You were smart to get out. I haven't yet.
We've just built our own data centre (http://blog.bytemark.co.uk/2013/06/04/bytemark-data-centre-w...), have launched our own IaaS product (http://bigv.io) and we get a lot of recommendations though as we're based in the UK we're not as big on most HN readers' radars. Not _just_ a plug, but as someone who wanted to go into video games and ended up running a hosting company, I've found it more interesting than I expected.
We still pick up business (and staff) from great hosting companies whose founders run out of steam. So seeing that happen over and over, our big challenge is to put a company structure in place where (one way or another) we don't have to make that awful "nothing will change - honest!" contractual obligation blog post. I've seen it happen over and over in the UK too - anyone remember DSVR? But also Melbourne last year, RapidSwitch, Redstation ... all beloved names with keen founders that got folded into a bigger company and gradually forgotten.
So I'm 1) trying to put in place products that will last at least another 10 years, and as we develop new ones, also have a transition plan to keep service going without ridiculous legacy maintenance 2) thinking about very long-term private ownership plans, turning it to an employee partnership, or anything else that will give new customers the assurance that we're here to stay even after Pete & me step away from it, as we will do one day. It'll be a few more years before anyone should believes us, but I think 12 years is already above average.
Some of the best hosting companies I've been with were run by "lifers" (which is what you sound like to me, too.) You've got a good team, a system, and you're profitable and growing your customer base. You're enjoying yourself, so there's no point in selling.
There are many others for whom the support gets to be too much, or they haven't charged enough to make a profit--in my case, it was both. If you can't make a profit, you can't put the systems in place you need to run a great business, so you kill yourself getting up at 3AM when a customer texts your "emergency support" line. Eventually, you burn out, sell it and move on.
Unfortunately, with hosting being as price-sensitive as it is (I like the comparison to airlines someone else made in this thread), there will always be companies that start up, have an owner that runs him/herself into the ground, and sell.
You "lifers" are in many ways smarter than the rest of us. I applaud you for not giving up and not giving in to the price war. Here's hoping other hosting company owners will read these comments and realize there is an alternative to full burnout mode.
I like the idea of providing a layer that floats on top of a solid network like yours, and solves some of the common problems in between that layer and the final website.
We still have very happy clients from 14 years ago, when we started, but the inventor in me has been inspired by new visions.
I guess your life is made easier than many of the hosting companies by not offering shared hosting, and (from the impression I've got) generally working with larger clients. So none of those issues of upgrading PHP and finding clients' sites stop working, or having 1000 hacked and exploited Wordpress-hosting accounts to deal with each morning. If you encounter them, how do you mitigate those two scenarios?
DSVR brings back memories - I used them in 2002-2003? They had such a reputation... and then just disappeared off the radar!
Seems like you have a lot of good karma and should get more HN exposure if you ask me.
Love the depth of your outage notifications incidentally. One big problem for me - sadly stuck on shared hosting - is that the host never tell me a) when things go down and b) when they change things [that often seem to break sites].
Side note. Nothing makes someone willing to pay a new hosting company more money for the same basic low end email service than when they have the inevitable problems getting their email from their current host.
The email is a bit less of a problem now then it was years ago.
The reason?
Many people now want the email forwarded to gmail etc. As such they aren't even aware if there is a service interruption because they are getting email addressed to the gmail and the domain and they lose track of which is which. So it could be hours or even a day until they even know something is wrong. As opposed to pop or imap where they get an immediate connection error.