The Entrepreneur of the Year

To satisfy that segment of the PC-buying market that Dell had identified, the company had to produce a more sophisticated machine, Walker says, and Dell saw that and understood it. That's why he didn't agonize over the decision. "If someone is that naturally in tune with their endeavor," Walker asks, "then what is there to talk about? What Michael Dell does is so natural to him and flows so spontaneously from him that it does look as if he takes a low-key approach. He has so clear a vision of where he is headed that he can rise above the background noise and avoid the pitfalls that typically take entrepreneurs down."

While acknowledging -- no, celebrating, as we are -- Dell's astonishing accomplishments to date, it is reasonable to wonder whether he can keep it up. He says he intends to try. "My goal is to be CEO for 60 years, but if for some reason that's not in the company's best interest, I'll find something I can do that will add value. For now," he adds, just in case someone should ask, "I think I'm doing a pretty good job."

Some executives who have left the company accuse Dell of being reluctant or unable to delegate, of being difficult to work for. "All my friends laughed," says Glenn Henry, when he told them he was giving up 21 years with IBM to join a start-up, especially one run by a 23-year-old. But Henry, who heads Dell's research and development, had his own logic. "I came because of Michael, not in spite of him. Lots of start-up companies are run by people just like me. I didn't want to work for people like myself. I'm really looking for a world-class person."

When he was growing up in Houston, Dell says he would look at the modern, shiny buildings going up alongside the Interstate-610 loop and imagine that one day he would have a business in one of them. "I've never imagined myself not doing something significant," he says.

Michael Dell

Company Name Dell Computer Corp.

Founded 1984, in a University of Texas dormitory room

Product or Service Manufacture and direct sales of personal computers and PC accessories

Location Headquarters and factory in Austin; subsidiaries in United Kingdom, West Germany, France, and Canada

Equity Capital Started with $1,000 personal savings; $21 million private offering in third year when sales had reached nearly $70 million annually; raised $30 million in IPO, July 1988

Financials ($ thousands)

RUNNER-UP

Edward Beauvais

America West Airlines Inc., Phoenix

Guess which major airline -- now the 10th largest in the United States after just six years of operation -- is the only offspring of deregulation to survive the devastating shakeout and murderous merger activity still intact and independent.

Guess which is the only airline to survive with its exemplary employee-training, cross-utilization, and equity-participation programs still working. Guess which one had the best on-time record when the FAA started keeping score in 1987. And which one still serves free cocktails and palatable meals?

America West Airlines hasn't reached its final cruising altitude yet, but founder and CEO Edward Beauvais has piloted the company through choppy weather and kept it climbing far longer than most experts wagered he could. Revenues in 1988 topped $775 million, an increase of $200 million over 1987.

RUNNER-UP

Gail and David Liniger

Re/Max International Inc., Englewood, Colo.

Say you knew a way to run a sales business that would attract only the best salespeople in your industry, a commission system that would almost guarantee that mediocre performers wouldn't apply. Say you did that and ended up owning the second largest real-estate brokerage business in North America. You'd be Gail and Dave Liniger, who own and run Re/Max International, which employs some 25,600 sales agents working in 48 states and every Canadian province.

Re/Max agents retain 100% of the commissions they earn on sales and pay only their share of office expenses plus a management fee. Consequently, the Re/Max system attracts more experienced agents who are confident that they can generate the incomes required to cover their monthly fees. And Re/Max grows and profits as new offices and agents join the system.

MASTER ENTREPRENEUR

George N. Hatsopoulos, Thermo Electron Corp.

Item: Thermo Electron Corp., founded by Greek immigrant George N. Hatsopoulos in 1956, develops and manufactures things ranging from electroplating machinery to medical instruments to industrial cogeneration systems. Its next product: a battery-powered human heartñassist device.

Item: In 33 years, no Thermo Electron employee has left the company to start a rival business.

These two observations alone suggest that George Hatsopoulos runs a company that, remarkably, has not shed its entrepreneurial characteristics -- its ability to innovate and make money -- while growing far beyond the age and size that most entrepreneurial firms achieve: $500 million in sales in 1988. Sales for 1989 have been estimated at $575 million.