Timed Travel

What: Ducks with famous faces
Who: Craig Wolfe of Celebriducks
Where: San Rafael, California
When: Started in 1998
Wallet: Projected $1 million sales for 2001

Imagine swimming with Betty Boop, James Brown or the Three Stooges. Now bathers finally can, with Celebriducks, which sells a line of collectible rubber ducks resembling some of history's most famous faces.

For Craig Wolfe, 48, the company's president and CEO, what began as an "amusing idea" in 1998 has become a very profitable company that had sales of $500,000 in 2000, and Wolfe projects it will double that return for 2001.

With a line of 21 ducks (all designed by his daughter, Rebecca, 27), Wolfe takes a lot of pride in the careful detail and artistry that goes into each of the ducks, which retail for $9.99 on his Web site as well as in specialty gift stores and catalogs.

No plans for a Pokèmon duck anytime soon, though; Celebriducks sticks with only classic characters-look for Ludwig van Beethoven, Carmen Miranda and Dracula as future offerings.

"The rubber duck's an American icon," Wolfe says. "We're just taking that idea and tweaking it."

Contact Source

• Zipcar, info@zipcar.com, www.zipcar.com

This article was originally published in the June 2001 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Timed Travel.