2012 Fastest-Growing Companies

Three-Year Growth 1,426%  Revenue in 2011 $131,267,230  Founded 2007  City Lehi  

Employees 65  Industry Security and 

automation  Website www.2GIG.com  

President Todd Santiago, 40

The Company A developer of security and automation systems for residential and small businesses.

The Growth With a push for innovation, innovation and (you guessed it) innovation, 2GIG hit the ground flying and achieved out-of-this-world growth with remarkable revenues. And with the home automation industry exploding, 2GIG has nowhere to go but up. 

The Growing Pains “Maintaining a culture of urgency, delivery and results. With 2 Guys in a Garage, it’s a little easier to maintain the entrepreneurial edge. As we have grown and put different processes and procedures in place, it takes significantly more effort to stay flexible and be quick to react.”

Best Moment Ever “Being in our factory in China and watching our first units roll off the production line. Exhilarating!”

The Advice “You have to know your customers’ business and industry as well or better than they do. We spend a lot of time with our customers trying to better understand their pain points and needs. Then we go into development mode and build solutions they need (sometimes before they realize they needed it).”

The Three-Year Plan “Our goal is to become the default home control system for millions of homes throughout the world. We will be expanding into international markets in 2012 and will be in multiple countries within three years.”

Three-Year Growth 691%  Revenue in 2011 $17,914,179  Founded 2008  City Provo  

Employees 30 (with more than 200 independent contractors)  Industry Electronic payments/merchant services  Website www.cmsonline.com  Founders Dave Decker, 37; Trever Hansen, 34; Kyle Hall, 29

The Company A full-service electronic payments solutions provider.

The Growth Recognized as the fastest-growing merchant acquirer in the nation, our 2010 No. 2 Startup to Watch has dominated its market with top-notch employees, well-executed strategy and pitch-perfect timing. 

The Growing Pains “Constantly updating our systems and upgrading our technical infrastructure.”

Best Moment Ever “The first month our revenue eclipsed $1 million.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Having to part ways with a good friend because we couldn’t figure out a way to mesh our personalities in a work environment.”

The Advice “Identify key strategic partners and focus all your energies on selling them on your value proposition. Once those relationships are in place, your growth will derive naturally.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be a nationally recognized brand within our industry; acknowledged as one of the ‘Top 25 U.S. Merchant Acquirers’; and listed in BusinessQ’s 

Three-Year Growth 420%  Revenue in 2011 $12,507,858  Founded 2008  City Highland  Employees 455  Industry Dining  

Website www.fourfoodsgroup.com  

Founder Andrew K. Smith, 36

The Company A restaurant management and investment company.

The Growth With good old fashioned “persistence and passion,” this 2011 Startup to Watch has grown at a delicious rate — and it’s just getting cooking. The company has a multi-state development agreement with Kneaders Bakery & Café to develop up to 76 restaurants over the next 10 years.

The Growing Pains “Owning and operating eight very busy locations and trying to fit in five new stores in 2012, managing everything from construction to setup and opening all the while. Lots of long days for my entire team.”

Best Moment Ever “Knowing that we will have provided more than 600 jobs in Utah by the end of this year alone!”

Hardest Moment Ever “Trying to keep up with retail basket and sweet bread orders four days before Christmas 2011. WOW! We couldn’t make it all fast enough, and we were buckling!”

The Advice “Prove your model without looking for money first. It is impossible to raise money in this market unless you have done everything to prove the value of your product or service first. Reduce the risk for potential investors and you will have a future in raising the necessary capital to grow. However, you will typically need four times the amount of capital you think to make it work.”

The Three-Year Plan “Fifty Kneaders stores in four-plus states.”

Three-Year Growth 409%  Revenue in 2011 $1,176,142  Founded 2006  City Provo  

Employees 8  Industry Ecommerce retail 

Website www.LDSBookstore.com  

Founder Brandon Young, 28

The Company A group of ecommerce websites that sell religious products, primarily for members of the LDS Church.

