News Highlights

REMEMBER MAY 2007? That’s when bizSanDiego decided to throw the traditional philosophy behind a fastest-growing companies list into the blender and mix things up. Same goes for this year, when the 20 Fast Growth 2008 finalists aren’t just listed because of revenue growth from calendar or fiscal year 2006 to calendar or fiscal year 2007. Sure, that’s a component of fast growth, but bizSanDiego also looks at revenue growth averages from the last three years, local employee growth over the past year and even takes into account market growth, including acquisitions, award recognitions, clients served and traction into other markets.

WHY DO WE DO THIS? Easy. One year of revenue growth, alone, does not tell the true story of whether a company is enjoying success. What if a company experienced losses of about 25% during the two years prior to 2007, cut its workforce in half and sold off portions of its business, yet because it landed a major deal with a couple of Fortune 500 clients, increased last year’s revenue by 300%. Does that company deserve to make the list over a company that increased its revenue steadily by 80% a year, grew its employee base by 60%, acquired two of its competitors and expanded overseas by opening up five satellite offices?

bizSanDiego’s answer is a resounding “Heck, no!”

So, we stand by our system and are proud to present the well-rounded bunch of Fast Growth 2008 finalists—with special emphasis, of course, on this year’s top 10 award winners.

1 JP Communications
HQ: San Marcos
Top executive: Jason Prescott, CEO
Web: www.jpcommunications.com
2007 revenue: $2.1M
2006 revenue: $1M
2005 revenue: $400K
2004 revenue: $0
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 110%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 87%
Current local employees: 18
2006 local employees: 7
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 157%
What it does: Internet marketing and advertising
Market growth: JP Communications’ network receives nearly 100,000 daily unique searches and is among the top 13th percentile for all traffic on the internet, according to Alexa.com.

{ INTERVIEW WITH CEO JASON PRESCOTT }

What is JP Communications’ competitive edge?
JP Communications’ competitive edge is its unique relationship with buyers and sellers of wholesale goods and general merchandise. Born of industry experience, the company understands the online advertising needs of its customers and has delivered state-of-the-art Web tools to meet those needs.

Why has the company enjoyed such success?
There is a host of reasons for our success, not the least of which is our team of the brightest, most fun and most passionate bunch of people in the world who operate on the HIP policy—honesty, integrity and professionalism at all cost.

Big, hairy, audacious goals:
To be the information superhighway for the general merchandise industry and facilitate sales of wholesale products, such as apparel, jewelry and novelties, with independent retailers, closeout distributors and online auction dealers.

2 Borrego Solar Systems
HQ: El Cajon
Top executive: Aaron Hall, CEO
Web: www.borregosolar.com
2007 revenue: $27M
2006 revenue: $11.7M
2005 revenue: $6.9M
2004 revenue: $4.3M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 131%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 87%
Current local employees: 50
2006 local employees: 30
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 67%
What it does: Installs and supports home and commercial solar power systems Market growth: The company has been in existence since 1980 and now has offices in San Diego, Berkeley, Sonoma, Silicon Valley, Orange County and Boston. It provides installation and support throughout California and New England.

{ INTERVIEW WITH BORREGO SOLAR CEO AARON HALL }

What’s led to Borrego Solar’s recent rapid growth?
Our reputation has been our biggest asset and impetus for growth. As is often the case in construction, referrals are vital. About half of our revenues over the past few years have come from customer or BtoB referrals.

Another key to our continuing growth is our ability to attract and retain high-quality employees. We have been successful in maintaining the culture and excitement of a startup, enabling us to consistently hire high-energy individuals who believe in our mission statement and who desire to play an important role in improving the company.

Immediate goals:
Borrego’s immediate goals include growing our East Coast operations and expanding into other areas of the country, deploying more sophisticated IT systems and filling several key executive-level positions. To support these goals and facilitate our rapid growth, Borrego will aggressively seek to raise capital for the first time in the company’s history.

