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| The entrepreneurial mindset of Bob Coughlin sparked at the Junior Achievement program during his years at Anderson High School. Shortly after graduating from Miami University in 1983, he started his professional journey at Automatic Data Processing (ADP), where he worked in the accounting services department. Coughlin would automate the accounting processes of companies by manually picking up documents with a courier and then keying them into a mainframe system. However, with the proliferation of the personal computer in the early 1980’s, ADP realized that this division would no longer be needed and which led him to be recruited into the payroll division, where he worked for three years.
| A few years later, after ADP bought Central Trust, their largest competitor, people began encouraging Coughlin to get involved with the payroll industry. It didn’t take much persuasion and shortly after, he put together a ten page business plan. He did not have much local family money because he grew up on the East Coast, but confidence in his potential start-up led him to sell his house away on a loan, to get a small business administration loan, and to sell $500 shares of stock to friends and family.
Coughlin’s credibility helped him raise about $250,000 in three days. He quit his job on May 1, 1990 and Paycor opened its doors exactly one month later. After three years Paycor had 15 employees. Today it is the largest independent payroll service company, with nearly 500 employees. Paycor offers a variety of services ranging from payroll to human resource solutions, to employment screening services, among others. Paycor has achieved the honor of making the Inc. Magazine 500 in 1996. Despite the hardship of being financially strapped for three or four years, Coughlin’s confidence in his employees and the company itself has turned Paycor into a Cincinnati entrepreneurial success story.
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