Tim Weller knows his way round B2B publishing. He founded Incisive Media in 1995 with 13 employees and has led it ever since doing some very high profile deals along the way. At peak, some 2,000 people worked at Incisive although the group has been through a painful restructuring over the past 18 months it is now an organisation of 700 people.

Tim Weller, CEO, Incisive Media

Restructuring the business has also meant that Incisive has focused on building the business it wants to be going forward in a way that has been harder for many other publishers. Tim just wrote his first blog post – a surprise as Incisive is remarkably web-centric as he proved at our recent discussion.  A bit of a rallying call for the troops, but some very valuable insights into what he is thinking.

One thing particularly stood out for. It is a hugely important point. I agree with him and I think will increasingly make a difference to established publishers as they make the move into new forms of distribution:

“Branded content and established brands matter more than ever; they stand out from the market noise, representing authority, trust and integrity. And, quality journalism represents a greater barrier to entry today, regardless of platforms and technology innovations.”

The Deloitte Fast 50 winners list was announced today. As far as I know this is the only competitive list of companies that uses revenue growth over 5 years as the measurement, rather than having a series of sometimes arbitrary judging criteria. Congratulations to all the winners, many of whom we have had the pleasure of talking to over the year.

Look beyond the list of winners, there is some very interesting news here. Despite this being a ‘difficult year’ for many, one thing is particularly interesting about this year’s list – the fifitieth ranked company on the 2009 list would have ranked 40th on the equivalent list last year. Despite everything that is thrown at them (everything except bail outs), it appears that UK technology companies are still driving hard and playing a critical part in the recovery of the economy.

Here is this year’s list of UK winners.

• 1 Distribution Technology Software 18225%
• 2 Heart Internet Limited Internet 8548%
• 3 ApaTech Biotechnology 8318%
• 4 Probability plc Software 7785%
• 5 Lovefilm International Media and entertainment 5694%
• 6 Ecourier Other 5291%
• 7 Timico Limited Telecommunications 5055%
• 8 Broadbean Technology Internet 4802%
• 9 SLA Mobile Internet 4436%
• 10 Bigmouthmedia Limited Internet 4111%
• 11 Traffic Broker Internet 3798%
• 12 Connexions4London Internet 3425%
• 13 Retail Eyes Other 3295%
• 14 Auros Limited Internet 3294%
• 15 The Book Depository Internet 2593%
• 16 Ubisense Electronics 2513%
• 17 Netbasic Internet 2407%
• 18 Weare London Internet 2133%
• 19 Glasses Direct Internet 2098%
• 20 BlueGnome Biotechnology 2026%
• 21 Jagex Limited Other 1659%
• 22 Merit Merrell Technology Limited Other 1462%
• 23 Sensornet Limited Other 1403%
• 24 Assima Software 1290%
• 25 TH_NK Limited Media and entertainment 1271%
• 26 Critical Software Internet 1262%
• 27 Intamac Internet 1202%
• 28 picoChip Electronics 1171%
• 29 AVM Other 1103%
• 30 Easy Date Internet 1062%
• 31 Skyscanner Internet 1013%
• 32 Redtray Limited Other 999%
• 33 Bluefish plc Telecommunications 984%
• 34 Bloxx Software 966%
• 35 murphx Internet 960%
• 36 Rocela Software 935%
• 37 7 Digital Internet 928%
• 38 Widget UK Ltd Peripherals 924%
• 39 O-bitTelecom Limited Telecommunications 829%
• 40 ONELAN Limited Software 795%
• 41 Opti-cal Survey Equipment Limited Other 757%
• 42 Thunderhead Limited Computer and peripherals 743%
• 43 OB10 Other 728%
• 44 Gradwell dot com Internet 726%
• 45 AI Digital Limited Internet 725%
• 46 Valueworks Software 723%
• 47 Endava Limited Other 714%
• 48 Excelian Limited Other 699%
• 49 UKFast Internet 690%
• 50 Greenlight Internet 680%

Here are the winners for 2008 for comparison.

