2007 Entrepreneur of the Year: Reader Favorites

Location: Waukegan, Ill,

2006 Revenue: Undisclosed

2007 Estimated Revenue: Undisclosed

Employees: 38

Founded: 1989

What he does: Best known for its Genesis line of commercial printing solutions, Amerikal manufactures environmentally-friendly pressroom chemicals and equipment.
Why he's successful: "Innovation and honesty. We try to innovate our products and obsolete our products on a constant basis, and be straight up and honest with our customers."
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Location: Scottsdale, Ariz.

2006 Revenue: $56.2 million (booked revenue)

2007 Estimated Revenue: $72 million (booked revenue)

Employees: 12 full-time (plus 80 independent contractors)

Founded: 2002

What he does: Helps businesses select sites for group meetings, while also assisting with contract negotiations, recreation coordination, and offsite catering.
Why he's successful: "It's attitude, motivation, and commitment. If you have all three, and a business that makes sense, I think you can be successful."
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Location: Atlanta

2006 Revenue: Undisclosed

2007 Estimated Revenue: Undisclosed

Employees: 25

Founded: 2003

What he does:: Provides continuous transaction-monitoring software with analytics that identify fraud, misuse and errors in a company's financial transactions, including Sarbanes-Oxley auditing compliance.
Why he's successful: "If you over-invest in sales, marketing, or production, it's very difficult to detect the degree that you have over spent. The challenge is to invest up to the point that there is a small amount of stress on the function. You must be careful to not under-invest. Too much tension in a given function and you can end up shortchanging an opportunity to grow. Bottom line for an entrepreneur, tension beats slack."
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Location: Mountain View, Calif.

2006 Revenue: Undisclosed

2007 Estimated Revenue: Undisclosed

Employees: 40

Founded: 2003

What he does: Produces software that searches large volumes of high-speed real-time data for patterns to facilitate tasks such as financial market data analysis, fraud detection, and network monitoring.
Why he's successful: "Kind of an interesting combination of persistence and understanding what companies want -- and then digging and doing it and not stopping until we get it right."
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Location: Sarasota, Fla.

2006 Revenue: Undisclosed

2007 Estimated Revenue: Undisclosed

Employees: 16

Founded: 2005

What he does: Sakezles makes synthetic human body parts that are used by the medical device industry in their product development testing, and by physicians for surgical training. Sakezles' technologically-advanced synthetic parts are used to take the place of live animals in testing situations and have been designed to be the most accurate simulation of the human anatomy. One of the company's largest clients is Johnson & Johnson.
Why he's successful: "It is difficult to get people to take you seriously, especially when you come up with something that on the surface sounds too good to be true. We are a couple of generations beyond any other simulation tools out there. When we want to sell this to somebody, they really have to see first hand what it is, to be able to touch it and see up close how different it is from what else is out there."
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Location: Provo, Utah

2006 Revenue: $17.9 million

2007 Estimated Revenue: $23.1 million

Employees: 80

Founded: 1990

What he does: Through a combination of research, training, and consulting, VitalSmarts helps companies in more than 30 different industries improve performance by influencing the behavior of their employees. The company was named to the Inc. 500 list in both 2005 and 2006. In addition to advising leaders in a professional setting, Grenny co-founded a group called Unitus to help communities around the world conquer their own social problems. Unitus works with approximately 3 million clients in developing nations gain access to loans and start small businesses in order to improve the lives of their families.
Why he's successful: "Entrepreneurs have the potential to have a more positive impact on the world's most important problems than any other group out there. If business leaders are active about that, then the world is going to be better off."
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Location: Springfield, Ill.

2006 Revenue: $153,604

2007 Estimated Revenue: $250,000

Employees: 1

Founded: 1999

What she does: Tjelmeland's design firm helps businesses develop and improve brand identity, create new revenue streams, and increase customer services through concept development, perceptive copywriting, and unique designs.
Why she's successful: "If you keep the perspective that business ownership is about creating a lasting imprint with conscious responsibility, your mission is bigger than your job, your values are non-negotiable, your customers are delighted, and your success will follow."
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Location: Franklin, Tenn.

2006 Revenue: $2.5 million

2007 Estimated Revenue: $9 million

Employees: 25

Founded: 2003

What he does: Offers free price quotes on a variety of insurances, from auto insurance to dental coverage. Visitors to the website fill out a brief questionnaire on the type of insurance they're interested in, and then up to five local agents will contact them with estimates.
Why he's successful: "HometownQuotes was founded by insurance professionals. Knowledge of the industry and a desire to empathize with the agent and consumer are traits that have put HometownQuotes among the best in the business."
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Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.

2006 Revenue: Undisclosed

2007 Estimated Revenue: Undisclosed

Employees: 15

Founded: 2004

What he does: Offers receipt technology that allows foodservice operators to print receipts providing customers with personalized nutritional information that reflects their exact order.
Why he's successful: "Passion and persistence. The big driver is that we want to make a difference. We have a unique opportunity at Nutricate not only to make a lot of money, but also to give back and make a positive change."
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Location: Sherman Oaks, Calif.

2006 Revenue: $41 million (contracted revenue)

2007 Estimated Revenue: $92 million (contracted revenue)

Employees: 96

Founded: 2003

What he does: Provides rapid communications systems for schools and government agencies, which allow them to reach up to 2 million people per hour, using voice and data devices.
Why he's successful: "I think I respect the process of creation. You need a team. I've been fortunate in my 25-year career to have great teams with great passion, representing products that are best in class."
Read his nomination