Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2024 i Inc. Magazine

Samhita Mukhopadhyay Mukhopadhyay’s book The Myth of Making It explores burnout and DEI in the workplace—she covers the latter in her look at corporate training firm Praxis Labs (page 34). Her work has appeared in New York, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. Reeves Wiedeman Wiedeman is a writer at New York and the author of Billion Dollar Loser, the 2020 book on the rise and fall of WeWork. For Inc., he examines Religion of Sports (page 31), the Tom Brady-backed production company. “It was a nerdy thrill to sit in on a creative strategy meeting at HQ,” he says. Jennifer Conrad Inc. senior writer Conrad profiles Kizik (page 150), the adaptive-sneaker brand that both competes and partners with Nike. “I was impressed to see Kizik build its prototypes onsite,” she…

A well-meaning man at work consistently talks over women in meetings. A few women have filed complaints about the employee, and you, the manager, are tasked with giving him feedback. But you are dreading the conversation. It will likely be uncomfortable, and it’s unclear how he might react. What do you do? Praxis Labs is here to help, with a healthy assist from generative AI. The Los Angelesbased company, founded by Elise Smith, 33, and Heather Shen, 27, creates simu lated environments for managers to practice giving feedback in delicate situations. The module coaches them and asks them to try again if they don’t get their point across sufficiently. It is apparent why a tool like this is revolutionary, and why companies such as Uber, Amazon, and Accenture have adopted…

To witness the future of energy, drive about 25 miles from Baltimore to West Friendship, Maryland. Turn onto a dirt road that leads to a 100-year-old farm, past rusting tractors, a pit of burning scrap wood, and a pond, and you’re there: a 6.25-megawatt solar energy installation on 23 rural acres. Chaberton Energy (No. 34) designed the 15,000-solar-panel array on land it leases from the farmer. Chaberton is a leader in a field that’s come to be known as community solar: small-scale green energy projects for groups that couldn’t otherwise build their own. After Chaberton secures the land and the permits, it designs and then sells a shovel-ready package to an investor, in this case Greenbacker Renewable Energy. Loyola University in Baltimore buys part of the output of this installation,…

A lot of my clients at the salon were coming in just to talk to me. I thought, “I should get my master’s in counseling.” As a working mom, I wanted to get my master’s as quickly as possible and open my own center for people with autism, one that would accept Medicaid. That way, I could provide quality services for the mostly Black and Brown kids who were going to these facilities. In 2017, I rented a little single-room space in Indianapolis and hired a few other behavior therapists. Within six months, we’d grown to seven kids. There was a nicer two-room space down the block. I started renting it, and a year later I’d made enough to buy the building. When the pandemic hit, I bought another building…

Over the past four years, companies have had to deal with problems that no one could have foreseen in 2019: a global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, worker shortages. In the process, they also had to figure out how to handle a problem that had seemed to be a thing of the distant past—infla tion. After more than a decade in which the inflation rate rarely touched even 3 percent, it soared to 7 percent in 2021 and was at 6.5 percent in 2022. And even as it’s cooled down over the past 18 months, its impact on all companies— particularly this year’s Inc. 5000— will likely influence their behavior for years to come. Which raises an interesting question: Is coming of age in an inflationary moment a boon or a…

KEYSTONEPERFUSION.COM 6X Inc. 5000 List $30+ million 2023 Revenue 350 Employees 2013 Year Founded There were many unsung heroes during the pandemic, whether it was the doctors working late into the night, the nurses comforting worried patients, or the medical service providers who had to jump into action. Keystone Perfusion, a South Carolina-based health care company, was one of those organizations that had to pivot in the early days of the Covid crisis, saving thousands of lives in the process. The 11-year-old business provides perfusionists to hospitals that perform cardiac surgery. These professionals operate the heart-lung bypass machines that maintain blood circulation and oxygenation during heart repair surgeries. During the pandemic, Keystone Perfusion’s clients needed perfusionists to run machines called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) devices, which remove carbon dioxide from…

DANIELSFUND.ORG 31 EMPLOYEES 94% EMPLOYEE RETENTION 81 EMPLOYEE NET PROMOTER SCORE HQ: DENVER, COLORADO The late Bill Daniels would be proud of what he saw if he walked into the Daniels Fund offices today, believes Hanna Skandera, president and CEO. Daniels established the foundation in 2000 to make life better for the people of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—states with personal meaning for him. Since its founding, the not-for-profit has distributed more than $1.1 billion in grants and scholarships. Daniels’s vision and legacy live on within the organization. In addition to preserving his donor intent, board members and employees embody Daniels’s values, including ethics and integrity, patriotism, belief in the free enterprise system, and a strong conviction in the power of the individual. Mission and values are part of…

