Inc. Magazine has released their annual “Fastest Growing Private Companies in America” edition. And for the third time in recent years, Virtual was right there on the list, nestled among some pretty cool companies.
It was interesting paging through the edition—it helped me realize a few things about the nature of growing companies and the state of the economy.
First, things sure appear to be getting better out there. Consider this. In 2011, the 5000th company had a growth rate of 2%. In 2012, it was 5%. This year, number 5000 had a growth rate of 34%. It’s great to see the floor rising—it shows that companies are doing better as a whole.
Second, I was struck by how few of the companies are more than five years old. In fact, my quick scan of the top 500 found only 20 companies formed prior to the year 2000. It shows how hard it is to sustain growth year after year, which makes our appearance at the ripe old age of 14 all the more satisfying.
And whether we’re first or five-thousandth on the list—and, full disclosure, we were closer to the bottom than the top—I’m quite proud to have made it at all. There are 28 million privately held companies in the United States. That means the Inc. 5000 represents the top 0.018 percentile.
We’re proud to be there and thankful to our employees and clients who have made it so.
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