The Entrepreneur of the Year Register

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Banks turned up their noses at the founders because of their unconventional business plan to sell by telemarketing $350,000 software-development and -support programs without setting up local offices in the areas they were ser-vicing. So Wadhwani and Trivedi were forced to fund the business with personal loans and their own money.

Mastech is banking on its expertise in areas that have a shortage of trained users. The company devotes 10% of its resources to finding and training workers in cutting-edge technologies. Wadhwani attributes Mastech's success to the company's speed and responsiveness, which it gets by investing money in learning about emerging market segments. "We start preparing ourselves early," Trivedi says, "so when they hit the market we can support them." Sales have jumped from $244,000 in 1987 to $20.2 million in 1992, earning Mastech the 31st place on the 1992 Inc. 500 and the 146th spot on this year's list. -- Stephanie Gruner

Monte Ahuja

Transtar Industries

Walton Hills, Ohio

Founded: 1975

Business description: Wholesales automatic-transmission parts

Employees: 220

Projected 1993 revenues: $60 million

Monte Ahuja set out to build a company that did more than merely sell transmission parts. His vision was to sell technical expertise to help repair shops cope with a staggering amount of information.

The typical transmission shop used to be able to get away with dealing with 7 or so transmissions, but with recent technology changes and the rise of imports, shops must now deal with more than 90 different transmissions. So Ahuja has positioned his company to compete on information rather than on price. He provides 250-page product catalogs, handbooks that describe and diagram every transmission in detail and also tell what parts are necessary to fix them. Transtar provides technical support over an 800 line to help mechanics understand not only Transtar's products but the transmissions as well.

With the bewildering array of transmissions, shops can't begin to stock all the necessary parts. So Transtar has set up a national computer network linking its 12 regional offices to provide information on the status of in-stock parts, orders, and delivery schedules. That means salespeople can find out on-line the availability of a product anywhere in the United States and have it shipped to them directly. An automated warehouse system and a computerized UPS-delivery program help ensure shipment within 24 hours. Transtar currently carries more than $11 million in inventory, a figure Ahuja claims is 10 times as much as any competitor stocks. -- Christopher Caggiano

W. Joseph Duckworth

Realen Homes

Berwyn, Pa.

Founded: 1968; Duckworth took the helm in 1986

Business description: Builds and remodels homes

Employees: 130

Projected 1993 revenues: $94 million

Though he was one of few "outsiders" to reach upper management at the largest home builder in the area, Duckworth was frustrated because he knew he could never reach the top. "As hard as I tried," he recalls, "I knew I could never be a full brother." So in 1986 he risked his entire net worth and took a 50% pay cut to take the helm of a sleepy, 20-year-old competitor, Realen Homes. Realen's sales have increased more than 300% since Duckworth came on board.

As conventional sources of financing for home-building companies have all but dried up, Realen recently acquired investment capital from a rather unconventional source. Duckworth had wanted to take the company public and enlisted some big-name, big-price-tag players (among them Price Waterhouse and Kidder Peabody) to help him do so. But just as they were about to take the plunge, another home-building company that Kidder Peabody was handling plunged first -- and sank. So Kidder Peabody decided to hold off on Realen.

But Duckworth saw that he could use the stamp of approval from the likes of Price Waterhouse and Kidder Pea-body to his advantage. So, red herring in hand, he went out on a road show with the goal of raising $25 million. Realen sent out 15 proposals and met with six potential investors, including the Pennsylvania Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). Ninety days after Realen first sat down with PSERS, it struck a deal; PSERS was in for the full $25 million.

How was Duckworth able to persuade a traditionally conservative pension fund to risk an investment in such a grim real estate market? He argued that when recovery came, Realen would be in the best position to take advantage of it. And even if recovery didn't come, Duckworth said, Realen had demonstrated an ability to make money in a lousy market. "So the worst you'll get is what you see." Which ain't too bad. -- Christopher Caggiano

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