Buying his old company back last year was a business decision, but James Whitaker admits pride had something to do with it.

Quickcondoms.com — as the name suggests, the company sells condoms online — was struggling. Whitaker started the business as a 19-year-old Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student and sold his half to his brother and business partner in 2006, so he could move to Berlin for a few years. By the time he returned, sales at Quikcondoms were a fraction of what they’d been when he sold, and the company was losing money.

Whitaker had stayed in touch with the new owner, a woman in New Jersey, and last year, he said, “she threw her hands up and said, ‘James, can you run this company?’ ”

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