Critical Start Named to SMU’s Dallas 100 List for Third Consecutive Year

Plano, TX – November 22, 2019 – List Recognizes Fastest-Growing Privately Held Businesses in the Dallas Area – Critical Start, a leading provider of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, today announced that it has been selected once again as one of the Dallas 100™ by Southern Methodist University (SMU) in recognition of the company’s significant growth. The Dallas 100™, co-founded by the SMU Cox Caruth Institute, celebrates the innovative spirit, determination and business savvy of the fastest-growing privately held entrepreneurial businesses in the Dallas area.

The Cox School’s Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship ranks the top 100 Dallas privately-held entrepreneurial companies annually based on percentage growth and absolute dollar growth over the previous three years. The Institute, working with the accounting firm BKD LLP CPAs and Advisors examined sales from hundreds of companies for 2016 to 2018, the last year for which complete data is available.

This year’s winning companies collectively generated $3.5 billion in sales in 2018, according to Simon Mak, the Linda A. and Kenneth R. Morris Endowed Director of the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship at SMU Cox.Collectively, the companies grew at an average annual growth rate of 82 percent from 2016 to 2018. Together, they created almost 7,000 jobs in that same period. 

“These companies are the unsung heroes of the Dallas-area economy,” said Mak. “They are entrepreneurial dynamos, creating products and/or services that in turn create jobs and generate income for their owners, not to mention the millions of dollars they collectively contribute to our economy. For almost three decades now, it has been our honor at the Caruth Institute of Entrepreneurship to shine the spotlight on the critical role of entrepreneurship in the DFW economy.”

The winners were honored at the 29^th Annual SMU Cox Dallas 100™ Awards Ceremony and Banquet, held on Thursday, November 21^st at the Omni Dallas Hotel.

“As enterprises continue to deal with increasing ransomware, breaches and other cybersecurity threats, we’ve seen our MDR business accelerate and fuel our expansion across the country,” said Rob Davis, CEO at Critical Start. “Being named to the Dallas 100™ list for the third consecutive year recognizes that significant growth and underscores the hard work and achievement of our entire team. We couldn’t be more excited to continue growing our business in the thriving tech ecosystem in Dallas.”

In addition to being named to the Dallas 100™ list, Critical Start was also recently named to the “Best Places to Work” and the Middle Market 50 lists by the Dallas Business Journal.

About Critical Start

Critical Start, the MDR experts that leave nothing to chance. Our mission is simple: detect threats and stop breaches by resolving every alert for our customers. We do this for enterprises through our award-winning portfolio of end-to-end security services, including MDR and Professional Services. Visit criticalstart.com for more information.