By Michele Hardman
After talking with Doc Vadell for only a few minutes, you immediately see his passion and love for people. ‘Doc’ was his call sign when he was in the Air Force for 12 years and the name just stuck. He grew up in Miami and entertained the idea of going to medical school, but after taking a particular class in his Master’s Program, he fell in love with ‘people’ and changed his focus towards the psychology side of things. Once out of active duty with the military, he worked as a consultant with a Business Development Company and really enjoyed helping people find solutions to their career and business roadblocks. He’d hear countless circumstances that were holding folks back from pursuing their dreams of opening a business. Some needed office space. Or a computer. Others simply needed internet access. Doc decided to open his own business so he wouldn’t have any limitations on who or how he could help others. This led to the opening of Paradigm, where small businesses can share space and resources to keep overhead to a minimum, which allows them to focus more on getting their dream up and running.
Doc also teaches in the Entrepreneur Program at Florida State University. A few years back, he felt like the students in his technology class just weren’t engaged enough. He wanted to give them more hands-on experience and bring all the book instruction into the real world. He gave his students the option of either doing a traditional final assignment or creating a plan to open a coffee shop. The entire class jumped on board with the shop project. Their guidelines were that it had to be tech-driven, they had to come up with a name, color theme and logo, and have high-quality products as well as stellar customer service. Their initial plan called for an estimated cost of $180,000. Then Doc decided to take this a step further and ACTUALLY open the coffee shop. Two of the students who were involved in the class plans stayed on board and worked with him to make it happen. Doc wanted his students to be involved with all the required permits, designs, construction, and of course… making coffee. The students wanted this coffee shop to be Fair Trade-focused, earthy, a safe place to come and study late at night, go on a first date, or just a relaxed place to read a book and chill. Being community-focused was also high on the list.
Under Doc’s guidance, the students learned how to drastically reduce business expenses, and after about a year, Techspresso PCB opened its doors for a fraction of the original estimated cost. The real-life lessons that were learned were immeasurable. Doc says, “It’s been such an amazing journey going from an idea in a classroom to ‘let’s put it into practice’”. He now employs 14 people, offers scholarships, and an intern program. The shop offers a separate Study Room with a whiteboard and TV that can be used for meetings, and an additional Chill Room with no electronics to encourage time to unplug and just be. His wife and both of his kids have played an integral part in the shop, and Doc is quick to give credit to all the people who have helped make all this work.
In Doc’s spare time, he enjoys traveling with his parents, has written a book titled “Trust In Leadership”, and covers the lower 48 states doing Search and Rescue with the Special Forces Industry. After his son bought him a Lego set a few years ago, he now finds them very therapeutic. And with his entrepreneurial spirit, he’s always looking for that next challenge.
Stop by any of the three current Techspresso locations to experience it for yourself, and find out more on their website at techspresso.life, or stop in for a coffee in their Panama City Beach location at 7948 Front Beach Road.
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