25 Top Women Business Builders

Turns out that while many left corporate America, they’ve hardly left business behind. What they’re doing is striking out on their own, launching companies at a higher rate than any other group. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, from 1997 to 2004, the number of women-owned businesses grew twice as fast as all businesses in the United States. One in 18 adult women in the United States is a business owner. Women-owned companies generate $2.5 trillion in annual sales and employ nearly 20 million people.

So who are these women? What kinds of companies are they founding? What have they learned–and what can we learn from them? To find out, Fast Company teamed up with the Women Presidents’ Organization (which offers help to women owners of companies with more than $2 million in annual revenue) to launch a search for the Top 25 Women Business Builders. Female business owners in North America were invited to apply on our Web site and tell us their stories.

And women answered the call: Nearly 600 applied for these first-ever awards. They represented industries as varied as fashion, agriculture, manufacturing, and armored security. They included one-woman shops struggling to turn their first profit as well as–in the case of one eventual winner–companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

Each applicant was scored based on revenue, revenue growth, and level and consistency of profits. We culled a group of 52 finalists, and our panel of judges (page 76) helped us choose and rank our final list of 25 winners (27, actually, since two of our winning spaces are shared by cofounders).

We think these women, and their accomplishments, will inspire you: Each one’s story offers lessons–whether it’s how to spot a marketable idea, how to distinguish yourself from the competition, how to hire and train the right people, or how to put customers front and center. They haven’t really left corporate America behind. They’re just building their own version.