• 1 Thunderhead Limited Software vendor 28,558%
• 2 Ubisense Real-time location systems 15,324%
• 3 picoChip Semiconductors 4,483%
• 4 OB10 B2B invoicing network 3,488%
• 5 Bigmouthmedia Ltd Digital marketing agency 3,357%
• 6 TH_NK Ltd Digital agency 3,137%
• 7 Broadbean Technology Advertising distribution services 2,882%
• 8 Content and Code Ltd Software 2,855%
• 9 Nexus Oncology Limited Clinical research 2,614%
• 10 RapidSwitch Ltd Internet hosting 2,437%
• 11 Digital Window Ltd Online marketing solutions 2,319%
• 12 Redtray Limited e-Learning solutions 2,056%
• 13 Coast Digital Limited Digital marketing agency 1,948%
• 14 Greenlight Search marketing agency 1,749%
• 15 Opti-cal Survey Equipment Ltd Optical survey equipment 1,664%
• 16 Assima Technology solutions 1,615%
• 17 ByBox Holdings Ltd Logistics 1,340%
• 18 Daisy Communications Communications 1,202%
• 19 Bloxx IT Security 1,182%
• 20 Excelian Limited IT consultancy 1,175%
• 21 Miniclip Ltd Gaming 1,171%
• 22 Comtec Enterprises ICT solutions 1,052%
• 23 CSR plc Wireless devices 1,027%
• 24 Sensornet Ltd Fibre optic sensing solutions 1,000%
• 25 Xtreme Business Solutions Ltd Cabling and telecoms suppliers 997%
• 26 UK Digital Cameras Ltd Online retailer 970%
• 27 Dezrez Services Ltd Software 965%
• 28 UKFast Internet hosting 894%
• 29 Sponge Ltd Mobile marketing agency 854%
• 30 Rocela Limited Software 844%
• 31 O-bitTelecom Limited Telecommunications 829%
• 32 Memset Internet hosting 823%
• 33 Dynamic Change Ltd Software 817%
• 34 Wavex Technology Limited IT services 816%
• 35 Widget UK Ltd IT distributor 800%
• 36 Bluhalo Ltd Digital marketing agency 779%
• 37 How Splendid Ltd Web design agency 779%
• 38 iMeta Technologies Ltd Software 734%
• 39 Chess plc Telecommunications 723%
• 40 StaffPlan Software 704%
• 41 Switch Media Plc Internet services 682%
• 42 YouGov plc Online research 667%
• 43 2ergo Mobile marketing 624%
• 44 Virtual IT Limited IT services 611%
• 45 Mobile Commerce Ltd Mobile search 590%
• 46 Valueworks Internet software services 589%
• 47 Lagan* Software 560%
• 48 Bluefin Solutions SAP solutions 549%
• 49 Griffin Internet IP products 523%
• 50 Entanet International Ltd Voice and data connectivity services 514%

Beyond event that. 50th this year would have placed you 45th in 2007, 41st in 2006 and 12th(!) in 2005. You can see a complete list of previous winners here.

Our next BLN CEO Tales networking drinks event will be held in London on 3rd December from 18.00 – 20.30. BLN CEO Tales networking drinks are an opportunity for an ever growing community of quality venture- and private equity-backed entrepreneurs, VCs, PE investors and corporates  to connect and share experiences with their peers.

The theme for the three short talks from Ben Drury (7Digital), Kieron Smith (The Book Depository) and Jay Bregman (eCourier) will address the question, “Why has the recession been good for us?”

Featured speakers:

Keiron Smith, The Book Depository

Kieron Smith, The Book Depository: The UK’s largest dedicated online bookseller was founded in 2004. They focus on selling ‘less of more’ rather than ‘more of less’, differentiating itself from other retailers who increasingly focus on bestsellers. Now the world’s fastest growing bookseller, The Book Depository saw the last 12 months’ sales topping £62m, dispatching over 100,000 parcels a week worldwide. Kieron has worked in the book trade for over twelve years at WHSmith, setting up Ottakars.co.uk in 1999, heading up the web offering at BCA and operations at Methven’s, Head of Online operations at Waterstones.com and then as Managing Director of innovative start-up BookRabbit. He was Head of Online at GAME.co.uk. He joined The Book Depository as MD in July 2008.

Jay Bregman, ecourier

Jay Bregman, eCourier: is a technology-enabled service provider with the purple vans. eCourier solves a fundamental problem in the same day delivery market that hasn’t changed much since the 1970s – humans issuing work to couriers via radio provides low efficiency, high overheads, and diseconomies of scale. Jay turned a personal frustration with same day couriers into a £6m business in four years, recently ranked 6 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 rankings of the fastest-growing and most innovative technology companies in the country. Prior to eCourier, Jay worked at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. In 2009 Jay was named an ‘Enterprising Young Brit’ by Make Your Mark, despite hailing from New York City.

Ben Drury, 7Digital

Ben Drury, 7Digital:taps into demand for digital media, 7digital operates services that bring together suppliers and consumers of digital media. 7digital was backed by Balderton Capital and Sutton Place, the investment vehicle of Mark Getty and HMV took a 50% stake in 7 digital in September 2009. 7digital.com was the first company in Europe to launch DRM-free MP3 downloads with all four major record labels. Ben began his career as a founder of dotmusic.com andmoved to become Head of Music at BT, where Ben launched a major music channel and led the acquisition of his old company in 2002. Ben founded 7digital with James Kane in 2004 to create a digital media marketplace. 7digital featured in the Deloitte Fast 50 technology companies in October 2009. Ben is also the Deputy Chairman and Director of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) and is a board director the Official UK Charts Company.

Confirmed attendees include: Advent Venture Partners, Amadeus Capital, Ambient Sound Investments, Atlas Venture, Balderton Capital, Bauer Publishing, Coller IP Capital Ltd, Delta Partners, Eden Ventures, FF Private Equity, First Ventures, Frog Capital, IQ Capital Fund, Octopus Investments, Oxford Capital Partners, Scottish Equity Partners, SPARK, TLcom Capital Partners Ltd, TTP Ventures.

BLN events offer investors, corporate execs, CEOs and founders of high growth businesses the chance to meet other smart, busy people to share ideas, challenges, meet investors, customers and partners. This BLN discussion and drinks networking event will be held at the new law offices of Taylor Wessing, which enjoy some of the best views of the Thames in the City.

Networking and drinks from 18.00, CEO Tales at 18.30.

Attendance is strictly limited to qualified individuals – founders/CEOs of venture backed businesses, active angel investors, venture capital, private equity professionals, corporate executives empowered to work with high growth businesses, selected advisers and invited guests.

BLN events are run across the UK with further events in Cambridge, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Bristol this year. See www.thebln.com/events for more details.

To register as a BLN member or non-member, please click here: REGISTER

This event is supported by:

Taylor Wessing

The BLN Cambridge Discussion Dinner, 2nd December, 17.00 start, to be followed by roundtable discussion, cocktails, and dinner from 19:30.

BLN events bring entrepreneurs running high growth businesses together to share thoughts, meet peers, investors and discuss issues of common interest in a relaxed, informal atmosphere. Events are run across the UK with further discussion dinners in London, Oxford, Edinburgh and Bristol over the coming months.

Many Cambridge companies have emerged remarkably well from the maelstrom of the past year and there have been some particularly interesting signs of new developing clusters of excellence. As well as the usual high quality mix of entrepreneurs and executives that you would expect to find at a BLN event, we will include a few of the most interesting rising stars in the region, none of whom can be accused of thinking small… We hope you will find their views and ambition refreshing.

We expect approximately 12-16 companies to be present at the event, along with 5-6 active investors. Previous attendees at Cambridge events include CEOs, founders, recycling entrepreneurs or board members from ARM, IP.Access, Biowisdom, True Knowledge, Arakis, Serentis, RedGate, Ubisense, Plastic Logic, Abcam, Nujira, Bango, Alphamosaic and up and coming leading high growth businesses.

This event is being run with the kind support of BDO, Gill Jennings & Every and Taylor Vinters.

There are many opportunities to attend networking events but we like to think that The BLN events are both high quality and a little different. You can see feedback from previous attendees here.

Places are limited so a prompt response is necessary to be considered for a place.

BDO LLP

GJE

Taylor Vinters