This is a similar article I posted over one year ago. I decided to repost it since I am kicking off a new series. So much of what we see today is rankings. I think it took off with David Letterman’s Top Ten List…(I hope people remember this).
Frankly, I get sick of reading all of them. Often I will read the methodology first. Sometimes you know after reading it that the ranking is utterly useless. However, over this one and the next few posts I highlight my favorite rankings and why.
First up is the INC
5000. This ranking is billed as the definitive list of the fastest growing
private companies in the US.
It is a fascinating
list to sort through. Thanks to great sort options you can actually find
clusters of private fast growth companies.
You can sort by state and industry too. The write-up on each firm is
very helpful and a link to the company is also listed. You can search past
rankings to 2015.
One unique point. You may think INC scours the US looking for
these firms. Not really, it is decided
by application. Hence, each firm must
apply through INC for inclusion in the annual ranking.
Four more reasons I
really like this one. Some the names are priceless. Second, individual stories are very well done.
Third, good data on privately held firms.
And finally, the summary
above the rankings is very helpful. The summary is whatever you chose to cut
and dice the list by. For example, if I
do a search by Virginia firms, I find that the median growth is 152 percent,
total revenues exceed $18.4 billion, 33,611 jobs were added, 22 are new, and
224 of the firms have been on the list before.
