It’s about people, no matter the business

What is interesting about this year’s crop of winners in Providence Business News’ Fastest-Growing & Innovative Companies is how optimizing relationships – with customers, with suppliers, with staff – has created more than just success. Rather, it created explosive growth and paradigm-shifting innovations.
Take the winners in the largest and smallest revenue categories, First Point Power LLC and Chartwise Medical Systems Inc. First Point is an energy supplier in the commercial market, and from 2013 to 2015 its revenue grew 233 percent to more than $78 million. The key, says company Chief Operating Officer Stephen Bestwick, is “great relationships based on trust, transparency and honesty.”
Chartwise’s founder realized that for his new startup to succeed, he could use the help of people who had worked with him in his previous venture. So Dr. Jonathan Elion has, in fact, been “getting the band back together.” The result is sweet music, with revenue growth from 2013 to 2015 of 375 percent, reaching a little more than $4 million last year.
Ximedica, the most innovative company in the Biotechnology category, helps medical-device and service creators match their offerings to the market. Or as Director of Communications Hope Hopkins said, “We want to be known as a trusted partner.”
When Pat Sabatino founded Datarista last year, he could have done it anywhere. But he chose Providence because of the deep talent pool with the tech skills he needed. And he’s not looking back. Already the startup has corralled $1 million in funding and has eight employees.
In reading the companies profiled in this special section, keep in mind how important the human touch is, even in the most data-driven of business models.
Presenting sponsor for this year’s program, the fifth, is CBIZ Tofias. Partner sponsors are Adler Pollock & Sheehan PC, Bank of America, The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., Cox Business, Fish Advertising, the Hilb Group, UnitedHealthcare of New England and the University of Rhode Island.

Mark S. Murphy
Editor

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