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At 21, Jack Panzarella moved back home with his parents to cuthis expenses so he could introduce his first invention, ahigh-voltage neon light that operates using a transformer. Poweredby a car's battery, the Undercar Neon makes a car'sundercarriage glow in the dark. Now Panzarella, 29, has three majorproduct lines--Auto-Neon (a line of car products), Sport-Neon (forin-line skaters) and Home-Neon (a line of clocks, sculptures andaccent lighting)--with a combined total of more than 200 products.His Wayne, New Jersey, company, Street Glow Inc., now employs morethan 200 people and had estimated sales of $16 million lastyear.
Panzarella's parents helped him in more ways than justproviding a place to live. They're both entrepreneurs, andgrowing up, he knew from their example that he'd someday starthis own business. His idea for neon auto accessories succeeded,despite his limited budget, because his invention had drama andpizzazz--in other words, he had a product people couldn't helpbut notice.
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