The “light bulb moment” came when Padgett, then an executive assistant for Gov. Phil Bredesen, was working to streamline the state’s internal Web processes.

“I saw that by using technology, we could gain 1,500 percent efficiency in a process,” he says. “I realized I could provide this type of efficiency through many, many services at a county level.”

So Padgett left the public sector and, six months later, founded eGovernment Solutions with $5,000, a borrowed laptop and a TV tray.

“Within four months of launching the company, we were providing the service we set out to, which was online car renewals, and now we provide about 30 different processes that we’ve taken from traditional paper processes and made them online services,” he says.

To read the full story, please visit the Knoxille News Sentinel.