The Last Decade of Corporate Report 100

One of the most fun projects Ingram’s administers is also one of our more challenging initiatives. The Corporate Report 100 competition began in 1986 and was designed to identify and recognize the 100 fastest-growing companies headquartered in the greater Kansas City area. As you would imagine, we’ve seen many interesting trends and have become a client, vendor and friend to a flurry of wildly successful entrepreneurs and their organizations.

We make it a point to celebrate anniversaries and milestones—with this being our tenth year of serving as steward of the Corporate Report 100
competition, I thought it was a great time to reminisce.

In 1997, we established a theme for the CR100 program with “On the Fast Track” and have enjoyed a program theme each year since. J.M. Neil & Associates was KC’s fastest growing company that year with 13,111% growth from 1993 through 1996.

The 1998 front cover of a young businessman climbing a ladder to the top of the building at 1201 Walnut created a bit of concern with OSHA—I suppose as I look back it was bold and a bit foolish, but boy it got people talking. KC’s fastest growing company in 1998 was Interactive Media Works with 166,542% growth over the prior four years.

“Soaring High” was the theme in 1999 and the American Bald Eagle that portrayed the theme this year was far more intimidating when we brought it to the celebratory luncheon than it was on the cover. Innovision Corp. was the winning company that year with an astounding 50,159% growth over its previous four years.

The 2000 CR100 competition is my most memorable. We invited the top three companies to join us at the wave pool at Oceans of Fun and pose for the “Riding the Wave” theme photo. As one might recall, the tech bubble
was beginning to burst that summer as did the dreams of two of our top three winning tech companies soon after: PVI (3rd place), and NetSales (1st place with 11,733% growth). Unfortunately both NetSales and PVI were victims to the dotcom burst and went out of business soon thereafter. Euronet (2nd place) not only sustained but grew from $1.6 million in 1996 to $41.5 million in 1999 and onto an astonishing $531.2 million in 2005 to claim the number five position in this year’s competition. 2000 was the same year we raised our basis revenue requirements to $50,000 then to
$100,000 in 2002.

In 2001 we began the tradition of inviting representatives from the Top 10 winning companies to be on Ingram’s July front cover. Imagine, if you will, the logistics to convene entrepreneurs of the fastest-growing companies in the region to negotiate a meeting within a few days notice. As
you can imagine it’s been a popular idea but a nightmare to manage—we appreciate all who have sacrificed their schedule to accommodate over the years.

“Victory Lane” was celebrated in 2001 at Kansas Speedway for arguably the fastest cover shot and happy hour in track history. Leading the field that year was Riverpoint Group with growth of 3,501%.

We ran for the roses in 2002 for the 17th running of Corporate Report where Inergy won with 2,872% growth over its previous four years. Interesting to note—Inergy’s revenue was $7.5 million in 1998, the basis year for that competition and was more than $1 billion last year, which claimed the #12 seat in this year’s competition.

It was a whole new ballgame at the T-Bones game in 2003 and Freightquote.com won the competition with an impressive 5,675% growth from 1999 through 2002. It’s also interesting to note that Freightquote.com ranked 24th this year with 2005 revenues of $138 million.

RED Development claimed top honors in 2004 with 3,275% growth. RED’s fee based revenues in 2000 were $218,235 and in 2005 were more
than $12 million earning them the #15 spot in this year’s competition.

In 2005, it rained like hell and our front cover ended up being taken not in front of the J.C. Nichols Fountain as planned but closely huddled near the bar at neighboring Frondizi’s on the Plaza—a memory we won’t soon forget. Taking top honors last year was Sunlight Saunas with 3,568% growth. They return to our Top 10 again in 2006 with revenues nearing $7 million.

The past decade of the Corporate Report 100’s rich 21 year history has been a wild ride for each of our winning companies and for our team at Ingram’s as well. We hope you enjoy this year’s coverage of the annual Corporate Report 100 competition and that you consider nominating your firm for this ranking in future years.

Regards,

Editor-In-Chief & Publisher

Editorial@IngramsOnLine.com