Young Millionaires Part II

Company: ExchangeNet
Year Started: 1994
Start-Up Costs: $20,000
1997 Projections: $1 million plus

Most teenagers work part-time jobs for minimum wage. Not Michael Krause. He's busy at the helm of Cleveland's largest local Internet service provider, a company he founded with older brother Daniel.

"It was Michael's idea to start the business," Daniel says. "He approached me because he didn't have any money-he was 14 at the time."

With his brother's support, Michael jumped into the game before the Internet was popular. A smart move: ExchangeNet now handles roughly 7,000 corporate and public accounts. But that's hardly enough for the brothers, who have their eyes on the future-and on the 2.2 million potential customers in the Cleveland area.

These entrepreneurs relish their success-and attribute it in part to their youth. Says Michael, "Clients are impressed when they see [young people who know] what they're talking about."

This article was originally published in the November 1997 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Young Millionaires Part II.