Kentucky Companies in the Inc 500
August 27, 2009
The following Three companies made the Inc 500 list of the fastest growing privately held businesses in the US.
No. 21
Blue Entertainment Sports Television
Louisville, KY
 |
Year | 2009 |
| Industry | Media | |
| Founded | 2004 | |
| Growth | 4,685.3% | |
| 2005 Revenue | $478,501 | |
| 2008 Revenue | $22.9 million | |
| Employees | 80 | |
| Website | www.ExperienceBest.com |
Blue Entertainment Sports Television’s Business Model:
Blue Entertainment Sports Television owns, manages, and produces sporting events and television properties and represents sports and entertainment celebrities such as Reggie Bush, Magic Johnson, Shawn Marion, and Caroline Wozniacki.
No. 130
GlowTouch Technologies
Louisville, KY
 |
Year | 2009 |
| Industry | IT Services | |
| Founded | 2004 | |
| Growth | 1,350.2% | |
| 2005 Revenue | $476,708 | |
| 2008 Revenue | $6.9 million | |
| Employees | 800 | |
| Website | www.GlowTouch.com |
GlowTouch Technologies’s Business Model:
GlowTouch Technologies provides application development, business process outsourcing, and IT infrastructure services to companies of all sizes nationwide.
No. 313
Premier Integrity Solutions
Russell Springs, KY
 |
Year | 2009 |
| Industry | Security | |
| Founded | 1999 | |
| Growth | 765.5% | |
| 2005 Revenue | $681,257 | |
| 2008 Revenue | $5.9 million | |
| Employees | 176 | |
| Website | www.PremierIntegrity.com |
Premier Integrity Solutions’s Business Model:
Premier Integrity Solutions performs drug and alcohol testing, background checks, and electronic monitoring for criminal justice programs, schools, departments of transportation, and workplace programs.
The following list is the rest of Kentucky Companies in the full Inc 5000 list:
| Rank | Name | Year | City | State | Revenue | Growth | Founded | Employees |
|
21 |
Blue Entertainment Sports Television |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $22.9 million |
4685.30% |
2004 |
80 |
|
130 |
GlowTouch Technologies |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $6.9 million |
1350.20% |
2004 |
800 |
|
313 |
Premier Integrity Solutions |
2009 |
Russell Springs | KY | $5.9 million |
765.50% |
1999 |
176 |
|
703 |
Ingrams Water and Air |
2009 |
Paducah | KY | $3.5 million |
401.50% |
1985 |
15 |
|
760 |
iEntry |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $18.6 million |
380.00% |
1999 |
41 |
|
776 |
Sun Tan City |
2009 |
Elizabethtown | KY | $36.8 million |
375.30% |
1999 |
765 |
|
872 |
Charah |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $39.5 million |
346.20% |
1987 |
96 |
|
880 |
Payment Alliance International |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $185.3 million |
343.10% |
2005 |
262 |
|
936 |
ARGI Financial Group |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $3.3 million |
326.00% |
1995 |
30 |
|
1051 |
CandyRific |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $25.4 million |
294.50% |
2001 |
12 |
|
1155 |
Reliable Asphalt Products |
2009 |
Shelbyville | KY | $20.5 million |
274.80% |
2002 |
25 |
|
1401 |
Integrity Asset Management |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $15.5 million |
228.40% |
2003 |
16 |
|
1444 |
LeapFrog Interactive |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $6.6 million |
221.70% |
1999 |
49 |
|
1476 |
Life Safety Services |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $2.7 million |
217.50% |
2004 |
30 |
|
1488 |
ZirMed |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $34.0 million |
215.60% |
1999 |
204 |
|
1490 |
R & R Limousine |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $3.4 million |
215.40% |
1996 |
30 |
|
1553 |
Freedom Metals |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $58.1 million |
205.90% |
1983 |
91 |
|
1568 |
Thoroughbred Research Group |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $10.0 million |
204.10% |
1976 |
166 |
|
1758 |
Advanced Global Communications |
2009 |
Prospect | KY | $5.1 million |
180.10% |
1995 |
42 |
|
2161 |
Executive Communications |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $4.8 million |
146.30% |
1997 |
17 |
|
2164 |
Hello Metro |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $4.7 million |
146.10% |
2000 |
13 |
|
2270 |
Micah Group Environmental Contractors |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $6.3 million |
137.50% |
1998 |
20 |
|
2312 |
Donan Engineering |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $16.2 million |
132.80% |
1947 |
117 |
|
2369 |
Peritus |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $2.9 million |
129.00% |
1998 |
19 |
|
2398 |
ASAP Automation |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $12.2 million |
126.70% |
1989 |
71 |
|
2497 |
Big Ass Fan |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $37.7 million |
120.30% |
