June 2009
Margot Fraser, Birkenstock

The origins of Birkenstocks can be traced to 18th-century Germany. In 1966, Margot Fraser tried on a pair of the sandals while visiting a Bavarian spa; their contoured foot bed relieved the pain in her toes. She would spend four decades as sole U.S. distributor for Birkenstocks. Today, Birkenstock USA, a $50 million company based in Novato, California, sells through large retailers and some of the same health-food stores that were the sandals' early champions. Fraser, 80, looks back on her long career of snatching victory from the agony of the feet.

May 2009
Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

Every second, someone joins LinkedIn, a sort of six degrees of separation for professionals and the brainchild of social-networking pioneer Reid Hoffman. He launched LinkedIn in 2002 with money he made from the sale of PayPal, which he helped build. LinkedIn has 38 million members in about 200 countries, but in Hoffman's mind, that's merely a good start: He expects a quarter of the planet's population to sign up eventually. The company has been profitable since 2006 and has attracted more than $100 million in VC funding. Last year, Hoffman brought on Google star Dipchand Nishar as vice president of products; this freed up Hoffman to focus on the big picture.

January/February 2009
Ron Popeil, Ronco

Ron Popeil made his fortune selling products you never knew you needed -- and now can't live without. From hawking the Chop-O-Matic in a Chicago Woolworth's, Popeil has gone on to invent and sell on TV some of the most iconic consumer products ever. The Solid Flavor Injector, Mr. Microphone, and the Showtime Rotisserie are just some of Popeil's products; his inventions have pulled in a combined $2 billion in sales. A pioneer of the infomercial, Popeil, 73, sold control of his company, Ronco, in 2005 for $40 million. But he is still at it, and he will soon be selling the world on the virtues of his latest kitchen gadget: a deep fryer for turkeys.