OGLAWYERS.COM Oliva Gibbs is dedicated to serving energy companies nationwide, with offices in Columbus, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Midland, Texas; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Our clientele ranges from Fortune 500 corporations to private equity and family office-backed energy companies. Specializing in complex title and transactional projects, litigation, surface use matters, and regulatory concerns, Oliva Gibbs ensures high-quality legal services with a collaborative approach for its clients with attorneys licensed in 13 states. Oliva Gibbs distinguishes itself through its core values: passion for continuous learning, unparalleled client service, and a collaborative culture. The firm believes in the power of continuous learning to enhance business outcomes and takes pride in sharing knowledge with clients and industry peers. Commitment to professional development is lived through initiatives like Oliva Gibbs University and a…

SCAN123.COM 41.75% 3-YEAR GROWTH 28 EMPLOYEES 133% 5-YEAR EMPLOYMENT GROWTH HQ: PORTLAND, OREGON Each new hire at software company Scan123 receives a deceptively serious assignment during onboarding: Imagine yourself as a superhero and create a poster that defines your superpower. The Portland, Oregon, company provides document management services for home care and automotive businesses. Using the superhero exercise to supplement employee orientation was an idea CEO Jed McCarthy got from Felix Lin, a friend and consultant, after taking the reins in 2019. The posters give company leaders insight into how to use and develop each worker’s talents to the fullest. “We encourage regular quarterly conversations with their supervisor to figure out how they can do more of their superpower and less of the stuffthey don’t want to do,” McCarthy says.…

XENCOMEDICAL.COM Driven by a commitment to value-based care through scientific innovation, Xenco Medical has charted a course in the life sciences defined by devotion to the entire spectrum of a patient’s journey. From the company’s application of materials science in the design of its biomimetic spinal implants to engineering highlyreinforced, composite polymer surgical instruments, the San Diegoheadquartered company has fostered an engineering and design culture that synthesizes otherwise disparate fields into interdisciplinary surgical technologies. According to Xenco Medical Founder and CEO Jason Haider, cultivating an empowering workplace has played an essential role in the company’s surgical innovations. He notes, “as a catalyst-oriented company, we’ve prioritized imbuing our culture with the belief that the path to scientific impact is forged through empowerment.” The company’s broad portfolio of surgical technologies, from regenerative…

STRATEGICCLAIMCONSULTANTS.COM 53 EMPLOYEES 5,000+ CLAIMS SETTLED 6 LOCATIONS $2B+ RECOVERED Strategic Claim Consultants (SCC), a national public insurance adjusting firm based in Atlanta, specializes in claim advocacy for policyholders. The company has found success—and an Inc. Best Workplace honor—by embracing the concept of collaborative autonomy in the workplace. “We don’t succeed by micromanaging; we do it by incorporating a team effort,” says Michael A. Fried, vice president and partner. “Collaboration is at the forefront. We like to accentuate the team members’ unique skill sets and put them in positions to succeed.” CEO Brandon Lewis founded the company in fall 2016. Since then, through strategic acquisitions of competitive firms, Lewis has expanded SCC’s reach to Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, and the Carolinas. Young but experienced Many of the firm’s employees once…

Los Angeles Three-year growth rate: 459% Working with influencers is the exact roller coaster you think it is—they can be as mercurial as they are savvy and their often outsize personalities can be explosive. Mirror Digital, which represents more than 1,000 publishers and creators, has learned to harness that volatility—booking nearly $24 million in revenue from clients such as Amazon and General Motors last year alone. After 12 years of business, Mirror’s 42-yearold founder and CEO, Sheila Marmon, is unambiguous about the source of her success. As a digital media company, we help brands connect with diverse audiences on digital ad platforms. We have a network of websites, creators, and podcasters. So brands tell us the audience they want to reach. Then we get a digital ad from a media…

MIT45.COM $77.6M 2023 Revenue 109 Employees 135% 2-Year Growth $679K 2023 Revenue Per Employee Salt Lake City-based company MIT45 has answered the call to revolutionize the $1.5 billion kratom industry and has experienced phenomenal growth along the way. By aligning with the heartbeat of the kratom market, MIT45 has transcended from a $1.5 million enterprise to a $77.6 million juggernaut. This meteoric growth is due to a potent blend of meticulous product development, judicious and data-driven strategies, and an unwavering commitment to prioritizing their customers and employees first. Combining innovation and data The key to MIT45’s revenue boost was the development of an innovative kratom extract that could be incorporated into a variety of products. While kratom has been a popular botanical in the wellness space for decades, traditional formats…

