Internet Companies

I read some good news from Scott Day and Jay Chapman of Digimedia that I want to share with you. The company has launched a non-profit foundation called The Div, which will help to promote web innovation and creativity online in its home state of Oklahoma.

According to the news release on the newly formed non-profit’s website,

“The brainchild of Oklahoma’s most innovative and passionate entrepreneurs, Cory Miller, of iThemes Media LLC; Scott Day and Jay Chapman at Digimedia.com L.P., have launched The Div, Inc. to offer a tech community hub dedicated to web-based innovation, creativity and training for a better Oklahoma.

The name “Div” comes from the web programming term “<[div]>” which is the starting point for a container of elements. The Div is one of the trio’s initial efforts to build a startup technology culture in Oklahoma that brings jobs and revenue to their native state.”

The Div will host workshops, special events, and classes, have a library full of resources for tech innovators, and be a great source of information for people in the tech space in the state of Oklahoma.

It’s always nice to see successful people giving back.

One thing that has happened in the domain space in the last few years is that many companies have grown quite a bit from their roots. I’ve only been in this business since 2003 and serious about it for just the last 4-5, but I’ve already seen significant changes at some of the larger companies.

I don’t have the experience working within one of these companies, so this perspective is an outsider’s point of view rather than from someone on the inside.

Sustaining growth is a big challenge that every company faces as it grows. Some companies need to take outside investment, and oftentimes the investors’ goals don’t align with the needs of the company’s clients. Companies need to drive a positive ROI, and that can cause it to stray from its roots in order to achieve its financial objectives. In a small industry like the domain space, that can pose challenges.

As domain companies grow, they should continue to reach out to its clients to ensure their needs are being met, just as they always have been met. Hiring people who have experience in the domain industry is one way to do this. Surveying customers is another great way to make sure needs are being met. I think the best way is to have customer service representatives and account managers who know their clients and can make sure client needs are being met at all times.

With growth comes certain expectations from those who have ownership stakes. Companies need to constantly evaluate whether customer needs are being met, and if they aren’t, they should re-think how business is done. Companies grow for a reason, and they need to realize it’s the loyalty of their core customers that have enabled this growth and will sustain it in the future.