Founder Profile: Chris Vendilli

Pittsburgh native Chris Vendilli has parlayed his background in information science at the University of Pittsburgh and his internet savvy built on years as a registered eBay trading assistant and website entrepreneur into a fast-growing company, ProFromGo, that specializes in web design, web marketing, SEO and other services.

Over the past three years, the company has doubled its revenues annually, and has established itself as a one-stop shop for marketing and all things Web.

Located on the south side of Pittsburgh, five blocks from Station Square, ProFromGo has also introduced local businesses to Google-powered virtual tours linked to Streetview.

What inspired you to start ProFromGo?
When I was selling other people’s stuff on eBay, I really liked the marketing and sales aspect of it. I began developing websites, self-taught, and one of the websites I did was a membership weebsite about how to use social media for business. That website generated about $50,000 in revenue in about eight or nine months. It was a big wake-up call that I was onto something in terms of how to generate leads on the internet. I grew a business based on web marketing.
I repeated that formula a few more times with other membership websites, including one that taught people how to do auction selling. I refined my skills, and a couple of years went by, and I began to realize this was something that could work really well for local businesses. That’s when I shifted the focus and rebranded myself to offer services as a consultant for web-based projects.

Tell about your virtual tours.
One of the ways the web is progressing is Google-izing your program with photos of your business on Google Streetview. We’re one of the very few companies in the Pittsburgh area that can bring Streetview inside the business. . . We have been accepted by Google and had to go through some training, and we had to buy some specialized equipment.

Now we can come out with our equipment, do a shoot inside the business, and connect it to the nearest Streetview node, so if someone is on Streetview they can turn and face the business and walk into the store. . . You can have Google-powered virtual tours on your website, and those tours can be shared on social media. You can put UR codes on your print advertising that says “see inside our showroom,” and people can scan it and take a virtual tour of a car or kitchen showroom. It’s powerful stuff.

How many businesses are using this service?
In two months (we’ve only been doing it 60 to 90 days), we have about a dozen businesses. It’s great for restaurants because people like to see where they’re going to eat. We’re targeting any business with a showroom. Anything you can do to make your business stand out on Google+ Local is a plus.

Did you take advantage of any resources in starting your business?
We’re just now going into our third year, so we’re still a start-up. In the past year I’ve gotten more proactive in finding places where I can get help. I’ve joined BNI (Business Network International). I also have a business coach with 40 years of experience who has given me great pointers. I’m a veteran, so I’m exploring incentives that are there for vets. (I was active duty in the Air Force in Japan for four years.)

What are some of the challenges in getting your business off the ground?
One of the biggest challenges we’re still dealing with is growth. Growth is an opportunity—it’s great—but it’s also a challenge because it’s possible to outgrow yourself. You have to do it carefully. I’ve had to learn that in the last year or so because we took on some really big clients, for us. We had to scale up to be able to handle them and deliver. . . It’s different in comparison to the Mom-and-Pops and one-man startups we started with.

How has ProFromGo grown?
We have doubled each year for three years. Currently we have around eight to 10 clients that keep us on retainer to handle all their web marketing strategy.

We also have about 35 clients on smaller plans, where we do basic maintenance or we built their website, or we just host their website on a powerful server and do some backup and disaster recovery options.
Ninety percent of the clients came in the last 18 months. We now have eight employees and we work with a team of graphic designers and developers who are consultants.

What are the advantages to being in Pittsburgh?
One of the unique things about this town is it’s a big city that acts like a small town. Word travels fast on who’s good to work with and who’s not. I think it’s worked in our favor—we’re getting some great word-of-mouth. In the last six months almost all of our clients came directly from referrals.

What’s the big differentiator for your company?
We do a lot of different things. Very few local companies do all these things and do them very well. We offer marketing solutions, in a one-stop shop. . . I have a team of experts I’ve hired or collaborated with over 10 years.

What’s next for ProFromGo?
Some clients we work with closely are interested in having us handle more than just web marketing, but do all their marketing. We may be able to be hired as an interim director of business development for select clients, a combination of web marketing, brand management and traditional sales and marketing.