The Fastest-growing Promotional Products Companies on the 2013 Inc. 5000

On Tuesday, Inc. Magazine published its prestigious Inc. 5000 list of the country's fastest-growing companies, and as in years prior, a number of industry suppliers and distributors have made the list. The number of promotional products companies on the list increased by two to 39 businesses, divided between 7 suppliers and 32 distributors.

MSR Promo, a distributor headquartered in New York, was the highest-ranked company overall at 266. The top supplier company was Costa Mesa, California-based technology company OrigAudio at 307.

The Inc. 5000 list ranks U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit companies based on their percentage of revenue growth over a three-year period (2009-2012 for the most recent list). Companies that went public or were acquired before December 31, 2012 are ineligible for consideration. As a result, volume of business is less important than speed of growth, and younger companies are at a distinct advantage. The number one company on the list, Fuhu, earned $117.9 million in 2012 but had a three-year growth of 42,148 percent. Computer hardware supplier CDW, which had the highest revenue at $10.1 billion, had 41 percent growth, placing the company at 4788.

MSR Promo, which does business as SilkLetter and was the top ranking industry company, is a perfect example of an Inc. 5000 business. Started in 2007, the New York distributor went from $138,301 in revenue in 2009 to $2.4 million last year, a 1,630 percent increase.

Supplier OrigAudio is another Inc. success story, with three-year growth of 1,423 percent since 2009, the year it was founded. In addition to landing in the Inc. 500, company co-founder and business development director Jason Lucash was named the Emerging Entrepreneur of 2012 by Entrepreneur Magazine.

"We are so thrilled to be named to the Inc Magazine's '500 Fastest Growing Companies in America' list," Lucash said. "More importantly for us, we've been named the fastest growing supplier in the promotional products industry, which is the true validation that we've picked the right sector to focus our business in. We love the promo industry and so many distributors praise our products and I think that's the perfect equation to contribute to our success."