An awful lot can happen in a year or less. Just ask these entrepreneurs.

BLINK AND YOUR BUSINESS MODEL may turn obsolete. When checking back in with the entrepreneurs we covered in 1999, we found unexpected successes and the rewards of persistence, and we found folks who had to scrap their original business plans in favor of better ideas. And then there were those who seemed destined to repeat their mistakes over and over.

Sundeep Bhan
American L:ocker Group
WD 40

Sundeep Bhan

SUNDEEP BHAN'S MEDSITE went after a niche Amazon wouldn't touch--selling medical textbooks on-line ("What the doctor ordered," Jan. 25). Like Jeffrey Bezos, Bhan has expanded his scope. He now sells medical products (from stethoscopes to scrubs), medical journal subscriptions, even an electronic physicians' calendar. "We're writing six-month business plans and changing them every three," says Bhan. Revenues reached $14 million in 1999. Medsite is dreaming of $40 million in sales for 2000, with help from $63 million of venture capital that will help pay for advertising.
 

American Locker Group

AMERICAN LOCKER GROUP, the Jamestown, N.Y. mailbox maker, looked vulnerable because of its overdependence on one big customer: the U.S. Postal Service, which accounted for 71% of company revenues. ALG President Roy Glosser dismissed the concern, saying, "You know they're good for the money" ("Indestructible," Feb. 8).
Not quite. A big slowdown in USPS orders for cluster boxes put a dent in ALG's remarkable earnings growth of 64% over the previous five years: In the third quarter of 1999 profits dropped 60% and revenues slipped by 50% to $7.8 million. The market kicked ALG shares down to $5 from $22.
 

WD 40

WD-40 WAS SQUANDERING a birthright, sitting on a crushing 70% of the multipurpose lubricant market, but doing nothing to expand the company or enrich shareholders ("Johnny One-note," Mar. 8). Chief Executive Garry Ridge finally took our advice to diversify--but with depressing timidity. He's come out with the WD-40 Shop Cloth, a disposable cloth with a preapplied dose of goo. In May WD-40 shelled out $19 million for Lava soap from Block Drug. But Ridge really hasn't washed his hands of the basic problem: taking a risk that will produce revenue growth of more than 12% a year.

Source: Leigh Gallagher Fortune. Jan. 10, 2000