community
The Inner City 100
100 street-smart companies.
51. Fishnet Security
450%
30 million
73
Kansas City, Mo.
Fishnet provides services such as network security audits and vulnerability testing for 1,200 clients that range from small businesses to the federal government. Fishnet has a growing number of offices around the country, but founder Gary Fish plans to keep his headquarters in Kansas City.
52. Raining Rose
436%
1.6 million
20
Raining Rose got its start selling hemp-based cosmetics in 1997. After Chuck Hammond and a partner bought the company in 2002, they swapped the hemp for Iowa-grown soybean oil and expanded the product line to include soaps, lotions, and Raining Rose's best-selling lip balm, all available through the company's website and at a retail shop in downtown Cedar Rapids. Hammond rings a bell over the office intercom for every sale that tops $500. "I've heard that bell 15 times today," he says, "and I never get sick of it."
53. Benjamin Enterprises
431%
4.4 million
110
Yonkers, N.Y.
In 1985, a back injury ended Michelle Benjamin's nursing career. While recuperating, she attended a business development seminar and got excited about entrepreneurship. She started out by providing friends with housekeepers. Today, her company offers commercial facility-support services that range from traffic control to cafeteria management.
54. Sneaker Villa
419%
14.8 million
140
This chain of 14 mostly urban retail stores in Pennsylvania sells what its website describes as "top-of-the-line hip-hop apparel and an off-the-hook selection of footwear." CEO Jason Lutz says he hopes to double the number of Sneaker Villa stores in the next few years.
55. QX.net
412%
2.3 million
19
QX.net provides Internet service to both commercial and residential clients in the state of Kentucky. The company also runs a data center for business clients, who bring in their own servers, plug them into QX's network, and use them to run their websites, all under the protection of QX's network security.
56. Kaizen Direct
407%
2 million
82
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Web-Only Exclusives
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