Team and platform as it eyes 2025 launch — OpusDNS builds

Firm continues to hire as it prepares for launch this year.

A fresh wholesale/reseller registrar is making a big splash in the industry even though it hasn’t launched its product yet.

OpusDNS sponsored last year’s NamesCon in Austin and this month’s CloudFest. It has also been hiring lots of industry professionals.

I caught up with some of the firm’s leadership at ICANN82 earlier this month for an update.

Robbie Birkner and Hakan Ali cofounded the firm with the goal of modernizing the domain reselling business. The two have spent decades in the domain name business.

Birkner cofounded domain reseller platform Hexonet, which was purchased by Team Internet (then known as CentralNic) in 2019. Birkner is CEO of North America for OpusDNS.

Ali cofounded InterNetX and was later Managing Director of Sedo. Ali is CEO of Europe for OpusDNS.

Birkner and Ali believe current reseller platforms lack good support and run on outdated platforms.

With that in mind, the firm is building its platform from scratch and plans to differentiate itself through better domain management tools and strong support. This ought to appeal to both firms wishing to sell domains without becoming an ICANN-accredited registrar, and sizable domain portfolio holders.

Domain resellers can have sticky clients since it takes effort to move platforms, so OpusDNS is also putting a lot of effort into making it easier for firms to make the move.

While the OpusDNS platform won’t launch until later this year, it continues to market at industry events and has been on a hiring spree.

Last month, the firm disclosed it hired Marco Hoffmann as COO. Hoffmann left InterNetX this year following nearly two decades at the firm.

Marie Lanyon, formerly of Hexonet, rounds out the C-suite as Chief Marketing Officer.

Other key hires include Timo Reitnauer, who sold his Hexonet reseller business to Team Internet, and Del Putnam, who previously worked for Automattic’s (WordPress.com) registrar. OpusDNS’ website right now lists 14 employees.

The firm is trying to fill other open roles, and stressed that it would like to hear from people interested in working for OpusDNS even if the listed roles don’t right now match their backgrounds.

Entering the domain reseller market is no modest task, but it’s clear OpusDNS is putting a sizable effort into staking a claim in the business. It will be interesting to see the product it launches later this year.