He doesn't have a retiring personality.

• Position: A.S. "Dolph" Clay of Alliance Display and Packaging Co.

One of the first things entpretreneurs learn is, know your competition. A.S. "Dolp" clay has that covered. He started his.

Clay, 68, founded Chesapeake Display and Packaging Co. and ran it for 19 years before stepping down in 1987. But retirement left him restless. "I found out that you can't fish 365 days a year," Clay says. Now he's back as chairman and CEO of a new company, Alliance Display and Packaging Co., which, like Chesapeake, is based in Winston-Salem and makes cardboard store displays and packaging.

Clay started Alliance in fall 1990 after some of his former employees came to him with the idea. "Some people at Chesapeake wanted to form a company they had ownership in," says Clay, who owns 20% of Alliance. Most of the new company's managers are former Chesapeake employees. In fact, Clay's successor there, James L. Einstein, is now president of Alliance.

Clay has taken a few of Chesapeake's clients, too. But he downplays the rivalry. "I have known most of the [clients] who decided to come with us," Clay says. "But there's room for both companies. They [Chesapeake] have been...