-
INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • INVICTUS
This business powers exponential growth by providing cyber
technology solutions to protect U.S. global defenses and critical
infrastructure
the right team, with the right people is one of his gifts, and
he has been doing it since he was a young boy. Kelly looks for the
person with the necessary skills and the proper motivation—the one
who wants to conquer the world. These are the people of
Invictus—the people he calls The Unconquered.
The company is also unique because nearly 70 percent of
employees are veterans. They span all walks of life, and they have
all persevered to achieve extraordinary careers. At Invictus, they
fi t together like a puzzle to make the company a sought-after
partner for solving national security challenges.
BUILT ON A LEGACY
“The secret to recruiting some of the world’s top cybersecurity
experts is simple,” Kelly says: “extraordinary people breed
extraordinary peo-ple.” Invictus leverages this exceptional talent
to solve critical problems. As a result of this mission success,
its reputation and growth has continued at a dynamic pace.
Prior to founding Invictus, Kelly built and sold two other
successful businesses that also supported government clients. He
has spent two decades cultivating relationships and bringing in
superior talent, which has enabled him to help deliver
unprecedented results for his partners. For instance, within 18
months of its launch, Invictus was on 40 subcontracts, an
unprecedented feat. Each subsequent engage-ment paved the way for
others and cemented the company’s reputation for blending
cyber-security, data science, and intelligence to de-liver the
advanced technological and analytical solutions required for
critical national defense projects. This year, the company is
expected to surpass $80 million in revenue, up from $60 million in
2019. With the talent in the compa-ny, Kelly believes they could be
a billion-dollar business within the next fi ve years.
“The Spartans of Invictus will remain un-conquered in the face
of adversity, continually defending the gates of this great country
of ours.” Kelly says. “Invictus is built to last.”
As cyber threats exponentially increase in number and
complexity, so does the demand for cybersecurity skills to combat
these threats. Invictus International Consulting, a cybersecu-rity
services and technology solutions compa-ny headquartered in greater
Washington, D.C., uses its exceptionally talented workforce to
an-swer the call to duty every day. Invictus provides strategic and
tactical solutions that protect U.S. global defenses and critical
infrastructure.
Since its launch in August of 2014, Invictus (Latin for
unconquered) has grown from three to 230 employees and now operates
across 15 locations, including Seoul, South Korea and Stuttgart,
Germany. Last year, the company was No. 103 on the Inc. 5000 list,
with a 3,215 per-cent growth rate. This year, it is No. 10 on
Inc.’s inaugural ranking of D.C.-area businesses. While the numbers
are impressive, it is the peo-ple behind them that set Invictus
apart: best-in-class cybersecurity experts and leadership that
operates with honor and integrity.
BUILDING AN INSURMOUNTABLE TEAM
CEO Jim Kelly, a retired U.S. naval offi cer, says the company
name is a tribute to his late father’s favorite poem, “Invictus,”
by William Ernest Henley. The poem encapsulates Jim’s Dad’s belief
that nothing in this world is insur-mountable, especially if you
believe in yourself and your unconquerable soul.
Kelly believes that everyone has a gift to share, and one of his
roles is fi nding the right person for the right job, every time.
Building
Unconquered in the Face of Cyber Threats
CEO Jim Kelly
#10TOP D.C METRO
COMPANY
INVICTUSIC.COM
FASTEST GROWING VETERAN-OWNED
BUSINESS IN THE U.S.
#7
REVENUE
3-YEAR GROWTH RATE (2016-2018)
PERCENT
3,215
#1032019 INC. 5000
PROJECTED IN2020
80M
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INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • LOGENIX
To reach places other companies can't, this logistics company
runs its business like a global intelligence operation
companies. Critical supplies transport—ensuring Malaria, HIV, or
other critical treatment makes it from India to Africa, for
example—is Logenix’s fastest-growing service. In the last three
years, it has doubled headcount at its Fairfax, Virginia offi ce,
quadrupled staff at its international head-quarters in Dubai, and
opened four offi ces in In-dia, “the generic medicine capital of
the world.”
“Since 2010, we have captured this business from large
‘household’ names. They can’t keep up on costs or service. Today we
handle more medicines to Africa than any company in our industry,”
says Cruse.
