Ottawa's 2006 Fastest Growing Companies at a glance

LUMENERA CORP.

"No doubt, having our ear to the ground and listening to the market and our customers' requirements, and having some great engineering talent to tackle those problems, has helped us to be successful." – Greg Bell, vice-president of business development

Year founded: 2002

Employees: 58

Product: Digital cameras for industrial, scientific and security markets

Revenue growth: 721 per cent

Lumenera's Greg Bell says the hardest thing about starting a high-tech company wasn't finding customers, or coming up with unique designs. Or dealing with the tech crash, for that matter.

"We spent more time than we'd like to come up with a unique name," laughs the company's VP of business development. "At one point, we were going to call ourselves 'broccoli', just to come up with a name.

"But we still get compliments on it," he says, adding that a "lumen" is a measure of light, while era simply means "new era."

But their name isn't the only thing for which Lumenera's won kudos. The four-year old designer and manufacturer of digital cameras was recently named OCRI's tech company of the year.

Huw Leahy, the company's CEO and, along with Mr. Bell, one of its five founders, says Lumenera's success can be chalked up to a combination of the right talent converging at the right place, at the right time.

"(The tech crash) actually gave us some good opportunities," he explains. "2002 was a good year to start a company because suppliers and vendors around town, as well as North America, were interested in working with a startup."

Mr. Bell agrees. "We caught (our customers) in the bust, and they were scrambling for business, and they were looking for companies that were going to grow again instead of tailing off," he says, adding that each of the company's five founders possess a diverse spectrum of expertise.

"We all bring something unique to the table," he says. "There were five individuals here initially, certainly all business-minded."

THE WORKS GOURMET BURGER BISTRO

Year Founded: 1991

Employees: 90

Product: three gourmet burger restaurants

Revenue growth: 367 per cent

"We don't really have any competition because we've formed a unique little niche for ourselves with premium products and we're targeting a market who doesn't mind spending a bit more to get a really good product." – Ion Aimers, owner

Finally, there's a company in town answering the age-old question of "Where's the beef?" All you have to do is go to one of The Works Gourmet Burger Bistros and you'll find what they describe as the world's best burger. The company opened its first location in 2001 and now has three locations in Ottawa, with a fourth scheduled for the Kanata area by the fall.

"We offer 434 different varieties of burgers, seven different patties and 62 different toppings," says owner and official "Big Cheese" Ion Aimers. "We really do things differently here because our meat isn't frozen, all the patties are made by made and we have some wild and wacky toppings."

With burgers called Man O'War, Pesto Pizazz, Field of Dreams, Not So Thin Lizzy and The Sweet Ride, The Works offers something fun and adventurous for any taste. Mr. Aimers says he came up with the concept after years of finding substandard products on the market.

"I was fed-up with what fast food had done to the burger," he says. "Thirty years ago you used to be able to get a hamburger at any corner restaurant that was good quality on a decent bun and really what's happened over the years is that fast food has pushed out the mom and pop quality restaurants."

All three of The Works's locations have developed a loyal following who are devoted to The Works' burgers, which contain no filler, use the finest available beef and a top-secret blend of spices used for taste only. Mr. Aimers estimates that they prepare 250,000 of their all-beef patties each year and they offer a product that is unique in the Ottawa market.

"I thought there was a niche for this type of market," he says. "We sound like a very male, beefy type of concept and it's not that way at all. We do cater heavily to women and we feature vegetarian burgers, low fat burgers and scrumptious toppings that are very eclectic."

MACADAMIAN TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Year founded: 1997

Employees: 50

Product: Software engineering and development services

Revenue growth: 220

"The bubble burst was like... everybody is at a party, and everybody's having a lot of fun; they know that everybody at midnight is going to turn into pumpkins, but nobody's got a watch." – Fred Boulanger, president and co-founder, Macadamian

Macadamian Technologies president and co-founder Fred Boulanger says the tech wreck's worst moments weren't during its umpteen high-profile news stories or nervous sales meetings.

"It was the ride home that was really tough," he explains. "You go home, and you're alone in your car, and you just feel like, my God, what am I doing wrong? What could I do better?

"And it's at that point that you realize that it's not just my own problem any more," he says. Like so many high-technology firms during the meltdown, Mr. Boulanger says recession forced his company to retool and consolidate for survival. In Macadamian's case, this involved elevating the company's executive team atmosphere to higher level.

"I needed to look to my guys to help me out," he says. "I have a team for one reason, and I can depend on them to take the weight off of solely my shoulders."

