Cutting Edge

Traditionally, diamonds have been a girl's best friend. Soon, they'll be everyone's. Apollo Diamond--founded in 2000 by Robert Linares, 70; his son, Bryant Linares, 43; and Patrick Doering, 42--may be a small, 25-employee business in Boston, but it's doing spectacular things. Using chemical vapor deposition to create single-crystal diamonds just like nature does, the company makes the rare mineral a part of our everyday lives.

Apollo Diamond's ability to manufacture large, highly perfect crystal diamonds for jewelry and industrial applications cuts the cost of diamonds while making them more invaluable. Within the next decade, diamonds could help with joint replacements and serve as neural stimulators. Their ability to transmit data at speeds unsupported by normal semicon-ductors makes them viable for use in everything from cell phones to computer processors. With so much potential, Apollo Diamond's future is crystal clear: huge expansion and 2006 sales estimated at about $7 million. Says Bryant, "This is like a tsunami rolling through a number of industries, and we're on it."

This article was originally published in the March 2006 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Cutting Edge.