Tech companies don’t have to leave the Tampa Bay area to be successful, according to Arnie Bellini, co-founder and CEO of ConnectWise.
Bellini pointed to ConnectWise, a Tampa software firm with business management software, as a prime example, during a 15-minute presentation Wednesday, kicking off the Synapse Innovation Summit at Amalie Arena, designed to highlight the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Tampa Bay and to bring together innovators from all industries and stages of development.
ConnectWise was launched 36 years ago, in the spare bedroom of his parents’ home in Tampa, and has grown to unicorn status, with a valuation of $1.2 billion. The company is privately held, with employees holding 16 percent of the shares. It has no debt and posted $206 million in billings in 2017, up 96 percent from 2014. Despite skeptics who say ConnectWise essentially is a fluke — a one-of-a-kind that will never happen again — Bellini said much more than luck was involved in growing and sustaining the company.
