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Medialets chairman and CEO Eric Litman's first job was as a barker on the main street in St.

Experiencing music as a social activity used to mean going to a concert, or maybe a party. And to learn about new music or artists in the days of yore, you had radio, record shops, or the much-fabled mix tape .

Baby food is big business. At least it is when you do it like Nest Collective , a Bay Area company that has transformed the baby-food industry by introducing the now-commonplace, BPA-free spouted pouch to the U.S. market through its Plum Organics brand

There's a big misconception that to know the true value of something, you must track it, that success lays solely in the outcome of very specific numbers.

If you've had it up to here with Ticketmaster's insane fees, or you're looking to buy or sell tickets to your school's bake sale, your band's concert, or a local cooking class, Eventbrite is for you. Ticketmaster, dubbed the " most hated brand in America " by Fast Company, has historically left much to be desired from a user standpoint, with its eye-popping service fees and market stranglehold on large events that makes them damned near impossible to avoid. Meanwhile, a massive part of the ticketing market has been virtually untapped--Ticketmaster will get you into the U2 and Sting megatours, but if you're looking to sell or buy tickets for a knitting class, an obscure music festival, or a neighborhood nonprofit fundraiser, forget it.

Game maker--and game changer-- Sifteo is building the future of play by incorporating the best of its past, combining the interactive nature of video games with the hands-on feel of timeless classics like dominoes, chess, and the Rubik's Cube.

Game maker--and game changer-- Sifteo is building the future of play by incorporating the best of its past, combining the interactive nature of video games with the hands-on feel of timeless classics like dominoes, chess, and the Rubik's Cube.

Game maker--and game changer-- Sifteo is building the future of play by incorporating the best of its past, combining the interactive nature of video games with the hands-on feel of timeless classics like dominoes, chess, and the Rubik's Cube.

Okay, maybe "hijack" is too strong a word--but Visual Revenue's "front page automation platform" gives media companies a scientific new tool to position their websites for the highest possible ad revenue. It's not, well, news that print advertising revenue is in free fall. Newspaper advertising peaked in 2000 , and in 2010 was down more than 50% from its highest point.

Though Swedish hybrid production company B-Reel has been around since 1999, merging film, interactive, games, and mobile to create new methods of storytelling, it exploded into the broader consciousness with 2010's " The Wilderness Downtown ." The interactive short film dreamed up by Chris Milk and the band Arcade Fire for its song "We Used To Wait" is a

Box CEO Aaron Levie understands that the less time you spend tied to your desk, the more connected you need to be.

Chris Lindland, CEO of San Francisco-based Betabrand , has built a thriving company by designing clothing around urban trends and stereotypes. For the urban bicycle commuter, there's the Bike-to-Work pants (khaki and reflective--"from the bike to the boardroom!"). The discerning foodie can make sure his eggplants don't crush his eggs by carrying the world's first farmer's market backpack .