Mail: February 2002

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Sasan Ehdaie
President
CatalystPlanning
Seattle

Durban Pioneer
"Start a Company, Save the World" was the title of a 1997 dispatch from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The consensus at that gathering was that the developing world needed to produce more entrepreneurs. As the elite jet to New York this month for the 2002 forum, a South African reader writes of the challenges he faces -- and of his will to keep trying.

I have just started a small financial consulting business here in South Africa, even though I have had three business failures in the past six years. Many articles -- especially Norm Brodsky's column -- have helped renew my faith in both myself and my ability to rise from the ashes of each failure to start anew. I feel I should thank you for your excellent magazine, which has helped me in my darkest hours.

Thabo Zwane
Managing Consultant
Semper Consulting
Johannesburg, South Africa

House of Correction
Frontier Systems of Edison, N.J., was omitted from the 2001 Inc 500 list. The company provides IT consulting services and had a five-year growth rate of 618%.

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UPDATE

Ditka Would Be Proud

Meet two CEOs who take trash-talking to a whole 'nother level.

On August 13 more than 40,000 fans gathered in Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium to watch the hometown Eagles battle the Baltimore Ravens. But about 90 minutes before kickoff, trouble began. Ravens coach Brian Billick tripped on an uneven patch of turf. "There were spots where you walked on it, and you just sunk right in," he said afterward. Fearful that their players might fall victim to injury, Billick and the Eagles' Andy Reid -- two of the league's fiercest coaches -- asked the referee to call off the game, and he obliged. What followed was a gridiron battle of a different sort: one between two private companies whose fates may forever be linked to the Philadelphia story.

The vendor that supplied the Vet's turf is a $200-million company named Southwest Recreational Industries. Based in Leander, Tex., Southwest sells AstroTurf, the household name in the industry, and the year-old NeXturf, the surface in question at the Vet. Following the incident, CEO Reed J. Seaton vehemently denied that the field was unsafe. But while he did damage control, employees at FieldTurf, a rival based in Montreal, wasted no time in broadcasting news of Southwest's embarrassment on FieldTurf's Web site. At press time, four months later, the links are still there.

Welcome to the business equivalent of negative campaigning. Southwest's Seaton and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman have been at each other's throats for a while now, as attentive Inc readers will recall from an article called " Turf Wars" that ran in our February 2000 issue. Since then, the companies have accused each other of sins ranging from charging too much to lying to the press to paying for an endorsement. How bitter is bitter? Upon hearing that former quarterbacks, including Dan Marino, John Elway, and Troy Aikman, had invested $1 million in FieldTurf, Seaton suggested that the deal might be a fiction. "I wouldn't believe anything John Gilman says," he muttered darkly.

A representative for the former players assures Inc that Gilman is telling the truth. Also true is the fact that FieldTurf, with sales of $50 million, has finally cracked the prestigious NFL stadium market after years of trying. The company's turf will be installed at the arena being built for Paul Allen's Seahawks and at Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions.

Back in Philadelphia, the Eagles are still playing on NeXturf -- even though they reportedly lost more than $5 million following the cancellation of the Ravens game last August. Given the downside, why were the Eagles willing to join the Ravens in walking off the field? Because the economics of football are such that injury poses even greater financial risk. The league caps team payrolls at $72 million, making it difficult for squads to keep capable subs on their rosters. Good backups often leave their teams for starter salaries elsewhere. So if a star is injured, a team is often stuck with an expensive salary to pay while an iffy scrub takes the field every Sunday. Hence, teams get worked up about something as seemingly mundane as turf. The scrutiny teams give turf only heightens the public feud between vendors. Billick and Reid may be tough, but they're soft when compared with Seaton and Gilman -- a pair of foes that would never pass up the chance to grapple for victory on the field. Ilan Mochari

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