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RESUME
Name: Paula Tompkins.
Title: CEO and founder.
Company: ChannelNet, helps customers research for more complex purchases - like a vehicle - online.
Location: Mill Valley and Detroit
2003 revenue: $20 million.
Number of employees: 135.
Year founded: 1985.
Source of startup capital: Boot-strapped. We had to make profits from day one.
Background: Marshall University in West Virginia. Worked in sales and marketing for 3M, General Electric and several technology startups.
Age: 52.
Residence: Sausalito.
Web site: www.softad.com
BIG PICTURE
Reason for starting business: In the hightech arena, I saw and was involved in the early stages of personal computer technology coming out of Silicon Valley and saw an opportunity there that the computer could be the next best thing to a salesman, with a fraction of the cost.
Most difficult part of decision: No one in those days had even thought about using a computer for...