Jump Ship Nationwide, cubicle-bound techies are making the leap from tech exec to entrepreneur. Is it your turn?

Whit Alexander and Richard Tait, the minds behind the successfulboard game Cranium, both have a long history of entrepreneurialpursuits. Alexander, whose father lived down the river fromAmway's founders in Ada, Michigan, would sell boat tours tovisiting Amway believers willing to pay exorbitant sums to catch aglimpse of the founders' abode. Meanwhile, Tait had a gigselling fish door to door, which unfortunately proved to besomewhat short-lived. "There was a bit of a shelf-lifeproblem," he quips.

Alexander and Tait will have you in stitches as they recountstories of these and other previous start-up ventures, but ask themabout the major factors that contributed to the success of Cranium,and both will point to the years they worked for Microsoft. Thepartners join the ranks of many entrepreneurs who got their startas tech execs at big-name corporations and translated theirexperiences into innovative businesses.

In 1997, Alexander and Tait decided to leave Microsoft on a highnote to start their own business and, surprisingly enough, didnot start a dotcom or create a computer game. Instead, theychanneled their entrepreneurial energies into a unique board game,Cranium. Since its launch, Seattle-based Cranium Inc. has sold morethan 400,000 copies of the game, and Cranium has become thefastest-selling board game in history, says Tait.