He's made all the right moves since then. Nady Systems has enjoyed a compound annual growth rate of more than 60% since 1978, expanding into higher-margin consumer electronics products such as professional audio equipment, motorcycle communications gear, and telephone headsets, and exporting to Europe, the Far East, Australia, and South America. And now he's gone back to the music, buying two rock-and-roll clubs, both run by his wife, Toby Garten, and practicing in his studio at night after work with his latest band, Nady Alliance.
Nady knows it's only rock and roll. But he likes it.
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO . . .
RICHARD STEWART
1983 -- CEO of Frontier Cooperative Herbs (#78), a bulk herb-and-spice distributor with '82 sales of $2 million
1990 -- Earned enough credits to get his bachelor's degree in business administration and accounting from Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Stewart started college in September 1982, just before Frontier Herbs was named to the Inc. 500. Growth had made running the company so complicated, he says, "I had to learn the science of business just to stay even." For the next eight years he studied nights and weekends -- and did much better than just staying even, pushing the company's sales up to $9 million in 1990.
But Stewart's education hasn't stopped: he plans to start working toward an M.B.A. Sometime soon Frontier Herbs will hit another growth spurt, he predicts, "and I'm gonna be prepared for it."
ERIK THOMSEN
1983 -- CEO of Sun-Flex (#26), a manufacturer of antiglare personal-computer-monitor filters with '82 sales of $6.1 million
1990 -- An investor in Classico San Francisco, a publisher of
picture postcards
Thomsen sold Sun-Flex to Xidex in 1984 and stayed on board for 10 months before leaving in a dispute with the new management over what Thomsen considered "an impersonal and insensitive big-company attitude." In 1985 he started LaserLink Systems, a manufacturer of computer add-ons, which he's winding down because "there's no future in hardware for American companies." Instead, he's concentrating on his new postcard company, specializing in the movie, music, and comic-book market, with licenses from Walt Disney, Norman Rockwell, and Lucasfilm.
With 15 employees and its own press, Classico is booming, Thomsen says. But he won't reveal the numbers -- he plans to keep this business for himself.
ROGER ORTON
1983 -- CEO of Excalibur Products (#85), a small appliance manufacturer with '82 sales of $4 million
1990 -- Home owner
After his company made the Inc. 500, Orton decided he'd have to delegate to keep it growing. So he hired a "heavy hitter" as his vice-president of marketing; the new VP persuaded him to shift markets and sell his fruit dehydrators through mass retailers rather than through the small independent stores responsible for Excalibur's original growth. It turned the company around: from a $500,000 profit in 1983 to a $500,000 loss and Chapter 11 in 1985.
"I was devastated," Orton recalls. He'd supported seven kids with the company. After it began dissolving around him, he had to struggle to hold on to the house. But hold on he did, for five long years, finally throwing a family party last summer to celebrate making the last mortgage payment.
Excalibur is no more, liquidated this year. But Orton has started another company, Killer Baits, which manufactures fishing lures and, coincidentally, sells fruit dehydrators. And what about delegation? "I might be a little gun-shy," he admits, "but my mistake was picking the wrong people, not delegating too much."
BRUCE BURDICK
1983 -- CEO of Burdick's Computer Stores (#14), consisting of six ComputerLand franchises, with '82 sales of $9.6 million
1990 -- Co-owner of Bryce's Sport Saloon & Grill
Burdick sold his Inc. 500 company in 1987. "I got tired of doing the same thing," he says. "Then I tried to retire, but after I alphabetized the spice rack, my wife told me to get out of the house and do something, so I opened a sports bar with my son Bryce.
"Keeping it going was the hardest work I've ever done," he says, "but I do best under pressure. So I'm starting another company, buying and selling mistakes, like TV dinners with corn in both corners. The manufacturer couldn't sell them in stores, but I bought them and sold them to a prison."
JOHN KANE AND GEORGE WILSON
1983 -- Cofounders of Equitrac (#50), a computerized billing service with '82 sales of $3 million
1990 -- Still partners, with sales at Equitrac up to $15.3 million
It's hard enough to share a business with a partner, but Kane and Wilson have gone one step further, sharing an office for the 13 years since they started in business together. "It's good for communication," Kane explains. "We both hear every phone conversation and know everything that's going on. And in all those years we've never had a disagreement."
The partners' casual style hasn't changed, Kane says. "We still sit around in our jeans, and no one calls anyone 'Mr." But there has been one change: Kane had the president's title when the company started, and now Wilson has it. But not for long, the partners agree. "We want to challenge our people with opportunities, so we already have other people jockeying for that spot," says Kane.
