Variety characterizes Boulder Valley’s Mercury 100

We’ve come a long way from just a few years ago, when many companies in the Boulder Valley and around the world were struggling during the Great Recession. For a year or two, finding enough companies with positive growth – as we attempt each year in researching the Mercury 100 – proved difficult.

Not so today. The 2014 edition of the Mercury 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in the Boulder Valley includes companies from a variety of industries, with some stellar growth numbers.

Locally based private companies are ranked based on two-year revenue growth, in this case from 2011 to 2013. We publish two lists, recognizing 50 companies with revenue of more than $2 million, and 50 with revenues of less than $2 million. The 2014 event was conducted May 22 at the Omni Interlocken Hotel & Resort in Broomfield.

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Mercury 100 is now in its 14th iteration in the Boulder Valley – 15th for the Northern Colorado version. It’s always been one of my favorite events, bringing together, as it does, entrepreneurs from a wide variety of sectors.

Take, for example, the No. 1 companies in both categories. Xero Shoes, which creates barefoot-inspired footwear, including sandals and shoes, tops the list of companies with less than $2 million in annual revenue, posting two-year growth of 245 percent.

Leading companies with more than $2 million in revenue was Boulder Creek Neighborhoods LLC, with a whopping 460 percent growth. Boulder Creek is a homebuilder, reflecting the incredible rebound in that sector.

Scan the rest of the Mercury lists, and you’ll find companies in construction, architecture, health care, real estate, services, technology, craft beer – you name it.

As diverse as these companies are, every one of them faces many of the same struggles: how to handle extraordinary growth and the impact that growth has on systems, cash flow and people. Many of these companies have had to develop new operational procedures; find larger office, retail or industrial space; add employees; outsource certain functions that are not in their core competencies; and secure new funding.

It’s in those issues that companies in vastly different fields find common ground.

This year, I’m very grateful for the work of our chief researcher, Mariah Tauer, our research assistant, Kiley Gant, and to our editorial team. I hope you enjoy our special publication in this edition, featuring articles on many of the fastest-growing private companies in the Boulder Valley.

My thanks also goes out to our event sponsors: Anton Collins Mitchell Accountants and Consultants, First National Bank, Bolder Staffing, City of Broomfield, EKS&H, McGladrey, Summit Bank & Trust, Exempla Good Samaritan Foundation and, last but not least, our host, The Omni Interlocken Hotel & Resort in Broomfield.

And who knows? Perhaps your company will top the list in 2015.

BizWest publisher Christopher Wood can be reached at 303-440-4950, 970-232-3133 or cwood@
bizwestmedia.com.