Colorado Companies To Watch

Last night I went to an award ceremony honoring the Colorado companies to watch in 2009. Four Durango companies won the award: Zukes, Stoneage Tools, Osprey Packs, OpenSky Wilderness. Based on several key indicators of growth and innovation, the award aims to highlight the strong value these companies bring to Colorado's economy... Their criteria:

• Growth focused
• Privately-held, headquartered in Colorado
• 6 to 99 full-time equivalent employees
• $750,000 to $50 million in sales or a similar range of working capital

My question is what is YOUR criteria...? How would you rank a company and by what means? Below are a few ideas that I had:

• Innovative product/solution - not offered in Colorado, or rare find
• Breaking into new markets - selling to new users or customers, creating a market
• Innovative marketing - new ways of selling to customers

And your criteria???