The UK always features very highly in the European rankings of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Europe and so can perhaps be used as a bellwether for European technology companies more generally. What really struck me about this survey was the difference in attitudes between the entrants into the 2008 awards (going into a global recession) and the 2009 awards (right in the thick of it).

Impact of the Recession

• The survey of 2008 entrants revealed that only 3% of them expected the recession to have a significant negative effect on their business.
• In 2009, 14% of the entrants expected the recession to have a significant negative effect on their business.

This is a significant change but was counter-balanced by a far more interesting response.

• In 2008, not a single company reported that it expected the recession to have a positive effect on their business.
• In 2009, 18% reported that the recession had had a positive effect on their business.

Apart from showing that CEOs and founders were as spooked by the markets as much as investors were as the recession started, we wondered what was going on here. I would be interested in other opinions and views.

The fastest growing technology businesses, (a proxy for best run?), seem to have employed a combination of these issues in their organisations to profit from the downturn.

• The internet as both a cost saver and a way of extending the geographical reach of a business. (Duh!). As many of the companies in the Fast 50 are Internet businesses, this factor is magnified.
• Outsourcing and streamlining activities, especially back office functions, as a cost cutting measure.
• More marketing. Many businesses actually spent more time, not necessarily more money, on marketing during this period. This meant that they were able to focus on cleaner customer propositions and make their marketing spend go further as the competition for marketing spend intensified.
• Lower capital requirements Many CEOs recognised that raising capital was going to be very hard very early on. They adjusted their plans accordingly, got their heads down and didn’t waste time looking for sources of capital that weren’t there. Others didn’t, got hugely frustrated and were not running their businesses.
• Excuse to Spring Clean Almost no business can claim to be running completely efficiently. The arrival of the recession gave many the opportunity to take a hard look at their staffing levels, activities – core and non-core, pet projects and make a whole bunch of hard decisions all in one go.

We would be interested to hear of the experience of others.

If you would like to enter the Deloitte Fast 50 awards, you don’t have long to do so. Closing deadline is 17th September. More information at http://www.fast50.co.uk

Download the Deloitte Fast 50 Survey here: Deloitte Tech Fast 50 Decade in Review

Here are the UK winners for the past 10 years:

• 2000, Phytopharm
• 2001, Sourcing Partnerships
• 2002, Cambridge Display Technology
• 2003, Active Hotels Ltd
• 2004, Lastminute.com
• 2005, Trigold
• 2006, MX Telecom
• 2007, ByBox Holdings
• 2008, Thunderhead
• 2009, Distribution Technology
• 2010, ???????

I wonder how many of you feel the same way?

The BLN and Business of Software share the same philosophy. That is one reason why we think the Business of  Software conference is probably the most valuable event in the US that CEOs and Founders of software companies can participate in. Successful businesses are not all obsessed with coming up with a new and exciting idea, raising venture capital then exiting. This event is for people with the vision to see beyond the hype.

If you are a CEO or Founder of  software business, whether organically grown or venture backed, or if you are a VC and want to meet some of the best practitioners in the business, you should give some very serious thought to getting to Boston between October 4th and 6th this year.

Here is a two minute video that gives you a quick view of last year’s event.

One thing makes an awesome conference – awesome people. Here are some of the awesome speakers that will be talking, eating, meeting and learning from the awesome participants:

Joel Spolsky, Fog Creek Software

“My VC Year” – After ten years of running a slow-growth, bootstrapped software company that was profitable from day 1, I found myself running a fast-growth, VC-funded internet company that is actually trying to get unprofitable. I’ll reflect on some of the differences and some of what I’ve learned from going over to the dark side.

Seth Godin, sethgodin.com

“Are you afraid to truly make an impact? The opportunity for linchpin organizations and the people who run them.”

Eric Sink, SourceGear

“Stuff I Learned from Selling Our Company to Microsoft” – Over the years, we’ve been approached by several parties interested in acquiring our company. I learned a lot from those discussions, even though none of the deals happened.

Paul Kenny, Ocean Learning

“Engaging Dialogue” – In his presentation Paul will build on the material covered in 2008 and 2009. In this session Paul will explore how best to get the customer really talking about their needs their concerns and their aspirations. We will explore how best to use our questioning and listening skills to engage the customer in a meaningful dialogue, which will help not only to identify an appropriate solution, but also to enhance the customer experience.

Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot

“Building A Great Software Business: Notes From The Field” – Dharmesh (who is not used to writing about himself in the third person) is obsessed with software companies. When he’s not working on his own startup, he’s reading about building software companies, investing in software companies, blogging about building great software companies or engaged in passionate debate with fellow entrepreneurs as to how to go about building great software companies.

Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni, Balsamiq

“Do Worry… Be Happy!” – One thing they don’t tell you about quitting your job to become a startup CEO is how much you’re going to worry about things.

Jason Cohen, Smart Bear Software

“From Geek to Entrepreneur” – As a geek who has started three successful companies, I’ve had to move from “coder” to everything else — salesman, marketer, accountant, and changer of the pellets in the urinals. In the process, I’ve found that some widely accepted advice lead to failure while trusting my inexperienced gut lead to success. Through stories I’ll give you six ways to figure out whether specific advice is right for your situation, and then workshop those lessons against the 37signals philosophy.

Eric Ries, The Lean Startup

“The Lean Startup: A Scientific Approach to Innovation.” – Most software projects fail. Most startups fail. Most new products are never used. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

David Russo, Eno River Associates, Inc.

