Ragula Bhaskar and his wife, Sanchaita Datta, had a great idea: they hold four patents for developing router clustering technology that supports the wide area communication networks of medium and large businesses.

They had the entrepreneurial spirit: the couple invested their own money, worked at reduced pay for several years and aggressively pursued venture capital opportunities to get their business, Salt Lake-based FatPipe Networks, off the ground.

But it was a third category, Bhaskar's disciplined but innovative business practices, that have helped FatPipe grow in a climate that, until recently, was extraordinarily difficult for start-up tech companies.

Bhaskar has built FatPipe into a business serving companies worldwide without spending a cent on marketing or advertising in the past five years.

Bhaskar decided that building a stellar product, then relying on media publicity and word of mouth, would do as well to build the brand and publicize the company. He was right: FatPipe has enjoyed a five-year growth rate of 1,290 percent.

Unlike the corporate climate of some tech companies, FatPipe pursues employee loyalty and longevity. The company offers such perks as flexible work schedules and tuition support.

Bhaskar also believes in helping individual employees pursue their personal dreams: one FatPipe employee received support from the company to compete in an amateur World Cup boxing tournament in Bangkok, where she won a bronze medal.