Entrepreneur’s journey from $200 and an answering machine to $500M

Tampa-based franchise executive Greg Muzzillo isn’t a preacher, but he spent a recent Friday morning in Naples revving up a crowd on what he calls “achievable, believable entrepreneurship.”

And Muzzillo, founder of Proforma, one of the nation’s largest providers of business graphics, marketing materials and printing and packaging services, has practiced what he preaches. He founded Proforma in 1978, one year after graduating from college. The launch was meager: it consisted of $200, split between Muzzillo and a partner, an answering machine and some business cards. Muzzillo started franchising the business in 1986, and through hustle, some hubris and lots of resilience, Muzzillo helped build Proforma into an industry powerhouse. Today it has more than 650 franchise offices worldwide and $500 million in annual sales. The company has made the Inc. 500 three times, while 24 Proforma franchise owners made the 2021 Inc. 5000 list.