Pay up

Keith Stone wants his company to be a hotbed of innovation.

To do that, the Bonita Springs entrepreneur launched a fund that invests in startup payment technologies, some of them dreamed up by his own employees. In a Shark Tank-style competition, employees have an opportunity to win financial backing and get an ownership stake if the idea is good enough to spin off. Plus, the top three winners collect total prize money of $19,000.

Stone is the founder and CEO of CSI Enterprises, a fast-growing company that provides payment systems for corporations. The company's most recent incarnation started in 2000 when Stone came out of brief retirement after a successful career at GE Capital.