GROWTH BY REINVESTMENT
Logenix’s training approach also sets it apart from many larger
competitors, says Cruse. Employees learn every area of the
business, as opposed to being siloed. As a group, they strive for
greatness. The offi ce walls are adorned with inspirational quotes,
including Cruse’s favorite, from Aristotle: “We are what we
repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but, a
habit.”
Culture contributes to the company’s reten-tion rate. Senior
staff has been together for al-most thirty years. “Culture” has a
second mean-ing for Logenix. They need to understand the cultures
of the countries they operate in. Global intelligence gathering is
a 24/7 operation. They rely on a network of local connections to
help them anticipate, and circumvent, challenges, from workers’
strikes, to new regulations, to government protests. Logenix also
invests in cutting-edge technology and communication so it can keep
its workforce and its clients informed.
The pieces are in place for continued scale, particularly as
global operating procedures become more stringent, says Cruse.
“Only the smartest, best trained, and operationally competent”
businesses will navigate the new normal, he predicts.
Global logistics is challenging, but it can make for a thrilling
and fulfi lling career. Cruse jokes he has never worked a day in
his life. His triple-digit growth rate suggests otherwise.
To move cargo in the developing world, you need to be fl exible.
Rules and regulations in Af-ghanistan or Pakistan are different
than, say, Rwanda or Sierra Leone and can change with-out warning.
Anticipating changes is integral to Logenix International’s
success. The busi-ness provides logistics services across more than
25 developed nations and 140 developing countries. Its niche is
hard-to-reach places— destinations many other logistics companies
won’t or can’t get to.
Founder and CEO Ron Cruse credits the company’s recent growth to
its focus on trans-porting critical supplies, including medicines
for leading health organizations, and its re-investment in
infrastructure, IT, and people. Beyond a commitment to doing
meaningful work, the team shares a drive for excellence—an
ever-moving target, but shooting for it leads to high
performance.
GROWTH BY SPECIALIZATION
This isn’t Cruse’s “fi rst rodeo.” He has been fascinated with
the developing world since the mid-eighties, when he left a
short-lived career on Wall Street to fi nd work that wouldn’t leave
him wishing the second hand would tick faster. He founded his fi
rst logistics business, Matrix International Logistics, in 1986
after working for a global forwarding company. After the Sovi-et
Union collapsed, Cruse organized one of the fi rst US-Russian Joint
Venture Companies, Ma-trix NIS. He sold both businesses in 1996 and
founded Logenix in 2001, in part at the urging of former
employees.
Logenix’s recent growth earns it a place on Inc.’s inaugural
ranking of D.C. Metro’s top
Supporting Critical Supply Chains in the Developing World
TRANSPORTING CARGO ACROSS
DEVELOPINGNATIONS
140
Founder and CEO Ron Cruse
3-YEAR GROWTH IN REVENUE
INC. 5000 HONOREE
2008
100+EMPLOYEESACROSS TEN GLOBAL OFFICES
#121TOP D.C. METRO
COMPANY
LOGENIX.COM
101PERCENT
-
INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • MICRODERM GLO
After investing everything into R&D, one company has used
science to become the leader in professional at-home beauty
treatments
aesthetician. “We developed the technology us-ing data science
and physics and combined it with a super-simple user
interface.”
AN AMAZING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Paramadilok stuck with his all-in approach when addressing
customer service. Microderm GLO is the only company in its industry
that stands behind its products with a 100 percent money-back
guarantee and a lifetime warran-ty. “We want customers to know that
we are with them on their skin-care journey for life by earning
their trust through our breakthrough technology and commitment to
an amazing customer experience.”
Microderm GLO recently partnered with Miss America, Betty
Maxwell, to further its mission of empowering women to look and
feel their best. “We are super excited and proud to have Betty on
our team and representing our brand towards this worthy ideal.”
Microderm GLO is a fast-moving company with an industry-leading
revenue-per-employee metric. “Everyone on our team wears many hats
and is excited to jump in and do whatever it takes to get the job
done,” Paramadilok says. Data and metrics drive all decisions, and
team members are problem-solvers, constantly on the lookout for
opportunities that add customer value.
