[trb]

A lot of this information might already be available, just not in the obvious places. An example:

"how to start an airline" came up a couple of times in this discussion. If you ask an existing airline "How should I begin?", they might see you as a future competitor or as a waste of time - either way, they won't gain anything by helping you.

But plane manufactures do gain something from helping you. Even if only every millionth guy looking for advice actually buys a plane, it's still worth it for them. In face, you can check out Boings guide on how to start an airline:

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/startup/

I'd wager that it's the same in other industries. If you want to start a cable company, talk to the people that'd profit off of it - people selling routers, contractors that build the infrastructure, helpline operators, etc.

Starting a wiki is a great idea, and there's already some information you could copy/link to (depending on the license). You'd have some information right off the start.

[svmegatron]

I agree with you, and I want to call out a particular phrase you wrote as profoundly good advice:

"If you want to start a [$ALMOST_ANYTHING] company, talk to the people that'd profit off of it"

There's certainly more you need to know about starting and running any type of business, but finding the people who would potentially profit from a successful company is going on my shortlist of "Let's evaluate this idea" questions