The odds are one in 50 that an idea becomes a business, then one in 20 that a funded business sees an initial public offering (IPO) and, finally, one in 20 that a public company achieves $1 billion revenue.1 The odds of turning an idea into a billion-dollar business, then, are one in 20,000! A long shot. Nevertheless, we chase this dream. We want to be among the few winners.

The Blueprint to a Billion™ Growth Pattern

What does it really take to become a billion-dollar company? Turns out, the answer did not come from soft subjects such as organizational development or leadership theory, or from an examination of divisions or operating units in larger companies.It came from a quantitative and fact-based analysis of America's fastest growing companies.
Furthermore, the analysis had to hinge on what is often overlooked: revenue performance. Every company can invest, even over invest, to grow. However, not every company can create revenue growth. How many times have you heard a CEO announcing quarterly results stating that earnings did not meet expectations because of a revenue shortfall, yet expenditures met or exceeded budget?
Microsoft, Google, eBay, Staples, Genentech, Starbucks, Time Warner, Nike, First Third Bancorp, and Harley-Davidson…these are a few examples of an elite group of companies that turned Big Ideas into billion-dollar businesses. What "blueprint" did they follow to product such results? What commonalities arose among these very different companies in a wide range of industries? Based on years of in-depth research, David Thomson's Blueprint to a Billon provides the first quantitative assessment of the success pattern common across a distinct group of "elite" group of 387 "Blueprint Companies" - the 5% that have IPO'd since 1980 and grown to $1 billion in revenue.
The Blueprint Companies have a simple but definable characteristic: they not only grew fast, they exhibited exponential revenue growth. Exponential is super-compounding: It describes companies that can double revenue every year, for example. The non-$1 billion companies had random, linear, or no growth. Exponential growth is the only growth pattern that can get companies to $1B revenue.

Revenue Growth: The Masses versus Blueprint Companies

Source: Standard & Poor's Compustat, Blueprint analysis

David Thomson has been leading business growth for 20 years in general management and executive sales and marketing roles at Nortel Networks and Hewlett-Packard. He also served as an Associate Principal during his five years at McKinsey & Company. His book, Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth is the first quantitative dissection of how America's most successful companies made it to the top. The book has just been released by John Wiley & Sons and is available through bookstores or Amazon.com. Please refer to www.blueprinttoabillion.com for additional information or to order the book.