Ryan Pratt started Guerrilla RF in 2008 with only he and his wife involved.
Today his microchip company is a 37-person enterprise working out of a 12,000-square-foot space and eyeing the likely need for additional room in the next 12 to 24 months.
The company's space is roughly 90 percent occupied, as it's been on a growth tear. Guerrilla RF saw 100% revenue growth in 2019 vs. the year earlier, which helped land it at No. 5 in its debut this year in TBJ's Fast 50. And despite some hindrances early as Covid-19 impacted its supply chain, Guerrilla RF was on pace in the fourth quarter for 30 to 40 percent growth for 2020.
Pratt's been optimistic that 2021 will yield double-digit, if not triple-digit, growth. The semiconductor industry has a long sales cycle, he said, taking about two years from innovating an idea to turning it into revenue.
“We made a lot of bets late last year and this year. We upped our R&D investment a lot, and so we hope and expect this will really start paying off mid to late next year,” Pratt said.
Guerrilla RF focuses on driving advancement in the 5G infrastructure space and the connective automotive industry. He studied electrical engineering at N.C. State, but tech innovation also is in his blood. His father, Bill Pratt, was a co-founder of RF Micro Devices, which launched in 1991 and in 2015 became Qorvo, one of the Triad's largest public companies.
What he learned through his experience while working at RF Micro, then at Greensboro's Skyworks and also through the Triad's entrepreneurial ecosystem, was how to innovate. In making microchips for the wireless industry, it's all about creating the right product, putting it in front of the right customers, and providing exceptional support, he said.
"We’re selling to other businesses, we’re not selling to consumers. So in the universe of potential customers, there aren’t that many. Maybe thousands ... You’ve got to make it as easy as possible to use your product. Those two things … having the right products in front of the right customers and having some of the best employees in the industry to support those customers, really are what has driven our growth."