Claudia and Carolina Recchi are sisters who run EdSights, a tech platform that enhances student retention, and one of the fastest-growing companies in America. But today, as I speak to them over Zoom, they are sitting at a single laptop in a darkened apartment in a northern suburb of Rome, where they grew up, the windows shut tight to keep out the sweltering summer heat. Carolina, 30, and Claudia, 28, spend three months a year with their family, without their business (No. 296 on the Inc. 5000) missing a beat. “We were born as a remote com pany, since our first five hires,” explains Carolina of EdSights, which started out building student-life apps. “It was important for us to prove that we could do the remote thing, but still not…

Dilip Rao didn’t need to start a business. As an investment banker at Credit Suisse, he was highly paid and good at his job. But on July 5, 2014, while crossing the street in Midtown Manhattan, the then 33-year-old newlywed was struck by a car. He suffered a concussion and a handful of other injuries, which rendered him temporarily unable to move his arms and legs. “When I was lying in the hospital and couldn’t feel anything from the neck down, I went through the worst-case scenarios in my head,” he says. Rao wondered whether this was it. “I had so many more things that I wanted to do.” That’s the human condition, of course, but it also drove his recovery. He spent the next six to 12 months engaged…

Don Burnette is circumspect about both the speed of technology and the patience required for massive leaps. While we’re still waiting for robotaxis and EVs without steering wheels, Burnette, 39, helped pioneer AV trucking, which he left a gig at Uber to do. Today, his 206-employee-strong Kodiak Robotics is powering AV trucks across a 19,000-road network, covering some three million miles, with plans to eventually traverse the nation. The Mountain View, Californiabased company, which grew more than 10,106 percent in three years, has a clear road ahead of it. But there have been plenty of bumps along the way. 1 STAY LEAN I intentionally left behind the big tech strategy of throwing infinite resources at problems. I saw how doing so not only can make you wasteful, but also can…

Inc. 5000 Meet the top 500 of the class of 2024, in ranked order with the No. 1 company at 90,779 percent revenue growth. Then, check out the full list of 5,000 all-stars: inc.com/inc5000/2024 • The number of dots indicates how many times a company has been a past Inc. 5000 honoree. NOTE: The growth rates used to determine company rankings were calculated to four decimal places. There were no ties among the top 500 of this year’s Inc. 5000. GENDER 0.07% of respondents identified themselves as transgender or nonbinary. AGE WAKE-UP TIMES WHICH SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR THEY ADMIRE MOST AND WHY JENSEN HUANG “He remains grounded, accessible, and committed to fostering a culture of transparency and trust.” OPRAH WINFREY “Her ongoing focus on personal growth is an inspiration.” YVON CHOUINARD…

San Francisco Three-year growth rate: 1,728% No. 236 Yoona Kim, 44, wanted to help people access health care. That desire led her down a compounding path-from an early career analyzing health care cost trends, to pharmacy school, and then to a PhD program in health economics. Eventually, she encountered an important, solvable problem: Millions of people are prescribed suboptimal-and often dangerous-medications each year. So in 2017, Kim and CTO Penjit "Boom" Moorhead co-founded Arine. The platform, powered by AI, recommends safer, more effective medication regimens. It's grown by illuminating the shadowy side of the $1 trillion U.S. pharmaceutical industry. I always saw gaps in the health care system. My mom is a public health nurse, and even when we were kids, she would bring us to volunteer at public health…

Consideration criteria includes: • The types of services provided • The quality, cost, and range of offered benefits • The PEO's culture and values and whether they align with yours • The level of service provided to business leaders, HR, and employees • Whether the PEO offers an app for HR users and employees • Security measures • Liability and how much risk will be shared with or absorbed by the PEO • If the PEO has been designated a certified PEO by the IRS • The user experience of the PEO platform and if it integrates with existing processes…

Hoboken, New Jersey Three-year growth rate: 90,779% To understand the power of small, non-obvious changes, consider the Long Island patient who kept landing in the emergency room after failing to show up to her scheduled heart surgery. Vytalize Health, the No. 1 company on this year’s Inc. 5000, sent a social worker to the patient’s home and discovered two dozen pet parakeets. The patient had refused to leave the birds alone to go to her procedure. After Vytalize secured an animal-care organization to step in more than a year ago, the patient received the surgery, and she hasn’t been hospitalized in more than a year. “The thing a lot of folks forget about health care is that it’s more than just biochemical reactions,” says Vytalize cofounder and chief medical officer…

