SHOWCASING THRIVING MID-SIZED BUSINESSES.

Business leaders from across the state shared thoughts on the Fast 40, their own businesses and the state's economic outlook in a recent roundtable discussion. The panel touched on the diversity of winners, the continuing labor shortage, the state's excellent community college system, rising interest rates and the demise of water-cooler bonding in the workplace.

The following round table discussion was moderated by Ben Kinney, publisher, Business North Carolina. It was edited for brevity and clarity.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE COMPANIES IN THIS YEAR'S FAST 40?

GONELLA: The spread of successful companies across the state was really good. It wasn't one particular part of the state that has done well over the past year. We had good representation really across the board.

WALTON: Last year, we first saw pockets of (businesses) outside of the major metropolitan markets. This year, it was even more so. And the field was not as concentrated in tech or healthcare with furniture and construction, among other industries, represented. All are approaching conducting business in new and innovative ways.

HODGE: I just thought it was a very reflective economy. We've got a broad diverse economy.

HOW IS YOUR COMPANY PERFORMING THIS YEAR?

JARMAN: Record breaking. We're 9 years old, and we've seen year over year growth, last year up 40%, and we're up 60% this year, and just riding the wave of our customers. They need service because they've been unable to purchase new equipment due to industry challenges and supply chain issues.

MARTIN: Last year was hard for us, even though we did grow, because of the supply chain. We're commercial construction. So we had materials that were backlogged. Because of COVID, we had labor shortages that we had to deal with. It was actually pretty challenging. With that said, there was an enormous overall demand. And so that kind pushed this bottleneck. I called myself a professional bottleneck unclogger for a little bit there. I think we're kind of through that. Of course, now we've got this interest rate issue. We still had good volume, but some of the general flow of business was just very disrupted in the commercial structure.

ELKIN: I would echo what John (Martin) said. It was hard. We had tremendous growth, we could have grown probably 25% more if we could have had materials to sell. We had tons of supply chain issues and still do now. We sell the equipment that goes up and down a cellphone tower, except for the tower itself, and nearly everything's got to be replaced for 5G.

A lot of materials come from China. And you know, they're still shut down partially for COVID. We started sourcing out of Central America as well. With the infrastructure bill, now who knows how that's gonna play out with the economy but you know, we're leaving a lot on the table because (of supply issues).

WHAT ARE YOU HEARING FROM COMPANY LEADERS IN THE FAST 40?

GONELLA: A year ago when we sat down, supply chain and people, talent (employees), were two of the big concerns that people had. A year later...