“Company Culture and its DNA: “For Better For Worse, For Richer For Poorer …” – Summary – The presenter, David Russo, who consults with high tech companies regarding high performance management, and growing attractive and sustaining employer brands, and who is the author of the book 17 Rules Successful Companies Use to Attract and Keep Top Talent (2010 Financial Times Press), will use research conducted by top business school professors and his own experience as both executive and “trusted advisor” to show how the way the company sets itself up from inception to find, hire, engage, reward, and keep its “talent” plays a large part in whether a company grows, finds success, rewards investors and incumbents, and even lives or dies … regardless of the quality of the science, technology, innovation, or discovery.

Scott Farquhar, Atlassian

“From Bootstrap to $60m. What I’ve learnt” – Atlassian has been a successful software bootstrap, right up until we took $60m funding from Accel Partners in July 2010. Scott packs some of what he’s learnt about running a software company into thirty minutes. You’ll hear about how to pick a business model, how to get free marketing, how we hired 32 people in 6 months, and how we built a workplace that has won numerous HR awards.

Derek Sivers, MuckWork

“Profit Models” – Explore many wildly different profit models from a bird’s eye view. Abstracted to memorable shapes, it’s simple and inspiring to apply them to your business.

Rob Walling, SoftwareByRob.com

“The Primary Goal of Your Website” – What’s the primary goal of your website? Not to sell software. With most visitors returning multiple times before making a purchase, your primary goal should be to draw visitors back to your site. In this talk, Rob looks in-depth at why this is the case, and how to make it happen.

The Cranky Product Manager, DysfunctoSoft

The Cranky Product Manager is a fictional product management professional at a fictional enterprise software vendor named DysfunctoSoft. The Cranky PM has been officially in product management for many years, but before that spent time in the trenches as a developer and professional services slave. All told, she’s been working in tech for lots of years, at companies ranging from itty-bitty startups to IBM-sized behemoths. The Cranky Product Manager’s personality flaws and character failings include a passion for sodium-encrusted food, snarkiness, cynicism, abject driving skills, bluntness, and an absolute inability to tolerate pompous jackasses. The Cranky Product Manager might be revealing her true identity at Business of Software 2010. Or she might appear in wig and sunglasses. She hasn’t decided yet.

Mark Stephens, IDRSolutions

“(Don’t) Panic” – Something is wrong. Maybe you are just not checking your emails enough? Actually, it’s not you. The software universe really has gone mad and you need to step back and re-evaluate big time. This is your chance. The talk aims to take a long, cynical look at both the past and the future, give you some new ideas, and pose lots of those awkward, searching questions you try to avoid. All in 42 slides. And with kittens.

Dan Bricklin, Software Garden, Inc.

Dan Bricklin is currently president of Software Garden, Inc., a small consulting firm and developer of software applications that he founded in 1985.

Mr. Bricklin is best known for codeveloping VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the Harvard Business School. VisiCalc is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.

If those people mean nothing to you, and the themes of their talks don’t get you interested, you are probably not the right sort of participant. If they do, then find a way to get there and take part.

The BLN  will be there and we strongly suggest you give it some thought too. If you want to get involved, use the code ‘BLN’ on registration and you will receive a $200 discount. (And, ‘No!’, we don’t get commission, we just think this is an awesome event and that our members are the kind of people who would value taking part).

Hope to see you there. More info: Business of  Software

I was incredibly touched, and chuffed, to receive an intriguing package in the post this morning. Inside was a very kind an inspiring note and this awesome T-shirt.

For the first time in 40 years I actually feel like a boss!

Thank you so much Jana and Spreadshirt. If you don’t already know Spreadshirt, you are missing out on the best way to make a point in public without having to take your clothes off.

If you are growing rapidly, and have been in business for more than five years, you should seriously consider entering.

Companies benefit  in a number of ways:

• The opportunity to measure themselves against the fastest growing companies in the UK.
• Great opportunities to meet and share ideas with the owners/managers of other high achieving organisations.
• Press recognition of the achievements of your organisation.
• There will be an afternoon networking event followed by gala dinner to announce the EMEA 500 winners at the Emirates Stadium (Arsenal FC), in London, 25th November for all entrants. (Last year the event was held at Chelsea FC and my colleague Darren was caught trying to walk off with the FA Cup). Sadly for Arsenal fans, the opportunities for stealing silverware at the Emirates will probably be more limited.
• Award winners report that winning has helped them recruit star employees, boost staff morale, open new customer relationships, reassure existing customers that they are working with a leading organisation, personal lives improve and kittens are spared horrible deaths.*

Don’t just take my word for it. Ben Goss – CEO, Distribution Technology (2009 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winner) says on camera,

“Winning the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 last year has had a significant positive impact across the company and the strength of Deloitte’s brand has helped recruitment and international business development.”

Far from harming his business, the recession has thrown up opportunities for Distribution Technology. Uncertainty in the financial services sector is actually helping Distribution technology, who provide financial planning software to independent financial advisors. They have seen a very fast uptake as a result of increased regulation and decreasing margins. Ben’s interview can be viewed here.

Phil Walker, CEO, Thunderhead

His thoughts were echoed by Phil Walker – MD EMEA, Thunderhead the (2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 winner),

“Winning the Fast 50 in 2008 enhanced Thunderhead’s brand and has been brilliant for marketing.”

Phil joined Thunderhead from Capgemini Consulting, where he was SVP and COO, as he saw the significant potential to grow Thunderhead’s international business.

“At a time when many companies are bedding down and adopting a cautious approach to their markets, Thunderhead is bucking the trend with increased revenue growth, a strong customer pipeline and continued product innovation.”

Early entrants will also have the opportunity to be interviewed on camera for a series of short interviews to be featured on the Fast50 website, as well as here at the BLN.

You can see some of the interviews that have already been produced here.

Closing date for submissions is 17th September. Video interviews of selected entrants will be made in August and early September so get your entries in fast! http://www.deloitte.co.uk/Fast50

* Mainly true.