Incentivized: Manatee County grants keep xByte Technologies here

When xByte Technologies was searching for a new location, CEO Ryan Brown said the company made the decision to stay in Manatee County because of the county’s already-established track record with helping the firm.

A technology resell company, xByte occupied about 15,000 square feet just north of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport at 911 Commerce Boulevard. In 2013, Brown said the company – one of more than 65 that have contracted with Manatee County for economic development incentives – knew it would have to expand its facility and began searching for a new location.

Today, the company owns 25,600 square feet at 4614 19th St. Court E. in Bradenton.

“The grants helped keep us in Manatee County and the county brought people through our old building to help us try and sell it, which was another great thing to enable us to move to this spot and not look back,” Brown said.

The county connected Brown with the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp., and the corporation’s CEO encouraged him to become involved with the Gulf Coast CEO Forum. Brown was impressed with the forum and it led him to reach out to Manatee County when he made future business decisions.

The company considered expanding its facility on 19th Street Court East but decided it was cost prohibitive.

“So we’re just trying to make the best use of our space,” Brown said.

The new, larger space has allowed xByte to hire an additional 26 employees, Brown said.

Manatee County entered its economic development incentives agreement with xByte in December 2010 and when the agreement concluded in September 2015, the county had paid the company $40,000 for 20 jobs created, according to Karen Stewart, the county’s economic development program manager.

Like all companies that enter such agreements with Manatee County, xByte was required to retain the number of employees it had in December 2010 and add more positions to receive the funds.

Beyond the jobs compensation, Brown said other services and assistance provided by Manatee County and the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. have helped the business grow from a refurbished hardware provider to a full-service technology company.

“We’ve had to educate our technical resources to get them certified to allow us to be able to sell software,” Brown said.

CareerSource Suncoast, a local job talent and recruitment agency, helped xByte secure about $5,000 in grants to defray training costs, according to CareerSource Suncoast’s Business and Economic Development Director Anthony Gagliano.

“We offer the grants and help employers get connected with the best resource for what they need,” Gagliano said in an email. “Ideally, it’s one of our local schools like SCF (State College of Florida) or MTC (Manatee Technical College) but it can also be a vendor of the employer’s choosing. In this case, xByte needed some VMware courses and SQL server courses. The SQL was done locally with certification camps in Lakewood Ranch and the VMware through Ingram Micro, which is international.”

Brown estimates his company has invested $1 million toward its growth outside of new-employee costs. The company was valued at $6 million in 2010, he said, and is now worth $21 million.

Though the company has grown, it has not been without hurdles, Brown said, though he recognized efforts made by the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. and area technical schools and colleges to try to attract high-skilled workers to the area.

“If you’re in Tampa you can make the case, ‘OK, why don’t you come down and live in Tampa,’ ” Brown said. “It’s harder to make the case of trying to grab someone and say, ‘Why don’t you come down and work in Sarasota,’ unless you really love this area.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Incentivized: Manatee County grants keep xByte Technologies here."