Bang the Rum

Troy Roberts made a solid six-figure annual salary in the 1990s while working for an international software and information technology firm.

But even as he was crisscrossing the globe for 10 years running a $350 million unit for Compuware, Roberts, who grew up in Sarasota, longed for something more. “It was a lot of fun for a while,” says Roberts, “but I learned I like working for myself.”

He also learned that he wanted to get behind a product he could see, touch and smell. Something he could make from scratch. And he wasn't going to find that in software and information technology.