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Business cards haven't changed much through the years. They're still about the same size, usually imprinted with logos, names, phone and fax numbers and addresses. But John Citrigno is changing the way people advertise them. Mr. Citrigno, 42, owns CardBoard Co. Inc., a Los Gatos-based business that sells his creation-a wall-mounted box that displays up to 30 different business cards. Each compartment in the box can hold 300 business cards that passers-by or prospective customers can grab one at a time. Since starting the company in July 1996, Mr. Citrigno has worn out his shoe leather to place nearly 30 of the display boxes, called CardBoards, in retail outlets in Campbell, Los Gatos and the Willow Glen area of San Jose. In addition, he has signed commitments to place 30 additional CardBoards at companies throughout Silicon Valley. "I get lots of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from people who see this," Mr. Citrigno said. "This is something unique that gets people's attention." Mr. Citrigno leases space from business owners, which he calls sponsors, to attach the CardBoards on a wall of a business. He sells the CardBoard's individual compartments for $10 a month, with a minimum contract of 12 months. The types of advertisers who pay to place their cards range from car washes to restaurants. The cards come from a variety of businesses and people who are connected to the local community, as well as from major chains that can afford to be in multiple CardBoards. If you don't have business cards, Mr. Citrigno works with a Campbell printer that will design and make them. "Essentially, this is a real estate job," he said. "I'm subdividing wall space." Real estate is nothing new to Mr. Citrigno. Before starting CardBoard, the San Jose native had been a real estate broker for 10 years. Mr. Citrigno said that after working in the industry for a decade, he wanted to venture into marketing or something else that was creative and fun. He looked into working in advertising and tried to get jobs at agencies. But not getting any offers there, the idea for CardBoard came to him by happenstance. His cousin, Mike Falcone of San Jose-based plumbing company Falcone and Synder, one day told him of how he was in Lake Tahoe and saw a container the size of a cigar box that was divided in quarters with plastic slats. Each section of the box was holding a stack of business cards. An entrepreneurial spark lit up in Mr. Citrigno. He looked into devising his own container for business cards that would dispense them and be attractive to place in various locales, from classy restaurants to fitness centers. Even though he said he can't program his own videocassette recorder, Mr. Citrigno designed every nook and cranny that makes up the CardBoard. He has six patents pending on the case, which is made of bullet-proof plastic. The CardBoard used today is his ninth prototype. He also has designed the canvas bags that he uses to carry the CardBoards on sales calls, and he even went to a Costa Mesa-based shop that makes surfboard covers to help make his bags. "Nothing was easy about getting this business off the ground, even the bags took more work than the boards," Mr. Citrigno said. "All along I kept wondering if this thing was gonna work or if I'm crazy." Mr. Citrigno said he and his partner spent "many tens of thousands" of dollars to develop the product and company. Though he's not earning a profit on his business, Mr. Citrigno plans to create a national franchise operation. And he said he's received interest from people in Arizona, Montana and Utah, and some advertising executives may wish to invest in the company.