Hesketh.com

What Hesketh.com does

Hesketh.com is a Raleigh, North Carolina–based UX strategy and design consultancy founded in 1995 by Heather Hesketh, operating with 1-10 employees. Its core professional services practice delivers UX strategy, web design, information architecture, change management, and digital transformation to enterprise and nonprofit clients, with documented outcomes including a 110% revenue lift for Duke TIP, a 53% primary conversion increase for Global Knowledge, and a 450% clickthrough increase for RoleModel. Project budgets disclosed in the intake form span from under $25,000 to over $500,000, indicating negotiated, project-based pricing with multi-year contracts rather than standardized SaaS offerings.

In parallel, Hesketh.com develops and operates Enemieslist, a hostname (PTR record) classification platform that the firm reports protects over 3.6 billion users from online abuse. Originally built as an internal defensive response to a dotcom-era cyberattack, Enemieslist has expanded from anti-spam risk evaluation into anti-fraud, anti-abuse, threat detection, information security, data set calibration, and machine learning priming applications, and is sold to data scientists, security experts, and anti-spam professionals via an evaluation-request model. The platform is positioned as IP intelligence infrastructure rather than a consumer-facing product.

Hesketh.com is privately held with no disclosed institutional investors, funding rounds, or parent entity. The firm is led by founder Heather Hesketh (Lead Strategist) and Steve Champeon (CTO), who authored the Progressive Enhancement web design methodology that has been adopted by Microsoft, Yahoo!, and AOL. Distribution is direct-to-client via consultative sales, the firm's website, and earned media (SXSW, Wikipedia references), with no channel intermediaries disclosed.

Name

Hesketh.com

Legal name

hesketh.com

Website

https://hesketh.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hesketh.com is a Raleigh-based UX strategy and design consultancy founded in 1995 that also develops and operates Enemieslist, a hostname classification platform reportedly protecting over 3.6 billion users from online abuse.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

UX Design & Web Strategy Consulting

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Spam, Fake Engagement & Content Abuse Prevention (HDADALAG)

Keywords

• User experience consulting
• Web design strategy
• Hostname classification service
• Threat detection platform
• Progressive enhancement methodology

Headquarters

HQ city

Raleigh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. UX Strategy and Design Consulting: Professional services revenue from UX consulting, web strategy, change management, and design services. Hesketh.com operates as a traditional agency with project-based and retainer engagements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Hesketh.com operates two distinct offerings: (1) UX Leadership and design consulting services covering UX strategy, web redesign, information architecture, change management, and capacity building for enterprise clients; and (2) Enemieslist, a software product that classifies hostnames (PTR records) to enable policy application for anti-spam, anti-fraud, anti-abuse, threat detection, reputation services, network security, and machine learning data set calibration and priming.

Product overview

Hesketh.com operates two distinct offerings: (1) Enemieslist, a flagship classification platform that evaluates hostnames (PTR records) to protect users from online abuse, spam, and fraud; and (2) UX Leadership services, a consulting practice offering strategic advisory, design, and organizational capacity building. The Enemieslist product serves data scientists, security experts, and anti-spam professionals through classification-based policy enforcement, while the UX services provide client work across brand experience, interface design, information architecture, and change management. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Raleigh, NC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Enemieslist: A classification service that classifies hostnames (PTR records) to allow policy to be applied in various contexts. Protects over 3.6 billion users from online abuse. Originally intended for anti-spam risk evaluation, now also used in anti-fraud, anti-abuse, threat detection, information security, network security, data set calibration, data modeling, and machine learning system priming.

Products and services

• Enemieslist Enemieslist (EL) is a hostname and PTR record classification service that protects over 3.6 billion users from online abuse. It classifies hostnames to enable policy application for anti-spam, anti-fraud, anti-abuse, threat detection, reputation services, network security, calibration of data sets, data modeling, and machine learning system priming. Trusted by data scientists, security experts, and anti-spam professionals.
• UX Leadership & Design Consulting Professional consulting services covering UX strategy, web strategy, UX design, change management, information architecture, and digital capacity building for enterprise clients. Engagements span brand experience redesign, interface design, app development, and content strategy. Delivered on a project-based or retainer basis with multi-year contracts.

Quantifiable outcome

• 110% revenue increase in first year for Duke TIP
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Others

• Recorded Future: Recorded Future provides threat intelligence powered by large-scale data analytics. Comparable to Enemieslist in feeding intelligence into ML systems and security workflows, though at much larger scale and via different data modalities.

Direct peers

• Huge: Huge is a digital agency offering strategy, design, and technology services. Comparable to Hesketh.com's full-service UX and web redesign practice, with a similar enterprise-focused consulting model.
• IDEO: IDEO is a globally recognized design and innovation consultancy. Directly comparable to Hesketh.com's UX strategy, design, and change-management consulting practice in terms of service offering and enterprise client base.
• Frog (frog design): Frog is a design and strategy consultancy serving enterprise clients on digital transformation and brand experience. Overlaps with Hesketh.com's UX strategy, interface design, and digital business redesign engagements.
• Work & Co: Work & Co is a digital product agency that designs and builds websites and applications for enterprise clients. Comparable to Hesketh.com on the agency/consulting side, particularly for custom application and website development engagements.
• R/GA: R/GA is a global digital agency delivering brand experience, product design, and technology services. Comparable to Hesketh.com's blend of strategy, interface design, and digital business model redesign work.
• Spamhaus: Spamhaus is a leading authority on anti-spam, threat intelligence, and IP reputation data. Directly comparable to Enemieslist's hostname classification and anti-abuse focus, serving overlapping security and anti-spam professional buyer segments.

Broad incumbents

• Proofpoint: Proofpoint is an established cybersecurity company focused on email security, anti-spam, anti-fraud, and threat detection. Operates in adjacent parts of the same trust-and-safety envelope that Enemieslist serves via hostname classification.
• Cloudflare: Cloudflare provides broad security, performance, and trust-and-safety services across the web. While much larger and more diversified, its reputation and abuse-prevention capabilities overlap materially with Enemieslist's classification use cases.

Emerging players

• Valimail: Valimail focuses on email authentication and anti-spoofing/anti-fraud, intersecting with Enemieslist's email-origin reputation and anti-abuse use cases. Smaller and more specialized than incumbents but directly adjacent.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/heskethdotcom

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Hesketh.com