1999 |
131 |
|
2548 |
ISCO Industries |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $342.2 million |
117.10% |
1962 |
300 |
|
2640 |
Emergint Technologies |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $17.8 million |
112.00% |
1999 |
203 |
|
2664 |
Aegis Security Design |
2009 |
Goshen | KY | $2.3 million |
110.70% |
1998 |
17 |
|
2831 |
BlueCotton |
2009 |
Bowling Green | KY | $3.5 million |
100.50% |
1998 |
37 |
|
2848 |
Tier 1 Performance Solutions |
2009 |
Covington | KY | $4.0 million |
99.90% |
2002 |
35 |
|
2884 |
Mammoth Resource Partners |
2009 |
Cave City | KY | $13.5 million |
97.90% |
2004 |
51 |
|
3073 |
Whelan Machine & Tool |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $5.4 million |
88.10% |
1989 |
29 |
|
3171 |
V-Soft Consulting Group |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $20.9 million |
83.70% |
1997 |
224 |
|
3255 |
Verst Group Logistics |
2009 |
Walton | KY | $137.5 million |
79.70% |
1966 |
1300 |
|
3342 |
All Safe Industries |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $6.0 million |
75.50% |
1996 |
9 |
|
3492 |
Micro-Med |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $2.1 million |
69.70% |
1989 |
13 |
|
3576 |
Boneal |
2009 |
Means | KY | $20.3 million |
66.70% |
1980 |
90 |
|
3598 |
Alltech |
2009 |
Nicholasville | KY | $414.6 million |
65.90% |
1980 |
1934 |
|
3613 |
Neutech Packaging Systems |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $3.2 million |
65.40% |
2003 |
5 |
|
3663 |
The Tellennium Group |
2009 |
Mt. Washington | KY | $10.5 million |
63.50% |
1999 |
16 |
|
3825 |
Neace Lukens |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $81.6 million |
57.60% |
1991 |
494 |
|
3994 |
High Power Technical Services |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $26.9 million |
51.00% |
1999 |
301 |
|
4237 |
The Oliver Group |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $2.7 million |
41.40% |
1984 |
16 |
|
4333 |
WARE |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $20.4 million |
37.90% |
1952 |
77 |
|
4407 |
CB Richard Ellis/Louisville |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $5.0 million |
35.00% |
1996 |
17 |
|
4448 |
Tenmast Software |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $6.3 million |
33.20% |
1998 |
60 |
|
4611 |
Family Allergy and Asthma |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $12.9 million |
25.30% |
1979 |
85 |
|
4665 |
Adcolor |
2009 |
Lexington | KY | $5.1 million |
22.50% |
1990 |
59 |
|
4688 |
Kizan Technologies |
2009 |
Louisville | KY | $4.3 million |
21.10% |
2000 |
40 |
.
Earning media
August 25, 2009
This is the second in a series of posts by Peritus PR with media tips for startups.
Your company does not need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising or media in order to effectively push your new product’s message. Each day there are hundreds news stories that present perfect opportunities for free media or – ‘Earned Media’.
Earned Media (as defined by wikipeida): Earned media (or free media) refers to favorable publicity gained through promotional efforts other than advertising, as opposed to paid media, which refers to publicity gained through advertising. The media may include any mass media outlets, such as newspaper, television, radio, and the Internet, and may include a variety of formats, such as news articles or shows, letters to the editor, editorials, and polls on television and the Internet.
You can either do it yourself, or hire a firm to do it for you. Hiring a firm may seem expensive for a startup, but the media generated by a firm is typically 10x that of advertizing and much cheaper. Summarized: more ‘bang’ for your buck$.
There are two types of earned media:
1. Proactive
2. Reactive
If embarking on an earned media campaign yourself, here are a couple of tips to remember about each:
Being Proactive
Contacting your local media outlet(s) is important to getting your message out beyond stakeholders, family, friends, employees, colleagues etc. Many in your community do not realize the impact your product will have on their lives. It is important to help make your community aware first, to have an impact in your overall goal / story.
Here are some easy proactive steps when contacting your local media:
· Decide what newspapers, TV Stations, Radio Shows you want to target.
· Find out who the Business reporter or Talk Show host is for that Media. You can easily find their information on that media’s website.
· Contact your local business journal or daily newspaper and ask if you can participate in a “New Business or Technology” roundtable/panel discussion that they may be hosting.
· Contact the reporter/talk show host by email or phone with a short email explaining your point of interest and why it is important for the whole community to know.
