The best way to spot emerging business trends to capitalize upon is to watch industry leaders who are named on the annual Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Business list. Learn which business sectors are booming and offer the best odds of success for your new startup.

This group of winning companies grew an average of 600% in 2017 as compared to the overall US economy which grew 6.7% – 100X faster than the average small businesses!

While analyzing the stellar results of these companies, these trends have emerged as profitable opportunities in 2018:

  • B2B Services such as health insurance, human resources and IT Logistics and supply chain management services
  • Innovative business models in existing markets such as car sales and travel agency
  • Environmentally friendly green home building and solar energy

Leading business media company INC.com has been publishing their list since 1982. These companies are ranked according to their revenue growth percentage over a three-year period. Companies must be US-based, independent and privately held. Also, the revenues must be over $100,000 in their first year and at least $2,000,000 in the recent year. See the full list here.

Check out the infographic I created as a visual guide to the INC 5000 Fastest Growing Companies in America:

Fastest Growing and Best Industries for Starting a Business in 2018 - An Infographic from Best 4 Businesses.com

Great entrepreneurial lessons for success can be learned from this stellar companies how they started and grew to make the list.

Branding Matters – A lot

Most of the winners knew the value of good branding. An example is Club Pilates, whose explosive growth of 21,319% with $26.8M revenues (WOW!), #4 on the list, Anthony Geisler bought the company in 2015, which was originally founded in 2007, and rebranded it to expand their customer base to include men and children.

He said that “Everybody would complain that men weren’t coming in and doing Pilates. It’s hard enough to get a guy to come and do Pilates, let alone to get him to grab a pink weight on a purple mat.” He began by painting the walls blue with black accents, which eventually tripled his male membership.

Helping Others Counts

Small Business Owners of America, #6 on the list, with $19.7 revenue and 3-year growth of 19,352%, helps entrepreneurs for everything from writing business plans to incorporating startups. Financing services were added in 2013 which also included founder James Moore as an investor in selected client companies. Year one counted $400,000 in loans made to small businesses across the nation. In 2017, over $15 million in funding was made to over 100 American small businesses.

While providing consulting services, James saw the under-served needs of small business cash flows. He felt the pain of business owners who could not grow their firms, even though they had customer anxious to purchase, due to lack of financing options for short-term working capital. Mr. Moore said, “I’ve always been passionate about small businesses, and I respect people who take that leap and actually go out and do something on their own.”, he further added, “It’s scary and it’s risky, and my whole thing is that I want to make it as easy as possible to help them.”

Being Environmentally Friendly Pays

California based, Greenspire, offers energy-related programs to help residential customers lower their costs, such as solar energy, energy efficiency products, and home automation. #9 on the list with $41.7M in revenues and 3-year growth rate of 14,429%.

Watching the building trend towards smart and green homes, President David Murray, spotted an opportunity to turn traditional homes into environmentally friendly ones. From solar panels to redesigned water systems this company helps homeowners both save money and our planet. Founded in 2012, Murray said, “Clean tech was blowing up and I saw an opening”.

Top Booming Industries

The top 5 fastest-growing industries by aggregate growth:

  1. Travel and hospitality, +201%
  2. Media +198%
  3. Energy 174%
  4. Security +171%
  5. Real Estate 168%

The Air Travel Group, #63 is the fastest growing travel company in America. They negotiate event travel and airline fees for corporations, and sports franchises. The founder and president Eric Peterson founded the company in 2002 when other travel companies were closing due to reduced commissions. His lesson is to get into an industry when others are getting out – but in a new, different and better way.

Fastest-growing states and cities

Opportunities abound all across America, however, these 5 states home to the most companies listed in this order; California, Texas, Florida, New York and Virginia.

These cities have the greatest number of companies headquartered in; New York City, NY; Washington, DC; Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Highest total revenue

These companies had the highest revenue:

  1. Prime Therapeutics, Health Insurance Management – $4.73 billion
  2. Armada, Supply chain management, and logistics services – $3.96 billion
  3. Allied Universal, Human resources recruitment and staffing – $3.43 billion
  4. Carahsoft Technology – Government IT services, $3.43 billion
  5. Drive Time, Used car dealer and finance company – $3.03 billion

 

Embedded from Best 4 Businesses.com