With Microderm GLO’s three-year revenue growth exceeding 4,000
percent, Paramadilok believes his approach bodes well for the
future. “One of our core values is having a 10X mind-set and
building for scale,” he says. The team conducts a yearly exercise
where they visualize revenue at 10X current level to identify
breaking points in all functional areas. They brainstorm different
strategic solutions for each breaking point, clarifying and
resolving bottlenecks that stand in the way of geometric
growth.
Paramadilok’s long-term vision is to contin-ue developing
affordable, in-home alternatives to traditionally expensive
solutions. “We believe that everyone should have access to
solutions that promote health and confi dence, not just those who
can afford expensive luxuries.”
There’s no such thing as a sure thing, not in business and not
in life. Even professional gamblers fl inch at the prospect of
going all-in, but Sidney Paramadilok did just that four years ago,
rolling the dice and investing everything into R&D. His gamble
paid off big-time.
While the hypercompetitive world of beauty might seem an odd
place for someone with a background in deep learning, data science,
and information analytics to land, it makes perfect sense to
Paramadilok. His scientifi c roots make him “naturally interested
in technical solutions that are data-driven and validated through
sci-ence and quantifi able results,” he says. That’s just the
approach he took in developing Micro-derm GLO, a patented, FDA
Class I medical de-vice, and he started with extensive research of
the category’s potential opportunities.
In 2016, he identifi ed “a huge gap in afford-able, at-home,
medical-grade beauty treat-ments,” particularly in skin care.
Microderm-abrasion has traditionally been a costly, in-offi ce
dermatology procedure. With monthly treat-ments recommended for
best results, it gets prohibitively expensive very quickly.
A key challenge in developing an affordable at-home alternative
was that the product would be replacing licensed medical
professionals in a clinical environment with inexperienced users in
front of their own vanity. “We solved that huge problem by working
with the FDA and address-ing the biggest safety risks with
safeguards, including our proprietary Safe3D technology,” says
Holly Cayton, Microderm GLO’s medical
Big Bet Pays Off For Science-Based Beauty Company
Miss America Betty Maxwell, CEO Sidney Paramadilok, and Medical
Director Kim Nguyen
#5TOP MIDWEST
COMPANY
MICRODERMGLO.COM
3-YEAR GROWTH RATE (2016-2019)
PERCENT
4129
TOP MIDWEST RETAIL COMPANY
#1
WORLDWIDEREACH
39COUNTRIES
275MILLION
ANNUAL CUSTOMERSAVINGS
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INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • PIVOT INTERNATIONAL
Globally dispersed operations, a deep knowledge base, and a fl
at organizational structure make this design and manufacturing fi
rm a standout performer
knowledge, and that has allowed us to continue growing at a
rapid pace.”
ADAPTIVE CULTURE
ENABLES IMPROVISATION
Pivot uses its entrepreneurial team culture as an advantage in
an industry where many competing fi rms tend to be class-oriented
and have rigid cultures. “We have a fl at organiza-tional structure
and an open-door engagement policy that is highly conducive to
maximum per-formance by all teams,” he says. “Our adaptive culture
makes it possible for Pivot to improvise more effectively than our
competitors.”
Pivot brought its nimbleness and adapt-ability to bear recently
in leveraging some cut-ting-edge technology already in its
portfolio to develop a solution addressing an important COVID-19
issue. The product uses advanced AI analytics to identify the
highest-risk COVID-19 patients versus those at lower risk, helping
health care providers make smarter decisions about which patients
to put on ventilators.
“About half of COVID-19 patients who are intubated end up with
some post-ventilation health issues, so predictive analytics can
play an important role here,” Dohnalek says. “The product is
nearing the end of its test trials in both the U.S. and the U.K.,
and there’s a lot of excitement among health care professionals
about what it can do.”
Dohnalek has an economics and fi nance degree and an MBA, and he
cut his teeth in corporate America. He spent 20 years in senior fi
nancial and management roles at large pub-lic companies, including
a decade at a medical device fi rm. Pivot International, which was
es-tablished in 1994, got hammered in the Great Recession, and when
the opportunity to acquire it came up, he jumped at it.
