When Walter Curt founded Shenandoah Electronic Intelligence Inc., in his basement, he didn't consider how his rural Virginia location, two and a half hours from the nearest airline terminal, would affect the company's growth. "We just couldn't get there from here," he says, recounting the daylong drives to reach customers in Kentucky that actually took less time than an airline flight. Then Curt turned his off-the-beaten-path address into an advantage using a solution thousands of companies have adopted. Today, as his business has grown to 2,000 employees and some $100 million in annual revenue, Curt credits much of his company's 15-year growth to business aircraft, which gave him access to the world. Departing on the company's Cessna Citation Bravo, he can meet in person with clients in Vermont, Kentucky, Missouri or Nebraska in an hour or two. For trips like these, he says, "Using commercial airlines is nuts. It's just plain nuts."
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