DollarDays, a premier Internet-based product wholesaler to small businesses and local distributors, was named one of 50 second-stage Arizona companies to watch by the Arizona Small Business Association (ASBA) and the Edward Lowe Foundation, a not-for-profit […] foundation whose mission is to “champion the entrepreneurial spirit.” An award was presented to DollarDays’ CEO, Marc Joseph, at a gala at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel. This is the first time the ASBA has presented “Company to Watch” awards.

“It’s an honor and achievement to be named a ‘Company to Watch,'” said Joseph. “DollarDays is growing rapidly, and, although our customers are worldwide, we’re helping to grow the Arizona economy, and we’re proud of that. We expect continued growth at a record pace.”

“I am pleased and proud to congratulate this inaugural group of 50 ‘Companies to Watch’ in Arizona for 2006. These vital businesses are growing second-stage companies and are key components of the engine that drives our economy forward. They create new, sustainable jobs each year, and they are innovators that are willing to take significant, but calculated, risks to produce new products and services,” said Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.

The defining characteristics of second-stage enterprises for the Arizona Companies to Watch program are annual revenue or working capital of between $1 million and $100 million, 10 to 100 employees, and the “intent and capacity to grow.” Second-stage companies are past the startup phase; are generally concerned with issues of growth, not survival; and have not yet become large corporations. Such enterprises are important economically because they create a substantial portion of the net new jobs each year.

More than 280 companies were nominated or applied for the award. Of those companies 108 were selected by the Edward Lowe Foundation and ASBA for the next round of judging. In early April, 12 appointed judges selected the final 50.