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Orange County is full of small technology companies that have big ambitions. Alex Razm'joo, president of Procom Technology Inc., runs one such company.
Razm'joo's company, which makes data-storage equipment that can be hooked to networks of personal computers, isn't about to overtake leaders in the computer industry.
But in an economic slowdown that has felled a host of ambitious upstarts, Procom is enjoying brisk growth. Sales were up 155%, to $28 million, for the company's year ended July 31. It employs 125 people, up from about 100 a year ago.
Within the next nine months, Razm'joo expects to expand his work force by about 15 to 20 people. He says the privately held company has had 17 consecutive profitable quarters and maintains a healthy 35% gross profit margin. (Gross profit is a commonly used gauge of manufacturing efficiency.)
Razm'joo is aiming at $40 million in sales for its current fiscal year and $65 million the following year.
In an unusual move for technology companies, Procom expects to finance its growth without outside loans or venture capital. Razm'joo hopes to take the company public sometime in the future.
"To build a company that size with no outside funding is unusual," said Roger Davison, general partner at the Brentwood Associates venture capital office in Irvine. "They are at a threshold size, and I think there are challenges to manage a company that is growing that fast."
Razm'joo said the company owes its success to its concentration on providing add-on storage equipment,...