Based or created in MN (A-B)

• 3M (Maplewood) - the three Ms stand for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing
• Andersen Windows (Bayport) - founded in 1903 Hudson, WI; moved to Minnesota in 1913
• Arctic Cat (Thief River Falls) - the snowmboile and ATV maker
• Art Instruction Schools (Minneapolis) - famous for "Draw Me"; founded in 1914 in Minneapolis
• ArtSpace (Minneapolis) - nation's leading nonprofit real estate developer for the arts
• ATK (Edina) - country's largest ammunitions manufacturer
• Automotive Information Systems (AIS) (St. Paul) - nation's largest source of automotive repair knowledge
• Aveda (Blaine) - founded in 1978 in Minneapolis and sold to Estee Lauder in 1997
• Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS), (South St. Paul) - makes aircraft emergency parachute systems
• Best Buy (Richfield) - Richard Schulze opens Sound of Music store St. Paul in 1966
• Better Business Bureau (Minneapolis) - nation's first BBB was founded in 1912
• Betty Crocker (Minneapolis) - invented in 1921 to personalize letters to customers
• Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (Minneapolis) - HQ in the Twin Cities for over 50 years; recently relocated to Charlotte, NC
• Bisquick (Minneapolis) - the baking mix was a revolutionary product when introduced in 1931
• Breathe Right strips (Minneapolis) - Bruce Johnson tinkered for 3 years before applying for a patent in 1991
• Buca (Minneapolis) - they own 77 Italian-styled restaurants, Buca di Beppo and Vinny T's of Boston
• Buffets, Inc. (Eagan) - runs 400 buffet restaurants across the US, including Old Country Buffet
• Bundt cake pan (Minneapolis) - invented by Nordic Ware in 1950 by Dave and Dotty Dalquist