Some of Atlantic Canada’s fastest-growing companies may soon be getting an unexpected call from Steve Palmer, as he seeks to build Propel ICT’s Growth program.

The regional accelerator’s new Growth initiative is aimed at fast-growing tech companies with more than $1 million in annual revenue. The aim is to help participating companies grow into larger global corporations.

It’s a first for Propel, which offers programming for startups around the region in collaboration with other organizations.

Palmer has spent a few months researching the region’s companies in order to ascertain if there are enough high-flyers to start the Growth program.

He thinks there are. His research has uncovered about 25 high-growth ventures, 15 of them prime candidates. He didn’t know of some of them beforehand. 

“There is a group of companies that are way beyond the startup stage,” he said. “I will continue to reach out to these companies, and assess their interest in participating.”

Palmer doesn’t necessarily expect all his targets to sign up.

“They’re very busy and there’s no silver bullet for growth. This is one more thing coming at them. We need to get our arms around these companies and have conversations with them.”

He said if five to 10 companies agree to participate, the Growth program will go ahead. 

Palmer already knows many of the people behind the high-flying companies and is confident of getting a hearing with the others.

“Atlantic Canada is a pretty open community. You can usually get a first conversation. We’ll be saying, ‘You’re a strong company, are you interested in working together?’ If not, we won’t force them to dance.”

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Like many in the innovation sector, Palmer, a New Brunswicker, is an enthusiastic proponent of the region.

He is the former co-CEO of land-use planning software company Remsoft, and COO of software company Whitehill Technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA from Dalhousie University. He also spent 20 years with NBTel in varied roles.

He thinks Growth participants could benefit from his own learning and experience and the goodwill that is plentiful within the ecosystem.

“Regarding example areas for focus--we need a more global attitude to sales,” he said. “We often sell ourselves short. There are many reasons. We do well but we could do better.”

The father and grandfather said barriers to entrepreneurship are lower than they have ever been.

“Someone like myself can help a child start a business and be relevant anywhere. You can make your luck. I’m optimistic about today’s world. The barriers to success are lower, but the barriers to high degrees of success are not trivial.”

As well as having more than $1 million in annual revenue, the qualifying companies should meet most of the following criteria:

- They should be an Atlantic Canada-based ICT company, either in the product or service category;

- They should have average annual revenue growth of 15 percent;

- They should have an existing business plan and demonstrated ability to execute on the plan;

- They should have an addressable market of at least $250 million;

- And they should be export-focused with more than 50 percent revenue from outside Canada.