New York City Three-year growth rate: 2,413% No. 144 Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental hotel is an odd place to be passing around diapers, Frank Yu, 33, will admit. It was there, in 2016, that he met some friends who were fresh from a baby shower. They’d been gifted diapers that felt nothing like the plasticky ones in the United States. These felt soft—similar to cashmere, even. The gears of Yu’s strategic brain, trained by London Business School, sent him hurtling into a years-long quest to design a fabric-like disposable diaper for the American market. He had the privileges of youth, drive, and hefty savings from working at an investment bank. He soon also had a lab, courtesy of his mentor, Carlos Richer, the CEO of Diaper Testing International. But as a…

$15.4 billion Carahsoft Technology’s 2023 annual revenue. Craig Abod founded government IT contractor Carahsoft Technology in 2004 with a “handful of employees” and a single vendor partner. In 2008, the Reston, Virginia-based company landed at No. 16 on the Inc. 5000, having grown revenue 6,553 percent over a three-year-period. Carahsoft hasn’t looked back since. The early growth milestone marked the beginning of a nearly unprecedented hot streak, as the company has claimed a spot on the Inc. 5000 every year since—an eye-popping 17 years in a row. Most impressive, Carahsoft has done this without venture capital or mergers and acquisitions, chasing “natural growth driven by hard work,” Abod says. This year, in addition to celebrating its 20th anniversary, Carahsoft reaches yet another milestone: It’s the highest-earning company on the Inc.…

BLACKLINEIT.COM 30 EMPLOYEES 2015 INC 5000 HONOREE 6 YEARS: AVERAGE EMPLOYEE TENURE HQ: NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS Some people buy a red Corvette when they turn 50. Jody Jankovsky, founder and CEO of Black Line IT, reimagined his company instead. “It was 2017, and I’d been in the business for 20-something years. I turned 50 and thought, ‘What do I want Black Line’s legacy to be? Do we continue on as usual, or do we double down and do something extraordinary?” The business was profitable and growing, but “make money” isn’t a mission that rallies the troops, Jankovsky observes. He knew the team was capable of more. However, the catalyst that truly changed the trajectory of the company was the buy-in, support, and enthusiasm of his team. This sparked Black Line’s “Moonshot”…

CHANNELPARTNERSCAPITAL.COM Channel, a leading provider of equipment finance and working capital solutions, is honored to be recognized in Inc.’s Best Workplaces Listing. This recognition is a testament to Channel’s unwavering commitment to excellence and collaboration in a growth-focused culture. Our commitment has earned us numerous accolades, including being named one of the fastest-growing companies by Inc. 5000 for 12 consecutive years. This extraordinary success is attributed to the strength of our team and their collaborative relationships with partners, driven by a shared mission to create enduring and mutually advantageous partnerships Passionate about empowering small business growth,Channel continuously seeks talented, driven individuals who share the same enthusiasm for the industry. Channel strives to foster an environment that encourages employee growth and supports them in reaching theirfull potential. Channel invests in our…

QUANTIOUS.COM Smart. Fast. Curious. These traits, which they call superpowers, sum up the agility of the Quantious team. The company is a proud partner to some of the biggest names in tech, as well as startups on the road to greatness. Their knack for tailoring fractional turnkey services to meet the unique needs of their clients distinguishes them from agencies that offer prepackaged, one-size-fits-all solutions. Integrating seamlessly into existing workflows and processes, Quantious helps clients deliver effectively, crossing the finish line on time—and on budget. Quantious founder and CEO Lisa Larson-Kelley has always been committed to the customer experience and being a true partner to clients. As a Meta senior product marketing manager put it, “Love your work—always keeping the customer at the center of everything you do. Our team…

NEWHOMESTAR.COM 2024 INC. BEST WORKPLACES WINNER 500+ EMPLOYEES 90+% MANAGEMENT TEAM RETENTION HQ: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Founded in 2008, New Home Star—a modern new home sales management firm—took three years before reaching $1 million in revenue. Those three years were among Founder David Rice’s most challenging. But he never wavered from a biblical truth: do the right thing, even when no one is watching. This tenant is the backbone of New Home Star’s award-winning culture, which is the heart of the company’s success. New Home Star operates in 25 markets, employs over 500 people, and will achieve more than $3 billion in yearly home sales in 2024. “We’re being rewarded for doing the right things beyond what we ever imagined,” Rice explains. An origin story New Home Star’s culture and faith-based…

