Michael, as VP and General Manager of Wild West Domains, what is the one thing that keeps you up at night?
Very little keeps me up at night. Our Wild West Domains (WWD) reseller program is going strong, with continuous upgrade paths that make it easier for any large, medium, small or home-based business to add domain name re-sales to their product line. My main concern is keeping the reseller program working for our resellers and making the program better, and so far we are doing well in that mission.
On the other hand, what is the one thing that makes you jump out of bed in the morning?
The challenges and excitement of being involved in a growing business make me jump out of bed. WWD is growing rapidly, with more than 6,000 resellers registered with us today. Our expanding product offerings mean our resellers’ revenues and profits are growing as well.
Your company has an array of product offerings geared to the Hosting Industry. What innovative ideas and products can we expect to see in the future?
One of our biggest releases this year has been our Application Programming Interface (API) program, which allows our resellers the opportunity to provide all of Wild West Domains’ products and services under their private resale brand. Launched at ISP Con in Santa Clara, Calif., in October, we have had incredible feedback on the need and usage of an API with our services.
WWD also offers an extensive product line, including Web-based email accounts with our powerful Spam Xploder spam filter and WebSite Tonight, our “click-and-build” Web site creation tool, as well as Traffic Blazer, our Web site traffic driver and c-Site, our online copyright registration service. We have everything a reseller needs to build a successful business.
As a follow-up, where do you see the biggest growth areas in the hosting industry over the next couple years?
I see small business e-commerce hosting solutions as the largest growth sector—everyone wants a store on their site now. WWD offers the easiest to use and most cost effective e-commerce package so I am confident that we will be successful in this growth area.
Can you briefly tell us how Wild West got started and the background of the company?
Wild West Domains started operating as an ICANN accredited registrar in July 2002. The sole purpose of WWD is to service domain/hosting resellers. The reseller program was formerly part of GoDaddy.com. This became a conflict of interest for the reseller program. So, WWD was spun off as a separate registrar for the reseller program, and it took off.
What unique skills do you bring as VP and General Manager that has contributed to your company's success?
With my background as a CFO, I bring a unique blend of bottom line awareness coupled with good communication skills. I converse with everyone inside and outside of the organization. The importance of communication and implementing suggestions has helped WWD become a success.
