Lessons Learned: Look Who Made it to the Pittsburgh Business Times “Fast 50” List of Fastest Growing Companies in Pittsburgh!
When the Pittsburgh Business Times released their list of the 50 fastest growing companies in Pittsburgh for 2018 in August, I quickly reviewed the list to see if I recognized any of the companies. This year there were two PowerLink companies that made it to the list. We have helped over 100 small businesses to grow since October 2015 when we left Seton Hill and went back out on our own as an independent non-profit. When we set up shop in our new offices in Forest Hills, we made a commitment to the Western Pennsylvania community that we would figure out a way to serve more small businesses (matching them up with our team of more than 1000 executive volunteers--PowerLink Advisors) by opening programs in 8 communities in Western Pennsylvania. These two companies were part of that new chapter in PowerLink’s history.
Ranked #22 was Wendy Staso, Huckestein Mechanical Services. Wendy received her PowerLink Advisory Board in 2015 and true to form for PowerLink companies, grew over the next three years. (she is the one in red in the photo above). I interviewed Wendy a few weeks ago about her achievement. “I think growth is intentional. For companies like Huckestein Mechanical in a mature industry like heating and air conditioning, you have to be an innovator and have a vision of where you want to take your company. Then you execute that vision very, very well. And it takes your whole team to do it. You don’t grow by doing everything yourself.” Check out this company here.
Ranked #20 was Glenn Yocca, founder of US Film Crew, which installs safety, security, energy saving films on architectural glass and windows. Glenn received his PowerLink Advisory Board in 2017 and was trying to figure out how to build a regional presence for his national contracting business. “An award like this helps my employees and customers to see our vision to be an outstanding company and a leader in our field.” Glenn also agrees that you can’t grow without the whole team being behind you. Check out US Film Crew here.
And as a footnote to this post, I dug into the last few years of Pittsburgh Business Times Fastest Growing Companies and found these other PowerLink companies and advisors on the list: AJ Drexler (Campos Research), Michael Halperin (Apogee), Schneider Downs (more advisors as a company to PowerLink boards than any other corporation in Pittsburgh), Robbin Steif (LunaMetrics).
Our goals for this year are to continue our work in Western Pennsylvania with the help of our terrific staff, our 14 Executives-in-Residence (retired CEO’s and consultants who chair our Advisory Boards and CEO Circles), our 61 Referral Partners who refer one or two qualified small businesses per quarter to us and our more than 1,000 advisors (register here to be interviewed as a potential advisor) and PowerLink alumni who are willing to give back to the next generation of small businesses we are serving today. We are looking for 100 more growing businesses in Western Pennsylvania who want to grow in a sustainable and profitable way. If you know of a company, or want to join PowerLink yourself, complete this Discovery Form.
For a complete list of the 2018 Pittsburgh Business Times “Fast 50,” look HERE
Anita F. Brattina
CEO, PowerLink October 25, 2018
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