Striking It Rich

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In some exceptional individuals, however, the entrepreneurial spirit never ages. Henry Kloss, 53, founded his first company, Acoustic Research in Cambridge, Mass., at the age of 22. It made stereo speakers, and he eventually sold it to his partner. Headstrong and impulsive, Kloss has since gone on to establish three more home electronics firms, including Advent, which is now in receivership. His latest is Kloss Video, which makes large-screen-projection TV sets and was started in 1977. But Kloss may now be too tired for another new venture. Says he: "Each one of those enterprises started with a bare room, and I don't have the heart for it again."

Entrepreneurs like Kloss often move restlessly from one field to another, starting new companies like an industrial Johnny Appleseed. S. Allan Kline, 61, is a physicist by training, so it is not surprising that he helped found Xicor, a company that makes memory chips for computers. Less expected was his development of a nutritional snack. New Generation Foods, which he founded in 1977, last year sold $3.6 million worth of Spicer's WheaTwists, a low-calorie, high-protein snack chip. Quips Kline: "I'm in the chips business: one edible, one inedible."

A few risk takers are immigrants who came to America to reap the benefits of its entrepreneurial climate. Sirjang Lai Tandon, 39, left his native India in 1960. In 1975 he founded a firm that makes disc drives for personal computers that are sold by Radio Shack and other companies. Last year his firm had sales of $54.2 million. Jesse I. Aweida, 50, the Palestinian-born founder of Storage Technology in Louisville, Colo., turned the computer memory company into a $922 million-a-year business. Both Altos Computer Systems in San Jose, Calif., and Osborne Computer Corp. in Hayward, Calif., were founded by businessmen who had moved to the U.S. from Britain.

The very factors that make entrepreneurs successful in starting companies can lead to problems later on. Frequently egotistical, the upstart executives seldom admit failure and sometimes refuse to share responsibility or hire good people to help run the company. A crucial turning point comes when a new enterprise reaches sales of about $250 million. In some cases, like that of Engineer Kenneth Olsen of Digital Equipment Corp. in Maynard, Mass., the innovative founder develops the managerial skills to run a large, complex organization. In other cases, the entrepreneur gets in trouble and must get help from professional managers. Centronics Data Computer Corp., a New Hampshire maker of computer printers founded by Robert Howard in 1968, ran into financial problems in 1980. Managinto financial problems in 1980. Managers from Xerox and Raytheon were brought in to help. Losses ran to $24.5 million on sales of $123.9 million from June 1980 to June 1981. The company has signed an agreement with Control Data that could bring in $25 million in new cash, and Howard may be forced to step down as chairman.