Since founding Sierra Energy Corp. in 2004, Mike Hart has led the charge to make it a force in the world of renewable energy. This year, with a working gasification system to demonstrate for new investors, Hart is stepping aside as CEO.

Owner Ray Enos and some of his staff at Downtown Ford have witnessed two generations of employees’ families grow up under their noses.

Thoughts of living room wallpaper oft conjure memories of Grandma’s bathroom or a great-aunt’s old bungalow. At Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers in Benicia, the papermakers think that’s just fine.

There’s a married couple in Elk Grove who would be happy to give you the time of day. They’d be even happier to sell it to you.

Michele Skupic has been around the title insurance business long enough to recognize a turning tide.

Today, there are more than 8 million women-owned businesses in America, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in annual revenue. Women continue to launch enterprises at a faster rate than the national average, according to the latest Census data. In fact, women have been launching and growing businesses faster than men for the past two decades.

Ben Ilfeld thinks a down economy coupled with a decline in print advertising is just what the doctor ordered. He and four other co-founders used the scenario to launch the Sacramento Press online in late 2008.

Bringing in new owners and managers can disrupt a small business even under the best of circumstances. When death forces those changes on a business with little or no warning, the stress multiplies exponentially.

The market for social gaming in America will reach an estimated $1.25 billion in 2011, and social gaming startups — which didn’t exist three years ago — will account for about $835 million of that total, according to Inside Network Inc., a data collection firm that monitors Facebook, apps and the gaming industry. Sacramento’s own KlickNation Corp., a Facebook-game developer staffed by gaming addicts, techies and three former Marvel Comics artists, is one such small firm with big aspirations.

Buy enough businesses and eventually you learn what to expect from the process.