“It was right in my sweet spot,” Dohnalek says. “I’ve been a
business owner for nearly 20 years, and I have fun. My theory is
that most peo-ple would be good at what they do if they found
something they loved. Unfortunately, some peo-ple never fi nd what
really inspires them.”
Pivot International credits its explosive growth in recent years
to a unique single-source business model that provides turnkey
solutions for companies introducing new products. Out-sourcing the
entire process of development, de-sign, engineering, and
manufacturing to Pivot lets them sidestep staffi ng and
infrastructure investments and get new products to market faster
and cheaper.
President and CEO Mark Dohnalek acquired the company in 2012,
when it had about 100 em-ployees and $10 million in sales. Today it
has a global workforce of approximately 450 in 12 offi ces around
the world and does nearly $200 million in sales. “We target
embedded elec-tronic technology markets, where our technical
expertise can help fi rms deliver innovative new solutions to the
marketplace,” he says.
The secret to Pivot’s success is a broad tech-nical skill set
combined with a deep knowledge base. It’s active in a dozen
industry sectors, ranging from IoT and optics to medical devices
and industrial design.
Despite its growth and international reach, Pivot has avoided
the big-company mindset that bedevils many fi rms of comparable
size. “Our success is largely due to our entrepre-neurial culture
and creative skill set in our de-sign and manufacturing
capabilities,” Dohnalek says. “We consistently take on challenges
that appear to stretch our capabilities on paper, but our
fundamental strength is our technical
Agility and Skill Set Mean Faster, Cheaper New Product
Intros
CEO Mark Dohnalek
#105TOP MIDWEST
COMPANY
PIVOTINT.COM
STATES
CLIENTS IN
12
2-YEAR GROWTH RATE (2016-2018)
PERCENT
185
ACQUIRED/ADDED SINCE 2016
8COMPANIES
450EMPLOYEES
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INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • PREMIER HEALTH SOLUTIONS
This industry-leading administrator and general agency
contributes its success to innovation, quality carrier
relationships, hard work, and an aptitude for change
will move to a bigger offi ce in August 2020. The company is
also on track to hit more than $16 million in yearly revenue.
A number of factors fuel this growth. PHS partners with
industry-leading insurance car-riers. They have built a strong,
hardworking team. They set a plan and stick to it—but re-main fl
exible when needed. Wood explains you can’t succeed in the health
care industry unless you can pivot. Regulatory changes can “occur
overnight, with a swipe of a pen.” PHS has the people, the mindset,
and the carrier relation-ships to adapt. Case in point: They have
thrived under two very different presidential adminis-trations.
Wood and Duly say they are prepared to continue to grow, no matter
the results of the 2020 presidential election.
FAMILY-FIRST CULTURE
Finding the talent to support fast growth can be challenging for
any company. But Frisco, Texas, is a great place for recruiting.
Several large technology and insurance companies are in the area,
and Toyota recently relocated its headquarters to nearby Plano.
Duly says PHS has been able to draw talent from within the
in-dustry, and outside of it, to build a unique and effective
senior management team.
A strong culture also attracts talent and keeps turnover low.
From the beginning, the partners invested in their staff. They
created a family-friendly, fl exible culture and built out a
generous benefi ts program that helped set the company apart. “We
have folks literally knock-ing on our doors,” Duly says, adding
they even hired new employees during the height of the COVID-19
pandemic.
PHS leadership feels lucky to operate in a near recession-proof
industry. They are proud of their success, but they are just
getting started. It helps that their biggest foreseeable challenge
is one they have solved before: predicting and re-sponding to
regulatory changes. Wood and Duly have the experience,
relationships, and the drive to solve that challenge again and
again.
Eight years ago, Brandon Wood and Brian Duly saw and seized an
opportunity: The Afford-able Care Act (ACA) had created a need for
more innovative and affordable health care solutions, so agencies
and businesses could meet the needs of families across all income
levels. To-day, their business, Premier Health Solutions (PHS), is
a leading provider of comprehen-sive benefi ts administration and
management services to agents, associations, and carriers across
the country.
