Brief Profiles of 2001 Inc 500 Companies

Unusual stories and interesting statistics about companies on the 2001 Inc 500 list.

Tweet

The Secret of My Succession
You know you need a succession plan. But what would it take to get you to actually put one in place? For Manoj Baheti of Yash Technologies Inc. (#8) it was a broken propeller. Last June, while Baheti was taking a flying lesson on a Cessna, six inches of the prop blade snapped off, throwing the plane off balance. Fortunately, Baheti's flight instructor landed the craft safely. Suffering no injuries, Baheti nonchalantly went to work as usual and told no one about the incident. The local papers, however, were less discreet, and the next day Baheti was met at work by a barrage of calls and E-mail from concerned employees. It served as a reminder to Baheti of the 200-plus families who depended on him. He's now implementing a succession plan. "Not for me," he says, "but for those around me." --Nicholas Bazos

Lurking from Home
Jason Denmark was 20 when he burst onto the IT-consulting scene from the privacy of his parents' Staten Island home. Back in 1991 he frequently surfed primitive Internet user groups in search of tech knowledge. There Denmark encountered an abundance of techies in need of work. In other user groups he stumbled across companies that were seeking tech expertise but didn't know how to find it. Denmark hooked the two parties up, charging a fee for his services, and his IT-consulting firm, Intermedia Group (#24), was born. "God forbid that either party knew it was a 20-year-old the whole time," he says. He attributes his early success to his brazen approach. "I could spit out all the tech buzzwords, so I looked like the real thing," he says. --Andrea Forker

Se Habla Global Sales
It takes more than a snazzy sales presentation to win business in today's global markets. So when Info Directions (#63) CEO Don Culeton decided to lead his company into South American markets, where personal rapport and trust play a significant role in business relationships, one of the first steps he took was offering companywide Spanish and Portuguese lessons. Although the company can already boast of seven bilingual employees, more than 20% of the remaining staff -- including Culeton -- have signed up for the early-morning on-site classes. While fluency is not necessarily the goal, Culeton hopes to instill in his staff a working familiarity with the languages. "If we're going to serve the markets of South America, we need to have a deeper understanding of the cultures there," he says. --Maria Di Mento

Tom Sawyer Lives
Kevin Finn of Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant (#71) didn't realize he was an entrepreneur at heart until later in life, but he admits that there were telltale signs early on. At 14, with an already industrious past as the ringleader of local newspaper delivery, Finn was offered $2 an hour to paint an enormous Victorian house in his neighborhood. Eager to make some cash but dreading the prospect of completing the job himself, he resorted to classic Tom Sawyer- esque business practices, rotating friends as subcontractors for $1.50 an hour and pocketing 50¢ as the middleman. "I was always trying to maximize my abilities and make the most money," he says. (Finn insists that his Twainian last name is pure coincidence and that he has never answered to "Huck.") --Rebecca Dorr

You Get What You Pay For
Bootstrapping is a time-honored tradition for the Inc 500, but sometimes penny-pinching tactics can backfire. When Kevin Case first started Case Engineered Lumber Inc. (#113), he resisted the temptation to buy brand-new vehicles, opting instead for a used delivery truck to handle his loads of lumber. The truck experienced engine trouble early on, and after three unsuccessful weeks with a mechanic, it burst into flames upon ignition. Unfazed, Case junked the toasted truck and replaced it, this time with two used trucks -- figuring he'd at least have a backup. "It took me a while to learn that unless you know what you're looking for in used equipment, you're probably buying someone else's problem," he says. Now when Case opens additional locations, he splurges on all-new trucks. --Rebecca Dorr

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5  NEXT 

Read more:

Sign-up for our Leadership and Managing Newsletter

Email Address: