Welcome to Fast 25, IBJ's annual ranking of the fastest-growing companies in the Indianapolis area.
Note: Several of the links below originally went to profiles from previous years. The links have been corrected.
Plus the inaugural winner of the Mickey Maurer Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Percentages below are revenue growth for FY 2021 to 2023.
‘A great connector of ideas and people’
Justin Christian calls on relationships to move company, philanthropic efforts forward
Justin Christian, 50, founder and CEO of the Indianapolis-based IT consulting and workforce fulfillment firm BCforward, is as famous for his networking skills and charitable works as for his business acumen—an acumen that's built his company from a two-employee startup in 1998 into an international powerhouse. During its quarter century of existence, BCforward has become one of the nation's largest Black-owned businesses, employing some 5,000 workers around the world.
“He has built BCforward from a local provider to a nationally competitive, full-service tech firm,” said David Ricks, CEO of Eli Lilly and Co. (an early BCforward client). “Justin is relentless and a great networker and deeply focused on client needs—all key to founding and growing an important business.”
READ MOREThe selection process
Indianapolis Business Journal compiled its annual list of fastest-growing private companies through the following procedures:
Submissions were solicited through announcements in IBJ and by email.
Companies are ranked based on their revenue growth over a two-year period.
Companies were eligible if:
- Fiscal year 2021 revenue must have been more than $1 million and represent a 12-month year.
- Companies must have been founded prior to FY 2021.
- Companies must have been privately held, for-profit corporations, proprietorships or partnerships through December 31, 2023 (not a subsidiary or division of a parent company).
- Companies must be headquartered on December 31, 2023, in central Indiana. In a change this year, companies with partial or full ownership outside Indiana are eligible.
Accuracy of entries was verified by letters from the companies' outside accountants or through the companies' submitting their tax returns.
To be notified when IBJ begins soliciting submissions for next year's list of fastest-growing private companies, contact Terry Sowka at tsowka@ibj.com.•
