as featured in - Comm-Works

NOVEMBER 2003
as featured in
Full Spectrum
Comm-Works founders benefit from thinking big... and small
photo by david neiman

FEATURES
enterprise
as featured in
Full Spectrum
Comm-Works
founders benefit
from thinking big …
and small
photo by david neiman
BY STACY FREEBORG
Eight years ago, Comm-Works
Inc. founders Todd Eberhardt
and Alan Lampe worked at the
same technology infrastructure
firm where they both saw an opportunity for
national growth. Lucky for them, their
employer wanted to maintain a local focus.
So they took their idea for expansion
and established Comm-Works, a single
source provider of data and voice solutions
to companies with offices located nationally
as well as globally.
Today, the company has 70 employees
and revenues of $21 million. Comm-
Works is also ranked 279th on the most
recent Inc. 500 list.
Setting Sights High
In 1995, Eberhardt, Lampe and Geoffrey
Jacob launched Comm-Works, with an
undisclosed sum of personal savings, in
Crystal, Minn., in a one-room office that
was barely large enough for three desks.
Biz Briefing
Comm-Works4 Inception: 1995 ■ Revenue:
$21 million ■ Seed capital: Not disclosed ■
Patents: Proprietary interactive project management
software, Web-Works ■ Employees: 70 ■
Description: Telecom services provider ■ Web
site: www.comm-works.com
TailWind Voice and Data4 Headquarters:
Plymouth ■ Inception: 2003 ■ Revenue: $2M
(projected) ■ Seed capital: $500,000 ■
Patents: None ■ Employees: 13 ■ Web site:
www.tailwindvoiceanddata.com
Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
©2003 BBN Publishing, all rights reserved.
Any reproduction of this document is strictly prohibited.
For reprints call 952-844-0400.

Each person brought his own skill set to the
start-up. Eberhardt had a background in
sales. Lampe was in operations, and Jacob
was responsible for the company’s finances.
(Jacob left Comm-Works in July 2002.)
Together, they agreed not to take paychecks
for the first nine months of operation.
While Eberhardt cold-called Fortune
2000 companies, Lampe set up alliances with
vendors. Their first work order was a service
repair for Guess Inc., a manufacturer of
clothing and accessories. From that order,
Comm-Works began working with Guess on
a multitude of voice and data infrastructure
needs including cabling, emergency repairs
and new store installations.
“Comm-Works initially approached
Guess, asking them to give us their worst
[voice and data infrastructure] problems/challenges,”
says Eberhardt. “Based on Comm-
Works’ repair service excellence with Guess’
‘worst,’ Guess was interested in working with
Comm-Works at their other locations.”
As Comm-Works processed increasingly
more work orders, the company hired additional
staff and reinvested profits back into
the company to fund growth internally.
During the past eight years, Comm-Works
moved four times to accommodate a larger
staff of employees. Their current office in
Plymouth offers 33,000 square feet.
“We started the company at a great time.
The Internet was just taking hold. In 1998
and 1999, people were pushing their capital
expenditure for Y2K,” says Eberhardt. But
after March 2000, these good times came to
a sudden halt. Many tech companies that
were selling hardware came upon tough
times. Not surprisingly, in the post-2000
economy, says Eberhardt, Comm-Works
often helps companies make better use of the
equipment they already purchased.
Running with the Big Dogs
Comm-Works competes against numerous
companies in each area that they
provide services. For example, in the data
world, the company is up against IBM,
Unysis and EDS. With voice solutions,
Comm-Works spars against players such as
Bell, Qwest, Verizon and AT&T. With
cabling and infrastructures, customers can
choose from hundreds of regional companies.
But as for single-source providers of integrated
network infrastructure services to
Fortune 2000 companies, Eberhardt says
there are much fewer choices.
However, Cory Jackson, fixed-income
research analyst, U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray,
says this is a trend that is changing.
“With the economy, there is a real slow
growth environment,” for telecom companies,
says Jackson. “There is also increased
competition. Companies that used to focus
on big clients are working to find companies
that are mid- to small-size, which are usually
the targets of smaller companies.”
Jackson also adds that to be successful in
this environment, communications companies
must have quality of service, a robustness
of offerings and focus on a specific
segment of the market. “They have to go
after the right-size company with the right
set of product offerings at prices that are
competitive,” he says.
According to Eberhardt, these are all
competitive advantages that Comm-Works
has over other, larger providers.
[Comm-Works]
“We started the company at a great time. The Internet was just taking hold. In 1998
and 1999, people were pushing their capital expenditure for Y2K.”
— Todd Eberhardt, CEO and co-founder, Comm-Works
Leader Profiles
Todd Eberhardt4 Ownership stake: 50% ■
Age: 36 ■ Hometown: Madison, Wis. ■
Education: Bachelor’s, Business Administration,
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire ■ First Job:
Salesperson with Dun & Bradstreet ■
Directorships/Trusteeships: None ■ Family:
Wife, Leslie; 3 children ■ Best Advice: “The only
things you will regret are the things you don’t try.”
Alan Lampe4 Ownership stake: 50% ■ Age:
38 ■ Hometown: Remsen, IA ■ Education:
Bachelor’s, Banking and Finance, Buena Vista
University, Storm Lake, Iowa ■ First Job:
Manager trainee with Agency Rent-a-Car Systems
■ Directorships/Trusteeships: None ■ Family:
Wife, Theresa; 2 children ■ Best Advice: “Never
be outworked.”
Reprinted with permission of the publisher. ©2003 BBN Publishing, all rights reserved.
Any reproduction of this document is strictly prohibited. For reprints call 952-844-0400.
“We have noticed the larger companies
going after these small and mid-size companies.
We run into these companies mainly in
the bigger locations of larger companies or
midsize companies and are looking for maintenance
contracts,” concludes Eberhardt.
“These larger telecom providers don’t necessarily
have the expertise or the strength to
manage this business. They also have difficulty
matching Comm-Works’ prices.
Comm-Works wins the business because we
can provide a total vendor-agnostic voice and
data solution.”
Business Building
During the company’s formative years,
Lampe and Eberhardt handled all
aspects of the business. But through Comm-
Works’ evolution, the duo has since transitioned
from doing everything to “finding
smart, quality people who can carry the torch.”
Eberhardt today serves as chief executive
officer of Comm-Works, and is the guiding
force behind the company’s core strategic
planning and business development. He also
is the architect of the company’s future
growth opportunities, including developing
new business markets and penetrating
current markets. Under his leadership,
Comm-Works achieved 829 percent sales
growth in five years with sales growing from
$2 million in 1996 to $18.6 million in 2001.
Meanwhile, Lampe serves as president and
chief operating officer of Comm-Works, and
recently co-founded TailWind Voice & Data, a
local company focused on providing infrastructure
services for small to mid-size businesses in
the Minneapolis/St. Paul area [see back cover].
Although the core of Comm-Works’
employees are based in Plymouth, the
company also has 9 others located in several
regional offices nationwide.
Meeting Market Demands
As a means to better satisfy clients,
Comm-Works developed a proprietary
project management software called Web-
Works SM
, which enables members of the cus-
November 2003 < MinnesotaBusiness 3