If you are granted an interview, put together a team of resources for the story such as a customer, student, employee or anyone who your product benefits. You should coordinate setting up the interview with the reporter, customer, student, or employee. Prepare both people and yourself for questions that the reporter may ask you.
Being Reactive
Being reactive is another type of earned media that is free and can help you push your message. Let’s say you are a health care startup and there was recently a front page story published about health care reform in your daily paper. Below are a couple of ways to hop on the coat-tails of the recent article to try and schedule an interview or publish an article from your company.
Contacting your local media:
· Contact the reporter who wrote the article.
· Send the reporter an email addressing the issue.
The email subject line should be informal and include the general idea of your editorial and mention the article. (ie - “Questions regarding your article on…..”).
· If you are granted an interview, help setup the interview with a known community leader, key professor, customer, student or business leader. Prepare both people and yourself for questions that the reporter may ask them such as:
o Have you heard about my product?
o How will (your product) impact community/patients/providers?
If you are not granted an interview, then email again, call or write an op-ed piece.
In a proactive or reactive approach it is always important to prepare in advance. When talking to the media, this is not about you; this is about how your product is a solution and new idea that is moving your community forward. Talking to the media about the “human interest” side of this news will help them to better understand your story.
When conversing with a Reporter, remember:
· Get the reporter to open up about your product and ask them if they had heard about it and their thoughts on the impact your product will have on the community.
· Do not attack the reporter. This will put them on the defensive.
· Do make this about the greater good of technology and it’s affect on the community.
· Do not make this about a national issue.
· Do make this an opportunity to address an issue of great concern about your community.
· Do attend the interview (even if you are not interviewed).
· Do thank the reporter for addressing this issue (no gifts to a reporter).
State of the State’s high-Tech efforts
August 21, 2009
The State of Kentucky’s efforts to assist in the building of a high-Tech economy is outlined in the Department for commercialization and Innovation annual report. They have made a lot of investments in infrastructure projects. It is interesting to note the number of high-tech companies and the diversity of projects they are working on. It also highlights the need for more seed stage funding as companies can only get funding from the state for a limited range of projects.
Startup company list updated
August 20, 2009
Check out the startup companies page on this blog. We have updated it to include many new startups and several that were overlooked. If you think something is missing, Please contact me.
Union Springs Pharma receives funding.
August 19, 2009
Union Springs Pharmaceuticals LLC has received more than $5 million in funding from Blue Chip Venture Co. and other venture capital firms, the company said Tuesday.The Series A financing will allow Union Springs to build its sales and marketing organization, as well as expand into the health care and consumer markets, according to a news release. It also will pursue expansion into the European and Canadian markets.
Union Springs, headquartered in Union, Ky., manufactures the Clyns line of infection control products and T-5000 disposable respirators for the EMS, law enforcement, corrections and military markets.
The company is headed by Roger Griggs, who foundedXanodyne Pharmaceuticals, a specialty drug company headquartered in Newport, that also received venture funding from Blue Chip.
Jack Wyant, Blue Chip managing partner, said Union Springs meets the venture capital firm’s criteria, including an executive team that’s “highly ethical, passionate and strategic.”
IdeaFestival 2009
August 17, 2009
IdeaFestival is scheduled for Spetember 23rd-26th in Louisville a copy of the schedule is below:
Louisville geek Dinner
August 14, 2009
Louisville Geek Dinner v.0.7
WHAT: A social networking event for those passionate about technology.
WHEN: Monday August 24th 2009, 6:00pm EST
WHERE: Bluegrass Brewing Company (3929 Shelbyville Rd, Louisville)
COST: FREE + Whatever you choose to spend on food.
(Signup for the next Louisville Geek Dinner) - Follow @geekdinner on Twitter
Those of you who would like to receive a reminder notification, please email me at bdthomas [at] gmail.com. The success of Louisville Geek Dinner is up to you. Please invite your friends, enemies, and co-workers.
Concept
The purpose of Louisville Geek Dinner is to organize a social networking event for geeks. The original concept came from listening to London Geek Dinner podcasts. The first four Louisville Geek Dinners were quite successful, however there is still potential for significant growth. Let’s build an environment like Silicon Valley!
Who is invited, and what does it mean to be a geek? Wikipedia defines geek as the following, “a person who is interested in technology, especially computing and new media. It is comparable with the classic definition of hacker.” The quickest way to determine if you are a geek is to take a geek test. The simple fact is that we love technology. We need a social event where everyone speaks our language for a change. All geeks are invited. Please encourage your geek friends toSignup. The best way to ensure that you will have a good time is to invite other geeks that you know.