The Growth In a popular market, Latter Day Products has found a way to standout (specifically with CTR rings and scripture cases) — and has become an international maven because of it. 

The Growing Pains “Managing our space and being ‘the new guy’ in the market.”

Best Moment Ever “Company Christmas dinner at Tucanos. AWESOME feeling treating our employees and their families to a delicious night together.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Deciding if/when to sell.”

The Advice “Get your employees invested in the business — then listen to them.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be growing here in prosperous Happy Valley.”

Three-Year Growth 279%  Revenue in 2011 $519,615  Founded 2005  City Springville  Employees 30  Industry Restaurant  

Website www.subzeroicecream.com  

CEO Scott Abbott, 37

The Company A cyrogenic gourmet ice cream shop that flash freezes customized individual portions of cream, flavors and mix-ins into a frozen treat in less than 30 seconds.

The Growth After partnering with Five Star Franchising (No. 18 on this list), the memorably unique ice cream shop streamlined and standardized its tasty brand. They now have 15 active locations with 10 more ready to build.

The Growing Pains “Developing, updating and redesigning the brand into something that can be streamlined, attractive, and successful nationally and internationally.”

Best Moment Ever “Signing on with Five Star Franchising and creating growth in California and the East Coast (finally!).”

Hardest Moment Ever “We’ve had our share, but never anything we couldn’t bounce back and grow from.”

The Three-Year Plan “We hope to see Sub Zero Ice Cream internationally acclaimed as the best ice cream worldwide!”

Three-Year Growth 258%  Revenue in 2011 $1,706,982  Founded 2009  City Orem  

Employees 5  Industry Entertainment  

Website www.mommybearmedia.com  

Founder Rebecca Baron, 37

The Company A retailer of clean, family-friendly movies, which it sells on Amazon, eBay and its own website. It also hosts an expert review system to help customers navigate its selection of films. 

The Growth A laser focus on clean entertainment has helped Mommy Bear Media sweep its industry in record time.

The Growing Pains “Space. We worked out of our house for two and a half years until it drove us crazy. We finally moved the business into an office. Best decision ever.”

Hardest Moment Ever “When the office was in our house and there were piles of boxes on my front porch, living room, back porch, garage and two bedrooms constantly.”

The Advice “Value your customers, and work hard but smart. Get employees to do all the routine, day-to-day activities so you can focus on growing the business.”

The Three-Year Plan “We want our website to be the first place people look when they want to buy a movie. We’re focusing on our website and making it really great as we’re trying to pull away from eBay and Amazon.”

Three-Year Growth 228%  Revenue in 2011 $291,167  Founded 2006  City Pleasant Grove  

Employees 1 (along with independent contractors)  Industry Web design, marketing and consulting  Website www.goodwinmedia.com  

Founder Stewart Goodwin, 31

The Company A web design, development and marketing studio. 

The Growth Oh, the successful web Goodwin Media weaves. The company is 100 percent referral-based — and with a focus on “websites that work,” they’ve scored clients like Deseret Book, Stevens-Henager College and BYU.  

The Growing Pains “Finding reliable, self-motivated, talented workers who can work remotely. Our company is entirely operated on a remote working environment. Everyone has to be accountable for tasks and meeting deadlines. It takes a certain type of person who can excel in that type of environment.”

Best Moment Ever “I can’t single out any one particular moment. There are the moments when I’m able to see my kids do things in the middle of the day that most dads miss out on. There are the moments when I’m in a meeting and I realize I can really change a client’s business and help them grow. There are the moments when I am able to take off in the middle of the day and go for a ride not worrying about whether my boss will get mad (the bigger challenge is often letting myself go). The cumulation of these are the best parts about my job.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Losing a client due to my lack of response on a critical issue. I realized then I needed to do everything to never become the stereotypical designer/developer who is slow to respond.”

