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Wednesday, February 3, 2010
New England sees some tech firms thrive, not just survive
By James M. Connolly
MHT's Galen Moore: N.E. firms target individual carbon footprints
MHT's Galen Moore: Cambridge Innovation Center celebrates 10th anniversary
MHT's Galen Moore: Honoring innovation in New England
If you’ve done even a bit of gardening, you know you don’t bank on a single plant. Whether you’re growing tomatoes, peppers, herbs or green beans, you start with a half-dozen seedlings or seeds of each variety, knowing that a couple will thrive, a couple will be OK, and a couple will wilt even before the summer heat peaks.
The world of tech startups isn’t all that different. Every day, we see new launches, Series A funding rounds and other early steps by startups — and months later we learn that this one shut down, that one was absorbed and another underwent a “strategic” management change.
Then there are those that do make the grade. This issue offers a sampling of firms that have earned the designation of “growth company.” The criteria may vary from sector to sector — some measured by successful IPO, others by staffing numbers, some by having generated some buzz. The bottom line is that they have emerged from the pack.
How did they do it? In some cases it is simply the luck of good timing. But read through the stories and you’ll see that most made basic good business decisions. They may have hired the right bean counter, or they focused not on the flashy consumer product but on the tools and platforms that make those end products work. Perhaps the most important common element is that these growth companies kept their heads during the economic storm of 2008 and early 2009. They were judicious in hiring and, where necessary, cutbacks, as they kept core teams in place to further product development and customer service.
In the end, what is most impressive is that they rode it out, and for all the talk of doom a year ago, it wasn’t the end of the world.
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