Small Biz

Ben Casnocha

Comcate
www.comcate.com
San Francisco
Age: 19

Then:
Before graduating from high school, Casnocha had already written a book, My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley and launched a business. Comcate, started in 2001, makes Web-based software that helps public agencies speed up the process of resolving requests and complaints. Revenues last year neared $1 million. By 2010, Casnocha expected to do six times that.

Now:
Casnocha's full-time staff in San Francisco grew accustomed to minding day-to-day operations while Casnocha went to school and did speaking engagements to promote his book, which hit shelves in May. In September his calendar got even busier when he began studying at California's Claremont McKenna College.