IMPINJ.COM Have you ever purchased apparel from a retailer like Uniqlo or Zara, run a race like the New York City Marathon, enjoyed a drink from a Coca-Cola Freestyle soda fountain, or checked bags with Delta Airlines? Then you’ve probably interacted with Impinj. Impinj pioneered RAIN RFID, a passive, battery-free wireless technology that enables wireless connectivity for everything that is manufactured, transported, and sold. RAIN RFID tags are attached or embedded into everyday items ranging from clothing to surgical instruments, delivering real-time insights that strengthen inventory and asset management, baggage tracking, shipment verification, greener supply chains, and more. Impinj has enabled connectivity for more than 100 billion items. Company culture is at the heart of Impinj’s success. Nurturing and aligning employees to Impinj principles while promoting and fostering diversity, equity,…

Los Angeles Three-year growth rate: 2,276% Plenty of founders start their businesses knocking on doors. Matt Danna, 36, and his co-founder, Sean Stavropoulos, 37, got their start hitting salons all over Los Angeles, in 2015, pretending to be college students working on a class project. At each stop, they asked how the business’s booking software worked and what it lacked. The more the duo learned, the more they wanted to build software to remove the pain points for these salons and their customers. Within months, they had quit their jobs in tech and dived into the world of self-care. Years of eating ramen noodles, challenging cynical investors, and building unconventional software have paid off. Boulevard finished 2023 with more than $50 million in annual revenue, and says it is on…

Layton, Utah Three-year growth rate: 1,103% When Allyse Jackson, 30, started Beehive Meals in 2019, it was to help pay the mortgage until her husband, Adam, found a new job. But with just one click and a post to her neighborhood Facebook group, this stay-at-home mom landed on something all entrepreneurs crave: productmarket fit. Within the crowded $8.7 billion meal-kit delivery space, she found a niche by delivering fresh ingredients for Crock-Pot concoctions designed to streamline dinnertime for families, no chopping required. Before too long, her freezer-meal delivery service started scaling so fast that Jackson solved her family’s original problem—by hiring her husband. I grew up with a father who owned several businesses. It was either feast or famine, so I always thought, I don’t know if I want to…

SIERRAGROUPROOFING.COM NO69 2023 Inc. 5000 Ranking 25 Employees 2017 Year Founded HQ Blytheville, Arkansas Six years ago, the Arkansas-based roofing company Sierra Group, one of the fastest-growing businesses in the Southeast, narrowly avoided bankruptcy. The rebound is a testament to Founder and CEO Marcos Sierra and his wife, Victoria. Sierra immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico at age eight as hidden cargo in a car trunk. When he got to the states, he was awed by the abundance of opportunity: free school, free transportation, free food in the cafeteria. He never lost sight of these blessings. “Even through our business’s hardships, our attitude was always: ‘We got this. We are in the U.S. There’s always plenty of opportunity. You just have to search for it,’” he says. An antidote for…

STRAIGHTUPGROWTH.COM Founded at the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020, Straight Up Growth specializes in one thing: growing brands on Amazon. Co-founders Evan Kesner, a serial entrepreneur, and Daniel Tejada, an Amazon ads wiz who has sold more than $1.5B of products on the platform, saw an opportunity to drive growth for one of the world’s most popular product search engines. In less than four years, the entirely self-funded company has grown to 25 people and more than $700MM in Amazon sales for various leading brands in CPG, baby, health and wellness, and beauty. According to Tejada, “What keeps our growth going is we’ve created an environment focused on educating each other. When our employees grow, it translates to our clients growing even quicker and referring us to other…

THEPIPELINEGROUP.IO NO48 2024 Inc. 5000 Ranking 2X Inc. 5000 Regional Honoree 298% 3-Year Growth 400+ Employees in 28 countries Building a business is like assembling a puzzle—except there’s no picture on a box to guide you. “That’s what happened: I found a bunch of puzzle pieces, and I started piecing them together. The result was a complete blessing and a complete surprise,” explains Ken Jisser, founder and CEO of The Pipeline Group (TPG), a technology-enabled services company specializing in remote sales development representatives (SDRs) for business-to-business (B2B) technology companies. For Jisser, one puzzle piece was people—“the world’s best SDRs,” he says. Another was technology that was purpose-built to manage and optimize remote sales processes and drive exceptional results. These pieces proved the foundation for a two-time Inc. Regionals honoree poised…

What do LinkedIn, Fitbit, and Yelp have in common with GoPro, Yeti, and Touchland? Long before they were household names, these businesses were on the Inc. 5000—our annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. These, and so many others like them, were once small businesses with limitless ambition, and the Inc. 5000 and its predecessor, the Inc. 500, helped introduce them to the world. Did you have an American Girl doll, or did you find a home on Zillow? Have you gotten food from Domino’s Pizza or Smashburger, or a snack from Cold Stone Creamery or Dippin’ Dots, or ordered something from Zappos, Grubhub, or Bombas, while holding onto your cellphone with a PopSocket? All of these companies were recognized by Inc. on this iconic list before the…

