Most states and metro areas do something like this. I really enjoy the Virginia Business editions. These are all listed on the website under the tab “Reports” and includes novel ones like Best Places to Work, CEO Pay, Most Influential Virginians…you get the idea. The various lists are posted in the monthly magazine and usually highlight an industry. The Excel download is at a cost. The HTML format lists an abbreviated edition of the top firms.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Thursday, September 21, 2023
My Favorite Business Rankings - Fast Company - IV
The World’s Most Innovative Companies – 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Most lists are formula
bases. You may see individuals,
companies, states, ranked by value, profit, revenues, net worth, etc. An example is the most innovative state as
determined by the number of patents issued to individuals and firms in a
state. We all know the Forbes and
Fortune lists.
I think this one is
far more complex. Innovation may truly
be in the eye of the beholder. It is a fluid and moving definition. Innovation
can change radically by industry and/or individual. The automotive industry (driver
less cars) and Elon Musk come immediately to mind.
Of all the rankings,
Fast Company’s innovative firms is one of the more fun to read. First, all are
innovative according to Fast Company and their judgements (next paragraph). And
company size; revenues, longevity, etc. are not really relevant.
The question is are
you innovative. For 2020 Fast Company
staff determined innovative by:
“This year (2020), Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out
groundbreaking businesses across 44 sectors, including every region of the
world. We also judged nominations received through our application process. We
assess each company on a combination of innovation and impact, with a focus on
what it’s accomplished in the past year. The 434 organizations we honor here
lead their fields and are transforming the world.”
Enjoy all four rankings and note the vast differences in the top 50. I see very few parallels. You may
find more. I think you will enjoy the one-line
description of why each firm was selected.
https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2020
https://www.fastcompany.com/90603436/the-worlds-most-innovative-companies-2021
https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2022
Wednesday, August 23, 2023
My Favorite Business Rankings – III - Forbes Next 1000
This is a recent one. Unlike almost all other rankings that use somewhat static data to rank companies, Forbes uses a combination to identify the future entrepreneurs. For example, most rankings take a combination of current revenues, profitability, etc. to determine the ranking. By using the most recent historical data points, most rankings look at the most recent calendar year.
The Forbes Next
1000 looks at that type of data, but also asks about biographical, awards,
and if student debt influenced your decision to start a business. The magazine seeks to find the next
generation of entrepreneurs by identifying current sole proprietors,
self-funded ventures, and pre-revenue startups all with under $10 million in
revenues. A rather novel approach.
This is one of the
most unique and fun rankings to read.
The winners are diverse in every sense of the word. Since this is running all year, every season
we get to read about the additional 250 firms.
The articles run over one year.
Finally, note the
judges. Just like the past editions, the
judges are a varied group of individuals.
Link to list: https://www.forbes.com/next1000/
Thursday, July 13, 2023
My Favorite Business Rankings – II - Forbes 400
Everyone has heard of the Forbes 400. It is the ranking of the richest Americans. This is more of a fun list. It is also very informative. An example, if you look at new wealth and how it was created, you might get an indication of a growth industry. You also get a great idea about family money.
The methodology is
sound. The brief on every individual is
interesting and tells you several key facts about the person. Detailed profiles
are definitely worth the read. The “did you know” is almost always interesting.
The one category I immediately access is “Source of Wealth.”
A couple of items on
each profile I find difficult. The first
one is the self-made score. I think is a very hard judgement. The second one
and more difficult than the first is the philanthropy score. That just seems rude to me to have anyone
pass judgement on an individual’s charitable donations.
It is a fun one to
read. Of course, I periodically read an entry and think “why didn’t I think of
that”.
Monday, July 25, 2022
My Favorite Business Rankings – I - INC 5000
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.
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Business Resources IX - Tracking Incentives
Well, I was wrong. I had two more business resources to present. The first one was the project brief. The second and last one is a variation of an incentive tracking spreadsheet I developed during my tenure with West Kentucky and later revised for my time with economic development in Prince Wiliam County.
One (and a fair one at that) criticism we get
in economic development is not tracking incentives offered and received by a
client. In West Kentucky we always
required an MOU that spelled out amounts, timelines, thresholds, review dates,
and claw backs. These documents are
public, you just need to ask the city or county.
Note that the timeline also includes state
incentives, when appropriate. This
allowed me to track all incentives offered to a firm and all accepted by a
firm.
The need to track the incentives received and
review dates is a critical foundation in economic development. After all, this
is taxpayer funds. We must be the
absolute best stewards of these dollars as possible. We must always work to maintain trust with our
shareholders, stakeholders, and pubic at large.
Hence the need for the tracking
spreadsheet. I can determine every step
of the incentive negotiation, approval, receipt, and review of any package
received.
The process is straightforward. After the incentive is received by the
company it is logged in by month. From this I can check the spreadsheet every
month to see which company’s review time is coming up. After that determination is made, I then
draft the necessary correspondence and set up a meeting to review the company
data and ensure that thresholds are indeed met.
If a company is not in compliance with the
MOU, I then draft correspondence noting that the company is not in compliance
with the MOU and what steps will be taken to ensure that they get into
compliance.
This may involve a give and take over a
couple of weeks. The goal is not to
penalize the company, but to find a path to compliance. If it appears that the company will not ever
get into compliance with the MOU, then claw back procedures are
implemented. Fortunately, I never had to
institute any claw back steps. However, if I did, the MOU clearly spelled out
how.
This was a smooth process and it clearly spelled out the procedure for every step.
Link to spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qZDXGrgWswRBFJf4mtjOcFJh22ibQ6Qi/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105727592661546387822&rtpof=true&sd=true
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Business Resource VIII – Project Brief
Sometimes you know so much about a project you cannot easily sum it up for your board or elected officials. I had to come up with a solution.
The result was I
developed a project brief template during my tenure in West Kentucky. It was my goal to put all the necessary and
appropriate data on one page. It must be easy to follow, easy to read, cover key
issues, and use headings, etc. Also, no cheating
by using small print.
You will find two
links to project briefs I initially used in Prince William County. I preferred this style, but of course the County
has its own formats. Naturally, I conformed to the agency templates.
As you look at
these you will find a company overview, the current situation, key actions
taken, CEO requests, etc.
Project Brief I
Project Brief II
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