5 Inspiring Success Stories You Won't Forget In A Hurry

 

Chris Zane of Zane’s Cycles

Chris Zane is in the experience business. Whether it's selling bikes in his Connecticut store or filling orders for corporate rewards programs, he knows a successful business is about more than just selling stuff. Zane, 46, got his start at age 12 fixing bikes in his parents' East Haven, Connecticut, garage. At 16, he convinced his parents to let him take over the lease of a bike shop going out of business, borrowing $23,000 from his grandfather—at 15 percent interest. His mother tended the store while he was at school in the mornings. In his first year, he racked up $56,000 in sales. This year, he expects to bring in $21 million.

Liane Weintraub and Shannan Swanson of Tasty Brand

With the current obsession with label-reading and organic ingredients, surely there must be dozens of organic baby food brands, right? That's what Los Angeles moms (and friends) Liane Weintraub and Shannan Swanson thought. But they were wrong. The pair started making organic purees for their own babies and couldn't believe how few options were available in stores. So Weintraub, 42, a local TV reporter, and Swanson, 38, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and former cook at one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants, got inspired to fill it. Today the brand is carried at Whole Foods, Fairway, Tops, and other chains. The company turned a profit four years after its founding, and it's on track for sales of $2.5 million this year.

George Vlagos of Oak Street Bootmakers

When George Vlagos was in middle school, his father, a cobbler, would have him come into his Chicago shop to shine shoes every Saturday. John Vlagos, a Greek immigrant, was hoping to show his son that working with your hands is difficult and that he should find a different profession. Well, it backfired. The jobs that made it possible for him to afford a pair of nice shoes ended up driving him back to the family craft when he realized how difficult it was to find a pair of quality shoes. He decided to design his own. Today, there is a six-week wait list for a pair. "It blows my mind that people are walking the streets in New York, in Chicago, in other countries, wearing something that I designed," says Vlagos.

Limor Fried of Adafruit Industries

Limor Fried, who earned her masters in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, runs Adafruit industries, which sells do-it-yourself electronics kits. For every kit Adafruit sells, Fried posts design files, schematics for circuit boards, and any software code needed. She welcomes people to use the information, and sees it as a way to foster innovation. "People want to see the world become a better place through science and engineering," Fried says. "We're going to need the current and future generations to get inspired." Fried launched her company in 2005 with $10,000 that was supposed to go to her tuition. Any time she made a profit, she made a tuition payment. Today, the company ships between 150 to 200 orders a day, some of them worth thousands of dollars.

Kenny Lao and David Weber of Rickshaw Dumpling

Kenny Lao and David Weber met in 2002 when they were both students at NYU's Stern School of Business. They joined forces to enter the Rickshaw concept in a business plan competition in 2004. (They placed second behind a scrap-booking company that was never heard from again, as far as they know.) The partners opened their first store in 2005. Soon after, they opened a second, which quickly proved to be too ambitious. "It was a really dark time," Lao says. "It almost bankrupted us," Weber adds. After they closed that location, they decided to try a food truck—and the success was almost immediate. Their trucks produced the steady cash flow that made a second go at brick-and-mortar expansion possible. The business has grown to 70 employees, and the partners hope to double revenue this year.