Sunday, September 21, 2008

Hottest of the Hot

Congratulations to Richmond Hill, Ont.-based MortgageBrokers.com, which ranks No. 1 on PROFIT Magazine’s Hot 50 list of emerging growth companies.

The new list is available in the October issue of PROFIT, or online by clicking here.

The Hot 50 list, founded nine years ago as “Canada’s Hottest Startups,” ranks emerging companies (three and four years old) by two-year revenue growth to find out what sectors are sizzling and who’s getting traction, how. The ranking originated in the dot-com days, but many different types of companies have always made the list.

Twenty of the top 50 this year are involved in business services, seven in software development, five in distribution and five in construction. There are four manufacturers, and four companies in consumer services. Rounding out the ranks are three retailers and two online publishers.

The diversity in the Top 5 is fascinating. There’s a network of mortgage brokers (MortgageBrokers.com), a Calgary-based drilling company (Pacesetter), a land developer (Simcoe Canada Land Development), a model-train manufacturer (Rapido Trains Inc.) and a developer of business-improvement software (Ottawa-based Apption).

To show just how new and hip this group is, two of the top five companies are based in Concord, Ont., a fast-growing Toronto suburb most Canadians couldn't find on a map.

What do these companies all have in common? A clear vision in a specific niche market, commitment to service and product innovation, and some facility in raising capital.

The result: average two-year revenue growth of 756%. The average company on the Hot 50 has sales of $6.7 million and employs 41 people.

And here’s some more good news: seven of the CEOs (14%) are women. While that’s not a huge percentage, it’s a big improvement over the ratio found on most lists of Canadian growth companies.

Here’s where to find more information:
* Browse the Hot 50 Rankings
* Read the thematic Overview
* How fast-growth companies hire
* Management lessons from the PROFIT HOT 50

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to find your blog! I came from a google search for blogs.

It's a good update but I can't help but wish Vancouver was on the map. :-)

Rick Spence said...

Good point, Harmony. I hadn't looked at the geographic distribution of the Hot 50 companies. Only three from BC: two from Victoria, one from Penticton.

My count shows 33 Ontario companies, including 26 from Toronto or the GTA. That's a pretty high percentage for a supposedly old-economy province.

Which suggests to me that there’s hope for everyone.
Rick

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