3 Technical Logistics Corp.
HQ: National City
Top executive: Ellie Ramos, CEO
Web: www.tlcbusiness.com
2007 revenue: $3M
2006 revenue: $1.3M
2005 revenue: $320K
2004 revenue: $345K
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 132%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 144%
Current local employees: 29
2006 local employees: 24
Local employee growth ’06 to
current: 21%
What it does: Logistics for software and engineering
Market growth: The woman-owned minority business works with major clients in the defense, military and government fields, including the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Systems Center San Diego, Science Applications International Corp., Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, and Computer Sciences Corp.

{ INTERVIEW WITH CEO ELLIE RAMOS }

What are a few factors that have led to your rapid growth?
We deliver top-quality customer service. We listen first to understand the requirement, do the work to the highest standards, do our own quality assurance before delivering the product or service, and ask for, hear and act on customer feedback.

We also ensure that only the most qualified employees are brought into the company. In training our hiring managers, we teach them appropriate and legal interviewing techniques to validate what’s said in a résumé but, more importantly, we live by the adage that there are only three questions in an interview.

Immediate Goals: We want to double the size of our engineering and logistics staffs, establish a stronger presence on the East Coast in at least two locations, through organic growth and strategic partnering, and enter into a Navy Mentor-Protégé Program to accelerate the technical development of the company.

4. NewCondosOnline.com
HQ: Mission Valley
Top executive: Brent Gleeson, president & owner
Web:
2007 revenue: $3M
2006 revenue: $1.2M
2005 revenue: $500K
2004 revenue: $0
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 146%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 95%
Current local employees: 14
2006 local employees: 11
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 27%
What it does: Online resource for new condo, townhome and loft developments Market growth: Although a few competitors have popped up in its niche field, NewCondosOnline.com remains one of the largest and most visited new condo advertising sites.

{ INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT BRENT GLEESON }

What are the five key factors to the growth of NewCondosOnline.com?
Long hours and not being afraid to get our hands dirty—we are doers, not dreamers: aggressive sales strategies; aggressive search engine marketing strategies; seeking out and hiring talented sales people; and staying fully involved in every aspect of our business.

What sets you apart from other real estate websites?
We do not feature resale units or flood our site with MLS listings. We showcase only new construction products all over the world.

Immediate Goals:
To go through a series B round of funding to gain investment capital for the launch of two new divisions: NCO Creative (Web design and creative design) and NCO Tech (search engine marketing, website hosting and website maintenance). Through the growth of our advertising revenue and media buying division, we project revenue of $6 million to $7 million for 2008.

5. ESET
HQ: Downtown San Diego
Top executive: Anton Zajac, CEO
Web: www.eset.com
2007 revenue: $60M
2006 revenue: $33.8M
2005 revenue: $14.5M
2004 revenue: $6.2M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 78%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 116%
Current local employees: 79
2006 local employees: 42
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 88%
What it does: Develops security and antivirus software solutions Market growth: Recently ESET has had some notable national recognition. The company was No. 89 on the Inc. 500, its software was recognized by Consumer Digest as a “Best Buy,” and PC Magazine named it “Best Antivirus Company” of 2006 and 2007.

{ INTERVIEW WITH CEO ANTON ZAJAC }

What is ESET’s competitive edge?
From the beginning, ESET has pursued a different technical paradigm focused on the proactive detection of malware/antivirus threats using heuristics. The success of this approach is substantiated by the number of industry awards that ESET has earned over the past 10 years. ESET’s NOD32 product has one of the lowest false-positive rates in the market.

How have your global efforts helped your rapid growth?
ESET has established a strong worldwide distribution network, which has helped to facilitate ESET’s growth by providing sales, marketing, technical and customer care support to our customers around the globe. The company has also developed a global marketing campaign strategy to enhance the end users’ understanding of ESET products. This has led to an increased awareness of ESET’s strong product offering.

