If your family purchased a Christmas tree on Hohman Avenue in Hammond, Indiana in the late ’70s at a fenced-in lot touting “Fine Pines and Awesome Balsams,” chances are you met a college student who would go on to become the CEO of global financial analysis firm Morningstar and the owner of the Chicago Fire.



As a fourth-year business student at the University of Chicago, Joe Mansueto was in the early phases of developing an entrepreneurial spirit.



“I got a lot of satisfaction out of selling a Christmas tree to a father with a little girl and watching their eyes light up,” Mansueto told The Athletic in an exclusive interview from his office in Chicago’s iconic Wrigley Building. “I was curious how this whole business thing worked. As I did that, I began thinking that a career path for me might be as an entrepreneur.”



Renting a truck and a vacant lot in Hammond to sell Christmas trees was one of the first steps...