TO WATCH (Sarasota-Bradenton): Art Lambert and Ron Simkins

ENTREPRENEURS TO WATCH: SARASOTA/BRADENTON

Lexjet

Art Lambert

and Ron Simkins

The corporate atmosphere at LexJet, a Sarasota-based digital printing and software sales and marketing firm is anything but corporate. Employees wear flip-flops and T-shirts to work, flip Frisbees over cubicles and can be seen lounging on a couch near the lobby watching sports highlights on TV.

But this isn't a case of employees waiting until the boss leaves to slack off.

Indeed, the atmosphere was created, encouraged and even demanded by the company's grandfatherly pair of co-founders, Art Lambert and Ron Simkins. The duo, who met in an apartment complex in Cincinnati where they both lived 35 years ago and worked in the then-fledgling computer industry, founded LexJet in Sarasota in 1994.

Hiring young professionals to work in sales and marketing was always part of the plan.

"In a fast paced industry like the one we are in, we learn something new every day and simply cannot tolerate an old school mentality that often discourages creativity and new ideas," says Lambert. "Our young professionals are wise beyond their years."

The plan is working. The company has grown an average of 28% a year since 2005, from $28.14 million in revenues in 2005 to $46.02 million in 2007. The growth track is sustained, too. LexJet was named one of the fastest growing companies in the state in 1998 and in 2001 it was ranked 48th in Inc. magazine's Top 500 list of fast growing companies.

And even with the economic downturn, the company is still in expansion mode - both in Sarasota, where it's in the process of hiring six additional salespeople, and in other parts of the world.

The company hopes to grow its geographic reach to places in South America and Asia, Simkins says, and also hopes to grow its product line the next few years. LexJet also just completed a deal to buy extra Kodak machines and paper and ship the goods to other businesses in China.

Simkins and Lambert have left the day-to-day operations of the company to the top managers, one of which is Lambert's son Dean Lambert. But both executives still handle the big-picture visionary side of the business.

"We look at the economic downturn as an opportunity for us," says Lambert. "Now's the time to be aggressive, not timid."

Entrepreneurial TIP:

Q. What's the toughest challenge you've faced?

A. "Prioritizing and choosing new investment opportunities," says Lambert. "We focus only on those that will increase LexJet's value and competitive positioning and provide additional opportunity for our employees.

BY THE NUMBERS

LEXJET

Year Revenue* % change

2005: $28.14 million

2006: $37.78 million 34%

2007: $46.02 million 22%

3-year ave. annual growth: 28%

Employees

2005 employees: 78

2006 employees: 96

2007 employees: 96