The Advice “Just go for it. You can’t do anything you don’t ever try.”

The Three-Year Plan “In three years Goodwin Media will be much like we are now only bigger. We may actually get a real office. Who knows.”

Three-Year Growth 169%  Revenue in 2011 $19,588,004  Founded 2003  City Provo  

Employees 180  Industry Software  

Website www.propertysolutions.com  

Founder David Bateman, 33

The Company A provider of apartment community websites and a developer of property management software tools. 

The Growth Property Solutions saw a market need, filled it and then conquered it with user-friendly, sophisticated software. And that conquering has led to Inc. 500 wins, phenomenal growth and billions in processed payments.   

The Growing Pains “Meeting the software development needs of a diverse and burgeoning customer base.”

Best Moment Ever “Seeing an investor cash out with a huge multiple.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Struggling to make payroll in 2004.”

The Advice “Don’t raise more money than you absolutely need to execute. Preserve equity. Bootstrap.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be prepping for IPO.”

Three-Year Growth 155%  Revenue in 2011 $56,432,403 Founded 2002  City Lehi  

Employees 101 Industry Technology  Website www.1on1.com  Founder Nick Greer, 35

The Company A provider of online media services.

The Growth Thanks to top notch “human capital,” impressive leadership and cutting edge technology, One On One Marketing keeps raising the bar and leaping over it. 

The Growing Pains “Formalizing processes. I crave spontaneity, but there is a threshold for operating that way.”

Best Moment Ever “The first day 10 years ago when One On One started. I was petrified but never more excited and confident.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Creating greater focus meant we had to let go of 40 of the most amazing people I have ever known.”

The Advice “Do you really want it? Do you really believe or are you drinking the wrong Kool-Aid? Go and fight for it until your body and mind cannot take it any longer. Do not rest until you achieve your dreams.”

The Three-Year Plan “We won’t be anything close to how we look today. You may not even recognize us.”

Three-Year Growth 145%  Revenue in 2011 $33,880,000  Founded 2006  City Orem  

Employees 98  Industry Consumer electronics retail  Website www.simplymac.com  

President Steve Bain, 43

The Company A retailer of Apple products and services. 

The Growth An intensely loyal fan base coupled with employee commitment and customer service has led Simply Mac to grow tremendously fast in a short timeframe. 

The Growing Pains “Managing inventory efficiency and cash flow.”

Best Moment Ever “Being recognized by Apple as a Top 10 distributor of Apple products in the United States within our first full year of business.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Working 100 hours/week through our first retail holiday season.”

The Advice “Surround yourself with smart people; don’t be afraid of asking a ton of questions; listen intently to your employees and your customers; celebrate success along the way; direct your focus to a few key elements that will improve your business; and work extremely hard.”

The Three-Year Plan “We will be the largest independent reseller of Apple products and services in North America.”

Three-Year Growth 143%  Revenue in 2011 $614,590  Founded 2008  City Provo  

Employees 45  Industry Beauty  

Website www.craigscuts.com 

Founder Craig Guincho, 29

The Company A chain of hair salons. 

The Growth Thanks to a rock solid strategy of “lean and mean,” Craig’s Cuts has capitalized on a budget-centered economy by offering $7 haircuts. Since its founding, the chain has expanded to five stores, done more than 100,000 haircuts and in 2009 was named the No. 2 “Student Founded Business” in the state of Utah.

The Growing Pains “Having to max out my credit cards to meet payroll.”

Best Moment Ever “When my son (who was 2) recognized Craig’s Cuts on the front of a UTA bus.”

The Advice “Do the things you don’t like to do because that will make you successful.”

The Three-Year Plan “Locations across the country.”

Three-Year Growth 134%  Revenue in 2011 $3,925,747  Founded 2002  City Lehi  Employees 27  Industry Specialty apparel  Website www.littleadventures.com  Founders Heather Granata, 40; Jenny Harrison, 40

The Company A wholesaler that offers a line of matching dress-ups for children, adults, and dolls or plush animals.

