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Survey Rates Columbia, Md.-Based Technology Firm As State's Fastest Growing

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By William Patalon Iii, The Baltimore Sun

Oct. 12--When it was first formed in 1999, Proteus Technologies LLC was named for an ancient Greek sea god whose gifts were adaptability and an ability to foretell the future, and the company initially focused on creating software for wireless hand-held devices.

Six years later, having embraced the twin gifts of its namesake, the Columbia-based Proteus has refocused its business, brought the wife of a founder in as CEO and seen its revenue soar an aggregate 3,800 percent.

Yesterday, the privately held firm -- now firmly entrenched in the homeland-security software business -- was named as Maryland's fastest-growing high-tech company over the past five years, occupying the No. 1 position in the newest "Maryland Technology Fast 50" list, the annual survey that ranks state-based companies by revenue growth.

The Maryland "Fast 50" list was compiled by accounting firm DeLoitte & Touche LLP, in conjunction with the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.

With $4.67 million in revenue last year, the company is one of the smaller on the Fast 50 list. But its five-year growth rate of 3,791 percent secured it the No. 1 spot.

"The successes of Proteus Technologies [make it] one of the very few to accomplish such a fast growth rate," said Andrew Harrs, the technology, media and telecommunications practice leader for DeLoitte's Southeast Region.

The "Fast 50" rankings are based on percentage revenue growth from 2000 to 2004. Companies must have had operating revenue of at least $50,000 in 2000 and $1 million in 2004, and have its corporate headquarters in Maryland. (Generally at least 200 companies have to be in the running to end up with 50 qualified companies, a fact that limits the competition to tech-heavy regions -- just 14 in the United States for this year, DeLoitte said.)

Founded in 1999, Proteus was at its start essentially a second job for its three founders, all software engineers. Each kept their regular fulltime positions.

Co-founder Charles T. Taylor, 42, currently executive vice president, remembers choosing the company name to embrace the virtues of flexibility and resolve after reading about the ancient Greek sea god, whose talent as a "shape-shifter" allowed Proteus to adapt to almost any situation.

The company's first project was a software program for the Palm VII, a hand-held wireless device. While the project was successful, there was no follow-on business, and no other contracts in the hopper. Taylor and his partners, James Birchfield and Steven J. Bradtke, stuck to their day jobs.

The company went dormant for more than a year. Then, Taylor, convinced that the company had potential, decided to focus on the company fulltime. Mindful of the Proteus namesake, Taylor shifted both its form and focus, making it a federal contractor for this go-round.

Taylor's wife, Teresa M. Taylor, now 41, succeeded him as CEO. The move not only took advantage of her attention to detail and software-engineering talents, it also allowed the company to capitalize on federal-contracting initiatives designed to benefit small companies headed by women or minorities.

The two had met in North Carolina while Teresa Taylor, an Atlanta native, was working in the information-systems office at the University of North Carolina medical school, and married in 1997. By the time Teresa Taylor took over as CEO of Proteus in October 2001, the couple was expecting the first of their two sons. Today, four years later, the Taylors are expecting their third child -- and first daughter -- in several weeks.

When it re-formed, the company had just two employees -- Taylor and his wife, who remain the sole owners. Today it has nearly 60 employees, including Bradtke, a Ph.D. who serves as principal scientific officer, and Birchfield, now head of the company's mentor-protege program.

Returning to Proteus "was the best thing I could have done," Birchfield said.

Proteus is profitable, though the Taylors declined to disclose numbers. In its new incarnation, the company serves one of the more-challenging markets in the intelligence arena_a niche known as "signals intelligence."

Although Taylor said the nature of Proteus' business requires the company to be circumspect about specifics, the company says it creates software that helps its customers collect, organize and analyze signals data, and then disseminates the findings to those who need that information. Proteus can work with the agencies directly, but more often works through prime contractors.

The market is huge, and will only get larger, industry experts say.

"Homeland security is a cash- rich and knowledge-poor industry," Dan Inbar, chairman and chief technology officer of the Homeland Security Research Corp., said in a research report.

Federal homeland security spending ticketed for private-sector companies is estimated to reach $9.5 billion in fiscal 2006, according to the Washington-based Civitas Group, a strategic investment and advisory firm.

And while many of these spending programs existed before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the creation of the Homeland Security initiative is creating more visibility and a clearer focus_all good for companies such as Proteus, said Mark Shaheen, a Civitas principal.

"This is a very interesting marketplace to be involved in right now," Shaheen said, noting the spending impact is going to be "huge."

Teresa Taylor said the company anticipates strong growth.

"We certainly have solid expectations," she said. "We've spent a lot of our effort getting the best people we can" -- more than 80 percent of the technical staff has advanced degrees_masters' or Ph.Ds_in engineering or related technical fields. Turnover is below 5 percent.

As a couple, the Taylors said they each bring complementary strengths to their jobs. Charles Taylor focuses on new business development, working to keep tabs on marketplace trends that could one day translate into new contracts for Proteus. Teresa Taylor, by contrast, is actively involved in the company's software-development programs, taking very much a "hands-on" approach, both say.

"She makes sure all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed," he said. "It's no secret that's why [Proteus] has really taken off."

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Source: The Baltimore Sun, Maryland

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