There’s big money in the action sports industry. A subset of sports overall, when it comes to sports that young people 13-25 years-old want to learn, action sports, or primarily skateboarding, surfing, and snowboarding are among the most popular. Skullcandy leverages off this collision of sport, culture and apparel by creating must-have audio gear that’s become an unofficial uniform of youth.
Superior growth rates, a track record of innovation, an exceptional corporate culture, charismatic leadership, compelling business models—these are some of the qualities we sought in choosing the Chief Executive’s Mid-Market Elite. Applying that criteria, our researchers and judges selected 100 companies that stand out amid the middle-market universe.
Few companies can trace their lineage to Oprah Winfrey, but Scentsy of Meridian, Idaho can. Flashback to 2003. Kara Egan, and her sister-in-law, Colette Gunnell were watching Oprah’s “Millionaire Mom’s” show, and were inspired to create something amazing that people could not live without. They began working on a safe and simple way to scent the space around them, a wickless alternative to the typical flame operated candles. The result was Scentsy.
It’s a rarity in business for a company to survive, much less thrive, through three successive generations. The Cellular Connection, headquartered in Marion, Indiana, stands out as a company which has successfully navigated this most difficult test.
When asked to describe rapid growth start-ups most people conjure up images of high tech companies, conceived in incubators and nurtured by infusions of capital from savvy angel investors. This is not the case with Chicago, Illinois based Red Frog Events.
Mid-Market Company of the Week: Access America Transport Many young college grads would be happy working for a large, well established company, especially if the
No one wakes up in the morning excited to call their bank, cable company or rental car service. The experience can lead to customer frustration and potential divorce from the service provider. Yet, with all the advances in Internet Voice Response (IVR) services, no one was bridging the between the companies utilizing IVR and their customers who were forced to navigate it.c
Livermore, Calif.-based Bridgelux occupies industry space that would be the envy of any CEO. Bridgelux creates solid state lighting (SSL) solutions to meet the growing demand for light emitting diode (LED) systems. There is tremendous demand for replacing aging technologies such as such as incandescent, halogen, fluorescent and high intensity discharge lighting with solid state lighting.
Karl Schledwitz and Monogram Food Solutions exist in the highly competitive space of meat snacks, corn dogs and processed meats. Monogram Food Solutions was born in 2004, when Schledwitz and partner Wes Jackson purchased regionally popular Circle B and King Cotton smoked meat brands from Sara Lee Corporation.
Mid-Market Company of the Week: Yelp The internet destroyed the Yellow Pages, a long standing consumer staple of local business information, but people still needed
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