Sector 9

Sector 9 Longboards has provided longboard products since 1993. Taking the skateboard path less traveled was what propelled founders Dave Klimkiewicz, Dennis Telfer and Steve Lake into the entrepreneurial big time. "It was something that was really different," says Telfer, explaining why he and pals Lake and Klimkiewicz, who are all skateboarders, decided to start a skateboard manufacturing company that specialized not in today's downscaled models, but in the longboards reminiscent of the 1970s.

Although they certainly now look like visionaries, the founders of San Diego-based Sector 9 freely admit to humble beginnings - having produced the company's first skateboards in Telfer's backyard. "It's pretty crazy," says Telfer, an ardent skateboarder who oversees the design of the Sector 9 boards, which are sold worldwide. "As stressed as I am, though, I always love it."