“Traditional major medical plans are not a perfect fi t for all
customers,” Wood explains. “We focus on combining insurance plans
with ancillary services like telemedicine, lab dis-counts, patient
advocacy, and prescription dis-count programs so consumers can gain
access to a more well-rounded health care approach. It is not just
medical—these products and ser-vices help people manage their
everyday health care expenses.”
FROM “SLOW AND STEADY”
TO EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
Wood and Duly spent the fi rst few years building the
infrastructure to support the growth they knew would come and
building quality products that delivered real value. They
self-funded the business, which encouraged deliberate decision
making. “Slow and steady” paved the way for exponential increases
and a spot on Inc.’s inaugural list of top Texas com-panies. From
2016 to 2018, revenue swelled from just over $4 million, to $8.4
million, and head count increased from 15 to 29 employees. This
year, PHS has more than 50 employees and
Providing Affordable, Comprehensive Health Care
Partners Brandon Wood (left) and Brian Duly (right)
#49TOP TEXASCOMPANY
PREMIERHSLLC.COM
STATES
CLIENTS IN
49
2-YEAR GROWTH RATE (2016-2018)
PERCENT
108
#2622019 INC. 5000
INDUSTRY-LEADING CARRIER PARTNERS
25-30
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INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • SINGLESSWAG
By focusing on single women, and by mastering digital marketing
and customer service, this monthly subscription box service powers
steady growth and profi tability
whiz, started advertising on Facebook. After some trial and
error, he hit on a formula that works, currently funding a $15,000
daily Face-book ad budget. Plus, he still manages all as-pects of
digital advertising himself.
By focusing on engaging content and steer-ing clear of stigmas,
the company has also at-tracted an engaged audience of 1.2 million
ver-ifi ed followers across Instagram and Facebook. It’s appealing
because it’s a no-judgement zone. “People assume that single people
aren’t as happy or fulfi lled as their married friends, but we
don’t make assumptions. This is just a fun way for women to love
themselves,” he explains.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Philanthropy is also important to the Sin-glesSwag team. In
addition to donating a por-tion of monthly proceeds to breast
cancer re-search, it has donated more than 500 boxes, each valued
at over $200, to frontline health-care workers during the
Coronavirus pandemic. SinglesSwag sales have increased signifi
cantly during the pandemic. Keeping up with demand and customer
inquiries has been challenging. The customer service team fi elds
hundreds of emails and social media messages every day, “bending
over backwards” to ensure subscrib-ers are happy. That commitment
is good for retention, increased sales, and ultimately, the
company’s bottom line.
Marketing to single women has paid off, but you don’t have to be
a singleton to enjoy Sin-glesSwag products. Beskin says some
custom-ers aren’t even single—they just love the high retail value
of the boxes and the product mix, including SinglesSwag in-house
brands like cosmetics line Mollie Jacob and Violet Harper, a
jewelry company. Developing these brands while scaling SinglesSwag
is keeping Beskin busy. He also recently acquired a new
subscrip-tion box service, Paradise Delivered. He is ex-cited about
the name and for the opportunity to use his experience and
marketing prowess to build another profi table, fast-growing,
recur-ring revenue stream.
Even though half of the population is single, unattached people
are often ignored by mar-keters. Jonathan Beskin wants to change
that. He is the founder and CEO of SinglesSwag, a monthly
subscription box service designed for single women, delighting
recipients with fun, full-size, self-care and lifestyle products,
from skin care and cosmetics, to snacks and best-selling books.
Clearly, it’s working: the company ships 45,000 boxes a month to 30
dif-ferent countries.
Savvy digital marketing and a highly en-gaged social media
community have fueled a 1,950 percent 3-year growth rate, earning
SinglesSwag the No. 9 spot on Inc.’s ranking of Florida’s
fastest-growing companies. Best of all, the company has been profi
table from the day it launched.
BUILDING A PREDICTABLE
CUSTOMER-ACQUISITION MACHINE
Beskin, a single dad, dreamed up the busi-ness concept on a
lonely Saturday night in early 2016. Being a solo parent can be
tough, and he realized he could use a little pick-me-up; an
un-expected gift would be nice. He began looking at subscription
boxes and realized that there were none specifi cally for singles
like him. After some market research, he decided that there was a
bigger market for such boxes tailored to single women, and his idea
was a wrap.
