Scott Alterman (right, along with COO Donnie Brown) is a big believer in training. In fact, his 65-person firm, The IceBox (asi/229395), introduced IceBox University earlier this year, in an effort to ensure all of its employees had the proper knowledge they needed to do their jobs successfully. The company has a classroom that can easily hold 25 people at a time on the second floor of its production facility, complete with curriculum books, blackboards and desks. There are weekly training classes, as well as all-company training sessions and impromptu department meetings in the training center. “Every person in our company is critical to our success, and we created this training program so that people have the tools they need to do their jobs well,” says Alterman, who founded The IceBox along with his partner Jordy Gamson in 2001. “We really need knowledge-share across the whole company if we're going to continue to grow this business.”