Startups

“With a content creator their personal life is their business, which means the deductions they get are unique compared to pretty much any other business out there,” said Cookie Finance founder Nate Coughran.

“As you go out and you visit customers and you say, I’m Glen Baker, People look at you and they’re like, ‘I used to know a company named Baker Equipment,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that was my family,’” said Glen Baker.

“We’re now so close to profitability,” said founder Meg Pryde. “It’s been an exciting change in our trajectory.”

Turning Point Pen Co.’s new line of pens are is made with resin, sterling silver, and 18-karat gold nibs. They’re priced at about $3,400 a pop.

After more than a decade in business, an Ashland-based software maintenance company merged with a newer California technology consultancy.

Sandbox, founded in 2018 by Liz Doerr and Jill Lemon, has outgrown its former office space in Shockoe Bottom and now operates out of 316 W. Broad St. in the Arts District.

Topping the ranks of Richmond-area companies on the coveted list is a Scott’s Addition-based IT consulting firm that grew 3,200% over the last three years and landed at 99 out of 5,000 nationally.

Mitchell Trak is used to dealing in moussaka and baked spaghetti. Now, with his new side venture, his tools of the trade are vintage Rolls-Royces, Mercedes and Porsches.

Debbie Irwin is Lighthouse Labs’ fourth managing director in as many years. The group has just begun its 17th accelerator session since its launch 12 years ago.

George Inge has been thinking about launching an online specialty grocery store for three decades. “I kept watching and monitoring. To get back in one day was my dream,” he said.