Second Act

Sure, there's life after the Inc. 500. Some company founders sell out, some keep expanding, and others, like Olin Broadway, start new companies.

Broadway's software services firm, Broadway & Seymour (B&S), made the list in 1986 and 1987, and at $40 million in sales, it's still going strong. But with a new management team in place, Broadway has left to start a for-profit venture bringing literacy education, via interactive software, to workplaces.

"It would be nice to say I'd been planning this for years," muses Broadway, "but I haven't." Instead, the idea flowed from requests made by B&S's customers; they asked for help providing basic education to their fresh-out-of-high-school hires.

"I don't want to blame the school systems," says Broadway, "but they're not putting out the people we need." So, with no major players in the field, Broadway -- still chairman of B&S and owner of 11% of the company -- has begun seeking financing and a new office in Charlotte, N.C., for The Salem Co. Why a separate space for the start-up? "This company needs its own identity," he says. "It's also so I don't keep bugging the managers."