By Mindy Fetterman
USA TODAY
CHICAGO — This story about Joe
Mansueto is not going to start with
the tale of how he founded mutual
fund research company Morningstar,
now with nearly $200 million in
annual revenue, in a one-bedroom
apartment here 21 years ago with
$80,000. (Although he did.)
It is not going to start with how he
sought the help of legendary designer
Paul Rand to develop a logo for his
young company, and Rand made a ris-
ing sun out of the "o" in Morningstar
to play off the Henry David Thoreau
quote that Mansueto named the
company after: "The sun is like a
morning star." (Although he did.)
It is not going to start with how he
took the company public in May,
making his stake worth more than
$800million. (Although he did.)
And it is not going to start with
how one day in May he got an e-mail
from a colleague who said he should
buy two struggling business maga-
zines, Inc. and Fast Company, and
three weeks later bought them for a
bargain price of about $35million.
(Although he did).
No, no, no, no.
This story about Joe Mansueto, 49,
is going to start with a few words
from Mansueto, described by the edi-
tor-in-chief of Inc. as "a very zenlike
guy, even though he is from Muncie,
Ind.," about how to be a successful
entrepreneur. "Read all of Berkshire
Hathaway's annual reports, and then
read them again."
Of course, there's more to it than
just studying the folksy, very direct
words of his hero, investor Warren
Buffett, the second-richest man in
America. And Joe, as everyone calls
him, knows that.
Now Mansueto (pronounced man-
SWEH-to) will try to bring an entre-
preneur's sensibilities to an estab-
lished, some would say moribund,
industry: magazine publishing. Will
entrepreneur-speak work in a busi-
ness where advertising sales have
declined year after year, where the
market's crowded with 500 new
titles a year, and where profits can be
so tough to make that even well-
known magazines such as The New
Yorker go nearly 20 years without a
profit?
"It's a very tough business with an
uncertain future," admits