Macadamian enjoyed a considerable amount of success from its founding in 1997 after Mr. Boulanger, chief software architect Francis Beaudet, and vice-president of engineering Stephane Lussier quit their day jobs to go it on their own. Each had an array of product development and marketing skills, he says, so it was a good fit from the beginning.

"We had some very strong skills with market potential, because we understood what product development was all about," explains Mr. Boulanger, himself a former software development manager at Corel.

"But we also had a bigger mission of building a product of our own," he continues. "After a little while, we not only realized the services we were providing had huge demand, but also that we were good and enjoying the services business.

"So we focused on this market – serving technology companies with software engineering services."

It was then that the company seriously took off, he says, although the bubble burst threw a temporary snag in the business plan. But since the tech sector's momentous crash and subsequent recovery, Mr. Boulanger says the software services market – one they helped create – has exploded.

"Now, there's not one company that doesn't have an outsourcing strategy," he says.

Which, in the end, means more business for Macadamian. We're sure they're not complaining.

BRIDGEWATER SYSTEMS CORP.

Year founded: 1997

Employees: 134

Product: developer of subscriber-centric policy management software

Revenue growth: 122 per cent

"We're in a growth market that is tied to growth in the tech sector overall, so we're in a good position to participate in the growth areas being driven by new applications and revenue-generating applications. These growth markets have a requirement for managing subscriber data in a very flexible way, so we have the right solution." – Ed Ogonek, CEO and president

The decision to go global and build business on the international scene has been invaluable to Bridgewater Systems. Two years ago the majority of the software developer's contracts were based in North America and now it has a team of seven in Asia and 12 in Europe.

"Our clients now are becoming more and more global," says CEO and president Ed Ogonek. "We have 65 service providers globally who are customers of ours, including Bell Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, NTL, which a large cable operator in the U.K., and Telecom New Zealand."

The Kanata-based firm opened in 1997 and specializes in networking software with a product suite focused on subscriber-centric policy management. It provides network service providers with the ability to create a very scalable database of subscriber information. Mr. Ogonek says they can then utilize that database as a core corporate asset for how they manage a rollout of new applications and services and also how they manage delivery of their network resources to their subscribers.

Along with building the company's solution across a broader service provider market and into the global arena, Mr. Ogonek says Bridgewater also stands out in the marketplace by creating an exciting, but stable workplace in an industry that is usually one or the other.

"We drive for a balance between the stability of a mid-sized company and the innovation of a startup – we're nine years old ... so we've got that stability. But we've also got the innovation, responsiveness and the aggression of a startup and we think we manage the both sides very well."

VERICHIP CORP.

Year founded: 2001 (Instantel 1992)

Employees: 140 (90 local)

Product: RFID healthcare security systems

Revenue growth: 116 per cent

"We've built up a good team of people that we've been able to keep for a long period of time. I think we've exercised good discipline around the company, and we've got good people who are truly committed to what we're doing here." – Dan Gunther, president.

When the World Trade Centre's two towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, VeriChip's president Dan Gunther says it was difficult to fathom anything good coming out of such a tragedy.

But necessity is the mother of innovation, after all, and this was no exception.

"You heard stories about the rescue workers writing their badge numbers on their arms or legs, in case they were killed, so somebody could identify who they were," says Mr. Gunther.

"The thought was that an implantable chip would do the same thing, on a permanent basis, and ultimately could link somebody to a database to provide more precise information."

Thus it was within the World Trade Tower's inferno that VeriChip was forged, just a few months following the attacks, as a U.S. subsidiary of Applied Digital. Since then it's made a string of acquisitions, the most significant of which was Ottawa's Instantel Inc. last year. The bulk of its operations and revenues now come from the former Instantel operation. Mr. Gunther previously served as Instantel's president.

The company also produces the Hugs Infant Protection System, which protects newborns from abduction from hospital maternity wards, and has thus far supplied over 900 systems to North American hospitals.

Despite its smallish head office in sunny Florida, Mr. Gunther says VeriChip is an Ottawa company first and foremost.

"The acquisition of Instantel by Verichip has now become the biggest portion of Verichip by far," he says. "Prior to that, Verichip had less than 10 employees, and negligible revenues."

In other words, it was a U.S. business that had to come north to be successful. How's that for an innovative concept?

FIDUS SYSTEMS INC.

