Livin' La Vida Boca

Cramer is on a long, enthused rant. "We've created a media player that allows us to design the entire skin, the way it looks, according to the Web site's own branding image," he says. "You can't control all of the antibranding messages that come with RealPlayer. With ours, the whole thing offers a seamless design that supports the sponsor's own branding and design. Our player will read any kind of files, including RealPlayer files, but without all of the visual noise that you get with RealPlayer."

Cramer's business plan says that he needs $6 million for a network of six distribution centers around the country. But he can't come up with even that.

"Bankers here don't have a clue," he explodes. "They are like, What's a VC? There are no players here. Banks don't get it. That has to change. It's not ads, it's not promotion that will make this region explode. Hello! You can't get a bank loan! With workforce, it's the same thing. A graphic designer here doesn't know software. HTM what? Flash 2 what? I don't have time to teach them. I'm going to visit San Jose and speak with a couple of real players. There's a chance that I'll decide to move to California."

He isn't nay-saying. This is a man who volunteered his company to design the current brochure promoting the Internet Coast. He's fully behind the effort to enrich the soil for growth. But he just isn't sure that he can stay in South Florida, with the current obstacles in place, and survive. Something has to be done fast to bring money and talent to the region, or his window of opportunity will close.

"Can I wait long enough?" he asks, more of himself than anyone. "I want the Internet Coast to be major-league successful. But I'm self-funded for now. We need VCs down here. We need headhunters. And we need them now."

David Dorsey, a frequent Fast Company contributor, lives in Rochester, New York. Contact Jeff Bonar (jeff.bonar@mobilelements.com), Jeff Kline (info@internetcoast.com), or Scott Adams (ceo@cenetec.com) by email.