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Naveen Poonian, chief executive of iBase-T, sees a silver lining in the tariffs being imposed by President Donald Trump.
The tariffs are causing manufacturers to relocate to the U.S., which in turn is forcing them to become even more efficient, he said. That trend benefits iBase-t, which has developed software to help aerospace and defense companies manage complex manufacturing processes for rockets and satellites.
“There’s been a dramatic push towards modernization, putting all the right things in place and a drive towards greater efficiency,” Poonian told the Business Journal.
“We have seen tremendous growth in the past year. The defense and aerospace industry are booming, despite the tariff situation and the economy. They have record backlogs.”
The company, which was founded in California in 1986, faced a tragedy in 1998 when Poonian’s father died. His mother Ladeira Poonian took over and is now the chairman. In the year since winning a Business Journal Family-Owned Business Award, the Lake Forest firm has been on a growth spurt and now has 320 employees, up from about 300 a year ago.
While Naveen Poonian declined to identify current revenue or percentage growth, he did say the company is trending towards a “rule of 40” that might go next year to a “rule of 60.” These rules are often used by investors and analysts to gauge whether a company’s revenue is growing in a profitable manner.
“Billions in revenue is achievable for us,” he said.
The company last July hired Charlie Luke Velasquez, who has “a track record of executing high-profile deals, including an IPO, an acquisition by a Fortune 100 company, and acquisitions from both strategic and private equity firms.”
While Poonian said going public is something he would consider, it’s currently “not on the radar” as he’s concerned about the need to meet quarterly demands of investors.
In the past year, the company has announced new customers like BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, which makes nuclear reactors for U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers, and Teledyne CML Composites UK, a maker of aerospace components.
Last December, iBase-t unveiled its Solumina
AI to help customers “make intelligent data-driven decisions to work more efficiently, accelerate production cycles, and drive first-time quality. This addresses critical industry challenges like lengthy lead times, constrained capacity and backlogs.”
Poonian is also looking at expanding into other industries like power and heavy industry.
“We’re super excited and bullish about this business ahead of us. We don’t see this slowing down. We anticipate significant growth in the coming year.”
As for his mother, the chairman “is doing great. She’s very happy with the growth of the company.”