#AwesomeMitten: Michigan doubles down on #Tech. Wins big on Inc. 500

So the list has finally gone live

The Inc. 500 results for 2014 have come back and Newmind Group made the list—as well as 8 other companies from around Michigan—and we’re pretty floored about it. Now that we’ve said our piece about the list, though, we’ve taken an interest in the rest of Michigan’s showings with Inc. this year. After a slow rebound from the recession 6 years ago, it’s great to see Michigan business flourish.

• Financial Services
  • Retail Capital, based out of Troy, Michigan. Retail Capital finances small businesses by providing cash advances against future sales.
• Real Estate
  • Michigan Real Estate Solutions, based out of Richmond, Michigan. Michigan Realty manages and renovates distressed real estate.
• IT Services
  • Newmind Group, based out of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Newmind group provides cloud computing, training, help-desk services, and outsourced IT services.
  • Yochana IT Solutions, based out of Farmington Hill, Michigan. Yochana provides IT staffing, consulting, and services.
  • Prolim, based out of Farmington Hills, Michigan. Prolim provides IT consulting, product lifecycle management, engineering, and other services.
  • NITS Solutions, based out of Novi, Michigan. NITS provides analytical reporting tools, data management, and marketing services.
  • Tekwissen, based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Tekwissen provides IT consulting, staffing, and services for companies and federal, state, and local government agencies.
• Logistics & Transportation
  • RPM Freight systems, based out of Royal Oak, Michigan. RPM provides third-party logistics services and supply-chain services for shippers across North America.

Making Michigan look awesome

It goes without saying that we’re proud of this year’s turnout—for starters, Michigan’s presence has doubled since the 2013 list was published, and last year’s winners were spread over isolated industries (real estate, customer products and services, government services, and education). With over half of this year’s Michigan segment coming from IT companies, it makes a pretty big statement that our state has been pulling weight in the technology industry.

Michigan IT companies, on the 2014 INC 500,  have generated $36.8 million in revenue in the past year and our state occupies almost 10% of the Inc. 500’s IT category. Of the $36.8 million in IT revenue, Newmind is responsible for almost half, at $15.4 million! With this kind of momentum behind us, we like to consider the importance of promoting community within our state as well as the industry—a belief that fuels Newmind’s own Build It Together events.

Creating jobs in the mitten

Job growth in West Michigan might not be immediately apparent, but it’s definitely there, with unemployment numbers falling in small increments every year. Statewide, current population statistics show a growth of 86,000 jobs since July 2013. Zooming out a bit, the IT industry in general remains among the most accelerated industries in the country, with a growth of 18% last year.

During Inc.’s measurement period, Newmind Group increased its number of employees by 100%, and as our partnership with Google evolves, we hope our growth will continue. Attention in the IT industry might only make up a pocket of employment growth in our state, but a pocket could be all it takes to set major changes in motion for Michigan’s standing among nationwide industries.

As we move forward and reflect on these results, we’d like to hear what kinds of changes you’ve seen in Michigan in the past 3 years? Do you see the tech upswing as a trend that’s going to last?