Janine Zacca Zenner knew her mother was passionate about hummus, but she didn’t expect this. Her mom, who was visiting Boise from South Florida, stood in Janine’s kitchen yelling in her family’s native language of Arabic. “She was really upset. ‘Why aren’t you using the garbanzo beans from the farm?!’” Janine recalls.

Matt Pipkin kept a dark secret locked away for 20 years before he decided to set it free. Two years out of college at Purdue in 2009, Pipkin hit a low point in his life. “I'd gotten into real estate and felt like a failure, like I was worthless,” he said, having gone into the profession right around the time the market bubble burst. “I'd never questioned my value before as a human being. That was really my low point.”

A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But it shouldn’t cost a thousand dollars. At least that’s the view of Jennifer Benz and Nick Tamm, the founders of Zanifesto. Their tool makes creating data-rich, visually compelling infographics — those charts and diagrams so popular on social media — simple enough that non-designers can make them in minutes.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. That’s pretty much how Doug Joseph has lived his life. As an ad man. A music promoter. A real estate investor. And now, a technology entrepreneur. “I’ve been working for and by myself for most of the past 25 years,” he says. “I’m a hardworking guy. I like to get out there and make something happen.”

Frannie Wilson and Nichole Schoener say they're impulsive, but it's hard to believe looking around their immaculate store, Paperie + Pen, at The Village in Meridian. Like Frannie and Nichole themselves, the space is classy but quirky, upscale but unpretentious. It all feels so intentional; not impulsive at all. But the partners insist their shared impulsiveness is the very thing that got them to where they are now...

“Nobody’s born a CEO,” MetaGeek’s Ryan Woodings says. “You learn on the job.” He should know. The company he started as a side project in 2006 is now one of Boise’s top technology companies, with more than 30 employees, a 30% annual growth rate and a shiny new office atop the Owyhee Plaza.

Chris Blanchard knows a lot of things. He holds a doctorate degree in urban studies, a master’s degree in applied historical research, and has spent years working as a professor, legislative assistant and more. All accomplishments that require knowing a lot about a lot. But, as Chris found out launching his new hard cider company, all that education didn’t quite prepare him for the realities of a craft brewery.

While the Grind Modern Burger team is happy to be building in Boise, their aim is to share their restaurant concept with the world.

“It’s like holding onto a tiger by its tail,” says Kryptek CEO Butch Whiting about his company’s spectacular rise. “If we would’ve assembled a team of 100 industry experts and asked them to accomplish what we’ve accomplished in the past year, they would’ve said we’re crazy.” But Butch and his team aren’t crazy. They’re dogged. They’re tough. And ok, maybe just a bit crazy…

Wyatt Werner, like any self-respecting film buff, dreamed of making a living sharing his love for movies in a theater of his own. “I wanted to watch older movies and drink beer in a cool place,” Wyatt says. “Who doesn’t?”

It’s probably fair to say that Michael Wilson’s career path is just a bit different than most Boise technologists. He’s founded a boutique gaming company that sold millions of games. Then served as Chief Technology officer for a couple of huge — if not legendary — ad agencies.

Matt Rissell calls it “the yoke.” It’s the heavy weight of responsibility that quickly settles around the neck of a new CEO or business owner. “When entrepreneurs first start out, they get that wide-eyed look. They come and ask me, ‘What should I expect?’” says Rissell, the CEO of TSheets, a fast-growing time tracking technology company based in Eagle, Idaho.