Every year, Inc. magazine provides a list of the 5000 fastest-growing U.S. companies. Now in its 33rd year, the list has become a mainstay of the business world, and an easy way to spot rising entrepreneurial stars. Last year, 34 companies in the KC area made the list. As Inc. rolls out its 5000 list for 2014, we thought it would be a good time to go back and check in with a few of the local companies from the 2013 list to see where they are now. Here’s what we found…
Cogent consists of six best-in-class partner companies that provide fluid pumping, water, and wastewater treatment solutions. Two of those companies—Fluid Equipment and Lee Mathews—have offices right here in Kansas City. Last year (2013) was Cogent’s seventh consecutive year on the Inc. list, and also marked the year of its acquisition of Vanco Equipment Company in Tulsa, Okla. The Lee Mathews offices in Kansas City just received the ITT Goulds Authorized Service Center (ASC) Certification for 2014, marking its sixth consecutive year as an ITT Goulds ASC.
As the largest online freight brokerage in the nation, Freightquote is an innovator in the shipping industry, delivering access to an array of shipping solutions. In 2009, it launched a proprietary transportation management system that has changed the face of freight shipping in the United States, and today Freighquote moves more than a million shipments a year. The company was the recipient of a 2014 Cornerstone Award which recognizes companies and organizations that contribute to the local economy for its new, state-of-the-art facilities in South KC. Freightquote’s founder, Tim Barton, was recently named Regional Entrepreneur of the Year and became a Greater Kansas City Business Hall of Fame Laureate in 2014.
Founded more than 40 years ago, Polsinelli has grown into a national law firm with more than 740 attorneys spread across 19 offices in 11 states. The American Lawyer named Polsinelli the fastest growing U.S., firm for the past six years and the firm is ranked among the Am Law 100 with experience in 100 service areas and 70 industries and a focus on healthcare, real estate, financial services, life sciences, technology, energy and business litigation. Polsinelli most recently was named Law Firm of the Year in Health Care by the U.S. News & World Report.
BalancePoint is a solutions-driven IT consulting firm in Kansas City that specializes in the Market-Driven Transparency Model of doing business, a philosophy of aligned motivations, lasting relationships and straight talk. In addition to making the Inc. 5000 list, BalancePoint has also been named the top area IT firm by the Kansas City Business Journal, one of the top 10 IT firms in the country by Inc. Magazine, and was in the top 50 of Ingram’s Magazine’s annual Corporate Report 100 in 2014.
As a global leader in marketing and advertising, Gragg Advertising has spent the last 20 years developing its own homemade marketing technology as well as keeping a finger on the pulse of big data in order to provide the best marketing strategies to its clients. It’s an approach that seems to have paid off. Earlier this year, Gragg was named one of the top KC companies by KC Business Magazine, winning in the category of Community Steward, which recognizes Gragg’s work with community nonprofit organizations.
Meers Advertising has made its name by providing marketing services to the insurance and financial services industries. In addition to making the Inc. 5000, Meers Advertising also celebrated its fifth consecutive year on the Ingram’s Corporate Report 100 list. Earlier this year, at the American Advertising Federation – KC awards, Meers took home two gold awards—one for the “Dollar Bill” spot the agency did for the Great Plains SPCA, and one for a self-promotional piece—as well as two silver awards and four bronze. Meers’ work for the Great Plains SPCA also received recognition in Graphis Advertising Annual 2014, the International Journal of Visual Communication.
Finally, when you think of fast-growing businesses, you may not immediately think of coffee, but take a look at 11thStreetCoffee.com, a family-owned Kansas City business with more than 40 years of experience in coffee service, now one of the top online distributors of Keurig K-Cups.
What do all of these businesses have in common? In addition to being some of the fastest-growing businesses in the country, they represent the range and breadth of Kansas City’s entrepreneurial spirit and the commitment of KC’s businesses to be the best that they can be, continuing to grow the community that has helped them to flourish.