Deserving Recognition

Two alumni of the Star Search—developers Macromind and Authorware—went on to merge with themselves and others to become Macromedia, the company acquired by Adobe last year for $3.4 billion. If memory serves, an early version of Citrix Systems was also recognized at one time or another, when it was big in the (can you believe it!) OS/2 development world. If I dig through all my back issues, I&'m sure to find other examples of vendors that have gone on to become “stars.”

Which brings me to the Fast Growth 100. Simply put, this ranking recognizes rising stars of the solution provider channel. You don&'t have to be a big company to make the list, you just have to demonstrate a proven formula for growing top-line revenue dramatically over the past three years. Of course, if you&'re a larger solution provider with a respectable growth rate, you&'re encouraged to apply, too. You can find more information on our Web site at www.crn.com/fastgrowth.

We consider a multiyear period, quite frankly, to ensure that a company isn&'t included as a result of some freakish aberration. Based on feedback from past participants, we&'re now asking about profitability dynamics—even though we don&'t plan to publish that data and companies will still be placed on the list strictly according to growth rates.

Over the years, the Fast Growth statistics we&'ve collected have provided great insight into trends we should follow more closely. Participants alert us to emerging vendors we should be covering. It shouldn&'t surprise you to hear security was a recurring theme last year, but no one vertical or technology really dominated, illustrating the amazing diversity of the channel and debunking the notion that vendors can guarantee their own perpetual growth by allying with just a small universe of established partners. Simply put, the Fast Growth 100 represents some of the most innovative members of the channel, and I look forward to meeting this year&'s applicants.

Do you deserve to be recognized? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, welcomes your submissions at [email protected].