In today’s on-demand marketplace of real-time information delivered to mobile devices at lightening speeds, smart design is crucial for business success. And as the creative half of marketing firm Position Interactive, Phil Tretheway, 34, knows that without strategic and compelling design, consumers will pass his clients by.

“First off, I’m not an architect,” says Marvin Maldonado, a Sacramento-based building designer. He’s really more of a dreamer with a architecture degree.

But as we all know, dreams can get tricky.

Within three and a half years, 26-year-old Katrina Stumbos has transitioned from college graduate to business owner.

In her newly minted office on Fair Oaks Boulevard, Stumbos invites clients to brainstorm their dream spaces inside her treasure trove of fabrics, woods, wallpapers and tiles.

Sacramento has not been kind to Thomas Ramey, though he loves the city and hopes it will someday let him succeed. A Southern California transplant, he’s accustomed to clients who value his contemporary metal sculptures, modern architectural design elements and hand-fabricated furniture.

It’s been an extraordinary couple of years for Richard Hallmarq, the 41-year-old Sacramento native who last year made his fashion debut on national television and is now gearing up for New York Fashion Week from his design studio inside the Sacramento Art Complex on K Street.

A slope-loving trio needed durable, weatherproof belts that would fit comfortably, last a long time and look good. So the self-proclaimed ski bums decided to make their own. Olympic Valley-based Arcade Belts launched three years ago from a living room and specializes in belts made specifically for winter-sport enthusiasts.

In March, the Elk Grove city council voted to develop the last large swath of land in its jurisdiction. But this time around, instead of focusing on rooftops, as the city has for the past decade, leaders and developers hope to bolster the local economy by building new businesses.

Squaw Valley USA was once the premier ski resort of California and the world-renowned site of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. But in the decades that followed, the resort’s managers focused on the mountain, and Squaw became eclipsed by other resorts that boasted hotel rooms and other amenities to capture business in the dry months.

Back in 1985, Margaret Wong saw potential in China’s booming economy and took her Sacramento-based lighting company, McWong International Inc., overseas.