Heat Wave Which new businesses are on the fast track to success? The companies in <i>Entrepreneur</i> and D&B's 10th Annual Hot 100 listing are blazing their way to the top.

The companies on our annual Hot 100 list of America'sfastest-growing new entrepreneurial companies are proof that niceguys do finish first. But more on that in a moment. Here's acloser look at what's new in our 10th Annual Hot 100 listing.(To view the listing now, please click here.)

Overall, the companies in this year's listing are slightlymore mature, with an average of 37 months in business compared tolast year's 29 months. They're also making more money, withcombined sales of $1.1 billion-a substantial increase from lastyear's total of $923.5 million. And they're getting bigger,with an average of 48.5 employees each, up from an average of 31.6last year. What's more, they're doing it all with less:This year's average Hot 100 company launched with $416,000 instartup capital, compared with an average of $565,000 lastyear.

Although our Hot 100 companies are geographically diverse, withno one state or region dominating, certain industries did dominate.Business services that were not tech-related accounted for 19 ofour companies; nine of those provide advertising and marketingservices. Construction and home improvement accounted for another19 companies. (Also profiting from the hot real estate market, fiveof the six financial services companies in our listing are mortgagebrokers.) Tech companies showed a slight decline, down from 19 lastyear to 15 this year. Perhaps the most dramatic change was thegrowth of manufacturing, which surged from five companies last yearto 12 this year.