The Growth With an ever-popular product, persistence, strong management and sales reps dotting the nation, Little Adventures has had stunning success in its niche market. 

The Growing Pains “Lack of cash flow.”

Best Moment Ever “First trip to China.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Full container shipped from China with defective product.”

The Advice “Keep costs low, and don’t get caught up in expensive warehouses. Try to keep overhead low.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be in a bigger warehouse selling our product at an international level.” 

Three-Year Growth 132%  Revenue in 2011 $1,788,110  Founded 2004  City Lehi  Employees 15  Industry Finance/Software  Website www.youneedabudget.com  

Founder Jesse Mecham, 31

The Company A personal software finance company. 

The Growth What do people need in this economy? Budgets, budgets and more budgets. YNAB has mastered this need with a critical customer focus and by offering a product worthy of said budgets.

The Growing Pains “Figuring out how a handful of workers can adequately juggle the queries of customers from all over the world is getting more and more challenging. We’re often complimented on our service and attentiveness, though, so that tells me we’re doing things right.”

Best Moment Ever “The grind of iterative improvement is my favorite moment, and that happens every day.”

Hardest Moment Ever “When we promised a new version of the software by year’s end and were getting far too close to the deadline. I had burned through all of my personal reserves and we barely, barely made it. We don’t give the public firm launch dates anymore.”

The Advice “Focus on simplicity and doing one thing really well. The better you get at that one thing, the more your company will stand out.”

The Three-Year Plan “I see us on several more platforms, with an ever-growing user-base. Mobile/tablet will be a significant part of what we’re doing in three years.”

Three-Year Growth 127%  Revenue in 2011 $4,649,633  Founded 2007  City Lehi  

Employees 36  Industry Marketing (health care specific)  Website www.infusemed.com  

Founders Jordan Erickson, 37; Steve Deverall, 33; Brook Harker, 37; James Norton, 38

The Company A comprehensive digital agency that creates customized marketing, training, and educational tools/programs for the medical device manufacturer industry.

The Growth As a former UV50 Startup to Watch, Infuse Medical has more than lived up to the recognition by mastering its niche market, producing award-winning work and servicing top clients in complicated fields.

The Growing Pains “Lack of resources … same as everyone else.”

Best Moment Ever “Hiring our weaknesses and being able to pull back and look at the organization from a less ‘in-the-trenches’ perspective.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Same as above.”

The Advice “Be smart, decide today WHY you want to grow and then put together a strategic plan.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be much more prepared for the next phase of growth — that’s not as much of a cop-out answer as it sounds.”

Three-Year Growth 123%  Revenue in 2011 $7,247,619  Founded 2005  City Lindon  Employees 70  Industry Residential mortgage lending  Website www.boxhomeloans.com  

Founders Aaron Brown, 42; Jeff Reeves, 39

The Company A residential mortgage company that lends exclusively to people with great credit. 

The Growth Last year’s No. 1 Fastest-Growing Company is still speeding successfully. With a straightforward customer base, the residential rock star suavely zigged when the mortgage industry zagged. 

The Growing Pains “Explosive growth.”

Best Moment Ever “When we have a company party with the families of employees and get a ‘Wow!’ feeling seeing everyone who benefits from Box. It’s a little sobering as well thinking of those depending on our ability to succeed as a business.”

Hardest Moment Ever “We have those regularly. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.”

The Advice “Have a dream and be willing to consistently do what it takes to convert that dream to reality — as long as ‘whatever it takes’ isn’t your integrity or family.”

The Three-Year Plan “We expect to be a household name in the 24 key states by funding an average of $250 million in loan volume per month. We’re always innovating to do more with less and expect to increase our internal efficiencies by 60 percent in three years.”   

