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Project Forum

The world's HR community — 27 years in the making, built to last another 27.
2M+HR Professionals
5,000+Webcasts / Year
27 yrsCategory Leadership
200+Annual Events
Origin & Mission

Built for the Profession, Not the Market

A founder who chose community over capital — and built a category-defining institution doing it.

In 1999, at the dawn of the commercial internet, the founder of Project Forum saw something the rest of the market missed: HR professionals were isolated. Their function was essential — hiring, developing, protecting, and motivating the entire workforce — but they had no home. No community. No shared voice. The founder built one.

Twenty-seven years later, Project Forum is the largest concentrated community of HR professionals on the internet. Over two million registered members return for compliance guidance, professional development, peer connection, research, and certification prep. Unlike a social platform or job board, Project Forum was built for one profession and has stayed there — and that focus is the moat.

"We never raised outside capital. Every dollar of growth came from the community we served." — Founder & CEO, on 27 years of profitable operations

The business has evolved through three strategic phases: first as a content hub, then as a full-service B2B media platform (webcasts, events, research, certification), and now as a three-asset company with an AI-native community platform alongside the media business and the crown jewel: the hr domain itself — one of only 676 possible two-letter .com domains in existence.

The Opportunity

Three Strategic Assets. One Transaction.

A buyer can acquire the bundle, or structure a staged transaction across assets.
Asset A · Crown Jewel
The Domain
Est. $15–20M standalone

A premium two-letter .com domain in a $30B+ HCM market. One of only 676 such domains possible. Category-defining — the equivalent of owning the namespace for your vertical. Can be sold independently from the operating business.

Asset B · Operating Core
The Media Business
Est. $7–10M standalone

27-year-old, profitable B2B digital media and community platform. Webcasts, virtual events, research institutes, conference, and certification prep — diversified across five revenue channels with no single-sponsor concentration. ~20% EBITDA margins.

Asset C · Growth Platform
Community Platform
Early-stage / option value

API-first, AI-native B2B community platform launched June 2025. TypeScript, React, native Salesforce/HubSpot integration, health scores. 35 HR technology clients expressed interest; first cohort live within 45 days of launch. Requires CEO hire before stand-alone spin-out.

Domain Value

$15–20M
Broker range · one of 676

Media Business Value

$7–10M
2.5–5× digital B2B media comps

Prior Process High

$45M
2022 · 8 qualified offers received

EBITDA Margin

~20%
Media business · confirmed
Leadership Today

Operator-Builders, Not Hired Managers

Every senior leader has at minimum a decade inside the community they serve.
F
Founder & CEO
Founder · 27-Year Tenure
Built the company from inception in 1999 to 2M+ members without outside capital. Personally connected to most major HR technology vendors in the buyer universe — a relationship network that accompanies the business into the next chapter. Committed to a 2-year transition.
P
Platform Lead
Community Platform · Since 2023
Rebuilt the technology infrastructure from the ground up (2023), migrated off AWS for data sovereignty, and launched the AI-native community platform in June 2025. Led recovery of platform IP from a prior failed venture (FORJ) for $1M after the prior team cycled through four CTOs in three years.
S
Senior Team
Tenures of 10–30 Years
Multiple senior team members have been with the business for 10 to 30 years. This is not the kind of tenure you build by paying above market — it reflects the mission-driven nature of the company and the strength of the founder's culture. Buyer will inherit the institution, not just the database.
Recognition & Track Record

Proof Points That Survive Diligence

Not a single claim here requires a footnote — each is independently verifiable.
HR West Conference
Flagship annual in-person conference for HR professionals. 27-year track record. A buyer acquires the conference brand alongside the digital platform.
2022 Process: 8 Qualified Offers
The last time the company ran a formal sale process, eight qualified buyers submitted offers ranging from $9M to $45M. The process did not close — not for lack of interest. Buyer universe is real and documented.
30+ Active Research Institutes
Ongoing research programs spanning compensation, benefits, talent acquisition, L&D, DEI, and HR technology — generating first-party intent data no external database can replicate.
Premium Two-Letter .com Domain
One of only 676 possible two-letter .com domains (26² = 676, mathematical). Category-defining namespace in a $30B+ addressable market. AI.com sold January 2026 as a recent comparable transaction.
27 Years Profitable Operations
Never raised outside capital. Revenue generated from the community. Profitable every year of operation. ~20% EBITDA margins confirmed.
First-Party Data Ecosystem
Intent data (topic consumption, research downloads), engagement data (event participation, cert paths), and community behavioral data — owned by the platform, not sourced from third parties. GDPR-clean data sovereignty move completed 2023.
Capabilities & Reach

Five Revenue Channels. One Community.

