Study the Inc. 5000

I love a list of top-performing companies – they are brilliant for finding new trends and new business ideas.

The latest edition of Inc. magazine’s top 5,000 companies (yes, there are 5,000!) has a host of US-based businesses with staggering growth rates, including the top ranked company that has grown revenue by a stunning 23,646% over the last three years.

The business, Unified Payments, is just nine years old and was set up by a Russian immigrant named Oleg Firer. His story is impressive – he arrived in Brooklyn when he was 12, set up a business at the age of 17 and became vice president of a publicly listed company before he was 25. Now, aged 35, he is growing a phenomenal business.

There are some really interesting trends to come out of the list. The fastest-growing sector is the media sector, followed by government services, security, real estate and education sectors.

Internet companies grew at 139%, global companies grew at 98% and franchises grew at 72%.

It’s fascinating stuff. Trends from the US often reach Australia – today, they get here even faster than they used to – and this is a great window to that world.

Get it done – today!