One-on-One with Kalypso's Bill Poston

Kalypso is no stranger to the pages of Consulting magazine. Named one of Consulting 's Seven Small Jewels in 2011 in large part for its explosive growth, the firm has no plans on slowing down as it celebrates its 8th anniversary. Founding partner Bill Poston is committed to continuing the firm's growth with the "4X4Y" plan—a plan to grow by an additional 400 percent over the next four years, increasing its current billable consultant headcount from 125 to 300 by 2015. Poston recently spoke with Consulting about this strategy, the secret to hiring like-minded employees, and why Stephen Colbert would be his ideal celebrity spokesman.

Consulting: Talk a little about Kalypso's "4X4Y" strategy.

Poston: After 8 years we felt like we had laid down a solid foundation and built a team and a client portfolio and reputation in the marketplace that allowed us to scale dramatically. When you think about it in percentage terms, it may not be faster than we had grown in the past but obviously on a much larger base. With that foundation we put a growth strategy in place to increase the size of the firm by 400 percent in the next 4 years. Revenue and headcount correlating with that. The 4X4Y plan really only represents about a 45 percent cumulative average growth rate over the next 4 years, it actually is aggressive because the absolute numbers get bigger and bigger but on a percentage basis it's a little lower than our historic growth rate.