Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 16, 2007

Not Just Talk

An entrepreneur's chat with others about starting a bank turns into reality as the group hires a CEO and files an application with state regulators to form GulfShore Bank. It has raised several million dollars in the first couple weeks of its capital campaign.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 16, 2007

Chasing the Best

Secrets are for sharing, not storing. So says the founder of a Gulf Coast-based business who lets all his employees see the firm's financials.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

Not Your Father's Chamber

Night life. Condo towers. Hip retail shops. St. Petersburg isn't what it used to be. It's a vibrant, changing city.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

Save Our Homes ... again

Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson, the father of the 'Save Our Homes' amendment, says he's in favor of a proposal to eliminate property taxes for homesteaded properties. But less radical reform is the more likely outcome, he concedes.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

How to Wow 'Em

BankAtlantic CEO Jarett S. Levan was in the Tampa Bay area recently to meet employees and personally thank them for their service.Many of BankAtlantic's 300 employees in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties showed up at the Florida Aquarium for the annual employee appreciation event, called Red Carpet Night.Levan, who succeeded his father, Alan Levan, as CEO in January, hopes that his one-on-one interaction with employees will help foster the type of relationship the bank wants employees to have with customers."We have a culture that we call the 'wow experience,'" Levan says. "It's a culture of wowing our associates and wowing our customers."

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

Nailing it In

The 200-year-old nail industry isn't exactly a high-tech magnet. That hasn't stopped a trio of Gulf Coast entrepreneurs determined to hammer the industry with innovation.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

The Fast Track

Elaine Kaup has spent her entire life defying odds, both personal and business, including a meteoric rise to the top of the AT&T corporate food chain.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 9, 2007

Preparing for the big rebound - in '08

New head of the Bonita Bay Group, Kitty Green, is not expecting much strength in real estate this year, but is planning for a bounce in 2008, and expects a return to vigorous levels in 2009.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 2, 2007

Masters of organic growth

An activist hedge fund tried to force Outback Steakhouse to divest several of its restaurant concepts last year to boost short-term performance, but Emory University Business Professor Edward D. Hess has only praise for the Tampa-based chain.Outback, which has changed its name to OSI Restaurant Partners Inc., is the only Florida company studied by Hess and included in his recently released book, "The Road to Organic Growth: How Great Companies Consistently Grow Marketshare."

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 2, 2007

Like Mom, Like Sons

There'll be no extended vacations to re-charge for entrepreneur Pamela Kauten, who sold Florida CareerLINK.com last month to a New York company.Kauten, 48, who built the Tampa Bay area site to more than $1 million in revenue over the past 10 years, plans to start a new dot-com venture with sons, Nick, 26, and Adam, 23.But she's remaining mum about the project, proposed by her youngest son, until July 1, when she unveils the site.The past six months were hectic for Kauten as buyer Eric Straus of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based RegionalHelpWanted.com completed the due diligence process.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 2, 2007

Building the Future

Kraft Construction Co. is the largest builder on Florida's Gulf Coast with more than 500 employees and nearly $700 million in gross revenues in 2006. Based in Naples, the company has been expanding its reach from Collier and Lee counties northward into Charlotte and Sarasota counties. It is now beginning to do work in Tampa Bay.John Pinholster is the new president of Kraft, taking over for co-founder Robert Carsello. Here is an extended executive session with the man who will be guiding the company.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 2, 2007

Buying the Spin-off

Managers led a buyout of a Tampa pharmaceutical division when the Canadian parent company decided to spin off small business lines to improve profitability.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
March 2, 2007

Dueling Outlooks

Economists are split over the future of Florida's housing market. Some say the decline is at an end while others suggest there's more bad news to come.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
February 23, 2007

Where the rubber meets the road

Rick and Rosie Johnson built a chain of seven auto-and-tire stores and aim for a dozen more in Southwest Florida. They offer valuable lessons in growing a service business.

Entrepreneurs

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Business Observer Staff
February 23, 2007

Florida's Who's Who vs. THE SHARKS

Carl Icahn, one of America's most relentless shareholder activists, celebrated his 71st birthday Feb. 16. The party: He launched another proxy battle, this time for control of Bonita Springs-based WCI Communities Inc.Icahn in recent months has acquired nearly 15% of the homebuilder's shares. He wants to replace the entire board of WCI with his own slate of directors, including himself and Hugh Culverhouse Jr., owner of Sarasota-based Palmer Ranch and son of the late Tampa Bay Buccaneers' owner, who, in his day, waged his own share of takeover battles.

Entrepreneurs

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Not Just Talk

Chasing the Best

Not Your Father's Chamber

Save Our Homes ... again

How to Wow 'Em

Nailing it In

The Fast Track

Preparing for the big rebound - in '08

Masters of organic growth

Like Mom, Like Sons

Building the Future

Buying the Spin-off

Dueling Outlooks

Where the rubber meets the road

Florida's Who's Who vs. THE SHARKS

Sarasota cybersecurity firm raises $250M in funding

From restaurant CEOs to a golf course owner: March on 'From the Corner Office'

2026 top 50 contractors zoom past $10B in annual revenue

Minnesota developer buys Fort Myers mixed-use project site for $20.45M

First Watch terminates COO amid restructuring

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