How a Veteran-Owned Staffing Firm Made the Inc. 5000 Three Times

Brandon Knotts never planned to build a staffing company. He planned to build a sustainable business.

In 2011, fresh out of the Marine Corps, Brandon started DASH2 with a simple goal: create a business that provided real value to clients, paid people fairly, and didn't chase growth at the expense of quality or culture. Staffing was the vehicle, but sustainability was the mission.

Fifteen years later, DASH2 made the Inc. 5000 list — a recognition of the sustainable growth strategy Brandon built from day one. This isn't a hype story about a startup that scaled 10x in two years and burned out. It's a story about a veteran-led firm that built a real business, treated people well, and stayed profitable while growing deliberately.

Why Sustainable Growth Matters (And Why Most Staffing Companies Get It Wrong)

The staffing industry is notorious for two extremes: tiny boutique firms that never scale, or massive staffing conglomerates that chase every deal, burn through people, and optimize for short-term margin. There's rarely a middle ground.

Brandon chose the middle ground — and it's the reason DASH2 is still here and growing after 15 years.

From day one, DASH2 prioritized gross margin over revenue growth. Brandon refused to enter a price war with large staffing firms that compete on volume and bill-rate compression. Instead, he focused on mid-market companies — organizations with 500 to 5,000 employees — that needed specialized contractors but were being underserved by both boutique firms and staffing conglomerates.

Finding the Sweet Spot: The Mid-Market

Mid-market companies represent the most underserved segment in the staffing industry. They have real staffing needs, often placing 10 or more contractors annually. But they're too small for the global staffing firms to prioritize, and too complex for most boutique agencies to serve well.

This is where DASH2 thrives. By serving mid-market companies, DASH2 built a practice where quality matters more than volume, client relationships are direct (no VMS layers or procurement middlemen), and contractors are individually matched — not keyword-scraped from a job board and submitted in bulk.

What We'd Tell Any Staffing Company Trying to Grow

Most staffing companies try to grow by adding more clients, hiring more recruiters, and running more job postings. That approach creates operational chaos, recruiter burnout, and a race to the bottom on price.

DASH2 grew differently. Here's how:

Focus on margin, not revenue. A $500K client at 30% gross margin is more valuable than a $2M MSP client at 15% margin with three layers of compliance overhead. Revenue without margin is just movement — not progress.

Build your bench. Great candidates don't appear when you need them. They appear when you're already building relationships. DASH2 invests in ongoing recruiter engagement with strong candidates even when there's no active role to fill.

Diversify your client base. A balanced portfolio of clients across industries and engagement types is healthier than chasing the largest possible logo. Diversification protects the business and creates better outcomes for contractors and clients alike.

Train your recruiters like operators, not salespeople. The recruiting function at DASH2 isn't a sales job with a different title. Recruiters are trained to evaluate candidates the way hiring managers would — technically, culturally, and strategically. That training is what allows DASH2 to maintain a 3:1 submittal-to-hire ratio in an industry where 10:1 is common.

Building a Team People Actually Want to Work For

DASH2's team includes partner Alan Sansovich, a Force Recon Marine, plus a strong roster of recruiters who bring both expertise and values alignment. The company is small by design — which means every team member matters, and nobody is just filling a seat.

Retention at DASH2 is strong because the company invests in people, holds them accountable, and gives them real ownership of their work. Recruiters manage client relationships directly. They're not behind a wall of account managers and delivery leads. That kind of autonomy, paired with real training and real mentorship, is rare in the staffing world.

What's Next for DASH2

Brandon's focus for 2026 is investing in DASH2's continued national reach, deeper specialization across all practice areas, and growth of the boutique vetting model that has defined the firm from day one — the same way he has always operated: deliberately, with discipline, and without shortcuts.