6. Confirm BioSciences
HQ: Mira Mesa
Top executive: Zeynep Ilgaz, president and CEO
Web: www.confirmbiosciences.com
2007 revenue: $3.2M
2006 revenue: $2.6M
2005 revenue: $1.1M
2004 revenue: $300K
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 23%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 142%
Current local employees: 20
2006 local employees: 10
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 100%
What it does: Develops service-oriented drug-testing technologies Market growth: In the past couple of years, much of the company’s overall growth can be attributed to new product development and a number of new distribution channels.

{ INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT AND CEO ZEYNEP ILGAZ }

Name a few of the key factors that have led to Confirm BioSciences’ success.
My husband and I are the founders, and it literally started from the garage a few years back. It has been an enormous ride for us, and being a family-owned business has contributed to that. Our success has also come because we’ve seen a demand in the market and have responded to it in a fast and efficient way, and we’ve set up a good infrastructure to scale the company.

What is your company’s biggest competitive edge?
Our new-product development capabilities and the distribution channels that we have created over the years, with resellers and drugstores being the main distribution channels.

Big, hairy, audacious goals:
We would like to be acquired by a bigger diagnostic company at some point.

7. Marine Group Boat Works
HQ: Chula Vista
Top executive: Todd Roberts, vice president
Web: www.marinegroupbw.com
2007 revenue: $13.3M
2006 revenue: $7.1M
2005 revenue: $5.9M
2004 revenue: $4.8M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 88%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 43%
Current local employees: 46
2006 local employees: 25
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 84%
What it does: Boat repairs, refits, conversions and custom painting<
Market growth: The company, which does work for the U.S. Navy and notable high-powered CEOs like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, invested $6.5 million in expanding and renovating its facility last year.

{ INTERVIEW WITH VICE PRESIDENT TODD ROBERTS }

Why has Marine Group Boat Works enjoyed such success?
In the last few years there has been a tremendous increase in demand within the super-yacht market. Vessels are being built at the same pace that the rich get richer while outpacing the supply of repair facilities capable of even handling them, particularly here on the West Coast. Once we recognized this potential, we didn’t hesitate to expand and modernize the Marine Group facility. We’ve also continued to let quality, attention to detail and exceptional customer service be our guide.

Big, hairy, audacious goal:
We’ll try and double the lifting capacity of our shipyard, even if it takes building a 1,000-ton Travelift to make it happen. We’ve already held the record for the largest Travelift—and were featured on The History Channel’s Modern Marvels because of it—but there’s certainly room for getting bigger and better.

8. SGIS
HQ: Sorrento Valley
Top executive: Hany Girgis, founder & CEO
Web: www.SGIS.com
2007 revenue: $62M
2006 revenue: $30.7M
2005 revenue: $26.5M
2004 revenue: $11.3M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 102%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 84%
Current local employees: 300
2006 local employees: 220
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 36%
What it does: IT and engineering for the government
Market growth: From garage startup in 2002 to a powerhouse with 850 employees worldwide in 2008, SGIS has built up an impressive list of clients, including the Department of Defense, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the National Security Agency, among others.

{ INTERVIEW WITH CEO HANY GIRGIS }

What is SGIS’ competitive edge?
The unique SGIS business model and infrastructure sets SGIS apart from its competitors and differentiates it in the market—from hiring only the top talent to the high level of service provided to clients. The company’s size gives it the ability to work with clients to tackle some of the nation’s most pressing challenges, while being nimble enough to provide truly innovative solutions. As a result of its distinct approach and business practices, SGIS has gained a significant competitive advantage and has become a well-known contender within the industry.

Company recognitions:

As a result of its phenomenal growth, SGIS has received many highly regarded national and state awards, including being on the Inc. 500 in 2007. In 2006, SGIS was awarded the Florida Governor’s Entrepreneurship Award and was ranked the 13th Fastest Growing New Company in America on Entrepreneur and PricewaterhouseCooper’s Hot 100 List.

