CallFire

Inc. Magazine Unveils 29th Annual List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies—the Inc. 500, 2010.

Inc. magazine yesterday ranked CallFire NO. 285 on its 29th annual Inc. 500, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy—America’s independent-minded entrepreneurs. Companies such as Microsoft, Zappos, Intuit, GoDaddy, Zipcar, Clif Bar, American Apparel, Oracle, and many other well-known names gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 500.

CallFire came in as the #2 cloud computing service and #18 overall company in the Los Angeles region. Within the telecommunications industry, CallFire ranked #15 among companies like ClearAccess and Xirrus. Dinesh Ravishanker, CEO of CallFire, attributes the strong growth to “economic circumstances requiring SMBs to leverage cost & time saving technologies like CallFire.” He adds that “CallFire also released our Phone Tree product (a powerful inbound and oubound IVR utility) which has been adopted by thousands of businesses which drove 20-30% of our revenue growth in less than a year.”

The 2010 Inc. 500, unveiled in the September issue of Inc. magazine, is a group of companies that are smaller but much faster-growing than last year’s crop. Aggregate revenue is $11.3 billion—down from last year’s $18.4 billion—but median three-year growth is 1,231 percent, substantially up from last year’s 880.5 percent. The companies on this year’s list employ more than 45,000 people.

The Hottest Regions for Fast-Growing Companies

California continues to rule the roost by number of companies on the Inc. 500, with 92, up from 84 last year and 78 in 2008. The Golden State is followed by Texas (52), Virginia (46), New York (36), and Florida (29). These five states place in the same order as last year, and each of them has more companies on the 500 than last year. They now account for more than half of the companies on the list.

Ranking Methodology

The 2010 Inc. 500 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2006 to 2009. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by June 30, 2006. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies—as of December 31, 2009. The minimum revenue required for 2006 is $80,000; the minimum for 2009 is $2 million.

Meet our executives at the Inc. 500 Award Ceremony and Conference

TJ Thinakaran, COO of CallFire, will be joined by Ravishanker when they visit Washington, DC. September 30th – October 2 for the Inc. 500 Award Ceremony and Conference. The event will bring together current Inc. 500|5000 honorees and alumni to recognize the achievements of fellow entrepreneurs and their contributions to the global economy.

This post was written by Matthew Lasar and originally featured on ArsTechnica.

Not long ago I was out of town, sitting in an unfamiliar neighborhood cafe and talking with a buddy on my mobile phone. Quick as a text message, the proprietor rushed in and pointed to a sign over the door forbidding such activities in her establishment. I obediently nodded, said my goodbyes, and shut the device down.

I then spent the next fifteen minutes listening to a couple at the adjacent table have a loud argument, about which the owner said nothing. Still, I try to be accommodating in these situations. It makes no sense to argue with folks about this stuff. Once people get it in their heads that checking tomorrow’s weather on your iPhone or Android device at the table is rude, it just is—until the day that it isn’t any more. But since everybody’s debating the appropriateness of cell phones and laptops in restaurants and cafes, it’s worth remembering that our attitudes towards communications gadgets change constantly. One way to get a sense of that is to read Claude S. Fischer’s wonderful tome, America Calling: A Social History of the Telephone to 1940.

The Telephone Pledge

From the late-19th through the early 20th-century, the telephone was the communications tool of the well-off and the middle class, Fischer notes. “Besides those with business reasons, it was the social elite who subscribed in 1900,” his survey of three northern California towns concluded. Doctors, lawyers, local storekeepers—these represented the Bell System’s core market. They were often the only people who could afford to lease the service. When blue collar households had to decide between a phone or a Model-T Ford, they often chose the latter. Although innovations like party lines and rural co-ops gradually expanded telephony to rural and urban working class consumers, by the early 1930s much of this progress was undone by the Depression. Between 1930 and 1933, over 2.5 million Americans dropped telephone service. The nationwide subscription rate fell by ten percent, to less than a third of the total  household market. Within this context, AT&T publicists took pains to portray the telephone as a respectable, middle class gadget, to be used politely and responsibly. Bell Telephone franchise ads constantly railed against rude or argumentative behavior over the receiver, as in a 1910 notice with the headline “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the Telephone.” “The marvelous growth of the Bell System has made use of the telephone universal and misuse a matter of public concern,” the ad warned. Some local phone companies even pushed for, and won, city laws making profanity in phone conversation a finable or jailable offense.

AT&T went so far as to send out a card titled “The Telephone Pledge.” “I believe in the Golden Rule and will try to be as Courteous and Considerate over the Telephone as if Face to Face,” it required consumers to declare.

Continue to read the full post from ArsTechnica here.

1. News/Updates – Important and time sensitive customer updates can be sent directly to your opt-in client or customer using SMS! Plus, people like knowing stuff first. Send your customers updates about product launches, product updates or events. Consider a news text like a micro-newsletter with bite-size updates.

2. Emergency Notification – SMS is a great way to notify your group or team during an emergency. Send critical updates during natural disasters, last minute event location changes or just before your company’s all-hands meeting.

3. Promotions – Travel agents are using texts to their customer databases to highlight special offers and promotions, which can be tailored to individual preferences. Send a message with a unique discount code for customers to redeem. The exclusive code creates incentive to stay on the list for future promotions.

4. Contests – Launch a text messaging contest to your database with a text-to-win campaign. Try sending out a follow up text about the winner of the contest so customers will continue to enter for upcoming contests.

5. SMS Coupons - Use SMS coupons to give out specific coupons or coupon codes for a customer loyalty program. Also when coupled with in-store promotions, texting becomes a strong vehicle for small businesses with newer clientele.

6. Customer Service - Many offer customer support and problem resolution via text. Customers are also able to check order status, track their packages and receive back order notification alerts.

7. Events – Implement a text messaging marketing strategy to promote weekly meetups or networking events. Send out key logistic information like changes of venue or detailed parking instructions.

8. Non-profits & Causes - In Spain on the eve of Election Day in 2004, demonstrations were banned 24 hours prior to an election. Instead, protested rallied via text messaging, utilizing the country’s 94% mobile phone penetration rate in Spain.  Start to rally volunteers who are mobile warriors supporting your next cause.

9. Lead Generation - Gyms worldwide are using mobile marketing to generate leads through stronger databases, send out new membership promotions and offer updates on new classes and class cancellations.