Break through

Guil Geneau says he's an all-in kind of guy, and while not a gambler, the early stages of the housing market rebound three years ago was a spacious spot to test his courage.

That's when Geneau and a business partner, Chris Copeland, left high-paying roofing industry sales management jobs to launch their own business. The company, Crown Roofing, started out of the garages of each founder's home, Geneau in Sarasota, Copeland in Fort Myers, in February 2013. The founders had $75,000 in savings and no clients. They went more than six months without a salary.

“We basically had a couple of business cards and a website; that wasn't even that good then,” says Geneau. “We had a lot to prove.”