One of the region's largest exits in history has spawned a group of tech entrepreneurs bringing a new software company to town.
Tampa-based ConnectWise was sold for a reported $1.5 billion in 2019, which created roughly 70 millionaires in the region, according to its CEO Arnie Bellini. Three of the beneficiaries went on to build a cybersecurity company, CyberCNS, which just announced an expansion to Tampa and named a new leader.
CyberCNS, which recently rebranded to ConnectSecure, named Peter Bellini its new CEO. Bellini is the son of ConnectWise's co-founder, Arnie Bellini.
"I wanted to strike out, do my own thing," said Peter Bellini, who worked at ConnectWise for eight years. "ConnectWise is a great company; we integrate with them and their competitors. We’re completely independent and want to be, so we have the freedom to develop freely, talk with our users and take their feedback and put it into the product."
The company offers a vulnerability management tool, helping managed service providers, or MSPs, identify vulnerabilities in their clients' assets.
"The critical thing is, there are a lot of software solutions for the big guys, the enterprise companies," 30-year-old Bellini said. "If they're hacked, they can typically afford it; they can pay off the ransomware and have a lot of software solutions. We’re focused on enabling MSPs to protect small businesses."
Bellini has spent the last six months at ConnectSecure, joining after it was co-founded by Srikant Sreenivasan and Shiva Jagannathan, who reside in India. The trio decided ConnectSecure needed a headquarters in North America, starting in Canada, before making Tampa its U.S. headquarters.
It has seven employees in the U.S., with a goal to hit 20 by the end of 2023. There will be a large focus on tapping local talent, with a particular emphasis on the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa and Saint Leo University.
Bellini's parents, Lauren and Arnie, donated $10.6 million to USF in March to open the Bellini Center for Talent Development, which Bellini hopes will serve as an eventual pipeline of talent to ConnectSecure.
"We haven't made any formal plans yet, but eventually, we would like to establish a pipeline at USF, and that's where we’ve started off right now," he said. "The Bellini Center will help us establish that pipeline."
The company is entirely funded by Bellini, who added his parents have served as mentors but are not involved in ConnectSecure. However, Bellini did take some notes from his former employer, ConnectWise: ConnectSecure is set to have employee stock options, and Bellini made sure to have an identifiable mascot, similar to ConnectWise's owl — in this case, it is a turtle.
“I’m providing the financial backing to accelerate our growth and build out the team,” Bellini said, adding he doesn’t see this as a short-term company. “We don’t want any private equity pressure, so for at least five years, we don’t want to sell; we don’t want to after that either, but you never know what the future holds.”
The company’s trajectory is an example of what built significant tech hubs like Boston and Silicon Valley. After one successful company exits, those who benefit financially can go on to create new companies, which in turn creates new jobs and eventual success stories themselves.
The blocks have already begun to form from ConnectWise: there’s Rewst, which formed after founder Aharon Chernin’s previous company, Perch Security, was bought by ConnectWise. And ConnectWise’s co-founder, David Bellini, co-created CyberFOX, which is also in the managed service provider space.
“It’s funny because we’re starting to see Tampa is sort of evolving into this MSP software vendor hotspot,” Bellini said. “It’s not just ConnectWise; we have several solutions, and we’re getting a bit of an MSP Silicon Valley, if you will.”
