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This is a really fascinating sequence of articles discussing the ins and outs of businesses we see every day and always wonder about their market and profitability -- who knew that cabbies pay $18,000/yr on gas? Or that insurance for a yoga studio is only $90/mo? Or that the least profitable customers for a diner are the elderly, since they're more likely to return food?

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I find it particularly interesting that most of the businesses covered here run at a profit margin of about 10%. I guess it is safe to say that many of us believe that the margins of successful software/Internet businesses can be much higher than that. At the same time, when seeing these examples, I wonder how realistic this is for the average profitable startup.

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