By his junior year in college, Joe Liemandt knew that if he were to be able to develop market-leading computerized sales software - a market he valued at $10 billion - dropping out of Stanford would be unavoidable. In 1989, following exhaustive research on sales configuration (order processing), Liemandt dropped out of Stanford University nine months before graduation to establish his own California-based company, Trilogy Development, and immediately began a breakneck project to computerize sales procedures before such giants as IBM or Hewlett Packard could complete similar undertakings. Despite his parents' protests, Joe and his team of four other Stanford students worked to develop a series of algebraic algorithms that could be used to create mock product line models. By 1991, the company had a new Austin, TX location, 13 employees, patents for its algorithms and a basic version of what would become a groundbreaking product. What Trilogy lacked, however, was sales. Despite the company's tribulations, Liemandt's parents declined to provide the start-up with seed money.

Unable to rely on his parents, Liemandt took on other jobs, mainly consulting positions, to help keep Trilogy afloat, and all-nighters for the fledgling company became all too common. In 1991, though, all of the hard work and abuse of their bodies produced a $3.5 million payday, when Hewlett Packard climbed aboard as Trilogy's first corporate client. Foregoing its own forays into the configuration software field, HP inked a deal with Trilogy for their configuration software and support service, a move that would have near-immediate ramifications. Within months, other business giants, including Boeing, Silicon Graphics, DEC, and Alcatel, were among Trilogy's client list.

Today, Trilogy has a staff of over 200 employees, and sales routinely topping $70 million. Though Liemandt is sour to the idea, Wall Street insiders have estimated that if he were to take his brainchild public, it would be worth about $1 billion. While other companies are scrambling to enter the fray, Liemandt isn't too concerned. As the Microsoft of the configuration software market, Trilogy is at the top of its game. And founder Liemandt can pride himself on beating the Goliaths of the industry.