Florida Main Street
Business Owners.
This Is Your Movement.
Florida Main Street built the economy that everyone else takes credit for. The restaurant that fed the neighborhood for 30 years. The contractor who built the homes. The landscaper who showed up every week. The healthcare practice that knew every patient by name.
I AM SHARK is the movement that says: you deserve to know your value. You deserve to exit on your terms. You deserve a legacy — not just a closing.
Florida Main Street
Is Facing a Transition Crisis.
Florida has more than 2.5 million small businesses — the overwhelming majority owned by individuals who built them from nothing. A significant portion of those owners are approaching the age of transition: retirement, health events, partnership changes, or simply the desire to move on.
Most of them have no plan. No valuation. No succession strategy. No understanding of what their business is actually worth — or what it needs to be worth to fund the next chapter of their lives. That is the crisis I AM SHARK was built to address.
Everything Florida Main Street
Business Owners Need.
The Clipboard Moment™
The moment a Florida Main Street business owner realizes they have no plan — and everything they've built is at risk. I AM SHARK was born from this moment. It's the starting point of every readiness journey.
Learn About the Clipboard Moment™Business Readiness
The I AM SHARK Business Readiness Center provides Florida Main Street business owners with the resources, tools, and framework to understand where they stand today — and what they need to do to be ready for tomorrow.
Explore Business ReadinessMAKO Score™
MAKO Score™ is the business valuation and readiness intelligence platform created by Gerard Perillo, CEPA®, CBI, M&AMI, MBA/JD. It gives Florida Main Street business owners affordable access to the valuation intelligence they need.
Explore MAKO Score™SHARK DealRoom™
SHARK DealRoom™ is the confidential opportunity and matching platform that connects prepared Florida Main Street business owners with qualified buyers, investors, advisors, lenders, and strategic partners.
Explore SHARK DealRoom™SHARK Team®
SHARK Team® is the advisory team behind the I AM SHARK movement — led by Gerard Perillo, CEPA®, CBI, M&AMI, MBA/JD, with 817+ transactions and $575M+ in volume across Florida industries.
Meet SHARK Team®Main Street Stories™
The legacy archive of Florida Main Street business owners — their stories, their journeys, their legacies. Because every business has a story worth telling, and every owner deserves to be remembered for what they built.
Explore Main Street Stories™Florida's Hispanic
Main Street Deserves
The Same Resources.
Florida's Hispanic business community is one of the most dynamic and underserved Main Street economies in the United States. Hispanic-owned businesses in Florida represent billions in economic value — and face the same transition challenges as every other Main Street business owner, often with fewer resources and less access to professional advisory services.
I AM SHARK is committed to serving Florida's Hispanic Main Street with the same resources, tools, and advisory expertise available to every business owner in the movement.
Hispanic Main Street™ ArchiveFlorida has the largest concentration of Hispanic-owned businesses in the southeastern United States.
Hispanic-owned businesses in Florida generate over $50 billion in annual revenue.
The majority of Florida Hispanic business owners have no formal succession plan.
Language, cultural, and access barriers create unique readiness challenges for Hispanic Main Street.
I AM SHARK provides bilingual resources and culturally competent advisory services.
Florida Markets & Industries.
Florida Markets
Priority Industries
Gerard Perillo, CEPA® — Built This
For Florida Main Street.
Gerard Perillo, CEPA®, CBI, M&AMI, MBA/JD is the founder of I AM SHARK and the creator of MAKO Score™. With 817+ transactions and $575M+ in volume across Florida industries, Gerard brings deep expertise in business valuation, exit planning, and succession planning to Florida Main Street business owners.
Gerard is an Amazon Best-Selling Author (Sharkpreneur), a member of the FICPA Value and Florida Advisors to Life Sciences (VFALS) Committee, and a recognized authority on Main Street business transition in Florida.
Florida Main Street
Built This Country.
Now Own Your Future.
You built something real. Something that employed people, served your community, and created a legacy. You deserve to know what it's worth — and to exit on your terms.