Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia

What started as an idea to bring recognition to our region has emerged as a new standard – a standard of excellence.

The Philadelphia 100 is a merit based program. Only companies that are among the fastest growing, privately-held companies are awarded the Philadelphia 100 designation. The integrity of the process and the resulting list
makes the Philadelphia 100 one of the most sought awards in the region.

Started in 1998 by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Business Journal and the Wharton SBDC, the Philadelphia 100 has recognized some of the region’s finest companies when they were just beginning to emerge: Mothers’ Work, Fiberlink, Urban Outfitters, Forman Mills, Kremer Laser Eye Center, and Primavera Systems, just to name a few.

In 1988, a group of entrepreneurial supporters and professional service providers gathered at the Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia to brainstorm about how to highlight the contribution of entrepreneurial companies to the region. The result of this brainstorm was the birth of the Philadelphia 100®, a yearly research project to identify the fastest growing, privately held companies.

The original architects of this project included business researcher, Bill Madway, David Thornburgh of the Wharton Small Business Development Center, local venture capitalists, Terry Collison and Tom Penn, and attorney Bill Scari.

The Philadelphia 100 has been an inspiration to other cities and regions throughout the United States. Approximately 10 other cities/regions have consulted with the Philadelphia 100 about how they could start their own 100 list.

In 1998, The Philadelphia 100 compiled a list of the Top 25 companies all-time performers for the first 10 years (based on revenues). At that time, that list of performers were contributing $4.4 billion and employing over 35,000 people.

When these results are juxtaposed against the performance of the Fortune 500 (which have lost 5 million jobs since 1980 according to the National Commission on Entrepreneurism), the importance of Philadelphia 100 companies to the vibrancy and vitality of the region is readily understood.

In 2004, the Philadelphia 100 Hall of Fame was created as a way of honoring those winners who repeatedly made the list. The criteria for this honor is: any company which makes the Philadelphia 100 list of fastest, growing privately held companies five times or more or any person who holds the position of CEO for two or more Philadelphia 100 companies at the time they appeared on the Philadelphia 100 list of fastest growing, privately held companies five times or more. To date, 43 companies and CEOs into the Philadelphia 100 Hall of Fame have been inducted.

The Philadelphia 100® is an annual project conducted by the Entrepreneurs' Forum of Greater Philadelphia, Philadelphia Business Journal and Wharton Small Business Development Center. By tracking the fastest growing, privately held companies in the Greater Philadelphia, we

• help to spread the word about the economic vitality of the Greater Philadelphia region to spawn, support and grow a diverse group of businesses,
• place a spotlight on the 100 fastest growing, privately held companies which forms the backbone of the region's economy
• develop the business acumen of the region by sharing success stories,
• measure the economic impact these companies have on the economy, and
• collect vital information that can help elected officials and regional planners to meet the economics needs of the region and to provide an intelligent infrastructure to enhance growth.

The Entrepreneurs’ Forum of Greater Philadelphia supports the creation and development of high growth firms by delivering essential resources, education and networking opportunities to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. The Forum serves as a clearing house and focal point, offering entrepreneurs, inventors, investors and professional advisors a forum to exchange ideas, advice and investment opportunities. We do this by providing information, programming, resources and networking opportunities to the entrepreneurial community. For more information visit us at www.efgp.org/index.php

The Wharton Small Business Development Center (WSBDC), a division of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, was founded in 1980 and is one of 18 SBDCs in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The WSBDC provides free consulting services to entrepreneurs as well as educational workshops for which we charge a nominal fee. The Wharton SBDC is strongly committed to helping small businesses in the Philadelphia area. (For our purposes, a small business is defined as having less than $10,000,000 in revenue per year and fewer than 100 employees). While our workshops are open to all, our consulting services are generally limited to for-profit ventures. The Wharton SBDC is located at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has been a driving force in the growth of over 20,000 small businesses in just the past decade. For more information visit us at www.whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/

On line and in print, Philadelphia Business Journal, delivers the latest breaking regional business news. In addition, readers are able to sign up to receive email products including daily business news updates, latest news of 46 industries from around the nation and the latest networking and marketing alerts. The Philadelphia Business Journal is owned by our parent company, American City Business Journals [acbj.com]. For more information visit us at www.philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia