This past year, i've had the great privilege of writing about five entrepreneurs. I interviewed each of them at a critical moment in the life of his or her startup -- rather easy to do, actually, as practically every moment in a seed-stage venture is critical. In this, my final column, I'm returning to them to see how their decisions shine in hindsight's glare. Much to my delight, not only do all five companies still exist, but their founders report that they are thriving. Such assurances may, in part, reflect the necessarily optimistic outlook shared by all those who start companies. But as my old business partner, Jeet Singh, used to say, half of winning the battle is showing up to the fight.

Bill Zebuhr, founder of Ovation Products, fervently believes that millions of kilometers of water mains and sewer pipes will someday be replaced by his Clean Water Appliances, humming away in basements -- and in remote villages that now lack clean water -- and efficiently transforming wastewater into pure drinkable water. When I wrote about Ovation last December, Zebuhr had exactly one "alpha" unit working and was trying to raise the necessary financing for the next version.