Revenue diversification built over 27 years — no single sponsor or channel exceeds a dangerous concentration.
Digital Media
5,000+ webcasts per year
200+ virtual & live events
Daily editorial content
Newsletter programs
Sponsored research reports
Community
2M+ registered HR professionals
Peer forums & discussions
Member-sourced benchmarking
30+ research institutes
CHRO and VP-level participation
Certification & L&D
Accredited cert prep programs
Continuing education credit
HR West conference
On-demand learning library
Corporate training tracks
Platform (AI)
mypeople.ai community platform
API-first, TypeScript/React
Native Salesforce/HubSpot SSO
35 HR tech clients interested
Live: June 2025
Revenue ChannelDescriptionBuyer Type Served
Webcasts & Sponsorship Sponsored webcasts, branded research, vendor content distribution to 2M+ members Workday, Oracle, Paylocity, BambooHR-class HR tech vendors
Events Virtual events, HR West, in-person summits — live and digital tickets + sponsorships Enterprise vendors + individual HR professionals
Research Institutes Ongoing primary research studies; sponsors fund institutes and receive data access HR technology vendors, consultancies, analytics buyers
Certification / L&D Accredited professional development courses, CE credits, certification prep Individual HR professionals and their employers
Platform (SaaS) Community platform as a service to HR tech companies — early stage HR technology vendors needing branded community infrastructure
The Investment Thesis

Four Reasons Project Forum Is Different

Each of these survives diligence. None requires buyer faith.
The Domain Is the Moat

hr.com is not a URL — it is a namespace. In a $30B+ HCM software market, the domain that a category leader owns controls the category's identity online. A buyer who acquires this asset acquires the ability to anchor any future HR product, community, or platform under the most defensible URL in the industry. The domain alone is worth more than the media business.

The Community Is Irreplaceable

Two million HR professionals do not exist anywhere else in one opt-in, verified, professionally-identified community. No job board, no social platform, and no trade publication owns this. The community was built over 27 years through trust and utility — it cannot be assembled via marketing spend. A buyer acquires the community and the database; a competitor cannot replicate either.

Revenue Diversification De-Risks the Asset

Five active revenue channels — sponsorship, events, research, certification, and emerging SaaS — mean no single buyer, sponsor, or vertical defines the business. The HR technology vendor market includes Workday, Oracle, Paylocity, and hundreds of emerging tools, all of whom need direct access to the HR professional audience. That demand is structural, not cyclical.

The Platform Creates the Upside

The new AI-native community platform (launched June 2025) turns the media asset into a recurring-revenue SaaS platform. Early interest from 35 HR technology clients suggests product-market fit. A buyer who can hire a CEO for the platform spin-out holds a second, separate liquidity event — the media business pays the hold cost while the platform compounds.

Financial Snapshot · Sell-Side Only

The Honest Financial Picture

Revenue declined from peak as the founder shifted attention to building the new platform. The thesis is value-restoration, not steady-state.
MetricValueSource / Confidence
Current Revenue (TTM) ~$6M CAD Founder confirmed via email 2026-04-21 · High
Revenue Peak ~$12M CAD Founder confirmed · prior to platform build-out High
EBITDA Margin ~20% Founder stated 2026-03-23 discovery call · High
Prior Process (2022) 8 offers · $9M–$45M range Founder confirmed 2026-03-23 · highest offer taken but deal fell through · High
Platform Funding $250K/yr from media business Founder confirmed 2026-03-23 · platform has not sought outside capital · High
Domain Value (est.) $15–20M Domain broker quote · AI.com (Jan 2026) as comparable · High
Community Members 2M+ HR.com marketing materials · Medium — per marketing
Annual Webcasts 5,000+ HR.com marketing materials · Medium — per marketing

Revenue decline reflects a deliberate founder reallocation toward the platform build — not market deterioration or competitive displacement. The media business produced $12M CAD at peak with the same asset base. A buyer with operational focus can restore the trajectory; the community and domain do not require rebuilding.

What we do not use here: The CIM document on file contains revenue figures that conflict with founder-confirmed data. Latka's public estimate (~$10M USD) also conflicts. Per deal-manager policy, founder-confirmed live data supersedes any uploaded file or third-party estimate. Buyer diligence should request FY2020/2024/2025 audited statements directly from the company.

"Project Forum is not a declining media business. It is a 27-year community institution that has been under-invested for three years while the founder built something new. The domain is the anchor, the community is the moat, the platform is the next chapter."
Ewing Gillaspy
Next Chapter Advisory Group · Sell-Side Advisor