Year founded: 2001

Employees: 57

Product: Electronic design services

Revenue growth: 75.2 per cent

"It's a very expensive proposition to outfit a laboratory and to ramp up from zero in a very short period of time, so outsourcing has to happen. I think that's why we're seeing the growth because local companies and those across North America are seeing that they can use the services from Fidus to get assistance with their product but still keep control and get it to market quicker." – Denise Allen, director of communications

The value of a good business reputation can't be underestimated. Earlier this year Fidus went directly to its customers to find out what they thought about its electronic design services.

The survey, which was conducted by an independent firm in Ottawa, determined that 97 per cent of 37 customers contacted in Canada and the U.S. would recommend Fidus to others.

"This high level of customer satisfaction was really gratifying for us to see," says Denise Allen, the company's director of communications. "There was an overwhelming endorsement of Fidus as a company that operates with integrity in terms of business practices."

This high level of respect is the result of a lot of hard work in a short period of time. Operations at Fidus got underway in 2001 and the team of 57 has since delivered 391 projects to 101 customers.

With a focus on electronic design services, the company offers flexible solutions, whether its targeted assistance for small projects, end-to-end design consulting or long-term complex system development. Customers range from small startups to large, multinational manufacturers. The company offers expertise in the fields of telecommunications, automotive applications, industrial controls, biomedical instrumentation and aerospace and defence.

Fidus recently reported record revenues of more than $1.4 million during its first quarter this year. Revenue rose 40 per cent over the same period in 2005 and the company just completed its eighth-consecutive profitable quarter.

Ms. Allen says the company's success can be attributed to the fact the idea of outsourcing hardware design is an idea whose time has come.

"More and more we're seeing startups writing into their business plan the idea of outsourcing their engineering team," she says. "And the fact Fidus is a North American company that works in this market and is close to them is beneficial as opposed to outsourcing the work overseas. They want someone they can have to their business and someone who they're confident with about protecting their intellectual property."

CHIPWORKS INC.

Year founded: 1992

Employees: 100

Product: Reverse engineering services for patent protection, litigation

Revenue growth: 74 per cent

"Every cloud has a silver lining, and out of the tech wreck came the seeds of the next boom. And we did look inwards, invested in ourselves, in our people, took a good hard look at what made us unique, and tried to leverage on those things." – Terry Ludlow, chief financial officer.

Every company, at some point, comes back to its roots.

And when your once-thriving industry is crashing down around your head, says Chipworks' CFO Terry Ludlow, it's best to do it as quickly as possible.

"(The downturn) really forced us to look at some of our business processes, and our planning processes," explains the man who, 14 years ago, founded the Ottawa-based semiconductor company in the spare bedroom above his garage.

"We had pretty steady growth in our early years," he continues. "But when the bubble burst, it burst everywhere, and it burst here.

"But its like that famous Bismarck saying – whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."

And stronger they became. Mr. Ludlow says the tech slowdown forced Chipworks to reinvent itself as a sleeker, more efficient machine, and with this in mind the company went through massive restructuring around a year ago. It hatched a new business plan refocusing on Asian markets, and reorganized operational groups to focus on customers, rather than internal functions.

Since then, Chipworks has reinvested heavily in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea, the most recent being a new office opening last April in Seoul. "Hopefully that's going to help us weather any future recessions in a much more comfortable fashion," he says.

Chipworks reverse engineers and analyzes semiconductor and microelectronic systems for patent intelligence and intellectual property customers like law firms, and technical intelligence customers (like engineering and product development groups) who typically use Chipworks as a market consultant.

Now the company is thriving again, and Mr. Ludlow says it's mostly thanks to getting back to basics.

"You have to do everything you can to be more efficient," he explains. "We were always overachieving our plan in the early days and as a result, we lost touch with the forward-looking, strategic planning that we'd done.

"And that was one of the things we had to get back to."

KELLER WILLIAMS OTTAWA REALTY

Year founded: 2001

Employees: 165

Product: Real estate services

Revenue growth: 71.8 per cent

"I think there are a lot of companies who talk about values and caring for their people, but unless the values are actually embedded in the business model – such as open books, accountability, training – and the financial viability is tied to it then it just gets lost as words. I think that's the strength of the Keller Williams strategy because we actually have it detailed in our business model." – Sunny Daljit, CEO/team leader

There's a new company in the city's real estate market that's quickly becoming a force to reckon with thanks to its open and business model. While Keller Williams Realty is an established name in the U.S. market, the Ottawa operation, which opened in 2001, was the first independently owned and operated franchise to launch in Eastern Ontario.

