Bridge to capital, and jobs

Semi-retired executives and part-time Longboat Key residents Sam Guren and Tom Gardner come from wildly different backgrounds.

Guren was an early investor in Apple Computer, helped bring Yoplait yogurt to the United States and has since invested in dozens of other companies. Gardner is a health care executive-turned-entrepreneur who led the team at Johnson & Johnson that developed and brought Tylenol to market.

But Guren and Gardner have teamed up on a common mission: to connect startups, on the Gulf Coast and into Orlando and Gainesville, with a group of high-achieving current and former executives willing to give their money, time and sometimes both. The group is called Bridge, an acronym that stands for bringing resources, involvement and dollars for growing enterprises.