When Kirk Neiswander first heard of the Weatherhead 100 concept more than 20 years ago, he thought it was a dumb idea.
The former director of entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management remembers meeting with Bob Pavey, a managing partner with venture-capital firm Morgenthaler Partners. Together with venture-capital firm Primus, Morgenthaler funded Neiswander's research study to find out which new businesses in Northeast Ohio were thriving.
"In the mid-1980s, we knew there were pockets of industries (such as specialty insurance companies) being created in Northeast Ohio," Neiswander recalls. "We wanted to find out what were the other pools of businesses that were being created but no one knew about."
But Neiswander's research didn't produce any revealing information. However, while he was discussing his study with Pavey, an idea was revealed that would eventually give birth to one of Cleveland's most celebrated business events.
Neiswander remembers Pavey mentioning that people really want to learn about the fastest-growing firms in Northeast Ohio. He also suggested developing a list of the top 100 fastest-growing businesses and calling it the Weatherhead 100.
"Later, I told a graduate student, who also attended the meeting, that Pavey's idea was dumb," Neiswander says. "But as we were driving back to Case, we talked about it more and more, changed our minds and figured out how we could pull it off."
So in 1988, Neiswander and graduate students began making calls and mailing letters announcing the Weatherhead 100 program to accounting and law firms and financial services companies, as well as to public relations agencies that work with rapidly growing businesses.
"We got most of our nominations from the professional service firms," Neiswander says. "You would have thought that we would have gotten a lot of referrals from PR firms because that sort of thing is right up their ally, and that's what they are paid to do, right? Well, it turns out we did not get many nominations from PR agencies. I couldn't figure that out."
What's more, Neiswander had a tough time locating a sponsor that would underwrite the dinner event. But after months of searching, he finally got a former investment banking firm to contribute $15,000.
As word of the new program began to spread, nominations funneled in. But just three weeks away from the black-tie gala, which would honor the first Top 100 fastest-growing firms in Northeast Ohio, a major problem surfaced.
"We didn't have 100 qualified nominations," Neiswander recalls. "We had to disqualify a lot of companies because they didn't have at least five years of financial data, which was one of the requirements to be considered. Fortunately, at the 11th hour, a new bunch of nominations came in and we ended up with 105 qualified nominations."
Neiswander never dreamed businesses would perceive the Weatherhead 100 as such a prestigious award and event. As far as Neiswander was concerned, the Weatherhead 100 was simply a strategy to help identify small and growing businesses in Northeast Ohio.
"We wanted to know these growing businesses because they could offer our graduates career opportunities," Neiswander says. "We also thought these companies would send their employees to Case for continuing education and training, advanced degrees and management programs. We also planned to invite business owners to do guest lectures for our students. The Weatherhead 100 was never intended to become a prestigious business award, but because it was associated with the Weatherhead School, it became just that."
What's more, Neiswander didn't realize the companies being honored at the recognition dinner would want to invite their families and friends. "We also had no idea that we could charge for the dinner, which would help pay for the costs," he says. "In that first year, more than 450 attended the dinner. From there, it grew and grew. I think the high-water mark for the dinner attendance was 1,200."
Neiswander oversaw the Weatherhead 100 and developed it over the years until 2004 when COSE (Council of Smaller Enterprises) took over the program. Neiswander has moved on to a new job as director of the Entrepreneurs Edge, a nonprofit group that supports regional economic development in Northeast Ohio by focusing on helping middle-market companies grow.
"I think the Weatherhead 100 helped me realize that the economy in Northeast Ohio wasn't as good as we would like, but it's better than what people tend to perceive," Neiswander reflects. "In the 1980s and 1990s, Cleveland wasn't a dying Rust Belt city. We had — and still do — dynamic growth-oriented businesses. I thought it was terrific that we brought that to the limelight."
Today, the Weatherhead 100 is still a popular and celebrated event that the business community looks forward to every year.
"It's an opportunity to celebrate entrepreneurship and what is working in Northeast Ohio," says Sonia Winner, associate dean for external relations at Weatherhead. "Case provides the human resources needs of Northeast Ohio, so we are institutionally invested in the success of the Weatherhead 100 companies."
To qualify for the Weatherhead 100, companies must experience sales of at least $100,000 in 2002, and more than $1 million in 2006.
Additionally, winning companies must have employed a minimum of 16 full-time employees in 2006. In addition, the program recognizes those Upstart firms whose percentage sales growth qualifies for the Weatherhead 100, employed 15 or fewer employees and/or posted less than $1 million in net sales in 2006. Finally, Weatherhead honors Centurions, companies with 100 percent or more sales growth from 2002 through 2006 and net sales of $100 million or more in 2006.