Three-Year Growth 118%  Revenue in 2011 $26,745,414  Founded 2003  City Lindon  Employees 60  Industry Technology/security  Website www.digicert.com  

Founder Ken Bretschneider, 45

The Company An online provider of enterprise security solutions with an emphasis on authentication, PKI and high-assurance digital certificates.

The Growth With more than 50,000 clients in the likes of national and state governments, education institutions and Fortune 500 companies, DigiCert has capitalized on an underserved market and become an award-winning company because of it. 

The Growing Pains “With incredible growth comes the need to expand the team in order to maintain operational excellence. Doing so while protecting our unique approach to business philosophy, all in the face of a steep industry learning curve, remains a challenge we have historically met and are continually committed to meeting.”

Best Moment Ever “Being named the de-facto service leader of our industry, receiving a full five-star rating due to DigiCert customer feedback received by a leading third-party industry organization (SSLShopper.com).”

Hardest Moment Ever “Working from my basement as a startup on a shoestring budget and filling every role in the company — including customer support. I look back on those days fondly now. They make me appreciate what I have and avoid complacency.”

The Advice “Identify the pain that customers experience and focus efforts on solving that pain better than anyone else in the market. Always consider what you would want and expect if you were your own customer and then exceed that expectation. Be generous in sharing your success with others.”

The Three-Year Plan “We see ourselves enjoying continued strong growth through a focus on our core business and values.”

Three-Year Growth 117%  Revenue in 2011 $317,465,705  Founded 1999  City Provo  Employees 1,100 (5,000 in the summer)  

Industry Home automation/security  Website www.vivint.com  Founder Todd Pedersen, 43

The Company A provider of home technology and automation services. 

The Growth You can’t think home automation without thinking Vivint (or APX Alarm, as they were formerly known), and that’s thanks to its first-rate technology, impressive leadership and stalwart sales force. 

The Growing Pains “Access to capital.”

Best Moment Ever “Emotional switch to Vivint.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Hard moments arise all the time. The easy and right decisions aren’t always the same, and it boils down to making the right choices.”

The Advice “Stay efficient and realize you may need to make sacrifices.”

The Three-Year Plan “We’ll be the largest home automation and solar company in the world offering the best products and services for a truly ‘connected’ life.” 

Three-Year Growth 112%  Revenue in 2011 $2,241,132  Founded 2008  City Springville  Employees 30  Industry Franchise development  Website www.fivestarfranchising.com  Founders Scott Abbott, 37; Chad Jones, 37; Conrad Kolba, 37

The Company A franchise development company that helps early-stage franchisors grow, support and advance their brands.

The Growth Thanks to fantastic success with sister company Five Star Painting, the founders were able to take that winning formula and create Five Star Franchising, which has become a franchise superstar near and far. 

The Growing Pains “Meeting the ever-changing needs of a more diverse franchise base.”

Best Moment Ever “Signing our second brand.”

The Advice “You can’t afford to be ‘just another business’ to your customers or anyone else, so if you aren’t taking steps to grow into the best company you can be, then you have a one-way express to the bottom. Think to yourself, ‘If we were to improve our business by just 5 percent this quarter, what would we do first?’”

The Three-Year Plan “We will be a franchise superstar. We expect our newest brands to grow internationally and exponentially and will add on new brands that will grow just as seamlessly.”

Three-Year Growth 109%  Revenue in 2011 $5,525,443  Founded 2000  City Orem  

Employees 70  Industry Outsourcing  

Website www.serverplus.com  

Founder Layne Sisk, 46

The Company A provider of outsourced technical support, e-mail hosting, billing and other services to Internet service providers. 

The Growth Armed with superb customer service, ServerPlus has taken advantage of a free market perk: The company enables ISPs to compete in services with the national providers for less money. 

The Growing Pains “Funding growth.”

Best Moment Ever “When our competitors started outsourcing to us.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Having to lay off several employees (who we were later able to hire back).”

