Collective 54 celebrates 10 member firms on the 2026 Inc. 5000

Collective 54 says 10 member firms made the 2026 Inc. 5000, including seven repeat honorees and three first-time winners. The group highlights how boutique professional services firms can scale without relying only on billable hours and headcount.

Why it matters: - The 2026 Inc. 5000 spotlights a rare kind of growth for professional services firms: revenue gains that are not tied only to adding headcount. - Collective 54 says the 10 honorees show that boutique firms can scale through focus, pricing changes, acquisitions, and AI-enabled delivery. - The results matter for founders trying to build firms that can grow, sell, or exit more easily.

What happened: - Collective 54 congratulated 10 member firms named to the 2026 Inc. 5000, released Aug. 11, 2026. - The honorees are Dower & Associates, Empactful Advisors, Executive Presence, Tru Consulting, The Maker Group, Magna Technology Group, KUNGFU.AI, Indigo Trigger, Invene and ACE Consulting Company. - Seven of the 10 were repeat honorees from the 2025 list. - Three firms made the list for the first time: Dower & Associates, Empactful Advisors and Executive Presence. - Every one of the 10 grew faster than the median company on the 2026 list.

The details: - Dower & Associates ranked No. 326 and is the highest-ranked Collective 54 firm on the list. - Brad Dower started Dower & Associates in 2019 as a side practice while still working in corporate accounting. - Dower made the firm’s first acquisition in 2022, then went full-time and expanded to six locations. - Dower said most growth has been inorganic and deliberate, with a 600-item integration checklist helping retain about 90% of clients. - Empactful Advisors ranked No. 1,150 and serves Fortune 500 clients. - Jimmy Leppert and Justin Wasserman founded Empactful Advisors to serve enterprise buyers from day one and have never billed for time. - Empactful Advisors puts a share of its fees at risk against client outcomes and says its average return on consulting spend is 23x. - Executive Presence ranked No. 1,451. - Tru Consulting ranked No. 1,513. - The Maker Group ranked No. 1,922. - Magna Technology Group ranked No. 2,360. - KUNGFU.AI ranked No. 3,177. - Indigo Trigger ranked No. 3,858. - Invene ranked No. 4,177. - ACE Consulting Company ranked No. 4,248. - KUNGFU.AI began serious AI work in 2016 and launched in 2017. - KUNGFU.AI has never raised outside capital and has now appeared on the list for a second straight year. - The Inc. 5000 ranks companies by three-year percentage revenue growth, measured from 2022 through 2025. - To qualify, companies had to be founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2022, be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit and independent, and post at least $100,000 in 2022 revenue and $2 million in 2025 revenue. - Inc. verifies financials for every applicant. - The Inc. 5000 has been published annually since 1982. - Collective 54 says 61 members have sold firms since early 2020 for just over $3.5 billion in total value. - Collective 54 membership is aimed at founders, owners and equity-holding executives of firms with 10 to 250 employees and $5 million to $50 million in revenue. - Collective 54 says its members span the NAICS 54 professional services category across legal services, accounting and tax, architecture and engineering, specialized design, IT and software development, management consulting, scientific research and development, advertising and public relations, and other professional and technical services.

Between the lines: - The list shows different paths to growth inside boutique firms, from acquisition-heavy expansion to outcome-based pricing to AI-enabled service delivery. - Collective 54 is using the Inc. 5000 recognition to reinforce its argument that the next wave of fast-growing firms will be AI-Native Boutique Firms. - Jeff Klaumann said these honorees are role models for the broader community because they changed how the firms operate, not just how fast they grew.

What's next: - Collective 54 says it is focused on helping more member firms become AI-Native Boutique Firms. - The company expects future Inc. 5000 lists to include more firms that use AI to deliver work while people supervise judgment. - Collectively, the honorees provide a template other boutique firms can adapt as they look for growth without simply scaling payroll.

The bottom line: - Collective 54 is framing the 2026 Inc. 5000 as proof that boutique professional services firms can grow fast by changing the model, not just the staffing count.