Eureka Moment: We decided to sell international calling plans as a monthly subscriber service, rather than just selling calling cards that people buy, use the time and throw away. That was the Eureka moment. Our business model was more like a mobile phone plan. We started selling plans for China, India and other countries, but India really took off. So we said, “Let’s just speak to Indians,” and for the last three years we have added features to attract the U.S.-based Indian community.

Secret to Success: We are a small company with five partners (and one employee), all working from home, no secretaries, no overhead. We outsource customer service because that allows us to grow. Quite frankly, we’ve had a lot of failures, but our failures don’t cost us a lot of money. We’ve tried writing mobile phone apps and selling plans to Mexico or the Philippines. These projects only take us one or two weeks, and if they don’t work we drop them. Because of our structure, we don’t have a lot invested in each product.

Biggest Challenge: We have too many projects that we want to try, but we don’t want to develop a large staff so we can’t do it all. We hold quarterly meetings to prioritize our work. We have considered bringing on another person, but have avoided doing it for the past four years.

Fresh Ideas: We are all entrepreneurs, but we just incorporate our fresh ideas into this company.

No. 3: Hometown Telecom

Beverly Hills

Business: International long-distance calling plans

Founded: 2006

Two-Year Growth Rate: 316%

2009 Revenue: $7.7 million