The Advice “Try to be better than yourself — not better than a competitor.” 

The Three-Year Plan “Hopefully still on this list!” 

Three-Year Growth 101%  Revenue in 2011 $11,113,901  Founded 2000  City Lehi  

Employees 97  Industry Technology/health care Website www.solutionreach.com  Founder Jim Higgins, 42

The Company A patient engagement and communication solution for private and group health care practices. 

The Growth Formerly known as SmileReminder, the company has changed its name but not its growth. It messages tens of millions of patients monthly, and its taking the medical world by storm with its easy-to-use technology and strategic partnerships.

The Growing Pains “Keeping a ‘small company’ feel and culture as we grow.” 

Best Moment Ever “Today! We are growing fast and working with awesome people.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Having only $500 in the bank and wondering what I was doing.”

The Advice “Always let the ‘idea’ win in your company.”

The Three-Year Plan “Be better.”

Three-Year Growth 100%  Revenue in 2011 $10,632,090  Founded 2003  City Orem  

Employees 47  Industry Medical device manufacturing  Website www.aribex.com  Founder D. Clark Turner, 51

The Company A developer of portable and handheld X-ray products.  

The Growth A first-class, highly differentiated product coupled with fantastic leadership and smart execution has led to strong growth in a needful market. 

Three-Year Growth 91%  Revenue in 2011 $1,530,893  Founded 2004  City Orem  

Employees 71  Industry Beauty/retail  

Website www.amaradayspa.com  

Founders Leigh Bennett, 32; Tyler Bennett, 32

The Company A full-service day spa, salon and boutique. 

The Growth With an impressive facility and a purposeful growth strategy, Amara has benefited from the mantra of “happy employees = happy clients.”

The Growing Pains “Training new employees the ‘Amara way,’ which is always different than wherever they are coming from. It can take time, which is hard when we are growing quickly.”

Best Moment Ever “Going on vacations for a week (I’m typing this from the beach in the Dominican Republic) and knowing our operations will continue just fine without us. We have great managers and staff!”

Hardest Moment Ever “Tripling in size overnight with a new location, and with that bringing on new services and products we never had previously.”

The Advice “Do it slowly! Let your performance dictate your growth and have a plan in place for each phase before you reach it.”

The Three-Year Plan “Continue to be the market leader with more experienced professionals helping guests — and continue to grow, of course!”

Three-Year Growth 91%  Revenue in 2011 $12,542,983  Founded 2001  City Orem  

Employees 85  Industry Software  

Website www.fishbowlinventory.com  

CEO David Williams, 53

The Company A provider of inventory control solutions. 

The Growth Critically acclaimed product? Check. Family-like company? Check. Debt-free company? Check. Ranking on the UV50 four times out of five? Check, sweet, check. 

The Growing Pains “Staying debt free while maintaining cash flow at the pace we are growing.”

Best Moment Ever “When we purchased the company from the majority shareholder and brought back all the stock to share with the employees.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Leading a company when my son was dying of cancer.”

The Advice “It doesn’t matter what your company does, it should always be in the people business. Your own people first, your customers second.”

The Three-Year Plan “Continue to grow at a pace that feels natural and debt free. Building products and services that help small- to medium-sized companies become and remain successful.”

Three-Year Growth 86%  Revenue in 2011 $7,402,396  Founded 1999  City American Fork  Employees 68  Industry Technology/government/software  Website www.bidsync.com  CEO Sabrina Stover, 43

The Company An SaaS-based eProcurement software provider for government agencies.   

The Growth With an expert management team at the helm, BidSync has dominated its industry with top technology, impeccable customer service and a wow-worthy client retention rate (99 percent!). 

The Growing Pains “Staffing has proven to be difficult as we grow. Finding the right additional talent in a technology-rich area has been most challenging.”

