The big picture on Florida's small companies: a new window into the vibrant, volatile world of Florida's small companies.(Cover Story)

Florida Trend, June, 2004 by Vogel, Mike

In 1998, theglobe.com, an internet company backed by Alamo Rent a Car tycoon Michael Egan of Fort Lauderdale, jumped 977% in its first day of trading, setting a record and helping land Egan on Forbes' list of richest Americans. Four years later, it traded at a penny a share. "We were kind of the icon for the internet bubble," Egan says, "and we were the icon for the internet bubble bursting."

The fall humbled theglobe.com to the ranks of small Florida companies, a volatile segment replete with startups and start-overs. Egan swept the remains of the high-flier to downtown Fort Lauderdale, where he and fellow investor Edward Cespedes have used the shell of theglobe.com to launch a technology that makes low-cost phone service possible from any PC. They're already...