The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100 is a ranking of the UK's hundred fastest-growing unquoted companies by sales growth. It's published each December in the Sunday Times. This year Start Design went straight in at number 73, receiving the following write-up:

Former art college mates helped brand Virgin Cola and Virgin Atlantic.

Mike Curtis and Darren Whittingham shared a room at art college and 10 years later, in 1996, went on to found their own graphic design consultancy, Start Design. With no clients at the outset, Curtis wrote to contacts he had made while working for Fitch, the large design consultancy, informing them that his new brand-development company was open for business. He won a contract with Virgin Atlantic.

 

Work for other Virgin companies followed, including Virgin Mobile and Virgin One. Start Design later helped to manage Virgin Atlantic's 1999 rebranding. Other high profile clients include The Times, Royal Mail and Axis, helping to drive up sales at the London company by 79% a year from GBP838,000 in 1997 to GBP4.8m in 2000, when it had 25 staff.