Ranked by revenue growth from 1996 to 1998 Executive Summary It’s hard to make generalizations about the Valley’s 15 fastest growing companies. By industry, they range from high-tech firms to construction companies and home health care providers; by age, they range from 50 years to three. (To qualify for the list, a company must be at least three years old, which excluded a few skyrocketing dot-com startups.) About half the companies on the list also appeared on last year’s list. The Valley’s fastest growing firms posted an average revenue growth rate of 77 percent between 1996 and 1998. For fiscal 1998, they reported combined total revenues of $1.6 billion. “The Valley on its own is a good-sized economic entity and more diverse than most people imagine,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. “Generally, the fastest growers tend to be younger, and recently they’ve been in technology or entertainment.” The pacesetter 3 POINT DIGITAL Like many high-tech startups, 3 Point Digital’s story is one of amazing growth 1,374 percent over the 1996-98 period. The Burbank-based computer and software reseller started out on a shoestring in 1996, when it had just four employees (counting founder Brett Markinson). “We would write checks, then have to grovel and beg to get money from our receivable clients,” said company President Mike Cavanaugh about the early days. “We would go out to lunch and strategize changes in the business, and everybody at the table was the entire company.” Today, 3 Point Digital boasts 58 employees and had nearly $34 million in 1998 sales. The company resells software and hardware and trains its clients how to use it. It also offers storage capacity for multimedia projects and methods for sending huge digital files to internal and external sources. Much of 3 Point Digital’s growth can be attributed to a deal signed in April 1998, when it became the exclusive distributor of Avid Technology’s higher-end products. Avid produces digital editing, audio systems and graphics programs. 3 Point’s client list now includes Warner Bros., Sony, Fox and Comedy Central. The company also recently helped actress Helen Hunt to assemble and add special grainy effects to faux home-movie footage for the finale of “Mad About You.”
