Growth Capital Source; 100 Fastest Growing; Branson on Growth; Growth Summit Rooms Running Low

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Hotel Rooms Fortune Growth Summit -- normally I'm not sending this out until September, however, just over 400 of our 540 room night allotment at the Orlando Ritz Carlton has already been booked -- so if you're planning to attend the Fortune Growth Summit, book your rooms NOW (and register now -- only $250/seat deposit required and gets you better seats). This way we can beg for more rooms at the $169 conference rate sooner (we did run out of rooms at the Sales Summit). Here's a link to hotel info.

100 Fastest Growing Firms -- Fortune just released their latest list. See which firms and industries prospered in 2009. It shouldn't be surprising that a gold mining firm is #1, with the soaring price of gold. And coming in at #8 is early Gazelles' investor Alan Trefler and his firm Pegasystems, up from #19 last year. Also take a look at Fortune's list of the top 3 "Rising Stars -- firms Fortune feels will be the next Apple or Starbucks in size. All three play in growth industries: alternative energy, internet marketing, and healthcare and have significant technological leads.

Do You Need Growth Capital -- the first law of growth is "growth sucks cash." If you urgently need $2 million to $10 million to fuel growth, Peak6 wants to invest $50 million into a group of growth firms using TIGRcub revenue-based security contracts. Chicago-based Peak6, with over $1 billion under management, tested their first TIGRcub last year, investing $3 million in a technology firm. Given the positive results for both Peak6 and the technology firm, Peak6 is ramping up to fund more growth firms using this process.

Growth Using Revenue-based Security Contracts -- this is actually how Wall Street got started; they've been used to fund most oil and gas deals; and this is how Richard Branson has structured all his 250 company deals. In essence, you receive a chunk of change and then commit a small slice of your future revenue in return (like a royalty) -- this way the investor doesn't have to worry about how you might manage the bottom line -- they mainly care that you're growing the top line (these investments are for firms that have growth plans). And the revenue percentage isn't much more than what we pay Amex or Visa which take 3% off the top of all transactions. If you have good margins, this is a great way to get growth capital without giving up any stock or dealing with banks. Contact Stephen Watkins at Entrex if interested in Peak6's money.

Richard Branson on Growth -- speaking of Branson, here's an excellent 13 minute interview with Sir Richard. Always good to get a regular dose of Branson's enthusiasm. Thanks to John Papaloukas at Vancouver-based Village Pizza for pointing me to this excellent interview.

Germany's Growth Rate -- the global buzz last weekend was the stunning 2.2% quarter to quarter growth (almost 9% annual) Germany reported. They shunned the notion of stimulus spending, encouraged companies and labor to work to control wages, reduced unemployment benefits, and continued policies that support the growth company sector. And Germany's exporting strength to China, India, US, Brazil, etc. has been the backbone of their recovery, far outdistancing France, UK, and the rest of Europe. Take five minutes to read this Financial Times article quoting my favorite business author of all time, Hermann Simon (keynoted last year's Growth Summit). And if for some reason you can't access this article, here's the NY Times more politically-bent article.

Next Round of Growth -- and this note from Joseph Beccalori, founder of Interact Marketing, focused on managing companies online reputations "This is my 3rd Rockefeller (Habits-driven) Company... just reading up on basics again and getting serious about next round of growth." Congrats Joseph! Keep on growing and growing and growing.