"The real estate industry has long been held by several companies and it's a difficult industry for new brokerages to break into," says Sunny Daljit, CEO and team leader. "You've got to go through this testing phase where once people test you out then you're now legitimate. There are so many brokerages that have come and gone in the Canadian marketplace, in fact more so than not, so people were saying is this Keller Williams going to do it?"

Mr. Daljit is proud to say that Keller Williams now has several franchises throughout Canada and is the fourth largest real estate company in the world with 650 offices in North America. Once the Ottawa operation established a trusted reputation across the entire region, its growth far exceeded expectations. Mr. Daljit attributes this success to the way Keller Williams supports its employees.

Along with excellent training and support staff, he says the company offers one of the best compensation systems in the business, as well as using a profit-sharing business model and embracing the concept of life-work balance.

"These are values that don't exist in other companies – they don't know what the brokerage is making, they aren't held accountable by their people," says Mr. Daljit. "We have an agent-led council that makes decisions for everything from how we make our money to what technology we use to what charities we support. Part of the Keller Williams' value system is spirituality, family and then business. We believe people need to spend a lot of time with their families and friends and that's why we're been ranked as one of the best workplaces in the country by Canadian Business Magazine."

PROTUS IP SOLUTIONS INC.

Year founded: 1997

Employees: 50

Product: Fax-over-Internet services

Revenue growth: 46 per cent

"The bubble burst made it easier for us to operate. A lot of companies in our space had raised a lot of money but didn't have much revenue, so they shut down; it eliminated some competition for us." – Joseph Nour, CEO, Protus IP.

Some high tech CEOs just couldn't get their heads around it.

How was it, they wondered, that some companies made money during the tech collapse, while others did exactly that – simply collapsed?

The secret for Protus IP, says CEO Joseph Nour, was in steady, revenue-based growth, coupled with the recognition of untapped markets hovering just under the radar of larger, more established companies.

"The bubble burst did not impact us, and we continued to grow very rapidly during that time period," he explains. "We weren't banking on long-term contracts, our strategy was focused on immediate market needs. Our plans were for immediate revenue generation.

He says Protus got its start after he and Simon Nehme, the company's chief technology officer, recognized the state of an undervalued fax market back in the late '90s. Facsimile technology wasn't "addressed in terms of how it fit with the Internet," says Mr. Nour.

"So we developed an infrastructure to address the fax-over-Internet market."

They bootstrapped the company early on, he says, generating significant sales after their first year in existence. By the end of 1999 they'd secured a handful of interested investors and underwent a couple rounds of VC financing.

That inevitably led to the creation of Protus' MyFax product, an outsourcing service that allows big companies to send faxes over e-mail, the web or handheld devices. It's this product, Mr. Nour says, that's propelled them through the recession and into the black.

"We think our future focus on the MyFax brand is going to give us good, continuous growth momentum," he explains.

"We expect strong revenue performance over the next few years."

TRM TECHNOLOGIES INC.

Year founded: 1991

Employees: 50

Product: IT infrastructure and security consulting

Revenue growth: 30 per cent

"The future looks bright because there hasn't really been any significant investment in information systems infrastructure since Y2K, so in the future we will continue to undertake projects in new and emerging technologies." – Ted Martin, CEO and president

Good timing and strategic thinking are fundamental to ensuring business longevity. For the folks at TRM Technologies, these tactics helped them adapt when the tech bubble burst. The company has specialized in information systems engineering since 1991, with a focus on network infrastructure, but Ted Martin, CEO and president, says his team dealt with the downturn of large projects in 2003-2004 by enlarging the variety of solutions they offer.

"At that time we re-vectored our business and retooled in a way so we could compete in the market," he says. "One of the things we did is launch an information systems security practice to address the growing demand for IT security solutions and we also invested in our professional services division, which focuses on technical resources to fill those requirements."

These staff augmentation services have proven quite successful for the company and necessitated hiring recruiters and salespeople, as well as investment in new tools for recruiting and sales management.

Another area of expansion was the creation of a risk management practice by merging operations with local firm Plan B Systems.

TRM Technologies now operates with three divisions or what it calls multiple business practices, which are focused on a specific area of expertise. Each unit is comprised of a team of experts in that field and often the teams will work in partnership to provide comprehensive and coordinated solutions.

With a growing list of clients, primarily the local public sector, and a number of U.S. contracts, Mr. Martin says the company is interested in continuing to pursue projects in the realm of new and emerging technologies.

"That's our focus because the projects are interesting, they tend to be more profitable and we have less competition," he adds. "We are also going to continue to nurture our staff augmentation group that has grown so much over the last couple of years."