Best Moment Ever “The first time we made the Inc. 500 list at No. 465. This was a realization moment for all employees that all their hard work was being recognized nationally and that the company was seen by others as being very successful.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Transitioning to a process-oriented company without impacting our high growth, high customer service mentality.”

The Advice “If you take care of your employees, the business will take care of itself. Find ways to balance work/life for your employees during high growth periods.”

The Three-Year Plan “We have aggressive growth plans for the next three years, which include triple digit revenue growth for our procurement solutions.”

Three-Year Growth 78%  Revenue in 2011 $399,700,000  Founded 1983  City Provo  Employees 1,000  Industry Technology  

Website www.ancestry.com  

CEO Tim Sullivan, 49

The Company An online family history resource.

The Growth Genealogy is all the rage — and Ancestry.com is firmly rooted as a market leader. With top-of-the-line technology and a dream social media scenario, the company has grown remarkably with higher-than-high revenues.  

The Growing Pains “Our challenge is to recruit top talent in a highly competitive technology market. We have faced this growing pain by becoming more creative and purposeful in our recruiting efforts.”

Best Moment Ever “Our best moments happen every day at Ancestry.com. We have an extremely rewarding line of business that helps people connect with their family history, and every day our customers experience this 10 times over.”

Hardest Moment Ever “At Ancestry.com we have an ongoing challenge of figuring out the best way to acquire and digitize billions of historical records and then mold them in a digestible format. Fortunately, our company culture values difficult challenges because it allows our employees to rise to the occasion and solve difficult problems.”

The Advice “Encourage, accept and embrace new technologies as they are applicable — the use of technology, if used wisely, will not only help your business grow but it will also help expand your industry’s landscape. And face challenges with creativity — be willing to look for new ways to solve challenging problems.”

The Three-Year Plan “Per the Ancestry.com executive team, the future of family history is mobile and social.”

Three-Year Growth 75%  Revenue in 2011 $24,964,204  Founded 2006  City American Fork  Employees 173  Industry Marketing  Website www.orangesoda.com  

Founder Jay Bean, 43; Derek Miner, 36

The Company An online marketing company that works with small- to medium-sized businesses to conquer local markets. 

The Growth With premier market timing, an intelligent product and a culture that fizzes fun (the tech company’s name derives from a soda, after all), our one-time No. 1 Startup to Watch has over-delivered  on all accounts.

The Growing Pains “Our biggest growing pain would be accurately predicting the amount of growth and scalability.”

Best Moment Ever “Being recognized on the Inc. 500 list. So cool.”

Hardest Moment Ever “Having to scale back during the 2009 recession.”

The Advice “Always put your customers first. The rest will follow.”

The Three-Year Plan “We see OrangeSoda leading the locally-focused online marketplace.”

Three-Year Growth 62%  Revenue in 2011 $6,027,694  Founded 2007  City Orem  

Employees 25  Industry Manufacturing  

Website www.simtekfence.com  

Founder Brad L. Wilson, 37

The Company A manufacturer specializing in rotational molding of a polyethylene fence system that simulates a stacked rock look.

The Growth With large construction bids in cities across the United States and Canada, SimTek is fast reinventing the fence industry with a unique product and wall-to-wall stamina. 

The Growing Pains “Our first million-dollar month was May of last year, and we were working around the clock (including weekends) to match our production with our demand.”

Best Moment Ever “We presented a budget to our board of directors, which called for an aggressive growth rate. One of our directors who is an MBA professor at BYU said to me, ‘You are aware we are in a recession, right?’ I wrote it down on a post-it and hung it by my computer screen. I was so excited to deliver our year-end results, which exceeded our aggressive forecast.”

Hardest Moment Ever “The layoff of about 10 production employees from our swing and grave shifts in summer of 2008. We had planned and budgeted for more aggressive growth in that second year, and when it didn’t materialize we were forced to do something quickly to be able to stay in business and survive the long winter.”

