Blueprint to a Billion

7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth

Wiley, 2005

15 min read

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Do you want to build your company into a billion-dollar blockbuster? Here's your set of directions.

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Since 1980, only 387 U.S. companies - including Microsoft, Nike, Staples, Siebel Systems and Harley Davidson - have achieved the extraordinary, exponential growth it takes to earn revenues of more than $1 billion. Author David G. Thomson calls these exemplars "Blueprint Companies" and he views the key elements of their shared "success-based patterns" as a schematic other architects of business can follow as they build. His book, based on three years of study, research and interviews with the leaders of these billion-dollar companies, is a useful analysis of seven concrete entrepreneurial characteristics that these organizations have in common. Thomson explains what companies must do to rise like these skyscrapers. If you want to shape the economic skyline, getAbstract thinks you will find it very enlightening to see just how hard you’ll have to work, and what the leaders in the billion-dollar club had to accomplish on their way up.

Summary

From Zero to Hero

"Blueprint Companies" demonstrate a growth "trajectory" that soars beyond $1 billion in revenue. The U.S. gives birth to about 31 such billion-dollar earners annually; the 387 blueprint companies in this study have gone public since 1980. They typically follow a common, discernible growth pattern. It begins with a preparatory "runway" period of gathering strength, setting a pace and preparing for rapid growth. That leads to an "inflection point," when revenues shoot up exponentially, doubling annually. Then, over varying lengths of time, blueprint companies grow from their inflection points to $1 billion in revenue. To foster this phenomenon in your company, replicate the "seven essentials to achieve exponential growth."

"Essential #1: Create and Sustain a Breakthrough Value Proposition"

A company achieves a breakthrough value proposition when it delivers a product or service that fulfills an eager, specific market demand. This value proposition has three critical components:

The market - Build value by creating new markets or refining your existing value proposition. Genentech, a biotech company, created a new market ...

About the Author

A general management, sales and marketing expert, David G. Thomson is a former consultant who has also worked at major companies. He has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo.

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3 years ago

Really amazing book

David G. Thomson