CEO and Managing Partner Rob Kathol founded Navigate in 2005 with the mission to build a consulting firm focused on strengthening collaboration between executive management, business operations and technology. Kathol says he recognized the need for a different kind of consulting firm; one that delivers objective advice and creative solutions for its clients.
"I started Navigate as a way to advise executive management and internal operating groups who might be strained trying to make change happen. I knew if they could come together, it would ultimately improve operational performance," Kathol says. "When we launched in 2005, it was just me, and the firm's growth was limited."
The firm, he says, sort of "hit the skids" in 2009 and that's when Kathol realized that he needed to invest in the firm—in both senior leadership and in infrastructure. "Since that time, we've operated as a bigger business. Those investments have been key to us growing successfully."
And it has grown successfully. In 2014, Navigate grew revenue by some 110 percent. "When you grow by more than 100 percent, you're always worried that your quality will go down," Kathol says. "Ours didn't. Our client surveys indicated that our quality and client satisfaction levels went up. At the end of the day, the team believes in what we're doing and that translates to our clients."
Kathol says a lot of the growth—and client satisfaction—was based on bringing in senior people who brought with them key relationships, additional clients and thus, more revenue. Navigate brought on 15 new hires in 2014 and plans to add 20 more by the end of this year. "Our typical hire has a minimum of five years of experience and often much more," he says. "We have hired a lot of stars, people who are flexible in the types of client work they can do," he says.
Kathol says Navigate has no plans of slowing down. "For us, it's not really about the growth; it's about being that go-to management consulting firm in every region we operate. If we're doing the right things, we're going to grow."
Navigate has set a goal, he says, of reaching $16 million in revenue by 2016. Kathol says he sees the firm's growth rate in "the 35 percent range," and by 2020, "we would look to be a $50 million firm. And we feel that's more than attainable in this region."
Kathol laid out four key "growth through focus" strategies for Navigate's overall success. He says the firm needs to stay focused on: 1) Deepening business relationships in the region; 2) Deepening experience in the five service areas where the firm practices; 3) Deepening experience in the client industries it serves; and 4) Deepening the core culture.
"I'm the tip of the spear when it comes to culture," he says. "To me, it's about core values. How we treat each other, the firm and our clients, that's not just lip-service. We actually live those core values every day, and they help us deliver the impact we need to achieve the business outcome for our clients. Our clients aren't spending seven or eight figures on a deliverable. They need a business outcome to occur, and at the end of the day, it's our job to get them to that business outcome they need."
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