.
When I started my first company (this was back in my early twenties), I came across the Inc. 500 list. I immediately had to go and figure out what it took to be on the list. The list carried great weight for me, because it was the most recognized national award for fast-growing companies. It was like the Fortune 500, but for private companies. I was thrilled when my first company (Pyramid Digital Solutions) made the list for the first time in 2000 (ranked #121). Then again in 2001 (#192). Then again in 2002 (#328). So, I've been obsessed with the list for a while.
So when my co-founder, Brian Halligan and I started HubSpot, I was once again hoping to make the list again someday. I was thrilled when I heard the news recently that HubSpot made the 2011 list at #33 overall (and #2 in the software category). There was much rejoicing in the halls of HubSpot!
To partly share my obsession with you, I thought you might enjoy some fun and fascinating facts about the Inc. 500. Unless otherwise stated, these numbers are for the 2011 list.
Rankings Based on Organic Search
The official Inc. 500 rankings are based on revenue growth. Here's a re-ranking based on how many different keywords the company's website is ranking for in the top 20 in Google. I used a new tool I'm working on called Search Grader for these results.
1. ChaCha.com (#219)
2. BuddyTV (#368)
3. Pandora (#391)
4. Vitals.com (#122)
5. CarGurus.com (#96)
And, here's the list re-ranked by the value of the organic keywords they're ranking for (because some keywords are worth more than others).
1. OKCupid.com (#290)
2. LifeLock (#461)
3. Pandora (#391)
4. Carbonite (#180)
5. Hone Insurance (#61)
And finally, here's the ranking based on how much money they're spending to advertise with Google AdWords.
1. LifeLock (#461)
2. CarGurus (#96)
3. oDesk (#441)
4. Pandora (#391)
5. Carbonite (#180)
Other Fun, Tweetable Facts About The Inc. 500
1) The Inc. 500 list started in 1981, 30 years ago [tweet]
2) Aggregate revenue of the Inc. 500: $10.5 billion [tweet]
3) 73% of the Inc. 500 use Twitter [tweet]
4) Only 9% of the #inc500 don't use social media [tweet]
5) Washington DC has the most #inc500 companies - 50 [tweet]
6) 21% of the #inc500 were born outside the U.S. [tweet]
7) Median revenue of the #inc500 companies was $10.7 million [tweet]
8) Median number of employees for the #inc500 was 51 [tweet]
9) 45% of the #inc500 eat breakfast every day [tweet]
10) 87% of the #inc500 drive to work [tweet]
11) 15% of the #inc500 plan to take their company public [tweet]
12) Only 11% of the #inc500 CEOs are women. Need more women entrepreneurs! [tweet]
13) 44% of the #inc500 do business overseas [tweet]
14) 40% of the #inc500 CEOs had an entrepreneurial parent [tweet]
15) Microsoft, Oracle, SAS, Paychex, eTrade and Intuit have all been on the #inc500 [tweet]
16) 21% of the #inc500 CEOs were born outside the U.S. [tweet]
17) Average wake-up time of an #inc500 CEO: 6:15 a.m. [tweet]
18) Average bed-time of an #inc500 CEP: 10:30 pm [tweet]
19) Fastest growth since their debut on the #inc500: Zappos [tweet]
20) 70% of #inc500 CEOs would choose flight as their super-power. 30% invisibility. [tweet]
Want to learn how to make the Inc. 500 list yourself? Check out our webinar, "Insider Secrets on How To Make The Inc. 500 List."