enterprise
Leadership &
Governance
Comm -Works Management Team4 Todd
Eberhardt, CEO ■ Al Lampe, COO and President
■ Theresa Lampe, CFO ■ Sheila Kruesel, VP of
Sales and Marketing ■ Linda Brand, Western
Region Sales Manager ■ Patty Prendergast,
Eastern Region Sales Manager ■ Terry Kraling,
Director of Strategic Business Operations ■
Pierre Kormann, Director of Operations ■ Fred
Berg, Director of IT ■ Pat Hile, Director of Training
Outside Directors4 None
TailWind Management Team4 Al Lampe,
Co-founder, Entrepreneurial Advisor and Board
Member ■ Todd Eberhardt, Co-founder and
Board Member ■ Jay Lodholz, General Manager
■ Greg Moore, Sales Manager
Outside Directors4 None
Pulling Off a Spin Off
4 MinnesotaBusiness > November 2003
tomer’s project team to access real-time information
on project status via the Internet.
Web-Works also allows customers to place or
revise work orders online and have them confirmed
by Comm-Works’ project managers.
“In this marketplace if you don’t have
something interactive, you could not be a
national player,” says Eberhardt, about the
importance of Web-Works.
Comm-Works currently provides enterprise
voice and data solutions at more than
88,000 sites – a number that is growing at the
rate of approximately 1,000 sites a month.
Current customers include Michael’s Arts
and Crafts Stores, American Eagle
Outfitters, Federal Express and Allstate
Insurance Company.
To fulfill customer demands at geographically
dispersed locations, the company relies on
a network of 4,000 independent service partners
throughout North America with more than
[Comm- Works]
15,000 certified technicians. These technicians
have their own local customers, but obtain
national accounts through Comm-Works.
“We help fill up their schedules and
quickly become their biggest customer,” says
Eberhardt. Comm-Works operates internationally
through these partners as well, as
many companies with United States-based
headquarters operate overseas locations and
ask Comm-Works to provide service to their
global offices.
With an eye on the future, Eberhardt estimates
the market potential for voice and data
solutions to be $200 billion nationwide.
“Telecom is a mature industry and the
Internet-based segment is becoming a more
mature market,” he adds. “But it still has a lot
of growth potential.”
Stacy Freeborg is a Twin Cities and Colorado-based freelance
writer and frequent contributor to MinnesotaBusiness Magazine.
In August 2003, Comm-Works founders Lampe and Eberhardt launched a second company called TailWind Voice & Data to
provide voice and data solutions to small to mid-size companies throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. While Comm-
Works focuses on Fortune 2000 companies, TailWind targets smaller businesses with fewer than 250 employees, located
throughout the seven county metro area.
“It’s a risk. It’s a tight market and a tough market for all businesses,” says Lampe, and adds that it has costs close to
$500,000 to start the second company. But when the economy is revived, he believes it will start with small to mid-size
businesses, positioning TailWind to ride the wave toward increased demands for services and higher revenues.
“People aren’t spending a lot of money right now on voice and data solutions,” says Lampe. “People are limping along. But
they can’t get too many generations behind.”
Despite concerns about current market conditions, Lampe already projects that TailWind will reach a revenue target of
$2 million by the end of 2004.
As a single-source provider, TailWind sells a variety of offerings including telecom equipment, local and long-distance services,
Internet access and wireless communication. To date, TailWind has over 75 customers, including S&W Plastics, Eden
Prairie, and ZipSort Inc, Minneapolis.
TailWind is located in an office next door to Comm-works in Plymouth. Lampe says they wanted TailWind to be close to
Comm-Works at the beginning to share knowledge and resources. The upstart now has 11 employees. Lampe hopes to hire
five more employees by the end of the year.
In the local arena alone, Lampe has calculated that the Minneapolis/St. Paul area represents a $250 million market for
providers of data and voice solutions. If his estimate proves true, this would leave plenty of room for additional growth
beyond projected first-year company revenues of $2 million. —S.F.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher. ©2003 BBN Publishing, all rights reserved.
Any reproduction of this document is strictly prohibited. For reprints call 952-844-0400.