To make the Five to Watch, companies had to demonstrate high sales growth between 2017 and 2019 and generate more than $1 million in revenue annually. The Five Companies to Watch are businesses that have not generated the revenue, yet, to make the Private 100 but whose sales are skyrocketing. Here is one of those companies:
Forcivity
Three-Year Avg. Growth: 284.1%
Headquarters: 1000 Elm St., Suite 800, Manchester, NH 03101
Product/Service: Salesforce.com consulting, implementation and development services
CEO: Steve Baines (pictured)
Founded: 2015
Total Number of Employees: 24
Website: forcivity.com
While working as a consultant at Salesforce, Steve Baines says his clients were experiencing challenges that were not easily solvable. So, he created an app to address the issue.
From there, he grew a company, Forcivity, which launched in 2015. Since then, the company has grown exponentially.
Baines says, “I was 43 when I started Forcivity. I had an honest conversation about whether I was willing to do this one more time. I get a lot of excitement from starting my own business—the uncertainty, starting something from nothing.”
That has included building an experienced team, which now numbers 23. And the customer base has expanded from 20 in 2018 to 80 today. Demand for Salesforce-related services continues to grow, Baines says, especially in the financial services and tech industries.
While growth has slowed in 2020, Baines says, “My primary goal for this year was that everyone stays employed at their current salary.”
He says Forcivity moved into new offices just two months before the pandemic hit. “The company had great momentum,” Baines says, adding that by mid-March the office shut down for three months, with employees working remotely. “It was nerve wracking,” he says, as customers hit the pause button. Fortunately, a backlog of work kept them busy through June, and by August, business began picking up. “People reached the conclusion that this isn’t going away, and it’s time for us to get back to business and act like we normally do. People started buying software again and hiring people
like us.”
The company remains profitable, and Baines expects 2020 revenue to top 2019. “To have a company that is successful, that people enjoy working for, that’s really what’s become most important to me,” he says.
(Photo by Allegra Boverman.)