Momentous

Type:	Private
Industry:	Internet
Founded:	Canada, 1995
Founder(s):	Rob Hall
Headquarters:	26 Auriga Dr, Nepean, ON K2E 8B7
Country:	Canada
Employees:	120
Revenue:	2,469,060
Website:	Momentous.ca
Key People
Rob Hall, CEO

Momentous.ca is an intenet-based company specializing in the growth of a wide range of other internet businesses. Momentous.ca provides various internet services for government agencies, individuals, law firms, financial institutions, and packaged goods producers in Canada.

Situated in "Silicon Valley North", this wholly owned Canadian business has additional offices in Barbados, Australia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, and Salt Lake City. Currently, Momentous.ca has an annual revenue of $2,469,060, and employs a staff of about 30. .

The company has a strategic partnership with Canada Post. Portfolio companies for Momentous.ca include: DomainsatCost, Internic.ca, MAD Inc, Namescout, Zip.ca, Rebel.com. Together these companies have over 1,000,000 individual and corporate customers.

Application for New gTLDs

Momentous is applying for several new generic top level domain names (gTLDs) including .sucks, .design, .rip and .style. John Berard, CEO of Momentous wholly-owned subsidiary Vox Populi Registry clarified that the proposed .sucks TLD will be used to create "Valuable dialogues" and to enhance the marketing strategy of corporations and not a money-grubbing scam as some people thinks. Berard said, "The .sucks suffix, should ICANN approve it, is about creating “valuable dialogue”, not just about ripping off companies that want to protect their image. If some people think this is just a way to get registration money out of corporations, then those people are either unaware or are being short-sighted about their marketing effectiveness."

History

• Rob Hall, University of Ottawa computer science graduate and IT entrepreneur, started Romel Corp in 1995. In 2000, the company changed its name to Momentous when the company was launched as an "Internet e-Business Incubator" to provide strategic support services to internet start-ups.

• In 1997, Rob Hall started his first registrar company, Internic.ca, a subsidiary of Momentous.ca. According to Rob Hall, Internic.ca is Canada's largest registrar, with customers such like the Government of Canada and Chapters.ca.

• In 1999, the company added two more registrar subsidiaries DomainsAtCost.ca, an ICANN and CIRA accredited registrar providing mainly providing low-cost domain name registration services; and NameScout.com, a Barbados based subsidiary providing premium registrar services to international clients

• In December, 2001, Namescout.com obtained provisional accreditation from auDA, the Australian Domain Administration, as one of the first registrars in .au registration market.

• In early 2003, Momentous.ca lunched Pool.com a domain market place company in in Ottawa, Canada. That year Momentous.ca also started Zip.ca Inc., an online video rental service provider company for Canada.

• In November 2005, Momentous.ca formed a lobby group called called Coalition for ICANN Transparency (CIFT) and filed a lawsuit against ICANN and Verisign in order to stop implementation of the proposed .com Registry Agreement between ICANN and Verisign. The trial court granted Verisign's motion to dismiss the case but later, in 2009, an appeals court revived the anti-trust suit against Verisign. . It was reported in August, 2010, that Verisign is considering a settlement for the CFIT lawsuit.

• In 2006, Momentous.ca launched another domain name registrar named Rebel.com..

• In 2007, the company launched MyRebel.com offering domainers the ability interact directly with the domain registries.

• In 2009, Momentous.ca started its newest subsidiary, MAD Inc. (Momentous Advertising and Design), an advertising and graphics design company.

Products and Services

Momentous.ca is a holding company of several Internet and consumer companies. The subsidiaries include

• Internic.ca: an ICANN and auDA (.au) accredited registrar and Canada's first accredited .ca registrar providing domain name management services.

• DomainsAtCost.ca: a CIRA and ICANN accredited registrar providing low-cost domain name registration services.

• NameScout.com: an ICANN accredited registrar providing domain registration, web hosting, and email services.

• Pool.com: A domain-market place company which buys and sells domain names in auction or fixed price formats.

• Zip.ca: A video rental company providing movie and television programs all over Canada.

• Rebel.com: an ICANN accredited domain name registrar which also offers bulk domain & portfolio management.

• MAD Inc.: digital marketing agency providing website design, digital content development, social media soluutions, etc.

Management Style

Momentous has become known for its unique management style and set of core values. Values not only emphasize that the company is a team and not a family, but also that smokers are not allowed to work for the company.

Also, Momentous does not track employee vacation time, which follows their innovative, and results-oriented business model. If an employee thinks that they can take time off and still meet all necessary goals and deadlines, then they are free to do so.

Fun Facts

The "culture" section of Momentous' website lays out fun and random facts; such as how many lbs. of ribeye are served in their cafeteria, the types of dog that come to the canine friendly campus, and the nicknames of the washer and dryer machines they have on site. See those answers and more here.

Top-Level Domain