The Advice “Don’t stop setting high goals if you have failed to achieve them. If you lower expectations, you will absolutely lower your performance.”

The Three-Year Plan “We will have national retail partnerships (Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc) and be recognized by name and brand across the U.S. and Canada. We expect to have a worldwide footprint with more significant export business away from North America, and we expect to be building a new facility addition. Our target sales volume: $15 million.”

Three-Year Growth 50%  Revenue in 2011 $48,478,000  Founded 1997  City American Fork  Employees 190  Industry Technology  Website www.certiport.com  

CEO Ray Kelly, 52

The Company A provider of performance-based certification exams and practice test solutions for academic institutions, workforce and corporate technology markets.

The Growth This impressively intelligent tech company has grown thanks to smart leaders, dedicated employees, key partnerships and an ultimate goal of educating the world through certifications. 

The Growing Pains “My toughest challenge is deciding how to best apply limited resources to many growth opportunities.”

Best Moment Ever “Attending our yearly Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office. There is no greater joy than seeing those students compete for the title of World Champion. (www.officecompetition.com)”

Hardest Moment Ever “It is challenging to put together effective teams and make changes in personnel when necessary to drive success.”

The Advice “Develop a clear strategy for growth with specific, attainable tactics and goals. Then, get your entire team on the same page.”

The Three-Year Plan “We expect to double our revenue and earnings in the next three years by expanding our product offerings and partner base around the world.”

Three-Year Growth 49%  Revenue in 2011 $37,661,997  Founded 1997  City Provo  

Employees 96  Industry Corporate training  Website www.vitalsmarts.com  Founders Kerry Patterson, 65; Joseph Grenny, 51; Al Switzler, 62; Ron McMillan, 60; Mike Carter, 52

The Company A corporate training company.

The Growth With bestselling books (including “Crucial Conversations”), experience with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies and 30-plus years of ongoing research, the principles VitalSmarts espouses have been economy proof.

The Growing Pains “As the bus moves along at a faster clip, it’s always hard to get the right people on the bus. An employee who was hired during the early stages of the company may not have the skillset required in a larger company. This necessitates taking frequent skill scans to decide if new people are needed.”

Best Moment Ever “My fourth-grade granddaughter held up a book that my partners and I had written and talked about it briefly during sharing time at school. One of the other kids exclaimed, ‘Your granddad is Kerry Patterson? My mom reads everything he writes!’ To which my 10-year-old granddaughter replied, ‘So, you’re familiar with his work.’”

Hardest Moment Ever “We were closing an important deal—one upon which our future house payments depended—and the person we were working with became upset and not only didn’t sign the deal, but threw us out of his office! It was humiliating. It turns out it was simply a power play on his part, but it didn’t feel like play to me.”

The Advice “We worked hard to have products that are not commodities. We also worked to make sure the content of our training was seen as ‘crucial’ or mission critical solutions to multiple problems. When our clients experience tough times, we are fortunate to be seen as a solution rather than something to cut. That has helped us over the past 20 years in numerous tough times.”

The Three-Year Plan “We want to do more of what we do and do it much better. Our mission is to increase humanity’s capacity to change for good. The world needs what we do, and we strive to do it better and better every day.”

Three-Year Growth 46%  Revenue in 2011 $9,581,558  Founded 2004  City Springville  Employees 30  Industry Home improvement  Website www.fivestarpainting.com  

Founders Scott Abbott, 37; Chad Jones, 37; Conrad Kolba, 37

The Company An international painting service franchise. 

The Growth With the nature of franchising comes the opportunity for rapid growth, and Five Star Painting has capitalized on top-of-the-line technology and five-star customer service. Case in point: The company is now working with more than 75 franchises in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. 

The Growing Pains “We’ve way overgrown our current office space – people are doubled up in almost every office and our cubicles are getting smaller and smaller.”

Best Moment Ever “When Five Star finally went international!”

The Advice “Call Chad.”