Our top 10 are a diverse bunch, but all have been challenged by their rapid growth, especially in this difficult economy. Here are numbers 10 through six. Stay tuned tomorrow for the top five, or check out OBJ’s Spring Newsmagazine.
#10 Purecolo
Three-year revenue growth: 243%
Last year’s rank: New to the list
PROFILE: Purecolo is a carrier-neutral co-location company hosting some of Ottawa’s most well-known tech darlings.
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What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in relation to the fast growth of your company?
“Meeting demand. We entered a monopoly market and, initially, it wasn’t a big challenge to meet demand as an unknown player. As we started landing large deals with large clients, scaling capacity to meet demand in line with our sustainable/bootstrap approach was a challenge.”
What did you do to address it?
“Planning was instrumental. Our most recent expansions used predominantly infrastructure being abandoned by large companies. This was occuring long before we were ready for these expansions, however, we knew there was huge value in getting the assets in our possession to be ready for that growth. Sure enough, three years later, all of that equipment is now operating at our site and meeting the needs of our clients, while reducing new materials required to achieve this at a fraction of the cost that most of our competitors operate with.”
What has been your biggest lesson learned?
“Believe in yourself and what you are doing. If you have that belief, it makes it easy to make decisions thinking three to five years out. If you don’t believe you’ll succeed, you likely won’t take the risks associated to be positioned for success.”
#9 Keynote Group
Three-year revenue growth: 244%
Last year’s rank: New to the list
PROFILE: Keynote Group is the parent company of Keynote Search, which is an executive search firm with operations in both Ottawa and Toronto.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in relation to the fast growth of your company?
“Balancing the growth while staying true to our core purpose and values.”
What did you do to address it?
“We focus on accountability to our values as part of everyday business. Curiosity drives everything we do and we ensure we are always seeking to understand what we are doing well and where we can improve.”
What has been your biggest lesson learned?
“It is crucial to have a strong team around you both internally and externally who can help you as you scale. Growth is impossible to maintain without structure backing up your vision and ambition.”
#8 Sampford Advisors
Three-year revenue growth: 342%
Last year’s rank: New to the list
PROFILE: Provides mergers and acquisitions advice for technology companies.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in relation to the fast growth of your company?
“Attracting and retaining quality talent has quickly become the biggest challenge.”
What did you do to address it?
“We have dramatically increased compensation but, more importantly, it’s the non-compensation items that seem to have a bigger impact. For example, we took two days off to ski as a group in Mont Tremblant, we do regular lunch one-on-ones with the team at local restaurants, we invested in full duplicate equipment to make the home and work environment the same, and we continue to recognize years of service with unique gifts.”
What has been your biggest lesson learned?
“Businesses take a long time to really flourish. You need to be patient, do amazing work and over time you will be recognized for it.”
#7 Sidi.io
Three-year revenue growth: 422%
Last year’s rank: New to the list
PROFILE: Sidi.io is a digital marketing agency specializing in demand generation strategy and execution, primarily for companies in the B2B technology, SaaS, arts and entertainment and health-care industries.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in relation to the fast growth of your company?
“Being self-funded. Our company has not taken any outside investment or debt since inception. Our growth all started with that very first sale and this is extremely humbling but also comes with its own set of challenges.”
What did you do to address it?
“We are strategic in our approach, knowing that we must be resourceful and efficient to compete, while continuing to remain bootstrapped. We launched an advisory board which meets quarterly; we firmly embrace education, coaching and training; and we ensure we have a stellar culture where our team respects each other and how we have grown without debt or deep pockets.”
What has been your biggest lesson learned?
“Every win or loss is an opportunity to build character, to grow stronger, and to learn. As a result, we as humans are the result of our collective life experience. This gives us the strength to provide more value to our clients, to build an empathetic culture that treats its team for the special humans we are and not just as workers on a spreadsheet.”
#6 Food Cycle Science
Three-year revenue growth: 425%
Last year’s rank: New to the list
PROFILE: Food Cycle Science is changing the way businesses and consumers handle food waste with its FoodCycler technology, which reduces food waste by 90 per cent at the source in hours.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced in relation to the fast growth of your company?
“Securing top talent and supply chain disruptions.”
What did you do to address it?
“We work hard to create a culture that is highly desirable. Increasing autonomy and enabling decision-making at all levels has made us more creative and ultimately more productive. Employees feel empowered when you encourage them to push boundaries. Creating positions where employees feel fulfilled in the work they are doing has helped us create an environment where we’re excited about the work we’re doing.”
What has been your biggest lesson learned?
“Hard is good. When faced with ‘hard’, if you’re able to overcome it, it’s likely less crowded and you’re stronger because of it. Embrace the difficult, expect and plan for it.”
