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33,000 visited Web site while he awaited her answer to his ad
Public proposal nets millionaire a fiancée: Rich entrepreneur gets a yes after yoga
Anne Marie Owens
National Post
Saturday, March 23, 2002
National Post
Julie Lee and Jesse Rasch became engaged after he placed a full-page ad in yesterday's National Post asking for her hand in marriage. Rasch sold a stake in his software company for $115-million two years ago.
The ad, which included a clip-out response form, appeared in Friday's edition of the National Post.: (Photo ran in all editions except Toronto.)
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TORONTO - After months of courting, a 26-year-old dot-com millionaire has landed the woman of his dreams when she answered "Yes" to his full-page newspaper entreaty to marry him.
"I wanted to go over the top to show that I love her madly," said Jesse Rasch, who took out the ad in the Toronto edition of yesterday's National Post. "I wanted something that was comic and romantic at the same time. I wanted something that would be memorable and would have enormous impact."
The ad read, in part: "Julie, will you marry me? JR."
Julie is Julie Lee, his 26-year-old girlfriend, who works with autistic children and is studying for a Master's degree in counselling psychology.
The ad sent readers to a Web site called JuliesAnswer.com for updates.
The site had logged 33,392 hits by mid-afternoon, when Mr. Rasch was able to report, "She said YES!"
Ms. Lee did not see the ad until early in the afternoon, when she returned from a yoga class.
"I came home, my parents were screaming, sisters were crying, dogs were barking, everything," she said.
Throughout the morning, Mr. Rasch posted updates on the Web site: "10:30 a.m. She went to the gym. Has not read the paper. 11:10 a.m. 21,000 visited the site. Still no word. 12:15 p.m. Have been told she is on her way to see me."
Mr. Rasch said he received about 1,500 e-mails posted to the anonymous Hotmail account, about 30 of them "from other women named Julie, who said 'If she says 'No,' then here's my address and telephone number.' "
Those offers came from people who were not aware of Mr. Rasch's identity as one of the wealthiest young eligible bachelors in Canada.
At the age of 21, he started a Web site hosting company in his Montreal apartment with a McGill University classmate. InQuent Technologies soon boasted revenues in the tens of millions, and in the summer of 2000, Texas-based SBC Communications paid US$115-million in cash for 51% of the Toronto-based company.
Mr. Rasch, who grew up in the Toronto suburb of North York, started his first business at the age of 19, paying for his first year of university by putting up A-frame signs for developers.
He has been profiled in Canadian Business and national newspaper articles and been named Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He also runs a Toronto-based venture capital firm, Aprilis Ventures.
In the restaurant of Toronto's Windsor Arms hotel yesterday afternoon, he and his new fiancée were giddy and constantly clasping at each other's hands, Ms. Lee with a shiny, diamond-studded band on her finger.
They became friends two years ago, began dating about eight months ago and, since December, when Ms. Lee quit her studies and her work in Boston to move back to Toronto to be closer to Mr. Rasch, they have been inseparable.
Mr. Rasch said he was going to propose to her the old-fashioned way earlier in the week, but decided it was too boring.
"I wanted her to look back on the moment and remember it for the rest of her life," he said.
The ad was in the form of a coupon, which urged Julie to "cut along the dotted lines and present to your boyfriend to upgrade your relationship status to ENGAGED. Acceptance is guaranteed. Upon successful delivery, a ring will be provided forthwith, for you to wear now and forever.
"Only one entry is permitted. To enter, you must be my girlfriend."
© Copyright 2002 National Post更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
33,000 visited Web site while he awaited her answer to his ad
Public proposal nets millionaire a fiancée: Rich entrepreneur gets a yes after yoga
Anne Marie Owens
National Post
Saturday, March 23, 2002
National Post
Julie Lee and Jesse Rasch became engaged after he placed a full-page ad in yesterday's National Post asking for her hand in marriage. Rasch sold a stake in his software company for $115-million two years ago.
The ad, which included a clip-out response form, appeared in Friday's edition of the National Post.: (Photo ran in all editions except Toronto.)
ADVERTISEMENT
TORONTO - After months of courting, a 26-year-old dot-com millionaire has landed the woman of his dreams when she answered "Yes" to his full-page newspaper entreaty to marry him.
"I wanted to go over the top to show that I love her madly," said Jesse Rasch, who took out the ad in the Toronto edition of yesterday's National Post. "I wanted something that was comic and romantic at the same time. I wanted something that would be memorable and would have enormous impact."
The ad read, in part: "Julie, will you marry me? JR."
Julie is Julie Lee, his 26-year-old girlfriend, who works with autistic children and is studying for a Master's degree in counselling psychology.
The ad sent readers to a Web site called JuliesAnswer.com for updates.
The site had logged 33,392 hits by mid-afternoon, when Mr. Rasch was able to report, "She said YES!"
Ms. Lee did not see the ad until early in the afternoon, when she returned from a yoga class.
"I came home, my parents were screaming, sisters were crying, dogs were barking, everything," she said.
Throughout the morning, Mr. Rasch posted updates on the Web site: "10:30 a.m. She went to the gym. Has not read the paper. 11:10 a.m. 21,000 visited the site. Still no word. 12:15 p.m. Have been told she is on her way to see me."
Mr. Rasch said he received about 1,500 e-mails posted to the anonymous Hotmail account, about 30 of them "from other women named Julie, who said 'If she says 'No,' then here's my address and telephone number.' "
Those offers came from people who were not aware of Mr. Rasch's identity as one of the wealthiest young eligible bachelors in Canada.
At the age of 21, he started a Web site hosting company in his Montreal apartment with a McGill University classmate. InQuent Technologies soon boasted revenues in the tens of millions, and in the summer of 2000, Texas-based SBC Communications paid US$115-million in cash for 51% of the Toronto-based company.
Mr. Rasch, who grew up in the Toronto suburb of North York, started his first business at the age of 19, paying for his first year of university by putting up A-frame signs for developers.
He has been profiled in Canadian Business and national newspaper articles and been named Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He also runs a Toronto-based venture capital firm, Aprilis Ventures.
In the restaurant of Toronto's Windsor Arms hotel yesterday afternoon, he and his new fiancée were giddy and constantly clasping at each other's hands, Ms. Lee with a shiny, diamond-studded band on her finger.
They became friends two years ago, began dating about eight months ago and, since December, when Ms. Lee quit her studies and her work in Boston to move back to Toronto to be closer to Mr. Rasch, they have been inseparable.
Mr. Rasch said he was going to propose to her the old-fashioned way earlier in the week, but decided it was too boring.
"I wanted her to look back on the moment and remember it for the rest of her life," he said.
The ad was in the form of a coupon, which urged Julie to "cut along the dotted lines and present to your boyfriend to upgrade your relationship status to ENGAGED. Acceptance is guaranteed. Upon successful delivery, a ring will be provided forthwith, for you to wear now and forever.
"Only one entry is permitted. To enter, you must be my girlfriend."
© Copyright 2002 National Post更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net