ReachLocal, with 146,050% growth in five years, tops Deloitte's Fast 500 list

October 20, 2009 | 4:53 pm

Zorik Gordon, chief executive and founder of Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal, which topped the list for the fastest-growing technology companies, in a photo from October 2007. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times.

Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 rankings were released today, showing the fastest-growing technology, media telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in the United States.

The top 10 companies on the list posted an average revenue growth rate of 53,798% over a five-year period beginning in 2004, and primarily fell in the biotechnology/pharmaceutical and communications/networking categories.

Topping the list was Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal, whose revenue jumped from $100,000 in 2004 to $146.7 million by end of fiscal 2008, or a 146,050% growth rate. It is the only Internet company to take the top spot since Google received the honor in 2004. (The majority of the companies on the list belong to the software sector.)

ReachLocal "brings order to the fragmented Internet by connecting advertisers, publishers, and creative solutions providers together on one platform," according to the company's website.

Zorik Gordon, 37, founded the company in 2004 after dropping out of dental school and working for two Internet start-up companies. His goal was to "democratize Internet advertising" by disseminating elite technology, marketing and advertising tools to small businesses.

ReachLocal has more than 500 Internet marketing consultants who can track clicks, impressions and phone calls and advise businesses on making marketing improvements. The company then helps place small business on various Web platforms and increase their searchability on major search engines.

"We bring tier one advertising technology that's had been only available to top companies down to a historic group of people that could never access these tools and technologies," Gordon said.

-- Melissa Rohlin