Phil Loeffel remembers his first computer, a TRS-80 he got at age 9. Now, the 34-year-old has "literally a dozen" computers at home "and enough parts to build a dozen more." A man of varied passions, Loeffel also liked volleyball -- he played professionally as a 6-foot-1 setter. And he holds boat captain licenses for vessels up to 100 tons.
Loeffel's Riptide Software, which writes custom software for both commercial and military customers, also has a number of interesting facets. For one, it's grown to $6 million in revenue without a nickel of outside capital. For another, it's the rare tech company that's been profitable since nearly its inception in 1995. And, unlike a lot of software companies, it doesn't use onerous licenses to tie customers to itself for upgrades and other repeat business.
Indeed, most of the software it writes is "license-free." "We believe it's a somewhat adversarial relationship if you do proprietary things that lock Company A to Company B," Loeffel says.
Loeffel's approach is "one of the reasons why we have a strong relationship with Riptide," says Robert Wolf, vice president of Sacramento, Calif.-based defense contractor ACM Systems. Wolf also likes Riptide's responsiveness.
For commercial clients, Riptide makes financial management tools such as a "price and pace" web interface that managers use to maximize profit. The military uses Riptide for command, control and communication simulation software such as real-time casualty assessment software in military exercises involving 2,000 soldiers with laser guns and vests.
Ahead, Loeffel says Riptide, which employs 30 to 40, will grow as its number of experienced team leaders grows. He plans to keep his captain licenses -- "it's really all about fishing" -- but he's given up on pro volleyball -- "it's amazing the things you can do at 22 that you can't do at ... 31." He still loves gadgets. His current favorite: A Handspring Treo he can program himself.
Philip Loeffel
President and CEO / Riptide Software
Orlando/Melbourne
Boat Captaining: "The business definitely comes first."
Bio: Massachusetts native; bachelor's and master's, Florida Institute of Technology, 1990 and 1994, respectively.
Previous Stops: Harris Corp. in Melbourne; Software Technology Inc.; founded Riptide in 1995.
Quote: "There's no substitute for being fast and accurate."
Healthcare: Taking Heart
In 1998, Howard Leonhardt sold his 12-year-old medical device company for $62 million. A few months later, when Medtronic acquired Leonhardt's acquirer, his former unit was valued at $124 million -- not bad for a guy who upon arriving in south Florida in 1985 lived out of his car to conserve $600 in savings.
Today, Leonhardt, at the helm of Bioheart, his latest startup, aims to use stem cells from the thigh to regenerate heart muscle damaged by myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure. The cells form new heart muscle to improve the heart's blood-pumping ability.
Using cells will be more effective and less expensive than transplants, drug therapy and other treatments, says Leonhardt, 42.
Other companies are on the same path, but 25-employee Bioheart has a catheter to make open-heart surgery unnecessary; its catheter method is the only one approved for U.S. clinical trials. "To the best of my knowledge, Bioheart seems the leading one," says Dr. Race Kao, an East Tennessee State University researcher who has used the thigh cell technique to treat people in China and sits on Bioheart's scientific advisory board.
Leonhardt went into export sales after technical college and founded his World Medical Manufacturing to meet demand he learned of while making sales calls.
Leonhardt needs to raise $8 million to fund trials of Bioheart's first product. He doesn't project an operating profit until 2006.
"We have a chance to actually cure heart failure," he says. "We haven't proven that yet, but we have a chance."
Howard Leonhardt
CEO / Bioheart
Weston
Recreation: Roller hockey."
Family: Brenda, his wife of 20 years, and son, Ryan, at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville.
Benefactor: Leonhardt sits on the Florida International University foundation board and sponsors business plan competitions at the University of Florida and Florida International University.
Telecom: A Good Call
That Mike Gallagher's telecom business still exists is accomplishment enough given the industry's flameout. His Florida Digital Network is not only growing, but also will make a profit this year on a projected $130 million in revenue.
Florida Digital, like BellSouth, offers local, long-distance and internet service but touts more flexibility, "certain flavors of DSL" BellSouth doesn't offer and features such as penny-a-minute long-distance calling to other Florida Digital customers. It has 180,000 customer lines.
Growing up in Winter Park, Gallagher had a phone company employee for a neighbor; he whetted Gallagher's appetite for telecom by letting him try on his spiked boots for pole climbing.
After graduating from Rollins College, Gallagher joined Intermedia in Tampa, then Williams Telecommunications in Texas, where he later co-founded a telecom. In 1998, with other WilTel alums, he launched Florida Digital on a conservative model. Startup telecoms could "rent" discounted space on Bell networks -- quick growth and low cost but a "shaky legal premise," Gallagher says -- or build their own capital-intensive facilities. Gallagher chose the facilities-based model -- a smart choice given that shifting regulatory winds at present are roiling "renters."
Gallagher also chose well in backers. As telecom startups failed and lenders ran, an investor, MC Ventures in Boston, bought Florida Digital's $60 million in debt to make it debt free. With what Gallagher admits were scary times behind, he is able to buy Georgia and Florida assets of Mpower Communications, opening a "Publix model" of Florida-Georgia growth. Meanwhile, he looks forward to a Public Service Commission ruling that will allow him to enter southwest Florida, his last untouched Florida market.
"We feel fortunate to be a survivor," says Gallagher, 39. What won't survive: The Florida Digital name. It doesn't fit in Atlanta.
Mike Gallagher
CEO / Florida Digital Network
Orlando
Education: Winter Park High School, Rollins College.
Coach: Little League.
Roots: His father, Walt, was Orange County sheriff.