These are the icons of startup companies everywhere, revered as men of vision. But it takes more than an idea and willpower to create what seasoned technology and communications executive and author David G. Thomson calls "Blueprint Companies."

Such firms have climbed to revenues topping the billion-dollar mark through a common set of guidelines and circumstances, Thomson told 250 technology executives, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs attending their industries' annual combined luncheon Thursday at Thanksgiving Point.

There are seven elements to these runaway success companies' blueprints for success, Thomson told the joint session of the Utah Technology Council, MountainWest Capital Network and Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Form. One of the most important is development of what he called "dynamic duo" leadership.

Gates was not alone in building the world's largest computer software company - he needed the logistical and managerial genius of Jon Shirley, who became president of the company in 1983 and oversaw its growth from a small IBM partner to a global giant with its Windows operating system.

Similarly, Smith could not have redefined the coffee experience for a nation without Howard Schultz, who took over marketing for a fledgling Seattle coffee shop and then bought it. In 1990, with Smith joining the team, Starbucks turned it into an American coffee bar syndicate worth multiple billions of dollars.

"Companies that [succeed] have a dynamic duo," Thompson said. "They have huge respect for each other, common passion and common vision and common goal and differing, yet complementary skills."

Another of the essentials to achieving exponential growth is establishing a breakthrough value proposition - defined as creating a new market, such as eBay did with online auctioning; redefining a product, like Starbucks did with coffee; or optimizing services, such as JetBlue did in taking up lackluster regional air routes and turning them into one of the few profitable airline operations today.

Thomson spent 20 years in management, sales and marketing at Nortel Networks and Hewlett-Packard.

Other 'Blueprint Companies' elements

l Marquee customer relationships, such as eBay with its bulk or so-called power sellers

l "Big Brother Alliances" such as that a startup Microsoft initially had in providing IBM with the MS-DOS operating system

l A trend of "exponential returns," a business model emphasizing sales growth and wise operational expenditures over rapid revenues, despite associated expenses

l A "customer centric" board of directors - one comprised of investor, customer, management, community and experts in company-specific fields.