Description
Entrepreneur Thom Disch is helping other business people get top billing on Web search engines, but he believes oldfashioned networking is still the best way to attract a loyal audience.
BY SANDRA GUY
Sun-Times Columnist
Entrepreneur Thom Disch is helping other
business people get top billing on Web
search engines, but he believes old-
fashioned networking is still the best way to
attract a loyal audience.
Disch’s latest ventures, Internet Engine
and the turnaround of ramp maker
Handi-Ramp, thrive on word-of-
mouth marketing that tight-knit
communities generate.
Indeed, one of the criteria that
Google, Yahoo, MSN and other
search-engine owners consider in
determining search results is how
many people and Web sites link to
a Web site, who promotes it, and
whether the site is considered a
leading authority in its industry.
Other criteria include the site’s
content and how easy it is to
navigate.
Internet Engine (Internet-Engine.
net) charges from $500 to more
than $50,000, depending on the
breadth of work required, to ensure
that a Web site gets noticed by
search engines and to add e-
commerce bells and whistles.
The startup, expected to generate
$500,000 in revenues this year,
is an offshoot of an old-fashioned
Libertyville manufacturer, and an
example of Disch’s belief in seizing
upon serendipitous opportunities.
Disch, 51, bought Handi-Ramp, a 49-year-
old manufacturer of ramps for people in
wheelchairs, after he toured the plant with
new owners who planned to liquidate the
company.
“I convinced them to throw in the business
if I paid the asking cost of the building,” he
said.
Disch grasped the opportunity in providing
affordable ramps to the disabled and elderly
-- especially as the massive baby boom
population ages. Able-bodied helpers set
up the mobile ramps, which cost $1,000,
compared with retroftting a van for $30,000
to $40,000.
Disch quickly set his sights on turning
around the failing business. He set
up a Web site (HandiRamp.com), and
immediately learned that many wheelchair-
bound people use the Internet as a primary
way to shop, learn and network.
The ensuing Web traffc prompted Disch to
set up “click to talk” and instant-messaging
features on the site so customers could talk
in real time with the company. He also set
up a system that enables customers to talk
by phone directly to a salesperson, rather
than run through a voice-mail maze.
The company, with 30 employees and a
projected $7 million in sales this year, has
enjoyed a 30 percent growth rate for each
of the last 11 years.
Handi-Ramp’s Web site generated
so much traffc, Disch was
inundated with requests from
vendors, friends and customers to
help them drive traffc to their Web
sites. That’s how Internet Engine
was born.
Disch has now started selling used
furniture from businesses online -
- yet another venture that started
with a request to remove cabling
from an offce.
Disch, who founded an independent
gasoline company at age 19,
advises would-be entrepreneurs
to get ready to work incredibly
hard, keep in touch with bankers
to spot funding opportunities, and
maintain great relationships with
vendors.
Steven Rogers, director of the
Larry and Carol Levy Entrepreneur
Institute at the Kellogg School
of Management, said Disch
exemplifes the model of would-
be entrepreneurs learning the
fundamentals of business before
striking out on their own.
Disch sold his frst business, and learned
business strategies at KPMG Peat Marwick
(now BearingPoint), Playboy magazine
and PHH Fantus, later bought by Deloitte
& Touche.
“The deck is stacked against entrepreneurs,”
Rogers said. “An entrepreneur cannot
afford to make lots of mistakes.”
© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group
February 7, 2007
www.suntimes.com
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Serial entrepreneur Disch ramps it up
doc_875214782.pdf
Entrepreneur Thom Disch is helping other business people get top billing on Web search engines, but he believes oldfashioned networking is still the best way to attract a loyal audience.
BY SANDRA GUY
Sun-Times Columnist
Entrepreneur Thom Disch is helping other
business people get top billing on Web
search engines, but he believes old-
fashioned networking is still the best way to
attract a loyal audience.
Disch’s latest ventures, Internet Engine
and the turnaround of ramp maker
Handi-Ramp, thrive on word-of-
mouth marketing that tight-knit
communities generate.
Indeed, one of the criteria that
Google, Yahoo, MSN and other
search-engine owners consider in
determining search results is how
many people and Web sites link to
a Web site, who promotes it, and
whether the site is considered a
leading authority in its industry.
Other criteria include the site’s
content and how easy it is to
navigate.
Internet Engine (Internet-Engine.
net) charges from $500 to more
than $50,000, depending on the
breadth of work required, to ensure
that a Web site gets noticed by
search engines and to add e-
commerce bells and whistles.
The startup, expected to generate
$500,000 in revenues this year,
is an offshoot of an old-fashioned
Libertyville manufacturer, and an
example of Disch’s belief in seizing
upon serendipitous opportunities.
Disch, 51, bought Handi-Ramp, a 49-year-
old manufacturer of ramps for people in
wheelchairs, after he toured the plant with
new owners who planned to liquidate the
company.
“I convinced them to throw in the business
if I paid the asking cost of the building,” he
said.
Disch grasped the opportunity in providing
affordable ramps to the disabled and elderly
-- especially as the massive baby boom
population ages. Able-bodied helpers set
up the mobile ramps, which cost $1,000,
compared with retroftting a van for $30,000
to $40,000.
Disch quickly set his sights on turning
around the failing business. He set
up a Web site (HandiRamp.com), and
immediately learned that many wheelchair-
bound people use the Internet as a primary
way to shop, learn and network.
The ensuing Web traffc prompted Disch to
set up “click to talk” and instant-messaging
features on the site so customers could talk
in real time with the company. He also set
up a system that enables customers to talk
by phone directly to a salesperson, rather
than run through a voice-mail maze.
The company, with 30 employees and a
projected $7 million in sales this year, has
enjoyed a 30 percent growth rate for each
of the last 11 years.
Handi-Ramp’s Web site generated
so much traffc, Disch was
inundated with requests from
vendors, friends and customers to
help them drive traffc to their Web
sites. That’s how Internet Engine
was born.
Disch has now started selling used
furniture from businesses online -
- yet another venture that started
with a request to remove cabling
from an offce.
Disch, who founded an independent
gasoline company at age 19,
advises would-be entrepreneurs
to get ready to work incredibly
hard, keep in touch with bankers
to spot funding opportunities, and
maintain great relationships with
vendors.
Steven Rogers, director of the
Larry and Carol Levy Entrepreneur
Institute at the Kellogg School
of Management, said Disch
exemplifes the model of would-
be entrepreneurs learning the
fundamentals of business before
striking out on their own.
Disch sold his frst business, and learned
business strategies at KPMG Peat Marwick
(now BearingPoint), Playboy magazine
and PHH Fantus, later bought by Deloitte
& Touche.
“The deck is stacked against entrepreneurs,”
Rogers said. “An entrepreneur cannot
afford to make lots of mistakes.”
© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group
February 7, 2007
www.suntimes.com
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Serial entrepreneur Disch ramps it up
doc_875214782.pdf