[Excerpted from Silicon Valley Business Journal] One of the key ingredients to succeeding in small business is having a clear understanding of where your company can best thrive in the marketplace.

L2F Inc. has figured that out.

The Fremont-based firm, co-founded five years ago by engineers Shawn Lange and Derek Pietz, is steeped in Silicon Valley’s tech-oriented market as a designer and builder of robotics-based automated manufacturing equipment. The company has built its reputation in numerous industries, including electric vehicles, solar power, aerospace, defense and food.

Over the last two years, L2F has experienced astronomical growth. In 2013, revenue totaled just shy of $500,000, followed by more than $1.6 million in 2014, and coming in at nearly $2.8 million last year.

“It wasn’t because of any one project,” said Lange, L2F’s CEO. He noted that his and Pietz’s combined background in scaling startups, along with a strong network in the Bay Area, positioned them to help tech companies in their infancy. “We wanted to help them when they were still in the content phase which, frankly, our competitors see as high risk. And it is.”

Two years ago, after the company had a number of stable clients, it became a Certified Robotics Integrator in the state of California. Read more.