Get to Know Hawk Host - A Quick Q&A

Lately, a lot of folks have been asking questions along the lines of “What makes you different?” or “Why should I host with you?”. This made me think, maybe a quick Q&A of some basic facts about our company would help clear up just what it is we’re all about.

Awesome web hosting ;)

Q: What is the history of Hawk Host?

We were founded in 2004, initially as a company named Devoted Host. Our founders, Tony and Cody, initially started hosting websites for friends as a hobby and quickly realized there may be a way to make some money from this. In 2006 we re-branded as Hawk Host. We started with just shared hosting and have expanded our services over the years to include reseller plans, VPS, domain registrations, and much more.

Q: Where are you based out of? How many people work at Hawk Host?

We’re officially based out of Canada, just outside of Toronto. We have 5 hosting locations (https://www.hawkhost.com/our-hosting-network) though and no, none of them are in Canada (not yet, at least!). We have about 15 employees and since we don’t have a central office, everyone telecommutes! A handful of our team is based within a few hours of each other and a few times a year we’ll get together for some laughs and a good meal, but 99% of our communication is done over the internet. We’ve come to rely on tools like Hipchat, Lastpass, and internal systems to keep everyone up to date on what we’re up to.

Q: What makes you “different”? Isn’t all shared hosting the same?

Not at all! We pride ourselves in being a smaller company and have never tried to act bigger than we are. The result of this is a more personal approach to your hosting experience. We love the fact that our founders can be found answering basic support tickets at 3AM on a weekday just because that’s how we operate. Seriously, if you ever have a problem and you’re not happy with the answers you’re getting, just ask to speak to someone in management and your next reply will come straight from the top.

Q: What benefit is there to having more than one hosting location available? Isn’t it more difficult to manage?

Potentially, yes, but we’ve never known it any other way. We have a large international client base and as a result, it’s important to provide geographically diverse options because of that. If you’re living in Europe and want a website that caters to users from your region, you’re going to prefer that site is hosted as close to them as possible. Same thing goes for people from Asia, North America, or anywhere! (We’re still working out how to cater to folks in Antarctica ;)!)

Q: What else makes you a unique company?

We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re lenient when dealing both with customers and our team. We have policies and rules in place but we realize there are unique circumstances and we always try to find a solution to work around those problems. Even if it takes a little bit of flexibility and time to figure out, we’re always going to try and find the best solution for anyone who throws a problem our way.

Q: How confident can I be hosting with you? Don’t web hosts come and go overnight?

They do, but we’re certainly not one of them. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary and we’re doing better than ever. We may not have hundreds of employees and a huge office building like some of our competitors, but we’re able to provide (in my unbiased opinion) a better hosting experience due to our size and attention to detail with each individual customer.

Q: What’s a fact about Hawk Host we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else?

Our mascot doesn’t officially have a name! Strange as it may seem, we’ve never made it a point of emphasis to put a name on our awesome bird-man. If you have a suggestion let us know but there is a good chance we’ll just keep him as “he who should not be named”.

Q: How can I stay updated on what you guys are working on? Who do I talk to for a general / unusual question?

Well, the obvious answer is social media. We’re on twitter (https://twitter.com/hawkhost) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/hawkhost). There’s also our forums (http://forums.hawkhost.com) and this blog (http://blog.hawkhost.com) which are both updated regularly with any new promotions, services, or announcements. If you’re looking for a more personal contact or have a question that doesn’t really fit in support, just submit a ticket and ask for it to be assigned to someone in management. We get all sorts of questions so there is a good chance whatever you’re asking has been asked before. Don’t be shy, we love to talk! :)