TESTING TIMES.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: NC TRENDS: Life sciences

A RALEIGH MEDICAL-INDUSTRY STARTUP IS SETTING A BLISTERING GROWTH PACE. HOPING TO DISRUPT AN INDUSTRY DOMINATED BY TWO INCUMBENTS.

Dozens of hours spent in medical offices awaiting test results for his special-needs sister convinced Chad Price that there had to be a better way. "I'd never had a good experience with a lab," he says. So he and friend Josh Arant decided to start their own, forming Mako Medical Laboratories LLC in 2014. It was audacious given that both lacked lab or medical experience, had limited money and were entering a business dominated by two industry giants, Madison, N.J.-based Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Burlington-based LabCorp.

Their gamble has paid off, with Mako ranking at the top of Triangle Business Journal's list of fastest-growing companies in the Triangle area for the last two years, an unprecedented accomplishment. The Raleigh-based company forecasts revenue of $125 million this year, $250 million next year and $1 billion in five years. Employment now tops 500, and Price says growth is accelerating as more medical groups seek alternatives to LabCorp, which had revenue of $10 billion last year, and Quest, with $7 billion. "No one asks, 'Who are you?' and 'What are you?' anymore," Price says.

The Mako story started when the founders met at a monthly Bible study in Raleigh led by N.C. Supreme Court Justice Paul Newby. Price grew up in a military family, spending much of his youth at the Royal Air Force Base in Lakenheath, England, which hosts some U.S. forces. He attended the University of Maryland, dropping out to start his first business. Arant is from Charlotte, where his family owns a machine-parts distribution company. He has a bachelor's in chemistry from Rhodes College in Memphis. "We are opposites in everything," Price says, except, "we align on faith, passion, drive and our desire to help others. We work well together because we are so different."

That passion for assisting others is a critical driver of Mako's success, with part of profits directed to 472 nonprofits and 82 missionaries, Price says. More than half of Mako's workers are veterans, reflecting another company priority.

Both founders also share an interest in conservative politics. Arant, 26, once worked for N.C. Sen. Rick Gunn, an Alamance County Republican. Price, 34, is a part-time campaign consultant for Republican judges, reflecting his conviction about the judiciary's impact on society. He also helped develop a garbage-removal company...