Nick Ajluni’s first company was fueled by partying 20-somethings. As a college student, he launched a line of powdered beverages meant to be mixers and chasers for alcohol. The product never took off, but after graduating, Ajluni teamed up with a former classmate who was claiming Instagram handles that might come in handy for businesses. One of them, @sauce, amassed tens of thousands of followers, prompting the pair to start their own sauce company. They drew inspiration from Cîroq vodka, a wildly popular brand thanks in part to its promotion by hip-hop artists. “We wanted to create the Cîroq of hot sauce,” says Ajluni, 30. “To do that, we knew it needed to be luxurious, and not just because we said it was, but because it actually had an ingredient…

One night in late November 2021, Jay McKee, CEO of real estate tech platform Lessen, hosted 80 real estate VIPs at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, for an annual soiree. He had something special to celebrate: his company’s new $1.1 billion valuation. Sometime between the unveiling of grand cru wines, Pappy Van Winkle, and visits to the cigar cabana, McKee approached SMS Assist founder Mike Rothman, whom he’d known for 10 years. Reveling in Lessen’s rapid growth, McKee blurted out, half in jest, “What if I buy your company?” Rothman laughed. “Jay,” he said, “our revenue is 10 times yours. We buy you.” They talked for hours, chewing over what each company could bring to the table. Both were tech platforms for facilities managers to hire tradespeople and maintenance workers.…

San Francisco Three-year growth rate: 2,380% How can something so vital to human life feel so lifeless? That’s the question Alex Cyriac found himself asking about the health insurance industry after medical complications left his mother struggling with years of chronic pain. As the bills stacked up and his family faced tough financial decisions, Cyriac—who has a background in software, operations, and sales— thought there had to be a better way. By 2016, that conviction had led him and his childhood friend Shobin Uralil to found Lively, a fintech that offers health savings accounts, or HSAs. For Cyriac, now 41, the goal is to be a consumer-friendly alternative to the industry mainstays: fewer forms and fees, plus no getting brushed off by unhelpful customer service reps. It’s a mission that’s…

Los Angeles Three-year growth rate: 2,252% No. 167 Javon Frazier, 46, grew up in a single-parent home in L.A. His mom worked hard to support him, so comic books and video games were like his babysitters. That nerdy childhood translated into an animated career: After business school, Frazier inked a job with Marvel Entertainment, and then Studio71, a media company, where he would become chief product officer, making frequent trips to China to handle manufacturing for merch like fidget spinners. It was great, until it wasn't-he realized that he was away from home too much. Frazier struck out on his own with Maestro Media, and in 2021 launched a card game on Kickstarter called the Binding of Isaac: Four Souls Requiem. There was a problem, though: Frazier needed capital before…

To learn how these companies were selected, see opposite page. ADVERTISING & MARKETING Includes traditional advertising agencies and public relations firms, as well as SEO specialists, data-mining experts, and developers of online marketing platforms. Number of companies 38 | Total revenue $1,379.6M | Median revenue $7.3M | Median growth rate 1,803.3% | Total employment 2,542 $ FOR MORE EXCLUSIVE INC. 5000 COMPANY DATA, VISIT DATA.INC.COM RANK THREE-YEAR REVENUE GROWTH NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES • The number of red dots indicates how many times a company has been a past Inc. 5000 honoree. AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES Companies engaged in farming, horticulture, forestry, and fishing, as well as agtech. Number of companies 1 | Total revenue $9.0M | Median revenue $9.0M | Median growth rate 2,241.4% | Total employment 62 METHODOLOGY: HOW…

When Clearview AI launched in 2017, its founders had no intention of selling to the government. Indeed, its core product—a facial-recognition tool that scrapes billions of publicly available photos from across the web to, within seconds, identify almost anyone—was originally built as a tool for retailers to thwart shoplifters. But in time, a more consequential customer set took up the software. When reports surfaced in 2020 that Clearview’s tech was being licensed to more than 600 police departments across the country, the revelation and attendant privacy concerns set off a media frenzy and a series of lawsuits, one of which was settled in June. Even so, Clearview co-founder and CEO Hoan Ton-That has continued to license the technology to law enforcement agencies. The New York City-based company also began working…

