What is a “gazelle” in the business world?

I received a letter in the mail from a company that identified Outskirts Press as a “gazelle.”  Apparently, gazelles, by definition, are companies that are growing at least 20% annually for at least four consecutive years.   According to the Financial Times Lexicon gazelle corporations  are quite scarce in most economies, comprising about 5% – and at the most 10% – of all new entrants in a given cohort entry. They are of major political and economic interest because they are seen as potential large employers and wealth creators of the future.

By definition, almost any successful small company is bound to be a gazelle at the start (from a tiny base) and are therefore usually excluded from discussions of gazelles. And this is the same economic reality that makes it difficult to appear on the Inc 5000 list multiple years in a row.  The majority of companies do it by getting investors to give them money, rather than by getting customers to pay them for their services or products. I’ll talk about that more next time…