Fast Growth Experts Share Three Ways To Succeed In Trying Times

The fastest growing solution providers shared their strategies for beating the economic doldrums at a Fast Growth 100 panel in Chicago Wednesday. The panel is part of an XChange event sponsored by Everything Channel, and brings together VARs with two-year revenue growth that exceeds 50 percent.

Panelists Jane Linder, principal of NWN (CRN Fast Growth rank #1), Dave Gilden, COO, partner and one of the founders of Acuity Solutions (CRN FG rank #5), and Chris Damvakaris, vice president of sales and business development of Apptix (CRN FG rank #9), discussed how their respective companies were able to post such phenomenal results. NWN grew at a phenomenal rate of 1875 percent, Acuity at 368 percent and Apptix at 320 percent. Following are the key strategies they shared.

#1 Acquire Smaller, Complementary Companies

"We've acquired a lot," said Linden. "One strategy to get bigger is to buy revenue and products. Sometimes, companies buy others and retain two-thirds of what they bought. When things go badly, it's more like one-half. We took what we bought and grew them. That's an art. It's one of the things that you're not supposed to be able to do."

Linder acknowledged that it takes a special temperament to encourage the acquired companies to continue doing what they do best, while at the same time offering them the resources of a larger corporation. The acquired companies are encouraged to focus on their businesses and are offered NWN's depth of engineering and other technical resources. That blend has proved successful for the solution provider. Very few clients of the companies NWN has bought have left, and revenue has climbed from $5 million to $170 million in four years, according to Linder.

#2 Don't Over-Strategize

"We have something called Forrest Gump management," said Gilden, noting that some organizations' cultures lead managers to discuss goals and strategies ad nauseum. At some point, action needs to be taken. "We devote 10 percent of our time to strategizing and 90 percent to execution." That, in turn, will, in part, lead to creating a business that's a great place to work. "We listen and integrate our employees' and our customers' ideas into our business," Gilden said. "Everybody we've hird in the last two and a half years have come to us -- not by us recruiting. We've earned a reputation of being a good place to work."

#3 Be Opportunitstic

At a time when funding is tight, and capital expenditures are even tighter, there will be companies that will choose -- or be forced -- to close their doors. That can be a chance for you to add top-notch skillsets that otherwise might not be available.

"Don't be afraid to take action," Gilden said, adding that Acuity had just added 14 employees from another company that had lost funding. "Don't be afraid to take risks, but know when to cut it."

The same logic applies to adding vendors. If a new manufacturer "bubbles to the top" of an increasing number of client conversations, it may be time to check it out.

"A lot of what we add is driven by the customer," said Damvakaris. "What is challenging is the integrating of a product and determining whether we can bring it to market quickly."