We rank companies on the Inc. 5000 on the basis of their three-year growth rate. For Vytalize, that was a trickier calculation than usual. Here’s the story: Vytalize initially reported to Inc. 2023 revenue of $775 million, or 90,779 percent growth from 2020, which was enough to earn it the top spot on our 2024 list. But when Vytalize switched accounting firms in early 2024, Deloitte counted the company’s gross revenue rather than its net. The reasoning: Vytalize bears some risk for the work of its member clinics. The new number is an eye-popping $1.53 billion in 2023 revenue. There is industry precedent for this accounting method, but because the figure changed after the Inc. 5000 deadline and the company supplied new data only for 2023, Inc. is using the…

AngularJS was used in nearly every large corporation on earth, and by governments on every continent. When it died, it was a big problem. A lot of companies can technically survive with unsupported software, but they aren’t allowed to because of regulations. HeroDevs fills that gap by producing a regularly maintained version of AngularJS. In our first full year, we went from zero to $10 million in annual recurring revenue; we’re projected to end this year at about $28 million. The craziest thing about that growth is that our customer acquisition cost is very close to zero. That’s because for 10 years, I ran the biggest AngularJS conference in the world, also called HeroDevs, and had developed a close working relationship with Google. We began talking to Google in 2019…

WINTHROPWEALTH.COM Winthrop Wealth believes their success is rooted in dedication to helping clients pursue financial well-being and prosperity. What sets the company apart in the marketplace is a personalized and comprehensive approach to wealth management: They don’t just manage wealth; they seek to build lasting relationships and tailor strategies to each client’s unique needs. The Winthrop Wealth team’s blend of knowledge and empathy helps ensure that clients receive not only professional guidance but also a supportive partnership on their financial journey. The company prioritizes clear and open communication, empowering clients to actively participate in shaping their financial futures. By focusing on transparency, collaboration, and a deep understanding of clients’ goals, they’ve become a trusted partner to high-net-worth individuals, institutions, and business owners seeking a more personalized wealth management experience. Commitment…

MICHAELSENERGY.COM 2X INC. 5000 HONOREE 120+ HAPPY EMPLOYEES 50% 3-YEAR GROWTH 2024 INC. BEST WORKPLACES With the world inching closer to 2050, when some countries are expected to reach net-zero carbon emissions, Michaels Energy, a La Crosse, Wisconsin–based engineering firm, is seeing a boom in business as companies look to become more energy efficient. Michaels Energy, which started as Michaels Engineering in 1984, is employed by utilities to design and implement energyefficiency programs in commercial and industrial organizations. They’ve seen significant growth as demands on the energy grid grow and decarbonization becomes a necessity. “We have major electric load growth happening, with many data centers coming online,” says Jeffrey Ihnen, who joined the firm in 1996 and is now owner and CEO. “It’s a dynamic situation and it’ll be a…

In 2020, the world turned upside down—and so did the real estate market. But despite a global pandemic, strict lockdowns that briefly halted home showings, and a double-digit unemployment rate, the housing market did not crash in 2020. Instead, it soared, with a significant surge in home prices, home sales, and housing demand, bolstered by historically low mortgage rates, increased remote work and demand for space, and stimulus measures. Between March 2020 and June 2022, U.S. home prices jumped a staggering 43 percent. This phenomenon, which I call the pandemic housing boom, defied expectations. The boom created a historic tailwind for almost the entire real estate sector, with the exception of office real estate, which saw vacancy rates spike as remote work took off. As offices emptied, workers built out…

IBOSS.COM 23% COMPOUNDED 3-YEAR GROWTH RATE ~ 500 EMPLOYEES 6 LOCATIONS HQ: BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Based in Boston, iboss delivers cutting-edge cloud security through Secure Access Service Edge (SASE). Pronounced “sassy,” SASE integrates network and security functions into a single platform, using a zero-trust security framework. This framework mandates the verification of all users, whether inside or outside a network, ensuring comprehensive protection. Since CEO Paul Martini co-founded iboss in 2003, information security has evolved dramatically. Data that once resided within physical boundaries has migrated to the cloud, and critical infrastructures such as hospitals and power grids have increasingly become targets of cyberattacks. “Our journey has been about transformation,” Martini reflects. “It’s a journey of connecting people who are working and living anywhere, with cybersecurity embedded in all those connections.” Built…

Los Angeles Three-year growth rate: 627% No. 786 Daniel Winer was touring a trade show in Guangzhou, China, when he spotted a Korean vendor selling barbecue plates with a laser-etched stainless steel design. As a former national sales manager at a cookware brand, Winer, now 58, knew innovation when he saw it. He called Cole Mecray, his co-founder on a failed juicer company, with a new idea: They would work with the Korean vendor to create pans with nonstick, cast iron, and stainless steel qualities and sell them directly to consumers. In 2016, Winer and Mecray launched the cookware under the name HexClad and leveraged their contacts to sell to Costco. HexClad became the It pan of the pandemic and caught the attention—and the endorsement—of Gordon Ramsay. The celebrity chef…

