Watching GrowFL’s celebration at the Straz Performing Arts Center last month, it was almost easy to forget I was at a business gathering. Companies that were being celebrated as the top 50 Companies to Watch in Florida were given the rock star treatment that is generally reserved for, well, rock stars!
This a small but an important part of what GrowFL does. The organization does not just help second-stage companies reach their full potential, but also celebrates and validates them both for their employees and for the community in which they operate. A community can sometimes take local companies for granted. GrowFL reminds us not to.
“We celebrate them, make sure communities throughout Florida know these companies are thriving, prospering, growing jobs and being successful,” said Tammie Sweet, director of GrowFL. “They are companies that are prime targets to be recruited by other states.”
These second-stage companies are crucial to strong economies because they are likely to grow exponentially. But they are easily overlooked because individually their numbers are small, Sweet said. They are defined by GrowFL as 6-150 employees with revenues in the $1 million to $50 million range. They’re tweeners — past startup but not yet large.
Some past Sarasota County winners include JMX Brands, Karins Engineering, atLarge, Florikan, SouthTech, PPi Technologies, Lumenier, Cruise Car, FYZICAL Therapy and Balance Centers, Sarasota Medical Products, Lightspeed Voice, U.S. Submergent Technologies and Quality Enclosures.
“Being nominated is a great validation for our employees here. It shows this is someplace they can grow,” said Dr. Walt Leise, CEO of Sarasota Medical Products, one of four Sarasota County companies among last year’s winners. “We would not be in the top companies to watch list without the peer mentoring CEO Roundtable program.”
Leise said the Roundtable gives him foresight into the future by listening to others who are further ahead in growth, or just have more experience. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to grow and learn as a leader,” he said. “You can’t learn all you need just by getting an MBA, you need to have a specific type of mentality that drives you. It’s nice to be in a group of people that have that same type of mentality.”
Sarasota Medical Products, which produces wound care products and now has 20 employees, has grown revenues by 35-40 percent the past few years and is projecting 30-50 percent annual growth for next few years.
Denver Stutler, Jr., CEO and co-founder of U.S. Submergent Technologies, also lauds the CEO Roundtable for equipping him to “learn the tools to deal with problems.” But he also has benefitted from the research available in the program that he would not have been able to conduct on his own.
“We did some strategic research that had the measurable value of increasing our closing rate on projects,” Stutler said. “The research helped us better identify potential customers.”
U.S. Submergent has a patented technology to clean infrastructure such as tanks and pipes in submerged conditions, such as at wastewater treatment plants. Their ability restores capacity and speeds up treatment time for these facilities. The company has just over 35 employees and expects to have 50-60 by the end of the year.
The Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County has been involved in the GrowFL program since the county was selected as one of six pilot communities launching the program in 2010.
GrowFL is based on an economic development strategy known as economic gardening. The idea is to nurture second-stage growth companies with game-changing leadership resources they need to continue growing and driving economic growth and jobs in the community. The EDC provides the specialized mentoring roundtables for CEOs, strategic research services and other resources through a partnership with GrowFL.
The CEO roundtables provide the peer-to-peer support, input and accountability that most CEOs cannot get within their own organization. The strategic research includes corporate databases, geographic information systems and search engine optimization to help CEOs identify market trends, competitors and customers.
Applications are now open for the 2019 Companies to Watch. Winners will be celebrated Nov. 14 at Hard Rock Live at Universal in Orlando. The application deadline is May 3.
To qualify for the GrowFL program a company must:
• Be a for-profit entity.
• Have 6 to 150 full-time equivalent employees.
• Have revenues or working capital of $750,000 to $100 million.
• Desire and intent to grow.
• Receive at least 50 percent of revenue from outside the local market.
The EDC has a passion for supporting local companies and the GrowFL partnership is one of our most important services. For more information about the program and how it can help your company, contact Destin Wells, vice president of Business Development, at 941-309-1200 ext. 101 or dwells@edcsarasotacounty.com.
Contact Mark Huey, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota County, at mhuey@edcsarasotacounty.com. EDC is the public/private partnership leading economic diversification efforts by working with community and regional partners.