Keith McFarland, author of The Breakthrough Company, joined me for the most recent episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast to discuss the elements that lead to a company taking off and going to the proverbial next level.

Incredibly, McFarland interviewed the leaders of and reviewed the numbers of 1400 past Inc 500 winners that had found a way to push past the $250 million range and narrow his list of breakthroughs to just nine. What you will find from the list is that while you may have heard of some of these companies they don’t often show up on anyone’s super cool list. It’s mostly basic parts and services done executed brilliantly. Oh, and luck didn’t seem to have much to do with success.

Here’s the list – ADTRAN, Chico’s FAS, Express Personnel, Fastenal, Intuit, Paychex, Polaris, SAS and The Staubach Company.