9. Get 1 Free Magazine
HQ: San Diego
Top executive: Ryan Green, founder
Web: www.get1free.com
2007 revenue: $6.8M
2006 revenue: $4M
2005 revenue: $3M
2004 revenue: $1.5M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 69%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 67%
Current local employees: 58
2006 local employees: 29
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 100%
What it does: Provides direct response print and Web advertising throughout Southern California
Market growth: Today, nearly one million magazines are direct mailed to homes every month through the U.S. Postal Service.

{ INTERVIEW WITH FOUNDER RYAN GREEN }

What is Get 1 Free Magazine’s competitive advantage?
Our company’s biggest competitive advantage is our result-driven tracking systems. We are one of a few advertising mediums who embrace call tracking systems. We are so confident in our result-driven advertising that we advocate the use of call tracking numbers in our ads. These numbers allow us to unquestionably determine the results of any of our advertisers’ campaigns. Through these numbers we are able to monitor and adjust any campaign based on the volume of calls, which allows our sales staff to be marketing consultants with quantifiable results rather than advertising sales people like most of our competition.

Big, hairy, audacious goals:
The big, hairy expansion goals consist of expansion outside of California and across the nation. We are getting prepared to launch a national Get 1 Free expansion plan over the next few years. At some point in time, we expect to be the biggest direct-mailed color magazine in the United States.

10. Ethertronics
HQ: Sorrento Valley
Top executive: Jeffrey Crosby, president & CEO
Web: www.ethertronics.com
2007 revenue: $25M
2006 revenue: $14M
2005 revenue: $5.3M
2004 revenue: $2.9M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 72%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 111%
Current local employees: 34
2006 local employees: 26
Local employee growth ’06 to current: 31%
What it does: Designs and manufactures embedded antennas for mobile devices Market growth: In January 2008 Ethertronics acquired Flextronics, a design center in Kalmar, Sweden. The acquisition is part of Ethertronics’ expansion plan in Europe and will enable the company to better serve the global manufacturing marketplace.

{ INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT AND CEO JEFFREY CROSBY }

Why has Ethertronics enjoyed such success?
The wireless market continues to grow strongly, providing increasing opportunity in cellular, data and media applications. Wireless devices are getting much more complex and compact, making the antenna situation a much more difficult puzzle to solve. Our Isolated Magnetic Dipole technology provides performance advantages specifically designed for this difficult environment.

How much of the company’s growth is attributed to being in the embedded antenna niche?
The company was originally located in a flat located above a hair salon near the UCLA campus, and reinvented itself from a radio frequency photonics solutions company into an antenna technology company and moved to San Diego. The company has experienced tremendous growth and success in wireless solutions ever since.

And on their heels...

No. 18 DIGITAL-TELEPATHY plans to launch a local conference called Freedom in Action to organize and empower thought leaders and Web gurus to create positive change in the world.

No. 16 SEASPINE has financed its growth through internally generated funds with no additional outside investment other than a line of credit through a bank.

No. 15 J PUBLIC RELATIONS chose hot pink as its signature color because the founders both love the color and felt it would serve as a filter of sorts – anyone who is turned off by all the pink used on the company’s Web site or collateral materials is not the type of client they want to work with.

No. 12 THE ACTIVE NETWORK estimates that it will process nearly $1.5 billion in registration fees in 2008.

No. 11 DIGITARIA has a staff that truly embodies the notion of a “global” demographic. Employees are from a wide range of countries like Canada, Russia, Egypt, Latvia, Brazil, Germany, Vietnam and Japan.

