In the shadow of Chicago's skyline, HEPA, Inc. operates as a ghost in the machine—generating $1.3M in revenue with a team of just 10 people, yet virtually invisible to the digital world. This isn't a startup; it's a precision instrument for environmental hazard removal that has somehow avoided the internet's gaze entirely.

"They've built a million-dollar business on referrals alone, proving that in industrial services, word-of-mouth still beats algorithms."

The environmental abatement industry is notoriously fragmented, with thousands of small operators competing on price and response time. HEPA's 20+ years of experience positions them as veterans, but their zero-traffic website reveals a critical vulnerability: what happens when their core client base ages out or consolidates? Their Facebook profile exists but shows no recent activity, suggesting a company that hasn't evolved its customer acquisition strategy in years. Yet their revenue per employee ($130K) is healthy for a labor-intensive service business, indicating they're not struggling—they're just not growing through digital channels.

• Zero organic search presence in a $15B industry
• Premium pricing implied by high revenue-per-employee ratio
• Squarespace infrastructure suggests DIY approach to digital
• Facebook presence exists but shows no engagement strategy
• Covid-19 service addition suggests reactive, not proactive, marketing