Consensus Point is proud to serve some of the world’s leading companies from our Nashville headquarters. Last week, we announced our partnership with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center to create Startup Exchange. Now, we’re pleased and proud to have been named to Nashville Post’s Fast 50.

From the envelope:

This email is to notify you that your company will appear on Nashville Post magazine’s first ever list of the 50 fast growing, emerging companies to watch in Middle Tennessee.

Selection was based on numerous factors, ranging from revenue and employee growth to growth over a period of years, growth as compared to industry average, projected growth and projected pitfalls, among other criteria. But selection of the list also involved editorial judgment. Many of the companies selected applied to be considered for the list, but many were also chosen by the editorial staff at Nashville Post based on awareness of a company’s success or references from knowledgeable sources about area companies performing well. A handful are even selected for their promise of near-term growth, which, combined with their stories, snugly fit the list’s mission to identify “hot” companies.

And this is how Nashville Post describes the group:

Nashville Post’s Fast 50 is our annual look at Middle Tennessee companies on a roll. Fast-growing, emerging or, in some cases, simply brimming with promise, they represent some of the best the Nashville area has to offer in terms of entrepreneurial vision and growth.

From startups gaining their financial legs to more established companies whose mature growth is remarkable, this array of companies — big and small, highly profitable and increasingly profitable, full of dreams or realizing their dreams — is perhaps best described as a list of ‘companies to watch.’

It is our goal, every day, to be a company to watch.

We are pleased to be partners with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in launching their Startup Exchange (ECX). ECX is a marketplace for investors and participants to simulate buying and selling startups affiliated with the Entrepreneur Center. And, of course, it’s powered by Foresight.

Trades in the market will reflect the confidence of investors in a startup’s ability to hit milestones including funding, pitches, and product launch. The EC Exchange also acts as a forum for dialogue and feedback between startups and the community excited by what they’re doing.

The Entrepreneur Center serves as the “Front Door” of Nashville for entrepreneurs. It serves as a gateway that fuses training, relationships, and resources to cultivate economic development and drive Nashville’s future as the epicenter of entrepreneurial endeavors.

For more information on ECX, just ask.

Our CEO, Linda Rebrovick, recently sat down with Erin Lawley of the well-regarded NashvillePost.com for an interview. Erin summarized the function of our Foresight platform nicely but also got Linda talking about our important role in the Nashville technology corridor.

Erin on what we do:

Consensus Point companies — clients include General Electric, Best Buy and Qualcomm — can post a question to the online market, such as whether a particular project will be completed on time. Participants then can answer the question, betting a certain number of points on an outcome depending on their confidence level. Correct answers return more points, lead to higher standings on the market’s leader board and possibly other rewards or incentives for the participants while helping executives more effectively manage the business.

And an excellent first Q&A:

How do prediction markets differ from other types of forecasting models or decision tools used in business today?

Traditionally, all these prediction models are algorithms that take historical patterns that say this is what happened in the past, and we’re going to extrapolate that this pattern will continue in the future. That’s how forecasting systems have worked forever. And they’re very successful when you have a historical pattern.

What they can’t do is detect early-warning indicators that, while this has always happened in the past, something’s changed. So that’s the power of what we have, the ability to be your eyes and ears on the ground  every minute, minute by minute. So as the leader of a company, I know I’ve got the facts as they stand today as I’m trying to make a decision.

Other good questions:

• What is the user experience like for market participants?
• What incentives do companies use to encourage participation and correct answers?
• Do you have any good examples of how a prediction market has helped one of your customers?

For Linda’s answers, go read the whole interview. But we’ll leave you with her thoughts on our local impact:

We’ve got to get more companies like this in Nashville. This is a traditional California company. The California [venture capitalists] understand these companies and put money behind them. The California companies network the executives and help each other get into other [opportunities]. We don’t yet have that here.

I was chair of the Nashville Technology Council, and I’m on the Nashville Entrepreneurship board. I’m trying to get us to become a hub of some sort as it relates to new and exciting innovative social media and enterprise 2.0 technology. This is the next wave, and we ought to have these companies in Nashville.

It’s fun to be at an exciting technology company with a great CEO! Especially fun because we have great customers. If you’d like to become a great customer, contact us.