Offspring of the Last Recession

Do strong companies start in the midst of recessions?

Let’s find out. Here is a partial list of companies that were founded in the midst of (or the immediate aftermath) of the 1990-91 recession. All were founded in 1991, '92 or '93. By the year 2000 all were ranked among Canada’s 200 fastest-growing companies by PROFIT Magazine.

Boardwalk Equities
DataMirror Corp.
TLC Laser Eye Centers
Sierra Wireless
Spin Master Toys
Open Text Corp.
Platform Computing
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals
Aware Marketing Group
BRAK Systems Inc. (founded by Robert Herjavec, sold to AT&T Canada in 2000)
RTO Enterprises
Dundas Software Limited.
Triple G Systems (Acquired by GE Healthcare)
Mad Science Group
Summer Fresh Salads
Applanix Corp.
Custom House Currency Exchange
Peak Financial Group
KIK Corp.
MTL Technologies
Biovail Corp.
Total Care Technologies
LearnStream Inc.
Canadian Plastic Lumber
Gary Jonas Computing (Jonas Software)
Chipworks Inc.
e Bridge Software
Jewelstone Systems (acquired by AGF Management in 2002 for $60 milllion)
Transpeed Express
Duplium Corp.
AMR Technologies
Chariot Carriers Inc.
Drug Royalty Group (now DRI Capital)
Great Canadian Dollar Store
Tesco Corp.
Changepoint Corp. (acquired by Compuware in2004)
Apex Corp.
iWave Information Systems
Integrated Paving Concepts
Charon Systems

Many of these companies have changed names, products, strategies and management. Many have changed ownership. Some have morphed into successor companies.
But all of them prove out the thesis that tough times breeed great businesses.