Fast 50 for Fourth Time: The Nerdery on Biz Journal’s list of Twin Cities’ fastest growing private companies
Ranked #11 after $14.2 million in 2010 revenue and a two-year growth rate of 119%
Minneapolis, October 7, 2011 – Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal today announced its annual rankings of fastest growing private companies in the Twin Cities – and The Nerdery qualified for the fourth consecutive year – this time coming in at #11 on the 2011 Fast 50 list.
Kris Szafranski, The Nerdery’s director of software development, spilled the following beans regarding the company’s success to Biz Journal assistant managing editor Kim Johnson:
Biz Journal: Have you needed to seek financing from new or alternate sources in the past year? If so, which sources?
Kris Szafranski: Even with nearly doubling our office space this year, no.
Biz Journal: What are five things that have contributed to your company’s success over the past three years?
Kris Szafranski:
- As a developer-driven interactive production shop that believes in distributed leadership, we let programmers – not their managers – call the shots on setting development standards for the company to follow.
- A focus on consistent delivery. There has been a concentrated effort in evaluating successes and duplicating those behaviors across the teams. This includes voicing concerns early and often.
- We’ve stuck to our engineering roots, executing ideas of others. Some development companies become marketing companies. That’s not in us, but we love helping creative minds get their ideas built.
- We encourage all employees to voice ideas and solve problems. We have several departments and roles that only exist because people saw a need and got the support to fill it. Those areas are now keys to our success. Our internal systems and structure are built with this in mind.
- We find ways to mix work with play. We’ve always had pockets of nerds that got together on their own time to pursue shared interests, but we’ve become more visually supportive of this and now have more than 20 Nerdery clubs – with everything from game development to loose leaf tea to wellness (or, WellNerds).
Biz Journal: What advice would you give others hoping to achieve growth similar to that of your company’s?
Kris Szafranski: Listen closely to feedback from your organization’s emerging leaders. Let them carve out their career, especially when their ambitions further the goals of the company.
Previous to going to 11 on the 2011 list, The Nerdery made its the Fast 50 debut at #23 in 2008, made the Sweet 16 in 2009 and reached #14 in 2010.
About The Nerdery
The Nerdery is a developer-driven interactive production shop that partners with creative minds and big thinkers to engineer and execute their interactive projects, including websites, social media and mobile apps. In 2010 and 2011, The Nerdery ranked #1 on the Best to Work list published by Mpls-St. Paul Business Journal. With offices in Chicago and Minneapolis, The Nerdery has a staff of 250+ and was founded in 2003 by three programming pioneers. The Nerdery was honored in 2010 with The Quality of Life Award and The Jefferson Award for its record of corporate philanthropy through The Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, at which volunteers have donated nearly two million dollars worth of web development services to 66 nonprofit organizations. In addition to Biz Journal’s Fast 50 list, The Nerdery has made the Inc 5000 list of fast-growing privately owned companies for four consecutive years.
Media Contact
Mark Malmberg
Communications Director
Office: (952) 948.1211 x1069
Cell: (612) 850.3178
