2009 Fastest-Growing Companies

Three-Year Growth 1,021%  Revenue in 2008 $2,800,200  Founded 2003  City American Fork  Employees 22  Industry Technology  Web site www.netsteps.com  Founder Derek P. Maxfield, 32

The Company A provider of technology solutions that accelerate the growth of direct sales companies. 

The Growth Thanks to accuracy, integrity and flexibility, NetSteps has experienced astronomical growth in a unique and flourishing industry. 

The Growing Pains “Being able to hire quickly enough to meet demand has been a constant challenge.”

The Advice “Don’t scrimp on hiring. Spend enough to get quality people who will take your ideas and expand them.”

The Milestone Moment “When I finally stopped trying to go it alone and hired my first employee in February 2007.”

Three-Year Growth 405%  Revenue in 2008 $2,357,783  Founded 2002  City American Fork  Employees 20  Industry Telecommunications  Web site www.utmatrix.com  

Founder Richard Miller, 33

The Company A provider of telephone, surveillance and audio equipment, as well as structured cabling and network services to all size businesses. 

The Growth A customer-centric culture coupled with essential and convenient services (read: one-stop shop) has catapulted the company to its impressive success. 

The Growing Pains “Finding space to house our growing company. We feel like we are constantly looking for a new corner to put a new employee.”

The Advice “Pick a good product and become an expert.”

Three-Year Growth 389%  Revenue in 2008 $7,490,805  Founded 2003  City Lindon  

Employees 27  Industry Technology  Web site www.digicert.com  Founder Ken Bretschneider, 41

The Company A global Certificate Authority specializing in Trusted SSL Certificates and Identity Services.

The Growth With a sturdy foundation and integrity-driven policies, DigiCert has catapulted to growth with strong sales, high quality products and an even better reputation. 

The Growing Pains “Finding and training high quality employees for our niche field. It often takes over a year to properly train our staff and reach a point where we feel they can best meet customers’ needs.”

The Advice “Keep the big picture in focus, but it is the little things that will make or break your company.”

The Milestone Moment “In 2006 we worked with Microsoft to develop a new SSL product now known as ‘Unified Communications Certificates.’ Since their introduction, these certificates have become the standard for any business using Microsoft Exchange or Office Communication Servers. The resulting revenue impact was significant.”

Three-Year Growth 387%  Revenue in 2008 $13,118,000  Founded 2001  City Orem  

Employees 138  Industry Technology  Web site www.attask.com  Founder Scott Johnson, 39

The Company A provider of on-demand project and portfolio management software.

The Growth A relevant and in-demand product has led to four office locations worldwide and more than 1,600 customers including Google, Samsung and Procter & Gamble. 

The Growing Pains “Providing appropriate levels of management to complement our growth has been our biggest growing pain.”

The Advice “Growing an organization is what entrepreneurialism is all about. If you aren’t looking to grow your organization, sell out and go work for someone else.”

The Milestone Moment “Hearing complete strangers halfway around the world talking about AtTask in normal conversation was a real ‘milestone moment’ for me.”

Three-Year Growth 301%  Revenue in 2008 $9,354,036  Founded 2000  City Orem  

Employees 220  Industry Technology  Web site www.securitymetrics.com Founder Brad Caldwell

The Company An educator and tester of merchant businesses to ensure they are keeping credit card data secure.

The Growth With 5.4 million merchants in the U.S. and the payment brands requiring merchants to be educated and tested in data security, SecurityMetrics has capitalized on a growing, prosperous market. 

The Growing Pains “Hiring 100 people in 30 days.”

The Advice “Hire great people and have fun while you are working hard.”

The Milestone Moment “When we passed 100,000 enrolled customers.”

Three-Year Growth 271%  Revenue in 2008 $296,000,000  Founded 1996  City Orem  

Employees 1,189  Industry Technology  Web site www.omniture.com Founder Josh James, 35

The Company A provider of online optimization software.

The Growth An undeniable market leader, Omniture has soared to success with high-profile clients (Target, NBC and Wal-Mart, to name a few) and unbelievable growth — especially when you consider its larger-than-life revenues. 

Three-Year Growth 244%  Revenue in 2008 $5,254,966  Founded 2002  City Springville  Employees 35, along with 97 “W-9” independent contractors  Industry Technology  Web site www.simplicitygroup.com Founders Matthew F. Schneck, 38; Adam K. Wilkinson, 29

The Company A provider of Web application development, including corporate reward programs, customer resources management and video sharing networks.

