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Near-fatal accident didn't stop serial entrepreneur Anand Pallegar

By Madhusmita Bora, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, April 19, 2008

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Times are slow. But that fails to crush entrepreneurs' indomitable spirit. The good news is they continue to scour for opportunities in the Tampa Bay area.

The latest on the block is Anand Pallegar, a Sarasota serial entrepreneur now on his fifth company. Pallegar's advertising agency, atLarge Inc., focuses on marrying Web strategy with measurable business results. It allows clients to calculate the success of marketing strategies, while targeting customers without compromising their privacy.

The one-stop-shop approach has won him clients all over, including names such as Ford Motor Co.

He now wants to establish his footing across the Skyway.

Pallegar's mission is to grow his business and participate in the tech community. He wants to be a representative of the new face of Tampa Bay's next generation of serial tech entrepreneurs.

He's 29.

You may think his enthusiasm in these trying times stems from being on the carefree side of the age bracket. Or perhaps it springs from the success of his ventures.

Whatever it is, the ride hasn't been smooth for the man from Lancashire, England.

He began his entrepreneurial journey in Michigan during the dot-com high and his undergraduate years. In 2003, at the height of his second entrepreneurial adventure, he met with a near-fatal accident in Detroit.

He fractured his face in 18 places, and could not see or speak. The doctors couldn't tell if he would be permanently blind, disfigured or disabled, he said. Pallegar moved in with his parents in Bradenton to heal and recover.

Recover he has.

In the past few years, he opened and sold a French cafe, an online business report, a fashion boutique and revived atLarge, the company that became comatose after the Detroit car crash.

Tampa Bay is his next stop.

"It's a wealth of opportunity," he said. "There's an abundance of tech innovation. All you have to do is look around. This is paradise compared to Detroit."

We like to think so.

Madhusmita Bora can be reached at mbora@sptimes.com or (813) 225-3112.