#1 2GIG Technologies

   “People don’t have any clue who we are,” says Todd Santiago, president of 2GIG Technologies in Lehi. “People are going to see us on this list and say, ‘Umm, who?’” So without further ado … Utah Valley, meet 2GIG, a developer and producer of security and home automation systems. They’re only the No. 1 fastest-growing business in the county. (No big deal.) But in origin, this No. 1 gig started with two. Namely, 2 Guys In a Garage. “The name came from our two founders — Lance Dean and Scott Simon. At their previous company, Lance and Scott were always told not to worry about new startups because it was just two guys in a garage.” Sixty-five employees, $131 million in revenue and installations in more than 700,000 homes by the end of 2012? 

Worry away.

The company was founded by two industry veterans who had an existing relationship with Vivint and several other security companies. There was a huge opportunity to innovate and bring a new solution to the market. Vivint was the first to tell Scott and Lance that if they built the solution, Vivint would buy it … and buy a ton of it. 

The early days were dynamic, which is fairly common with a lot of startups. But the difference with us is we knew there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Most companies drum up an idea and build something they hope customers will like. But we already had a customer — a huge customer. Success was ours. We just had to work aggressively and deliver. So we did. Today, Vivint uses us exclusively, and more than a thousand companies across the U.S. and Canada use our equipment.

In the beginning, we definitely put out the impression that we were bigger than we were. We didn’t want our customers to know we were just a few guys in a small little building. You have to sell your business and act more grown up than you are. Then you learn to become the company your customers think you are.

We always want to feel and operate like a startup, so we work hard to foster an environment that encourages and rewards innovation and results. We can’t afford to lose flexibility and speed to market as we grow. We try to maintain a culture where everyone’s input is valued and appreciated. We have weekly lunches with small groups of employees where we solicit feedback and suggestions. People give great ideas when they know they are being listened to. 

When you’re growing this fast, you often find yourself in a reactive mode rather than a proactive one. You don’t have the luxury of planning for everything that happens. We are now putting in processes that would have been nice to have day one, but all we were concerned with then was getting the product out the door. It was survival.

Today we’re at 65 employees. A year ago we were at 30. The year before that we were at five. We are a company where people have to don many hats. If you are worried about a specific title and responsibility, you won’t do well at our company. Growing this fast requires employees to be flexible.

Our success is simple: We deliver a solution that meets the needs of our customers. We have drastically improved the product offering in our industry, and we’ve brought it to market for the same price customers were paying for the old stuff. Color touch screen, cellular connectivity, lights, thermostats, cameras, you name it. We took it from basic security to home automation. Now all of our competitors are trying to play catch up — which only fuels our fire. 

Our biggest competitors are multi-billion dollar companies. We are clearly a thorn in their side and they have gone to great lengths to slow us down —  everything from legal battles to logistics and fulfillment obstacles. 

We’ve weathered these storms and have become a better company as a result. The challenges have given us more motivation and forced us to innovate with technology and business processes. Overcoming these trials has established us as a legitimate player in our industry and sent a strong message we are here to stay.