  Obstinacy can push an entrepreneur to persevere when any sane person would quit. But obstinacy can also kill your business if it keeps you in denial.
• How to sue Microsoft - and win
  For a tiny Toronto software manufacturer nestled in the city's grimy garment district, winning a $290 million court judgment against Microsoft is more than simply a long-awaited victory.
• Funding jackpot for community lenders
  Goldman Sachs' banking titans and top Congressional Democrats don't often see eye to eye -- executive pay caps, anyone? But here's something the megabank and Capitol Hill agree on: One of the best ways to get financing to worthy small businesses is through a little-known community lending vehicle called a CDFI.
• Obama's Main Street favorites
  President Obama meets often with small business owners, peppering his speeches with their stories. We checked in with 6 entrepreneurs touted by the President to find out how they handle health care.
• 100 mpg: What we'll drive next
  These 6 insurgent automakers are outmaneuvering the Big Three to shape the future of the automobile.