Below is a list of companies (and individuals) to keep an eye on:
Thought Convergence
Ammar Kubba and Kevin Vo’s company, recently acquired Jay Westerdal’s Name Intelligence. Ammar is a close friend of mine, one of the most likable individuals in the domain industry. Ammar and Kevin are extremely driven, they seem to look at the marketplace, recognize inefficiencies, and act quickly and decisively.
Ogopogo Media
A new comer in the development world, founded by domain veterans Shaun Pilfold and Rob Montgomery. I happened to do business with Shaun over the years and known Rob for a couple of years as well. Both are top notch in my book, level headed, hard working individuals, and I believe are headed in the right direction.
Internet Real Estate
Founded by Andrew Miller, Mike “Zappy” Zapolin, and Peter Hubshman, this company not only own some of the very best domains in the world, but also has a track record with some of the big names on the web, names such as Shop.com, CreditCards.com.
Washington VC
Founded by Mike Mann, Washington VC, to put it mildly, is set for greatness. Washington VC has already put deals together with BPHG, Internet Real Estate, and Monster Venture.
BPHG
Founded by Michael Bahlitzanakis and Jimmy Pittas, some of the smartest individuals in the domain space. Michael is a close friend as well with an internet background dating back to 1992 and financial experience from JP Morgan.
Castello Cities
Founded by our friends David and Michael Castello, the focus of Castello Cities has been mainly around geographical domain names, domains such as PalmSprings.com, Nashville.com, and Acapulco.com to name just a few. In addition to Geographical domains the Castello brothers also own and operate Daycare.com, Whisky.com, and have partnered with Thought Convergence on domains such as Rate.com, Cost.com.
Boulevards News Media
With extensive track record in publishing, Boulevards News Media was founded by media veteran Dan Pulcrano. The story of Dan is the story of sticking to what you believe in. There is little doubt in my mind Dan has a clear picture where he is taking his company, and with his track record, even less doubt he will get there.
Oversee.net
Founded by Lawrence Ng and Fred Hsu, with 2007 revenues of over 200 million dollars, Oversee.net is already a giant in the online world. With the latest acquisitions of Moniker, Snapnames, and a roll-out of a successful domain conference, I feel there’s much more to come.
Reinvent
Founded by my good friends Kevin Ham and Colin Yu, and with Dr. Chris Hartnett as a board member, and with stellar domains such as HDTV.com, VC.com, God.com, Mother.com, Attorney.com, and hundred of thousands of others Reinvent is setting their eyes on reinventing the web (and the domain space) as we know it. At the moment most of Reinvent’s businesses are in stealth mode however knowing some details, all I can say is: pay attention to what’s coming!
Monster Venture
Founded By Rob Monster, Monster Venture is backing up Matías de Tezanos‘ Healthcare.com, Washington VC’s Phone.com, and a number of other deals in the domain space. Rob to me seems to be on a mission to turn the best domain names into the best web destinations.
And lastly, our company, Recall Media Group
Recall Media Group, founded by Darren Cleveland, Jeff Bhavnanie, and Sahar Sarid, already runs a number of successful businesses. Most of what we do is private however, to give you an idea of the scope of our organization, we have over a million domains under management, over 120 full time employees, over 400 servers, and offices in three continents around the world. Our public offerings include FuneralHomes.com, FuneralJobs.com, LifeMemory.com, DNZoom.com (and soon Bido), and technologies such as Niche Directory Platform and VPS, and others I’m sure forgetting right now.
Source: Posted on TheConceptualist by Sahar Sahid -- Reprinted with permission -- May 7, 2008