Last night, Ken and Ryan attended the SmartCEO Future 50 Award ceremony in NYC. The Future 50 award recognizes the fastest-growing, mid-sized companies in the New York region. According to SmartCEO Magazine, “These companies represent the future of the region’s economy and embody the entrepreneurial spirit critical for leadership and success.” The winners of the Future 50 awards are chosen based on the three-year average of their employee and revenue growth.

“This year’s class of winners was recognized based on exceptional employee and revenue growth, but also because we believe they have the potential to be the backbone of our region’s economy for decades to come,” said SmartCEO Magazine in their description of the event. Ken and Ryan feel humbled to have been amongst so many hugely successful CEOs, businesses and entrepreneurs.

The main purpose of this award, and ceremony, in celebration of receiving it, is to acknowledge that something as small as an idea that begins in someone’s basement or on top of a desk can turn into something that’s not only great, but something that blossoms into success. A simple idea has potential to become a fast-growing, thriving business. For Ken, it all started with a desk, an extremely beat-up truck, a Nike shoe box labeled “paid” and “not paid” and an old phone, that now would most likely be classified as an antique. Brothers Ken and Ryan starting a business in an area they both never expected to be in, gutters, all began with a small idea and with little to no resources, but with hard work and lessons learned it was able blossom into a thriving, well known, reputable gutter franchise.

With high goals set for the future, the foundation for success put in place, and a hard working mentality and team, the brothers hope to far surpass recent growth within the next few years. For Ryan and Ken, “Leadership is all about serving your team and sharing your leadership skills, while also genuinely caring about their success and wanting to help contribute to it.”

2016 Future 50 Award winner stats:
Collective revenue of winners: $2.3 billion
Average number of years the winners have been in business: 13
Number of people the Future 50 employ: 10,293