11 Digitaria
HQ: Downtown San Diego
Top executive: Daniel Khabie, CEO
Web:
2007 revenue: $12M
2006 revenue: $6.5M
2005 revenue: $2.5M
2004 revenue: $2.2M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 85%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 86%
Current local employees: 80
2006 local employees: 55
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 45%
What it does: Offers Web products and services, including Web strategy, interactive marketing, optimization and analytics, Web development and more

12 The Active Network
HQ: Sorrento Valley
Top executive: Dave Alberga, CEO
Web: www.activenetwork.com 2007 revenue: $105M
2006 revenue: $63M
2005 revenue: $44M
2004 revenue: $25M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 67%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 62%
Current local employees:352
2006 local employees: 236
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 49%
What it does: Provides application services technology and marketing solutions to event organizers, community service organizations and consumer brands, and its Web site is a community for active lifestyles

13 JW Tumbles
HQ: Solana Beach
Top executive: Ash Robinson, founder
Web:
2007 revenue: $9.4M
2006 revenue: $4.9M
2005 revenue: $3.8M
2004 revenue: $1.8M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 92%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 77%
Current local employees: 18
2006 local employees: 15
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 20%
What it does: Franchised fitness and learning centers that focus on physical activity and fun for children ages 4 months to 9 years old

14 J5 Systems
HQ: Downtown San Diego
Top executive: James M. Dean, CEO
Web: www.j5sys.com
2007 revenue: $1.8M
2006 revenue: $933K
2005 revenue: $343K
2004 revenue: $0
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 98%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 90%
Current local employees: 8
2006 local employees: 8
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 0%
What it does: Supplier of computer-based information technologies

15 J Public Relations
HQ: Pacific Beach
Top executive: Jamie Lynn Sigler & Kim Julin Guyader, partners
Web: www.jpublicrelations.com
2007 revenue: $480K
2006 revenue: $343K
2005 revenue: $140K
2004 revenue: $53K
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 40%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 116%
Current local employees: 7
2006 local employees: 5
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 40%
What it does: Boutique public relations agency specializing in travel, high-end consumer goods and entertainment

16 SeaSpine
HQ: Vista
Top executive: Kirt Stephenson, president & CEO
Web: www.seaspine.com
2007 revenue: $30.3M
2006 revenue: $19.6M
2005 revenue: $12.3M
2004 revenue: $8.1M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 54%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 55%
Current local employees: 29
2006 local employees: 19
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 53%
What it does: Designs, develops and markets spinal implants

17 Stone Brewing Co.
HQ: Escondido
Top executive: Greg Koch, co-founder & CEO
Web:
2007 revenue: $26.1M
2006 revenue: $16.8M
2005 revenue: $12.4M
2004 revenue: $10.9M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 56%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 35%
Current local employees: 210
2006 local employees: 165
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 27%
What it does: In the company’s own words: “Stone Brewing brews the best damn beer on the planet Earth.”

18 digital-telepathy
HQ: Hillcrest
Top executive: Chuck Longanecker, founder & CEO
Web: www.dtelepathy.com
2007 revenue: $1.3M
2006 revenue: $1.2M
2005 revenue: $435K
2004 revenue: $276K
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 6%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 82%
Current local employees: 12
2006 local employees: 8
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 50%
What it does: Web development and Web 2.0 consulting

19 Rescue Social Change Group
HQ: Downtown San Diego
Top executive: Jeff Jordan, founder
Web: www.rescuescg.com
2007 revenue: $1.4M
2006 revenue: $1.2M
2005 revenue: $810K
2004 revenue: $450K
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 20%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 49%
Current local employees: 19
2006 local employees: 13
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 46%
What it does: Offers research strategy and marketing services to cause positive social change

20 Intercare Insurance Solutions
HQ: Sorrento Valley
Top executive: Mike Barone, president
Web: www.intercaresolutions.com
2007 revenue: $9.6M
2006 revenue: $8.5M
2005 revenue: $7.8M
2004 revenue: $6M
Revenue growth ’06 to ’07: 13%
Revenue growth ’04 to ’07: 18%
Current local employees: 33
2006 local employees: 18
Local employee growth ’06 to now: 83%
What it does: Provides employee benefits and consulting, retirement plan services, workers’ compensation programs and more