Mavericks start up with a purpose — not just a business plan

The world of commerce crackled with possibility in the 1990s as computing transformed, and the Internet disrupted, business as usual. When the music stopped, the dot-com carnival gave way to a more sober period where entrepreneurial fervor abated and traditional business models seemed to reassert themselves.

But just below the surface in today’s plodding environment, a new crop of business upstarts has been challenging incumbents in industry after industry. These “mavericks," celebrated in a new book by Fast Company magazine alums William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre , are defined less by their use of technology than by what the authors term their “strategic originality" in approaching the market.

The roster of mavericks presented by Taylor and LaBarre is remarkably diverse, from Craigslist to Cirque du Soleil, but the common thread is energy, imagination, and an anti-establishment bent.

By Robert Weisman

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/24/mavericks_start_up_with_a_purpose____not_just_a_business_plan/