The Growth A unique and significant platform has led to more than 1.2 million customers and a No. 94 ranking on the 2008 Inc. 500.

The Growing Pains “Knowing when to expand and when to cut back.”

The Advice “Run a tight ship and learn how to manage your cash flow.”

The Milestone Moment “No. 6 in the 2008 UV50, No. 12 in the 2008 Inc. 500 (Business Services Industry).”

Three-Year Growth 234%  Revenue in 2008 $246,072  Founded 2005  City Pleasant Grove  

Employees 14  Industry Marketing  Web site www.thinkboxdesignmarketing.com  Founders Rachel Parrish, 37; Brian Parrish, 39

The Company A full-service marketing firm.

The Growth A customer-focused culture has led to a vast clientele (including The Shops at Riverwoods and American Fork City), expanded services and 14 employees. 

The Growing Pains “Creating and implementing management systems.”

The Advice “Always aim high.”

The Milestone Moment “When we moved from a two-person, out-of-home business into a commercial office space one year ago.”

Three-Year Growth 233%  Revenue in 2008 $1,335,113  Founded 2005  City Springville  

Employees 4  Industry Healthcare, Medical Manufacturing  Web site www.biolynk.com  

Founder Wendy Hendry, 41

The Company A provider of antibody recruitment and consulting and procurer of control material for diagnostic manufacturing. 

The Growth Named one of our Startups To Watch in the 2008 UV50, Biolynk is living up to the recognition with strong growth, great management and a booming market. 

The Growing Pains “Visibility to our competitors.”

The Advice “Seek a higher power and stay humble.”

The Milestone Moment “When we started in-house recruitment as opposed to referring to outside companies.”

Three-Year Growth 223%  Revenue in 2008 $1,100,912  Founded 2005  City Springville  Employees 11  Industry Service  Web site www.FiveStarPainting.com Founder Scott Abbott, 34

The Company A seller of painting franchises. 

The Growth The relatively young company has developed a technology to streamline the painting industry — and it’s working. Five Star Painting now has more than 50 franchisees.

The Growing Pains “The call center — meeting the demands of a fast growing system.”

The Advice “Get good advisers on your board.”

The Milestone Moment “Hitting 50 franchises in three countries.”

Three-Year Growth 210%  Revenue in 2008 $3,100,000  Founded 2000  City Orem  

Employees 53  Industry Technology  Web site www.serverplus.com  Founder Layne Sisk, 43

The Company A provider of outsourced services to the Internet Service Providers.

The Growth Chalk it up to top-notch customer service and a free market perk: ServerPlus enables ISPs to compete in services with the national providers for less money. 

The Growing Pains “Finding the right people for the right jobs.”

The Advice “Believe in your product. Sometimes you can feel like the only one who does, but never give up and others will see the light.”

The Milestone Moment “Still looking for that milestone moment. Right now we have many miles to go.”

Three-Year Growth 155%  Revenue in 2008 $705,957  Founded 2001  City Provo  Employees 11  Industry Product Development  Web site www. rocketshipdesign.com  

Founder Michael Horito, 43

The Company An industrial design company. 

The Growth A corporate culture designed for clients and employees alike has led Rocketship to be the go-to product problem-solver.

The Growing Pains “Finding the right people. Creative ability and technical skill is a given, but in order to work together in a fast-paced, dynamic environment like this, personality is a huge factor.”

The Advice “Take the time to realistically envision what your company will be like in five years. Describe it, organize it and then layout a plan to get there. You’ll make course corrections along the way, but with that plan you’ll make much better decisions with much less stress.”

The Milestone Moment “Having a 5th Rocketship design product receive an Innovations Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Being recognized along with some of the top firms in the nation helps solidify Rocketship’s position as the leading product design firm in the Rocky Mountain region.”

Three-Year Growth 144%  Revenue in 2008 $9,558,992  Founded 2001 City Provo  

Employees 8  Industry Construction  Web site www.silvercreekllc.com 

Founder Geoffrey Granum, 38

The Company A high-end custom home construction company. 

The Growth Despite a less-than-ideal housing market, Silver Creek has been built to last with innovative design, valued employees and responsible growth practices.

The Growing Pains “Delegation and relinquishment of control.”

The Advice “Look at what other companies in your industry are doing well. Analyze why they are succeeding and attempt to personalize their practices by doing the same things better and more efficiently.”

The Milestone Moment “The day we hit break-even!”

