Startup Week, like its sponsor The Company Lab (Co.Lab.), tries to turn creative ideas into successful businesses by helping entrepreneurs with what Co.Lab Director Marcus Shaw calls "the formula for success."

Boasting nicknames such as "freight alley" and "the Silicon Valley of trucking," the Chattanooga area is riding a growing ecosystem for startups in the sector and a reputation where companies outside of the city need a presence, according to experts.

As vice president of economic development for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Charles Wood is in charge of directing economic development and helping lead the visioning process Velocity 2040 to plot Chattanooga's economic future over the next two decades.

The median annual wage in Tennessee in 2018 for the nearly 3 million employed Tennesseans was $34,895. Among the 22 major occupational groups in Tennessee, the biggest five all paid below the statewide average:

1. Erlanger Medical Center - 545 beds*

The Chattanooga real estate agencies with the most sales in 2018 were:

Deb Socia says she loved being a middle school math teacher in Boston, but with an entrepreneurial passion she soon moved into leadership roles in education to help empower her fellow teachers and the inner-city students she taught.

Growing up in a small town in northern Ohio, Bob Martino played baseball as a youth and through high school.

When people argue over word choice, they often compromise, telling each other, "It's just semantics."

The popularity of Chattanooga's North Shore is spilling over into Red Bank.

When Lauren Swanson and Chelsie Durham began their careers as school teachers at Lakeside Elementary in 2014, they found themselves overwhelmed, exhausted and struggling to hold it all together within their classrooms. The two became best friends and helped each other overcome and power through their first few years on the job.

It's doubtful that a man wearing a bee mask and carrying an ax as he approached the door at Rone Regency Jewelers knew owner Bobby Mason had been hunting since he was five.

The workplace can make people feel a full range of emotions — sometimes more intensely and frequently than one experiences at home.

Mention "town and gown" partnerships to University of Tennessee at Chattanooga business professor Dr. Thomas Lyons, and he lights up.

The Skyroam Solis X WiFi Smartspot is the first personal WiFi smartphone companion for those wanting an untethered life and the ability to see, listen, speak and connect from most anywhere in the world.

* Founded: Originally known as the Barn, the business began in 1960 in a pre-Civil War dairy barn located on McFarland Avenue in Rossville, Georgia, and was bought in the late 1960s by Frank and Wanda Webster who operated the business as a produce stand selling fruits and vegetables.

Long hosts Mingle at Mercedes

Growing up, my family didn't go for beach vacations.

You probably think about Chattanooga as a city of nearly 200,000 people, but did you know that the population of our 16-county region is more than 1 million?

The Chattanooga Chamber's 2019 Aug. 20 Annual Meeting honored local companies over 100 years old (check out the full list at ChattanoogaTrend.com) and presented six awards to local organizations leading in their industries and impacting our community.