Dec 21, 2018, Buffalo, NY<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to tell what\u2019s more impressive: Utilant\u2019s immense growth that took it from 40 employees to 95 in the last five years or the fact that the company has only scratched the surface of its core market.<\/p>\n
The Buffalo-based software company was founded in 2005 but hit its stride in 2012 with the debut of Loss Control 360, a software platform that helps insurance companies do everything from residential to commercial inspections.<\/p>\n
Since then, the company has grown in revenue by more than 30 percent every year \u2014 a task that gets more difficult as the numbers grow. But CEO Patrick Davis and COO Rob Mikulec say that kind of growth is poised to continue as their relationship grows with current clients \u2013 large property and casualty firms worldwide \u2013 and acquiring new business.<\/p>\n
Utilant only services about 30 of the 500 companies that are core targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have software-as-a-service products, which add to our revenue, which adds to our ability to hire every single year because they\u2019re paying for our product every single year,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe have 100 percent retention and every year we add five to 10 new clients, which generates five to 15 new jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Utilant moved this year into new 30,000-square-foot headquarters in one of the former industrial buildings on Chandler Street redeveloped by Rocco Termini. The company belongs to the Start-Up NY tax breaks program.<\/p>\n
Utilant uses that program and its chic new site, which is near a BlackBird Cider Works tasting room and Thin Man Brewery\u2019s future production\/event\/restaurant space, to attract talented people.<\/p>\n
Recently the company has been targeting recruits who have a connection to Buffalo but live outside the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have just as easily moved into some Class B office space that was very generic but we decided it would be better to be part of Buffalo coming back, to have a cool space where people want to be,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
The company software generally replaces aging systems that have been in place for decades, and Utilant places an emphasis on continued product development and innovation. More than one-third of the employees are in quality assurance and development, a much higher ratio than many mature software companies that are more focused on marketing and sales. That emphasis is a down payment on a bright future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThirteen years in and we continue to have that startup-type growth,\u201d Mikulec said.<\/p>\n