Colin Thornton founded Dial a Nerd in 1998. His first clients were friends and family and his first computer repair room the garage of his parent's home. By focusing on home users and offering a very high level of service, he occupied a niche at the time which helped Dial a Nerd grow into the business it now is. Dial a Nerd now has two distinct divisions and national coverage. One division focuses on Business customers and the other on Home users.

Colin's motto is 'under-promise and over-deliver' and his passion is customer service. In an industry which has a reputation for bad communication and service delivery he is continually working on making Dial a Nerd stand out. As proof that something must be working, Dial a Nerd can brag that some of its customers have stayed loyal for the full 20 years it's been in business.

Colin has served as a judge on a panel of experts in the Accenture Enablis Business Launchpad competition and was named one of the Mail & Guardian's 'Top 200 Young South Africans you should take to lunch in 2011'. In 2012 Dial a Nerd was voted the best service company in the IT category. In 2013 Colin was featured in the Brand South Africa television advert. In 2016 Colin and his business partner (and brother) Aaron featured as the cover story in Entrepreneur magazine discussing the growth of Dial a Nerd and how they constantly need to adapt in an ever-changing technology environment.

In 2015 Turrito Networks bought majority share in Dial a Nerd to enable both companies to add more value to their customers. Colin has subsequently become the Managing Director of Turrito Networks and Aaron the Managing Director of Dial a Nerd.