Profile: Mercury Grove
August 11, 2009
This starts a series of profiles of startups located in the Northern part of the state. This area is just across the river from Cincinnati and is one of the fastest growing in the state. The first profile is of Mecury Grove. They brecently launched a new product, Network Hippo. I spoke with co-founder Michael Marker about Network Hippo and Mercury grove.
Founders Name(s):
Scott Annan: President, CEO
Michael Marker: COO
Creighton Medley: CIO
Michael, First tell us about Network Hippo.
With Network Hippo you set how well you know someone, and how important they are to your business or career. Our unique “learning algorithm” will determine which contacts represent the greatest opportunities and finds similar profiles in your network to help you strengthen those relationships. We also integrate with the user’s imap-based email to import emails to and from your contacts, analyze your communication trends, and remind you to stay in touch with people who matter most.
Unlike other CRM products, Network Hippo recognizes the importance of People’s relationships, and improves user adoption by encouraging individuals to take their contacts with them from company to company, building a strong, valuable, lifelong network that they can leverage wherever they work. Plus they have individual reports that show their deal flow, and average sales amounts by month and year, a very powerful tool for finding their next job
What is your company’s 30 second elevator pitch?
Mercury Grove develops innovative, web-based business solutions designed to help small companies build stronger relationships with prospects, clients, partners, and employees. Our core suite of web applications include:
- Network Hippo – A powerful network relationship application that puts your professional network to work. Network Hippo helps professionals and small businesses build their network, identify their most valuable contacts, remind them when somebody needs a call, and track deals for their business.
- Campaign Hippo – Email marketing software that makes it easy to send segmented, personalized emails and measure the success of your email marketing programs. It’s easy to use, flexible, integrated with your website, and can be used “stand-alone” or integrated with Network Hippo for a complete communication management solution.
- Web Groups - Share information through the Web Groups team “portal” that makes it easy to keep everyone connected. Features include a Message board, Project Management, Document sharing, News (RSS) reader, and an interactive team calendar.
Mercury Grove’s professional services team also provides IT consulting services in the following areas:
- Web application development
- Web site design, development, hosting, and management
- Content Management System Implementation
- SEO/SEM Consulting
- E-Commerce Consulting
- Social Media Strategy and Consulting
- Email Marketing
- Results Management and Analysis
- IT Project Management
What has been your company’s funding & growth so far?
Since being founded in 2005, we’ve been entirely funded entirely by operations and have seen 50% annual revenue growth.
What is the outlook for your business in the next eighteen months?
Over the next 18 months, Mercury Grove will be transitioning focus to the growth of our suite of web application products. We forecast 600% revenue growth for these products over the next 18 months.
What attracted you to entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship offers the ability to innovate and deliver projects and products much quicker than can be done in a Fortune 500 company.
What have been the advantages and disadvantages of starting a high tech business in Kentucky?
Kentucky is investing quite a bit of resources in high-tech industries, opening up opportunities for smaller companies such as ours. Also, because there are so few web 2.0 companies in the region, our products and services garner excellent attention. The disadvantages are proportionately fewer “web-savvy” individuals and small companies in the region as compared to other regions, such as San Francisco, Austin, and Washington, DC.
Transposagen introduces world’s first SCID rat
August 6, 2009
Mycompany is pleased to announce the creation of the world’s first SCID Rat. A SCID rat has almost a complete lack of an immune system. The press release is here. We were also featured in an article in the August issue of New Scientist magazine.
Free workshop
August 3, 2009
Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation
and The Innovation and Commercialization Centers
Present
“Going beyond IP – Implementing a reasonable sales strategy”
September 17, 2009
The Science Museum
727 West Main Street
Louisville, KY 40202
4th floor Conference Room
10:00 – 2:00
Agenda
10:00 – 10:05 Introduction from Matt McGarvey, KSTC
10:05 – 10:15 Welcome from Deborah Clayton, Commissioner, Dept of Commercialization and Innovation
10:15 – 11:30 Jodi S. Graham (highly sought after sales exec) – Sales, Marketing and Retention Strategies
· Establishing an achievable marketing strategy
· Knocking down the barriers in implementing a sales process
· Discover strategies to maximize your efforts and resources
11:30 – 12:30 Break/Lunch (provided)/Networking
12:30 - 1:45 Donna Duncan (Commissioner, Department of Financial Incentives) - INK
· Highlights of House Bill 3, known as Incentives for a New Kentucky (INK)
· How are the incentives being streamlined and modernized
· How can you use these incentives to grow your business
1:45 - 2:00 Wrap up
The conference will be limited to the first 120 who register. Please email Shari Ball at sball@kstc.com with your full name and name of your business.
