Colin Campbell (entrepreneur)

Colin C. Campbell is a Canadian entrepreneur and author who has co-founded several Internet and technology startup companies, including Internet Direct, Tucows, Hostopia,[1] Paw.com, GeeksforLess.com, .Club Domains LLC, the operator of .club, and Startup Club. His book, Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. launched on October 3, 2023.[2]

Colin C. Campbell
Colin C. Campbell in May 2015
NationalityCanadian
EducationUniversity of Toronto
Occupation(s)CEO of Internet Direct (1994–1999); CEO of Tucows (1997–1999); President and CEO of .Club Domains LLC
Website

Career edit

 
Campbell giving a lecture on entrepreneurship in Beijing in 2015

Campbell has co-founded several Internet and technology companies, including Internet Direct, the domain registrar Tucows, and Hostopia, a website hosting and service provider sold to Deluxe.[3][4] Campbell is a founding member of .CA, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and served on its board of directors from June 2001 to January 2003.[5]

Campbell was the founder and CEO of the domain name registry .Club Domains LLC, which operates the new generic top-level domain (gTLD) string .club.[6][7] and sold the company to GoDaddy Registry in 2021. He formed .Club Domains with idea that the .club domain extension would offer unity for those with passions, rather than commercial interests.[4] After being invited to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a guest speaker on the topic of entrepreneurship, Campbell received $100,000 in investments funding for .club from an investor who witnessed his speech.[8] In May 2015, Campbell was invited to give the keynote speech on entrepreneurship in China at Solbridge International School of Business at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.[9]

In 2023 Forbes Books published Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat. written by Campbell.

Personal life and recognition edit

Originally from Toronto, Campbell graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Commerce and now lives in Fort Lauderdale.[4] His work has been recognized by Profit magazine, which named his companies the seventh and fastest growing in Canada in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

References edit

  1. ^ "Hostopia.com". Hostopia.com. Retrieved 2 January 2019.
  2. ^ "New Book from Startup Expert Colin Campbell Tells Entrepreneurs How to Start. Scale. Rinse. Repeat!". www.dnjournal.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  3. ^ Cyger, Michael (January 6, 2014). ".Club: 1 Million Registrations by Year 1, 5 Million by Year 5 – With Colin Campbell and Jeff Sass". DomainSherpa. Retrieved August 28, 2015. Note: See section "About Colin Campbell and Jeff Sass".
  4. ^ a b c Spence, Rick (November 17, 2014). "From Glee.club to Fight.club: Why one word may be worth millions on the Internet". Financial Post. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  5. ^ "Colin Campbell, Hostopia.Com Inc: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
  6. ^ Allemann, Andrew (December 18, 2014). ".Club raising more money, valued at $25.4 million". Domain Name Wire. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  7. ^ "Club or Bar... We've Got Your Perfect Domain Name for Great Online Marketing". Reuters. March 31, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  8. ^ C. Campbell, Colin (March 9, 2015). "Well-funded competitors, a dream, and LinkedIn: How I raised $7 million in 30 days for my startup". StartUp Beat. Archived from the original on March 11, 2015. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
  9. ^ "互联网创业家柯博尔办讲座,感染北外学子". MSN. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2015.

External links edit