RealLIST Startups returns this January. Here’s how to nominate promising tech companies

New year, new you — new company, new role?

When we at Technical.ly were planning our 2020 editorial calendar, one of the first categories we came up with for the monthly themed reporting series was early employees.

Company formation, hiring trends and culture building are topics we cover all the time. But how, exactly, do a company’s first hires impact its development? And how can those hires best grow with the company?

A few relevant stories we’ve published in recent months:

• What FORT Robotics’ CEO said he learned in the rapid-growth company’s first year
• 5 questions with Myra Norton: How transparent leadership empowers teams to grow and scale
• Here’s what the CEO of a 200-person company had to say about growing teams quickly
• Memo to leaders building company culture: Give employees a voice

Have an idea for a story, or an exciting company we should look into, or a report we should read, or an expert we should talk to this month? Want to write a guest post on a relevant topic? Let us know:

This January, we’ll also publish the 2020 edition of the RealLIST Startups, aka our annual list of each market’s most promising young tech companies; see Philly’s 2019 list here, Baltimore’s here, D.C.’s here and Delaware’s here.

The RealLIST is basically our way of forecasting what local companies are going to have a big year based on factors such as founder experience, venture capital raises and originality of product. (In 2019, we expanded the RealLIST series to include software engineers, too; those inaugural lists published in the fall. And we capitalized the “R” — big news!)

As a bonus, companies that make the 2020 RealLIST Startups can also get a free table at their city’s NET/WORK tech jobs fair, happening Feb. 25 in Philly, March 3 in Baltimore and March 24 in D.C. — plus other perks. Look for more details soon.

We have a whole bunch of finalists in our heads already, but we want suggestions from readers, too. Know an exceptional up-and-coming company that deserves some shine? Keep in mind that to be considered, companies can’t be older than three years (so, must be founded in 2017 or later); they must make the majority of their revenue from selling a product (not agencies or studios); and they must not have undergone an exit event.

Tell us via this form by EOD Sunday, Jan. 12: