Making the List
On Oct. 4, Aggie 100 will celebrate its 20th anniversary by announcing the 2024 ranking of the 100 fastest-growing Aggie companies from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2023. Nominations are already open for the 2025 ranking.
To be eligible for Aggie 100, nominated companies must meet three levels of criteria involving company revenue and longevity, Texas A&M leadership and overall character. This means all awarded companies must have been in business for at least five years and have a verifiable revenue of $250,000 or more three years before the nomination year.
To earn a spot on the Aggie 100 list, companies must also operate under the leadership of a Texas A&M graduate, meaning an Aggie must have founded the company and be an active member of the most senior management team, own 50% or more of the company, or serve as the company’s chief executive for the entirety of the three-year, pre-nomination period. Lastly, Aggie 100 prides itself on aligning with the Texas A&M core values and limits recognition to companies that operate in a manner consistent with the Aggie Code of Honor.
To claim a coveted spot on the list, applicants provide high-level company information to PKF Texas, an independent accounting firm, to accurately identify the 100 fastest-growing companies. With that data, the firm evaluates the nominees’ submissions and provides the rankings based on a percentage of compound annual growth in sales or revenues over a three-year period.
As the program heads toward its 20th anniversary this fall, Aggie 100 has evolved beyond its humble beginnings. More recently, Aggie 100 averages over 600 nominations each year, and 2023 surpassed all previous application records. Petty credited this jump to a niche character trait he calls being “Aggie competitive.”
“It would make sense not to nominate other companies because every spot they take could bump you off; yet we see nominations flood in from honorees nominating other businesses,” he explained. “It’s very ‘Aggie competitive.’ All these people are engaging other businesses, because if they’re going to compete, they might as well compete against the best, right?”
Over the last two decades, the program has had the honor of celebrating some of Texas A&M’s finest business successes and the extraordinary milestones they’ve reached—many in record time. Hailing from various backgrounds, backstories and back-to-back Aggie 100 appearances, each of these wildly successful past honorees represents the unique talent and ambition continuously found at Texas A&M.