Fast Lane

Research by Adrienne S. Coehlo and Liza Potter

1. John Paul Richard Inc., Chatsworth, CA
Women's apparel manufacturer
John Paul Beltran, Richard Hirsh
Began: 1996 w/18 employees; 68 employees
Initial investment: $1M from savings
1997 sales: $45.68M

2. Telephone Company of Central Florida, Lake Mary, FL
Local & long-distance telephone services
Elder N. Ripper III
Began: 1996 w/5 employees; 64 employees
Initial investment: $1.5M from priv. Investors
1997 sales: $33.82M

3. Heritage Gas Services LLC, Tulsa, OK
Natural gas services
Dave Presley
Began: 1995 w/5 employees; 38 employees
Initial investment: $500K from priv. Investors
1997 sales: $23.63M

4. Energy Alloys Inc., Houston, TX
Steel distribution & inventory management
Samuel D. Warren, Ralph Mullens, Robert G. Pond
Began: 1995 w/10 employees; 29 employees
Initial investment: $60K from savings
1997 sales: $21.93M

5. Prologix Inc., Horsham, PA
Integration of radio frequency systems
Paul Speese, Terrence O'Neill, David Gulian
Began: 1996 w/8 employees; 15 employees
Initial investment: $300K from savings
1997 sales: $14.5M

6. Dudley Barrett Construction Co., Roswell, GA
General contracting & commercial construction
David Barrett, Jeff Dudley
Began: 1995 w/10 employees; 42 employees
Initial investment: $130K from savings
1997 sales: $21.43M

7. Chispanic Enterprises Inc., Egg Harbor City, NJ
Wholesale food distribution
Kathleen J. Bobe, Randolph T. Bobe
Began: 1996 w/3 employees; 8 employees
Initial investment: $76K from friends/family, savings
1997 sales: $11.59M

8. Kay Construction Inc., Cherry Hill, NJ
Construction mgmt. & general contracting
Lorraine Kay, Tom Viviano
Began: 1995 w/10 employees; 15 employees
Initial investment from priv. investors, savings
1997 sales: $14.45M

9. Shonfeld's (USA) Inc., South Hackensack, NJ
Gourmet gift products
Boaz Shonfeld
Began: 1995 w/2 employees; 18 employees
Initial investment: $1.3M from friends/family
1997 sales: $14.1M

10. Kompass Food Trading Int'l., River Edge, NJ
Packaged frozen fruits & vegetables importing
Brad Koshar, Jack Simon
Began: 1996 w/3 employees; 5 employees
Initial investment: $250K from friends/family, priv. Investors
1997 sales: $9.06M

This article was originally published in the June 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Fast Lane.