Three-Year Growth 120%  Revenue in 2008 $5,763,446  Founded 1975  City Provo  

Employees 480  Industry Building Services  

Web site www.rbmservicesinc.com  

Owner Jon Moss, 35

The Company A building service contractor that cleans and maintains commercial buildings.

The Growth With an increase in sales and marketing efforts, RBM has exploded in growth and has more than 100 contracts, including companies such as Nu Skin and Novell.

The Growing Pains “Doubling in size in one year.”

The Advice “Work hard and work smart. Be creative and advertise outside the box. Follow your gut.”

The Milestone Moment “Purchasing our main competitor. ‘If you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em!’”

Three-Year Growth 110%  Revenue in 2008 $35,482,121  Founded 2001  City American Fork  Employees 200  Industry Home Improvement  Web site www.bestvinyl.com  

Founders Vance Barrett, 32; Scott Petersen, 50

The Company A fabricator and installer of vinyl fence, decks, pergolas and gazebos. 

The Growth With strong management and capital to fuel growth, Best Vinyl is the largest of its kind in the U.S.  

The Growing Pains “The skills needed to build a $10-million company are not the same skills needed to build a $30- or $40-million company. That transition has been a challenge.”

The Advice “Surround yourself with the best of the best.”

The Milestone Moment “Exceeding $10 million in sales.”

Three-Year Growth 109%  Revenue in 2008 $5,380,187  Founded 2003  City Orem  

Employees 33  Industry Medical Device 

Manufacturing  Web site www.aribex.com  

Founder D. Clark Turner, 48

The Company A developer and marketer of new technologies in the X-ray radiography fields. 

The Growth A highly differentiated product partnered with a strong, experienced management team has led to impeccable growth in a needful market. 

The Growing Pains “Internal company politics. With more people comes more differences of opinion.”

The Advice “‘Nail it and scale it.’ Figure out what works, then replicate that via new products or new markets.”

The Milestone Moment “Receiving FDA clearance for our product, which opened up investor financing.”

Three-Year Growth 80%  Revenue in 2008 $9,400,000  Founded 2001  City Pleasant Grove  Employees 45 (200-plus temporary employees during Halloween season)  Industry Retail  

Web site www.costumecraze.com  

Founder Kate Maloney, 27

The Company An online costume retailer. 

The Growth The Inc. 500 alum has catapulted to the top with new product implementation as well as a business-changing investment in technology. 

The Growing Pains “We’ve had trouble with physical space to keep pace with year-to-year growth.”

The Advice “Find the appropriate balance. Not growing fast enough can kill you, but so can growing too fast.”

The Milestone Moment “Moving into a ‘real’ warehouse (i.e., moving out of our house!), making our first million and receiving our first national recognition (Inc. 500).”

Three-Year Growth 79%  Revenue in 2008 $1,138,427  Founded 2002 City Lehi  Employees 7  Industry Wholesale  Web site www.littleadventures.com  Founders Jenny Farnsworth, 37; Heather Granata, 37

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

The Growth With sales reps covering the U.S., Little Adventures has capitalized on a unique product, little competition and much determination. 

The Growing Pains “When items arrive not meeting our high standards, we have to take a loss on the product. This decreases cash flow and limits our ability to add new products for increased growth.”

The Advice “Grow slowly and wisely.”

The Milestone Moment “Reaching our first $1 million.”

Three-Year Growth 76%  Revenue in 2008 $9,377,000  Founded 2001 City Provo  

Employees 60  Industry Business Management Software  Web site www.digitalgateway.com  

Founder Jim Phillips, 60

The Company A provider of business management software for imaging and business equipment dealers. 

The Growth Heralded as a top provider of business management software, it has risen with well-managed growth and more than 1,000 dealers using its software.

The Growing Pains “Growth. It’s easy to hire more people, but we regularly evaluate our processes to see if an internal change would bring on a greater result.”

The Advice “Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied. You may have the best ideas in the industry, but until you do something about it, nothing will ever happen.”

The Milestone Moment “Every day is a milestone moment if it takes care of our dealers.”

Three-Year Growth 75%  Revenue in 2008 $250,654,871  Founded 1964  City Spanish Fork  Employees 700  Industry Craft  Web site www.provocraft.com  Founder Robert Emmett 

Workman, 53

The Company A consumer electronics manufacturer in the creative marketplace.

The Growth With a willingness to re-invent its product lines and make significant leaps in technology, Provo Craft has developed 6,000 proprietary products, did $250 million in sales in 2008 alone and created a personal electronic cutting system — the Cricut — that boasts about 1 million users.

