Dennis Fitzgerald is president and founding partner of 24 Hour Company (www.24hourcompany.com), a Falls Church, Virginia, company that specializes in graphic design, desktop publishing, and visual communications training.

The company started out as a traditional graphics design firm in 1992. Realizing the opportunity to focus on an under-served niche market in the Washington, D.C., area, Dennis transitioned the company into one whose primary clients are business development professionals who bid on government and commercial contract work. Today 24 Hour Company has 20 employees who are graphic and interactive designers, fine artists, animators, and programmers, and is the only design firm that covers the bid and proposal market exclusively.

Since founding 24 Hour Company, Dennis has built his business management skills, focusing on sales, finance, marketing, recruiting, HR, and accounting. He attributes much of his success to learning by "failing forward." If it had not been for mentoring relationships with successful entrepreneurs like his dad, business-savvy colleagues, and members of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), it could have been disastrous!

Along the way, Dennis has mentored and encouraged many others within the company to excel. He maintains a business culture that rewards innovation, creativity, service excellence, and unmatched client care.

24 Hour Company clients include many large firms who do business with the federal government, literally eight of the top ten federal contractors in 2009, including Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. These large businesses are involved in everything from aircraft to naval ships, from enterprise-wide IT/communications to specialty equipment for the Warfighter, from intelligence community support to civilian, and even state and local agency support. 24 Hour Company also supports smaller contractors that want to use their nimble size to compete at the level of the bigger contractors.

A consummate entrepreneur, Dennis is always looking for opportunities to expand and better serve the bid and proposal market. In 2008, 24 Hour Company opened an office in Kent, which relocated to Central London in 2010. Dennis is a Beneficial Owner, and acts as an advisor to 24UK Ltd. He is an active member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and the National Capital Area (NCA) chapter and the D.C. chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization.

24 Hour Company publishes a free bimonthly e-zine, "Bid-Winning Proposals," which features original articles by industry leaders covering the latest best practices in the bid and proposal field.