No. 3: SKC Communications, 16 appearances
SKC Communications attributes its “tremendous growth”—it ranks third in the CR 100’s longest-running category, with 16 years on the list—to the relationships it enjoys with customers, manufacturers, and employees.
SKC borrows still another page from the Bloch manual on entrepreneurial success, and that is the willingness to adapt the company’s business model to opportunities in the marketplace. In 1986, the company had begun its operation in Kansas City as a distributor of Plantronics’ headsets. Today, SKC is Plantronics’ largest distributor worldwide, but much of the company’s growth has come in areas that did not even exist in 1986. For instance, videoconferencing.
Early on, SKC positioned itself not as a headset distributor but rather as a company that provides “technology solutions.” These solutions enable SKC clients to communicate effectively with their stakeholders. A second generation of leadership—CEO Jay Vedock and his four siblings—bought the company from their founding father/step-father, Paul Ammeen, in 2002 and have continued to grow the company steadily ever since.
No. 6 (tied): Boulevard Brewing Co., 12 APPEARANCES
The sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev in 2008 gave Boulevard Brewing Co. owner John McDonald a distinction that he likely did not anticipate when he founded the company: status as the largest independent brewery in the state of Missouri. Boulevard, in fact, is now the 16th-largest active brewery in the United States and the largest craft brewer in the Midwest.
McDonald started modestly—he delivered the first brewed barrel personally to Ponak’s, just across the street on Southwest Boulevard—and he has resisted the temptation to sacrifice the company’s distinctiveness for the sake of quick growth. He has, however, expanded his operation, and with the last expansion added two large hospitality rooms that overlook downtown Kansas City. Between the many receptions held there and the tours of the brewing and bottling operation, McDonald had turned Boulevard into something of a tourist attraction and Kansas City institution.
No. 11 (tied): Garmin Industries, 10 appearances
Of the companies that have made the CR 100 list 10 years or more, the one company other than Cerner that has come to define a very industry the way H&R Block defined the tax-preparation business is Garmin International. The company derives its name from a rather humble blend of the first names of the two co-founders, Gary Burrell and Min Kao.
Burrell and Kao came of age worlds apart, Burrell at Wichita State University and Kao at National Taiwan University. They met when Burrell hired Kao to work at a descendant of King Radio, another Kansas City start up. While working with Burrell, Kao led the team that developed the first GPS navigation system to be certified by the FAA for use in airplanes.
In 1989, the two engineers thought it might be time to start their own company and pooled their personal savings to get the business off the ground. To be sure, all successful enterprises involve not only initiative but also risk.
Successful entrepreneurs also must be able to seize an opportunity when it presents itself. In 1955, for instance, the government stopped preparing individual income tax forms for taxpayers. That is the year the Blochs started focusing on the tax preparation business.
In the 1980s, the government made available for civilian use the 24 satellites it had placed into orbit for defense purposes. Burrell and Kao took advantage of the opportunity to create civilian-based global positioning systems.
In the two decades that followed, Garmin continued to innovate and invest. Although the company added any number of new markets and new applications, it remained true to its stated goal, specifically to create navigation and communication devices that could and did enrich its customers’ lives.
The company started with fewer than a dozen employees in 1989 but had grown to more than 1,000 within the first 10 years. Ten years after that, the employee base had swollen to more than 7,000, a plurality of those in Olathe and the rest around the world.
Epilog
Historically, Kansas City has nurtured an environment conducive to the entrepreneur: the rule of law, business-sensitive governments, reasonable levels of regulation and taxation, a strong work ethic, and a zeitgeist that celebrates success. For the sake of the area, and for the sake of the CR 100, let us hope that this environment is sustainable. 