The Growing Pains “Finding and hiring the right team.”

The Advice “Build a solid operational base — you must have internal disciplines.” 

The Milestone Moment “Defining ourselves as a company that helps others to create. It opened up our ability to move into other products and markets.”

Three-Year Growth 72%  Revenue in 2008 $4,100,938  Founded 1999  City Pleasant Grove  Employees 22 Industry Computer Forensics  

Web site www.paraben.com  

Founder Amber Schroader, 33

The Company A provider of computer forensic software.

The Growth Fifteen years of computer forensic experience, coupled with innovative, unique technology (the handheld forensics line, for one) has well positioned Paraben to leader-status in its industry.  

The Growing Pains “Managing staff and putting in a middle management tier in the company.”

The Advice “Grow slowly and be exact about it. Do not just have random plans for growth — be specific on what you want and how you are going to get there.”

The Milestone Moment “The day we provided technology in all areas that are needed by the customer and had five functioning technology divisions in the company.”

Three-Year Growth 66%  Revenue in 2008 $7,961,070  Founded 2001  City Springville  Employees 82  Industry Manufacturing 

Web site www.namifiers.com  

Founder Bryan L. Welton Jr., 31

The Company A manufacturer of identification and branding products to businesses and consumers.

The Growth Speedy, same-day service (along with viewing “no” as a swear word), has led to more than 80,000 clients, including more than half of the Fortune 500 companies.

The Growing Pains “Getting new employees up to speed with our culture here at Namifiers. Ours is one of fast-paced, detail-oriented individuals that consider the customer at every step. We never take ‘culture’ off our agenda — you are either building it or losing it.”

The Advice “Execute. Break down your big idea into actual tasks and do them now. Don’t waste time trying to remind yourself later when you can do it now.”

The Milestone Moment “We haven’t achieved it yet. Our past is strung with some neat awards, but the ‘milestone moment’ is still dangling.”

Three-Year Growth 63%  Revenue in 2008 $1,431,986  Founded 2002  City American Fork  Employees 14  Industry Graphic Design  Web site www.jandaco.com, www.risermedia.com  

Founder Michael Janda, 35

The Company A full-service graphic design agency.

The Growth Thanks to an “unceasing dedication to personal improvement, an undying love for clients and an unending obsession with details,” the company’s high-profile client base includes the likes of Disney and Warner Brothers.

The Growing Pains “Constantly modifying our internal systems to accommodate for added head count.”

The Advice “The long-term relationship with a client outweighs the short-term profit of a single transaction.”

The Milestone Moment “At the very end of 2008, Jandaco re-branded as Riser Media and launched a suite of new Web solutions. We are hopeful this will be our milestone moment … but it is too soon to tell.”

Three-Year Growth 45%  Revenue in 2008 $34,827,435  Founded 1974  City Lindon  Employees 95  Industry Construction  Web site www.maglebycompanies.com  Founder Paul Magleby, 59

The Company A high-end custom homebuilder. 

The Growth Thanks to an emphasis on the golden rule (“Why everyone doesn’t follow it is beyond me,” Magleby says.) and expert craftsmanship (Magleby won National Custom Home Builder of the Year in 2006), Magleby Companies has risen to the top of its class. 

The Growing Pains “Going from 10 employees to 100 was certainly a challenge.”

The Advice “Take care of your customers. You can’t neglect their needs and expectations and expect to grow — that’s the dead nail for any company.”

The Milestone Moment “I don’t know that there’s any one defining moment. It’s a journey, not an event.”

Three-Year Growth 32%  Revenue in 2008 $23,630,849  Founded 2001  City Provo  Employees 80  Industry Consulting/Training  Web site www.vitalsmarts.com  Founders Joseph Grenny, 48; Al Switzler, 59; Ron McMillan, 56; Kerry Patterson, 62; Mike Carter, 49

The Company A corporate training and organizational performance company. 

The Growth In an era where “good advice” is needed more than ever, businesses are turning to companies like VitalSmarts, which has award-winning training products and experience with more than 300 of the Fortune 500.

The Growing Pains “Because the number of trainers is constantly increasing, it’s difficult to ensure participants have a good experience with our products.”

The Advice “Don’t compromise the quality of your products and services to get more customers. Delivering a small amount of quality products will be more profitable than delivering a large amount of low-quality products.”

The Milestone Moment “When all three of our books became New York Times bestsellers.”