Rising stars: the 100 hottest new small businesses in America - Cover Story

Entrepreneur, June, 1996 by Debra Phillips, Lynn Beresford

What Grossman himself doesn't have is a reason to slow down--and he's not planning to. Fueled by an energizing 77 percent annual growth rate, he plans to open another three to five stores in the tri-state area over the next five years. With sales projected to hit 53.25 million this year, Just Kids Furniture isn't kidding around when it comes to business. And, Grossman estimates, indulgent baby boomer parents I'll give his company plenty of room to grow.

"We spoil our kids," Grossman says of his generation. "We'd rather take something out of our pocket and give it to our children--whether it's furniture or clothing. Kids have a lot more material things now."

Then again, kids do have a tendency to pay their parents back--one way or another. In Grossman's case, that payment took the form of some much-needed inspiration at a critical time: It was his 11-year-old daughter Jessica who named the company.

"We were trying to figure out what the name of the store should be, and my daughter said, 'Dad, all you sell is just kids furniture--so that should be the name,'" reveals Grossman. "For days we couldn't figure it out. Then she walks into the room and knocks it out in five seconds."

Maybe entrepreneurship runs in the family.--D.P.

High On Tech

How does a small high-tech company get its products into a competitive marketplace? Michael Harris and Gregg Garnick, founders of No. 4-ranked Quadrant International, know the answer--persistence, persistence and more persistence.

The two launched the Malvern, Pennsylvania-based company in May 1994 with $150,000 and one product--a board that enables users to bring video to their laptop computers. Now people can plug camcorders into their home computers and edit videotape. To make inroads into an industry dominated by giant companies, Garnick and Harris have adopted a "refuse to die" attitude. "The selling game is endless," explains Garnick. "You have to sell the bank, your customers, the suppliers--everybody from your landlord to the guy selling you boxes. You even have to sell [potential employees] to come on board." That part hasn't been too difficult for these entrepreneurs: In two years, they've added 14 full-time employees to their roster.

At 26 and 32 years old, respectively, Harris and Garnick believe their youth has worked to their advantage. "People like our enthusiasm," says Garnick. "We're young, aggressive guys trying to build a company. People respond to that." Of course, having an innovative product helps, too.

Even in a highly competitive market, Garnick and Harris feel they have a leg up--mostly because they're fearless. "You have to be aggressive and not be afraid to take it around the world," says Garnick who has heeded his own advice. In addition to selling through mail order and dealers in the United States, Quadrant International's digital video products for laptops now have distributors in 18 other countries. Their global guerrilla marketing tactics have boosted the company's sales from $127,000 to $1.3 million in a year's time--an increase of 924 percent. Sales projections for 1996 are $10 million.