Young millionaires: class of 2004

Entrepreneur, Nov, 2004 by Amanda C. Kooser, April Y. Pennington, Jonathan Riggs, Nichole L. Torres, Sara Wilson

BERNARD FREI, 39

365 INC. BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

PROJECTED 2004 SALES: $6 million

DESCRIPTION: Online sales of licensed soccer and rugby apparel, and a soccer and rugby news outlet and database

THE GLOBE-TROTTER: Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Bernard Frei wanted a new start in the States and surprised many in the sporting world by choosing Birmingham for his online rugby and soccer emporium. "[There's] this absolute astonishment that this range of product is available not only in the U.S., but [also] out of Alabama," Frei says.

BY THE BOOK: With no background in website design or e-commerce, Frei needed more than just his passion for rugby and soccer to build his internet presence. He spent 1998, his business's first year, with an internet guidebook on his lap, learning as he went. "My business basically kicked off in a spare bedroom with a ton of advice from friends and an HTML code book."

JUST DO IT: At age 18, Frei received an unforgettable piece of advice from a prominent Australian businessman. "It was basically to get on and do it now, and not to hang around," says Frei. "I think so many business plans end up sitting around and never get used, and that's a shame."

THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR: "The worst mistake [I made] was never having the time to get around to getting serious financing," says Frei. "Because of that, we've missed major opportunities."

MR. BIG STUFF: Over the years, Frei has built business relationships with sportswear giants such as Adidas and Reebok. And it was the partnership with Adidas that secured 365 Inc. its biggest coup to date: having soccer superstar David Beckham sport the company's gear in TV ads. Says Frei, "His name and brand recognition in the U.S. is just driving our sales beyond our wildest dreams."

CHRISTOPHER FAULKNER, 27

CI HOST BEDFORD, TEXAS

PROJECTED 2004 SALES: $45 million plus

DESCRIPTION: Web-hosting and data center infrastructure provider

WHAT'S THE SCORE? C I Host commands some impressive figures: 210,000 customers, as many as 5,000 new customers every month, 8,000 resellers around the world, a 37,000-square-foot data center and 9,000 servers. Another interesting number: 15. That's the age at which Christopher Faulkner started his first business selling baseball cards and sports memorabilia out of a small storefront in Bedford, Texas. Now he helps businesses like that one get online.

FROM FANZINE TO BUSINESS: There have been a few stops along the way. "I've started 201 corporations, and 197 of them failed miserably, which is a life lesson that I learned. To be successful, you have to fail along the way," says Faulkner. He built his first website as a fanzine for the band Pearl Jam in 1995, and by the end of the year, he was running a fledgling version of C I Host out of his apartment.

GROWTH SPURT: C I Host soon outgrew Faulkner's apartment and today has offices and data centers in Bedford, Texas, as well as Chicago and Los Angeles--and soon, London. And Faulkner has done it all without the help of VC financing or loans. "We're debt-free," he says. Bootstrapping and growing at a breakneck pace aren't the easiest things to reconcile.