Within its fi rst four months, SinglesSwag landed 400 customers.
But it really took off when Beskin, a self-taught digital
marketing
How this Subscription Box for Single Women Found Its Niche
Founder and CEO Jonathan Beskin
30+COUNTRIES
CUSTOMERS ACROSS
#9TOP FLORIDA
COMPANY
SINGLESSWAG.COM
CURRENTANNUAL REVENUE
15+MILLION
3-YEAR GROWTH IN REVENUE
PERCENT1,950
BOXES SHIPPED SINCE LAUNCHING
IN MAY 2016
800K
-
INC. 5000 BRANDED CONTENT • PARKHUB, INC.
This pioneer in parking and access control solutions is driving
change for its property owners and consumers
pricing or staffi ng strategy accordingly. “It is a
supply-and-demand business, so if you can improve yield management
over your assets, you can increase the revenue derived there-from,”
Baker notes.
Beyond revenue, ParkHub’s customers also save on labor costs and
improve the end-us-er experience by way of streamlined pro-cesses,
improved guest satisfaction, faster ingress, and increased
non-parking revenue. ParkHub’s case studies show guest
satisfac-tion scores improved by 40 percent and overall ROI was
more than 700 percent. Baker down-plays the complexity behind the
results that his team delivers: “It’s a simple formula: happier
customers, arriving earlier, should result in in-creased
revenue.”
ParkHub continues to expand its offer-ings. New York, Georgia,
and Utah work with ParkHub to manage entry into national state
parks and beaches and to enable workers to sell ancillary services,
from kayaks to beach towels. LiveNation uses ParkHub at more than
50 of its venues to authenticate and sell park-ing passes and event
tickets and to manage access to VIP areas. Baker notes that
compa-nies can use ParkHub’s technology, including its business
intelligence tool, Suite, to antici-pate customer behaviors and
exceed their ex-pectations. For example, a venue using Prime and
Suite will know when a customer parked their car, when they entered
the venue, what ancillary services they purchased, and when they
entered the VIP lounge.
Breadth of capabilities contributes to ParkHub’s high client
retention. Beyond that, Baker attributes success to the caliber of
the team and culture. Employees use data and core values to guide
their decision making and strive to exceed clients', and each
oth-er’s, expectations. Their approach is work-ing. ParkHub’s sales
pipeline has never been stronger—a testament to the team, the
tech-nology, and what happens when you when you reimagine the
status quo.
After decades without change, the parking industry was due for
disruption. ParkHub, a technology company that provides cloud-based
parking and access-control solutions to prop-erty management and
venue operating com-panies, is delivering that long-awaited
innova-tion to the industry. Its hardware and software services
drive operational effi ciencies, reduce costs, and increase revenue
for companies. The client case studies are impressive, and Founder
and CEO George Baker says that his team is just getting
started.
Baker practically grew up in a parking lot. He worked at his
family’s parking business, where he dealt with the cascading ineffi
ciencies that plagued the industry. Parking attendants fre-quently
miscounted (or intentionally overlooked) parkers; operations
managers lacked visibility into attendant performance; and venue
own-ers lacked the ability to compare event data, if they even had
it in the fi rst place. Baker took it upon himself to change the
industry. In 2014, he transitioned from parking operations to
parking innovation, and since making that shift, ParkHub has grown
by at least 100 percent every year, earning the business a place
among Inc.’s fi rst-ever list of top Texas businesses.
MORE THAN PARKING; MORE THAN
REVENUE
ParkHub's solutions did more than increase revenue for
customers. By digitizing park-ing assets, businesses can view and
measure their current parking occupancy and adjust
Ushering Parking Operations into a Contactless Future
Founder and CEO George Baker
#65TOP TEXASCOMPANY
PARKHUB.COM/INC5000
MILLION
491+IN MANAGED
REVENUE
CLIENT RETENTION
98%
DESTINATIONINSTALLS
580MORE THAN
OF THE MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL SPORTS
FRANCHISES
POWERING NEARLY
40%
InvictusLogenixMicroderm GloPivot InternationalPremier Health
SolutionsSinglesSwagParkHub Inc.