The 1993 Inc. 500

Annotations to the 1993 Inc. 500 list.

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#6

Awesome Growth

Gateway 2000 continues the spectacular growth we've been charting since it burst onto the list, in second place, in 1990. It won the top spot in 1991, and hit number two again in 1992, with sales of more than half a billion dollars. This year it smashed that record, becoming a billion-dollar company with more than 9,000% growth. Gateway is the runaway winner in sheer sales volume and in absolute dollar growth -- $1.1 billion -- over the past five years.

Top 10 Companies by Absolute Dollar Growth
1988-1992 (in thousands)
Gateway 2000 $1,095,289

Kingston Technology 240,761

Staff Leasing 208,233

Melaleuca 188,721

Ward Petroleum 154,587

Ma Laboratories 151,969

J.D. Edwards & Co. 145,644

Drypers 139,937

U.S. Computer 139,497

DCT Systems Group 122,132

#35

Expensive Lesson

In 1989 Elite Computers & Software, a Macintosh remarketing company, unknowingly purchased $65,000 worth of stolen video boards and started selling them nationally. The boards were confiscated, and the original seller went to jail. Elite now does a nationwide serial-number check on all purchases. "We have a very close relationship with the FBI and the local law-enforcement agencies," says CEO Thomas Armes.

#40

The Crux of Business

Fiber Spar & Tube's CEO, Peter Quigley, blames the stock-market crash in 1987 for his inability to get financing. That forced the sailboard, sporting-goods, and tubing manufacturer to get creative. Quigley, 24, and his two partners negotiated an agreement with a company in Hong Kong, which persuaded a bank to give them a loan to purchase manufacturing equipment. Quigley says, "It was important because it developed the discipline that you're in business to sell a product, not a business plan."

#61

Learning the Ropes

Only 64 Inc. 500 CEOs have M.B.A.'s; 354 cut their teeth at other companies -- 109 at Fortune 500 companies. Eight put in time at GE. Henry Nash, CEO of General Scientific, was a systems engineer at GE for five years. "I learned to screw my plan down and deliver within financial boundaries." And he got paid.

#73

Safe, Not Sorry

Dario Marquez, CEO of MVM, which provides security services, says former president Ronald Reagan created MVM's market niche. "He called for all-out war against the Evil Empire, which stretched the limits of what government security could do," says Marquez. MVM won jobs guarding embassies and military bases that were farmed out to the private sector. And thanks to the Persian Gulf War and terrorist acts like the bombing of Manhattan's World Trade Center, business is booming.

* * *

Top Five Companies in Job Creation
1988-1992
Gateway 2000 1,807

Sunrise Terrace 950

MVM 950

J.D. Edwards & Co. 843

Melaleuca 799

#91

Still at It

The average age of a 1993 Inc. 500 CEO is 42. When Robert Deutsch was 42, he founded General Physics. In 1988, when he took that company public, Deutsch could have sold his 25% share and retired. Instead, he started RWD Technologies. At age 69, Deutsch, a Ph.D. in nuclear physics, says, "I have no desire to retire. The idea of retiring indicates you'd like something better. I like what I'm doing now."

#108

Bootstrapper

In 1986 CEO Jim Dodson of Dodson Group plunked down $1,000 to buy a computer. He and three friends worked on his idea to give small companies "national-account discounts" on office products and services by bidding as a group. Thirty-five Indianapolis companies signed up, including an ad agency that designed a logo for free and a law firm that drew up incorporation papers at no charge.

#141

Show-and-Tell

Profit-and-loss statements are available to employees at 140 of the Inc. 500 companies. And although some open-book companies institutionalize the process with financial education and regular meetings, many are less formal. CEO Peter Young, for example, opens Apex Environmental's books to employees on request. "We're not on the leading edge of breaking out every single cost and explaining it," he says. "We don't post financials, but people can get them." Understandably, the 15 Apex employees who own stock are the most interested. Apex hasn't posted a loss yet, which Young says makes employees feel secure. "But if we did, I'd want them to know that, also -- let's tighten our belts, and here's why." Why not post statements and teach employees what they mean? "It's a matter of time and priorities," says Young, "and the formula we have now seems to be working. Why mess with it?"