December 2001

25 Fastest Growing Companies
Our annual look at the most vigorous companies in the Midsouth

Business Nashville, December, 2001
by By Jeannie Harrington, Ph.D., CMA

NASHVILLE. Serial entrepreneur Gary Semanchik listened closely to his customers, and paying attention to their needs is paying off for his three-and-a-half-year-old company, Statement Rendering Solutions (SRS).

The Nashville-based company, which ranked No. 4 on our 2001 listing of the 25 fastest-growing area businesses, provides outsource billing services for a growing list of companies and organizations that want to send invoices, policies, academic grade reports and other statements in a more cost-effective and timely manner. SRS generated about $1.1 million in revenues in 1999, the company's first full year of operation. That figure jumped to $2 million in 2000 and is expected to more than double in 2001. By 2005, Semanchik is forecasting $10 million in business.

Semanchik founded and operated Inform Inc., a successful locally based company that provided business forms, promotional products and direct mail services, prior to launching SRS in 1998. It was while running Inform, which Semanchik sold to Corporate Express in 1997, that he discovered the niche now served by SRS.

"My customers were looking for a cheaper way to get their mail out, and some of them asked if I would get into the statement rendering process," Semanchik explains. "So, I listened to my customers and decided to start a company that could fill that niche."

SRS's client roster includes St. Thomas Hospital and Belmont University. Semanchik says business has been so strong that his company temporarily halted the pursuit of new business two times during the past year in order to properly serve existing customers. "You can get too big too fast," he says. "When we get a customer, we don't lose them."

 Semanchik's enterprising spirit permeates the list of companies found on Business Nashville's annual profile of revenue-charged young companies. Now in its sixth year of identifying some of the mid-state's fastest-growing young companies, Business Nashville once again joins with Middle Tennessee State University in highlighting the top 25 companies as determined by our research. To be considered for this listing, eligible public or private companies must be between three and 10 years of age. Rankings are based on the two-year average growth in gross revenues. This average provides a more consistent indicator of performance than a single year's growth.

Information for inclusion in the rankings was supplied to BN from company representatives with the condition that, unless specifically authorized to publish actual revenue numbers, all figures would be represented as percentages and ranges. The averages on this year's list are for gross revenues between 1998 and 2000. Please note that these rankings are based on gross revenues and not profits. The gross revenues of young companies may or may not be indicative of net income performance in early years.

So what type of companies made this year's list? By industry, the elite group of rapidly growing businesses is about as diverse as our local economy. Service, technology, construction-related and health care companies are well represented, with service companies comprising eight, technology-based companies comprising five, specialized construction service companies comprising four and health care companies comprising three of the total 25 companies. Eighteen, or 72%, of the companies on this year's list are newcomers, with the 25th-ranked company reporting an average two-year growth rate of 74%. This cutoff raised the bar significantly from last year when the 25th-ranked company posted an average growth rate of 59%.

The strength of this year's list is particularly apparent in the top fourteen companies, which all reported triple-digit revenue growth for the two-year period. The top company, Codigent Solutions Group, a consulting and technology solutions provider to the health care industry, reported phenomenal growth of 1,254%, as compared to the 401% growth of last year's number one company. EcoSMART Technologies Inc. (No.2), a chemical manufacturing company, also showed extraordinary growth at 879%, and EdSolutions Inc. (No. 3), a provider of on-site academic-focused, extended day programs, showed exceptional growth at 376%. Rounding out the top ten are Statement Rendering Solutions (No. 4) with 353%; Automated License Systems LLC (No. 5) with 299%; Life@home Inc. (No. 6) with 250%; QualCast LLC (No. 7) with 174%; Passport Health Communications (No. 8) with 138%; AllMedia Design Group (No. 9) with 122%; and Investment Scorecard (No. 10) with 108%. (Investment Scorecard ranked 3rd last year with 220% and was first in the prior year with 315%.)

Two of this year's companies are publicly held. These include America Service Group (No. 17, up from No. 20), which provides managed health care services to correctional facilities and military installations throughout the United States, and TBA Entertainment (No. 19, down from No. 5 last year and No. 10 in the previous year), a diversified communications and entertainment services firm. The remaining companies are privately held.

In compiling the 2001 fastest-growing young companies list, we received information from several promising companies that were still too young to include this year. A few companies to watch out for in the coming years are America's Powersports, CPM Inc. General Contractors and National Rehab Partners.

As in past years, this list represents our best effort to identify young, fast-growing companies in the region. While this list is not exhaustive, it does provide highlights of the encouraging entrepreneurial environment in Middle Tennessee.