'The Sky's the Limit'

'The Sky's the Limit'

ENTREPRENEURS by Janet Leiser | Senior Editor

Entrepreneurs Chuck Miller and Lynette Bohanan created a PR firm that they hope to grow into a powerhouse, and they're having fun in the process.

Communications executives Chuck Miller and Lynette Bohanan were part of the explosive growth at one of Florida's largest public corporations. Over 13 years, Clearwater-based Tech Data Corp. grew from $600 million in sales and 600 employees to more than $20 billion and 8,000 employees.

"It was exciting," Bohanan, 42, says. "We wanted to harness some of the energy we experienced in those growth modes and transfer that to other businesses in the area."

Meet the principals of CommCentric Solutions Inc., a startup public relations company whose clients already include SAP, an international tech company based in Germany.

"There are these connections around the country we're starting to foster," she says. "As much as we're looking to diversify, I think the tech sector is our strength."

Miller, who was director of corporate communications at Tech Data, says he's always wanted to run his own company. Bohanan had her own PR firm prior to joining Tech Data, where she was a manager for about 11 years.

It's the excitement behind the rapid growth of a company that pushed them into taking on the risk of a startup, Bohanan says. They started the Tampa Bay area firm in April.

At Tech Data, they launched the first online news center years ago.

"That was a very exciting, challenging time," Bohanan says. "Then, as the company matured from the communications standpoint, it was more standardized."

Bohanan broached the idea of a startup to Miller.

"It was a great leap," Miller says. "We did the unorthodox approach without having built any client base whatsoever. We were in good standing with the company. We were pretty sure they were sorry to see us go, particularly together at one time."

CommCentric plans to help companies make a name for themselves. That typically means a company with a minimum of $10 million in sales.

"When they're in the startup stage, they're not usually focused on communications and marketing," Bohanan says.

Miller says: "A lot of the smaller companies try to do it all themselves, which can be a mistake."

The firm has already exceeded their first-year goal of $100,000 in revenue, Bohanan says, adding, "We had low goals coming out of the gate because we didn't know what to expect."

So far, CommCentric has five clients, including Oldsmar-based Network Liquidators and SAP, for whom they write three newsletters twice a month. SAP, whose software is used in half the world's transactions, is now going after smaller resellers, often called solution providers.

"All these massive companies are generally using SAP software," Miller says. "That market is exhausted for them."

SAP's newsletters are geared toward the employees, as well as prospective customers, Miller says. "You have to bring your employee population along with you as you're reaching to this new market."

How about CommCentric's goal?

"We want to be incredibly successful," Miller says. "The sky's the limit."

"To me, there's nothing more exciting than seeing massive growth at a company from your efforts," Bohanan says.

The duo say they work well together, and, yes, they have disagreements.

"We don't always see eye-to-eye on everything, and that was part of the advantage of a partnership like this," Miller says. "We can look at things from different perspectives. She has talked me out of many different things and vice versa."

They say they're taking one day at a time, trying to smooth out the planning processes.

"You don't have it all figured out in advance," Miller says.

"Yeah," Bohanan says. "I think that's part of the allure."

"We're having a lot of fun," Miller says.