Forbes has published its list of the top 200 Best Small Companies. A couple of thoughts on this:
- Sales for these businesses range from $21 million up to $745 million -- not necessarily what most of us think of when we hear "small companies." Small by Wall Street standards, most certainly, but not the typical small company that I see in my work.
- Although Forbes talks about these businesses as entrepreneurial, all of them are public. I decided several years ago that once a business goes public, things change enough that I no longer consider the business to be entrepreneurial any more. All of these companies were started as entrepreneurial ventures, but being a public company alters governance, corporate culture and management practices enough to make it a different animal in my mind.
- With the chill of Sarbanes-Oxley I wonder if the companies on this list aren't somewhat of a dying breed. That would be a shame as that could inhibit long term growth in our economy. High growth firms tend to not do as well once they are acquired by a big company. Bureaucracy seems to take over enough to slow things down.
