Reply.com
Company description:
Online referral source for automobiles, real estate, home
improvement and financing
Founders: Behnam
Behrouzi, 23, John Truchard, 32, and Payam Zamani, 33
Location: Walnut Creek,
California
Projected 2004 sales:
$20 million
Coming to America:
The story of how Reply.com was founded has more twists and turns
than a Hollywood movie. It begins with how Payam Zamani got from
his home country of Iran to the United States. At age 16, Zamani
was smuggled out of Iran to escape the extreme religious
persecution that members of the Bahai Faith were subjected to. He
came to America in 1988 with $75 and no knowledge of English.
Paint the Town: The
entrepreneurial bug first bit Zamani during a summer as general
manager of Student Works Program, a student-run painting franchise
at the University of California, Davis, where he met fellow student
(and future vice president of sales) John Truchard in 1992.
"Since Payam and I both enjoyed the experience, it was natural
for us to talk about future opportunities," says Truchard.
Content Continues Below
A Portal Is Born:
Remember AutoWeb.com? A co-founder, Zamani left AutoWeb six months
after taking it public in 1999. "I always felt that there was
a lot left undone," he says. "I wanted to get back in
there and rebuild that concept." And that's just what
Zamani and his team did.
Next Step: In 2001,
Next Phase Media was launched and later became Reply.com. Besides
automobiles, Reply.com is a gateway for real estate, home
improvement and financing. All the content is free to the consumer.
Since Zamani's nephew, Behnam Behrouzi, had been an
entrepreneur since high school, Zamani pulled him in. As CTO,
Behrouzi played a pivotal role in building up the technology to
power the new venture. "Our vision was to eventually do with
services what Amazon did with products," says Behrouzi.
Going Public: The
co-founders made the decision to not touch any VC financing,
instead opting to bootstrap the business. That has paid off.
Behrouzi, Truchard and Zamani have big plans for Reply.com. An IPO
could be in the works early next year. "Five years from now,
Reply.com [will] be a household name," says Truchard. At the
rate they're growing, you can expect it to be even sooner.
-A.C.K.
Progressive Telecom
Company description:
Wholesaler and distribution of cell phones and accessories
Founder: Art Alaniz,
33
Location: Edinburg,
Texas
Projected 2004 sales: $60
million plus
Mother Knows Best: Many
successful businesses have been started in a spare room. Art Alaniz
launched Progressive Telecom from a room in his mother's house
in 1997, even while he was living in another city and working a
full-time job. "She was fine with it," says Alaniz.
"She knows I've always had an entrepreneurial
spirit." The room was home to shelves full of used cell
phones, a desk, a phone and a fax machine.
Quit Your Day Job:
"When I opened the company, it was just a way to make a little
extra money," Alaniz explains. Business in reselling used
mobile phones, particularly in the underserved Mexican market, was
booming. And Alaniz was soon faced with taking the next leap of
quitting his well-paying day job and becoming a dedicated
entrepreneur. He took a 50 percent pay cut and moved in with his
mother to get the business going-quite a change for the young
bachelor. But it paid off. Progressive Telecom now thrives in
larger digs with 140 employees and five locations-two in the United
States and another three in Mexico. And, of course, Alaniz has his
own place these days.
You Say You Want an
Evolution? What began as a newspaper ad offering to buy
used cell phones has evolved into a business that specializes in
new phones and refurbished mobiles. Though the Latin American
market was key in getting Progressive Telecom off the ground, the
company now does about half of its business in the United States
and half in Latin America. But Alaniz isn't stopping there: He
has his eye on the Asian market. "We're not even at the
tip of the iceberg," says Alaniz. "This could be a
billion-dollar company." -A.C.K.
Tokyopop Inc.
Company description:
Multimedia publishing company specializing in English-language
"manga"-Japanese comic books
Founder: Stuart Levy,
37
Location: Los
Angeles
Projected 2004 sales:
$60 million plus
Well-Read: While
working in Japan, Stuart Levy-fluent in Japanese-initially rebuffed
friends there who urged him to read manga. Once he relented, he was
bowled over by the movielike experience. He thought, "There
are tons of people back at home who would dig this if they could
read it in English." He was right: Today, in addition to
Tokyopop's 40 manga titles, there's Cine-Manga,
Tokyopop's line of books based on movies, TV shows or sports;
anime TV shows; DVDs; and other books supporting products. Titles
on Star Trek and the NBA are in the works.
The Producer: Levy
doesn't relegate himself to just one aspect of the business-he
enjoys both the business and creative sides, writing stories and
composing music for some projects. Ultimately, he considers himself
a producer. "A producer gets the team together, handles the
finances, but is also totally involved in the creative
[process]."
Pay Up: "I
don't mean to sound too old school or anything, but in my
opinion, you've got to pay dues," says Levy. He scoffs at
the notion that starting a business is as simple as deciding on a
concept and easily raising millions. Instead, he urges a realistic
approach to what entrepreneurs must go through to achieve their
dreams. "You can't go out and buy a home, have a kid, and
do all those things and start a business. You should do it and
understand you have to sacrifice everything of your own private
life-[you have to] live, sleep, eat, breathe it. You're not
going to have a life."
Firmly Rooted:
Regarded as everything from foolish in the beginning to a genius
now, Levy remains grounded-even though his company comprises a
sizable chunk of the U.S. manga industry, estimated at $90 million
to $110 million last year: "You should try to stay focused on
your goal and not be swayed either way by people giving you too
much props or too many insults." -A.Y.P.
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