Technology
Sea of change
How Jim Geiger is growing the leaders that will take Cbeyond to $1 billion in revenue
By Kristy J. O’Hara
Smart Business Atlanta | February 2009
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Jim Geiger could be kicking back and patting himself on the back
for the success he’s seen. But he’s not.
As chairman, president and CEO of Cbeyond Inc., a VoIP-based
managed services provider for small businesses, he’s watched the
company grow from nothing when he founded it a decade ago to
$159 million in 2005 revenue and then to $280 million in 2007.
Despite the growth his company has experienced, he wants to
push it to the next level.
“I don’t know how common it is to found a company with the
same group of people and organically grow it from zero to a billion
[dollars] without any acquisitions, but I don’t think it’s terribly
common, but that’s a really motivating goal for me,” Geiger says.
To reach that billion-dollar mark, Geiger is sticking to the same
strategies that have helped him grow so far — creating a great culture, hiring the right people and providing them with direction. If
he can do these things, then he’s confident in his people that they
will hit that milestone.
“There are a bunch of cliches, but you just can’t do this stuff alone,”
Geiger says. “We’re growing 25 to 30 percent per year organically and
building a company with a platform that we hope will drive us to a
billion dollars in revenue over the next several years — all organically from zero, no acquisitions — and we need a lot more people. ...
“We need a bunch more leaders, and they’re not going to fall in
our lap. We need to grow them. We need to be developing the leadership of tomorrow today. That means making intentional investments in that process.”
