After a successful career as an investment banker, Mike Ferraro, shown here at Sara's Gardens in Lantana, launched PlantFind.com, which serves the nursery and landscaping industry worldwide. Ferraro enlisted the help of his father, who was in the nursery business.

By Carol Rose, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Mike Ferraro seemed destined to be a third-generation nursery and landscape businessman. After all, his father and grandfather both owned a company in the central New York area.

But there were things that bothered him about how the industry operated and so when it came time for him to choose a career he went into investment banking. He had come south for college at the University of South Florida in Tampa. His 13-year career as a retail stockbroker and branch manager took him back North, until he ended up in Boston.

In 1998, Ferraro moved to Wellington to form a partnership "with a group of guys who were starting a brokerage firm, but it didn't work out."

One day he heard a group of guys in his office talking about selling plants and flowers online and thought he probably could get his father to help them.

But during the drive home Ferraro had a "eureka!" moment.

"I thought to myself, 'here's an opportunity where I could create a company with my father and his contacts that could provide different products and services that nursery and landscape businesses could utilize because it's such a spread out and fragmented industry.' "

Ferraro says when he got home he headed for his office and started designing a Web site on 6-by-9 ledger pads. He became obsessed with the idea and spent the next few weeks figuring out the different services he might offer using the Internet, as well as the growth potential.

After getting about an hour's sleep a night for three weeks he called his father, Frank, at 5:30 one morning with his idea.

"After explaining the concept to my father he said 'yes, I'll do it with you.' "

Though his father had sold the family nursery business he still had an interest in the industry. The elder Ferraro agreed to move to Florida to help.

Mike then brought his brother Frank Jr. and cousin Rich Centolella, both of whom were in the nursery/landscape field, into the discussion.

Other experts were called in and the initial team had "300 plus years of combined experience in different aspects of the nursery landscape business," Ferraro says.

Computer expertise came from a neighbor, Paul Power, with whom he had had a discussion at a party. Power was so enthralled with the idea he quit his job to be part of the project.

PlantFind.com was incorporated in March 1999 and its first Internet platform was launched in January 2000.

The Web site has continued to grow by having partnerships with different organizations and Ferraro says there are now 1,700 growers listed on the site.

And, at last count, 260 million individual plants were listed on the system.

Ferraro says his Boynton Beach-based company recently signed a partnership agreement with the Florida Nurseryman and Growers Association. There's also a partnership with the California Association of Nurserymen. So PlantFind has snagged the two largest such groups in the country.

Ferraro says he has tried to avoid the pitfalls of many Internet businesses. He says the company didn't have a lot of money for start-up so the strategy has been to build and cement partnerships.

He says two years ago there were 17 competitors, but that number is down to three now "and none of them is close to us."

The prospects for success are looking good. Whereas the company had revenue of only $12,000 in 2000, "we should be a profitable company by the end of the year."

It hasn't been easy, Ferraro says.

"We've had to pull like crazy to stay alive from time to time. We didn't have a lot of money, but my father and I poured our hearts and our wallets into this and so did the other people."

What are your hobbies?

"I like to bass fish and I like to golf."

What is your most memorable moment?

"Meeting my wife (Suzie)."

What would you do if you won the lottery?

"Go on a vacation . . . I would probably continue to build PlantFind but I'd like to do something where I could spend as much time with my wife and kids (Nicholas, 5, and Luke, 3) as possible."

Who's your hero?

"My Dad."

If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?

"Probably somebody like Donald Trump or (former General Electric Chairman) Jack Welch because those are guys that are the true entrepreneurs of the world."

What is the best advice you've received?

"Never quit because things get tough."

What event in history would you like to have witnessed?

"When the guys landed on the moon."