Mike Merrill

Mike Merrill did not expect to stay in Florida when he helped his parents move from Minnesota. "But as soon as I saw it, I loved it," he says. He decided to relocate his company, Smartphones Technologies, which develops wallpapers and ringtones, from California.

In Jacksonville, he began having success with football team themes and college fight songs. He worked to develop fight songs as ring tones — not an easy job because it requires licensing from not only the college, but also from the song's composer and often from third parties.

But the work paid off. Smartphones Technologies, with nine employees, is the largest producer of college fight songs on iTunes — including all the major college teams in Florida. It also creates smart phone fan apps, for which it holds licenses with 180 universities. The company's latest products include "live wallpaper" and an app-review service called SmartApps Deal of the Day.