Boonton, New Jersey Three-year growth rate: 1,143% No. 388 The direct-to-consumer sales model has demonstrated repeatedly that stuff you wouldn’t think could be sold online absolutely can be sold online: mattresses, windows, diamond rings, eyeglasses, e-bikes. Manhole Covers Direct brings an entirely new category of product to the DTC space, and raises some interesting questions. For instance, who buys custom-made manhole covers? And what’s the postage on those suckers? It even seemed a bit crazy to founder Alexander Conklin, who started the company more on a whim than on an actual business plan. But Conklin, 34, understood the market potential, and he could source the product. Still, he wasn’t quite ready to launch until a very big customer came knocking. Our family was already in the manhole cover business. We…

Los Angeles Three-year growth rate: 438% No. 1,168 Ask Kim Kardashian about her proudest business decision to date, and she may start talking about her breasts. More specifically, the Skims Ultimate Nipple PushUp Bra, which she released last October for the shapewear brand, based on a mold made of her very own bosom in all its anatomically correct glory “I had this crazy idea,” Kardashian recalled recently during a video call from her home in Calabasas, a tony suburb northwest of Los Angeles. “My stylist is always like, ‘Don’t wear a bra!’ and I’m just like, ‘I can’t.’ I want to feel comfortable and secure. What if one boob’s over here and I’m dancing, you know?” she said with a laugh. “I just always want to look perfect.” Thus the…

VISUALISOLUTIONS.COM NO25 2023 Inc. 5000 Ranking 2005 Year Founded 584% 2-Year Growth HQ Irvine, California There’s no straight line to success in business—something Visual i Solutions had to learn the hard way. Before the pandemic, the Irvine, California-based provider of audiovisual and technical production for corporate and professional industries had 10 full-time staff and revenues of about $1 million. Then Covid-19 hit and within 11 days of March 1, 2020, the company’s entire years’ worth of planned events was no more, with revenue plummeting to $185,000. “I typically have an answer as to how we’re going to respond to problems,” says the company’s founder Jose Cruz. “And for the first time ever, I had no answer.” The company decided it was time to go back to basics. “Everything stopped, which…

XGENISYS.COM Two down-home, enterprising IT nerds, with more than 50 years of combined experience thought in 2007: “The strategies, innovative solutions, and security we’re providing for the world’s leading brands should be accessible to small and midsize businesses down the street.” And so, xGeniSys was born. Any company doing business online and using technology is in IT whether they like it or not. In an industry of cold digital and impersonal tech service, xGeniSys wanted to be neighborly, transparent, and earn client trust by always doing the right thing. xGeniSys is focused on delivering outcomes that matter not only for business, but for improving quality of life for the people they humbly serve. xGeniSys frees clients to focus on their business by handling day-to-day IT needs. They also improve client…

LIBERTY1FINANCIAL.COM NO4 2024 Inc. 5000 Ranking 2008 Year Founded 3,422% 2-Year Growth HQ Irvine, California Jeannette Preston wants you to imagine this: “If someone is unable to put gas in their car or feed their kids because they’re paying so much in credit card debt, educating them about finances can change their life.” Preston is co-founder and man aging director of Liberty1Financial, a progressive unse cured consumer lender with offi ces in Irvine, California, and Salt Lake City, Utah, servicing customers in 47 states. The company’s focus on education is key to its spectacular growth and its number four ranking on the Inc. 500 Regionals: Pacific. When helping individuals obtain a consolidation loan to pay offhigher-interest credit card debt, Liberty1Financial agents take the time to teach customers about interest rates,…

REDTRACETECH.COM Digital threats are evolving with alarming velocity, but RedTrace Technologies is redefining the cybersecurity landscape, transcending traditional cybersecurity approaches. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all solutions, RedTrace dives deep into the unique challenges and needs of each client. Dedication to personalized service has led to the development of highly effective security strategies and fostered lasting partnerships. “We’re in the business of building relationships, not just safeguarding systems,” says Founder and President Kelo Makelele. RedTrace’s experts are among the most highly certified in the industry, a fact that underscores the company’s commitment to excellence and continuous learning. “Our team’s expertise is our clients’ advantage,” states Makelele. In a world increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure, the need for robust cybersecurity has never been more acute. RedTrace Technologies stands ready as a partner in…