On the first day I was on a panel discussing the future of domains with Mike “Zappy” Zapolin, Adam Strong, and Frank Schilling. Frank was talking a little about world economy and shifts in markets, Adam mentioned that multiples don’t make sense (because Adam mentioned it I had to disagree), Mike was talking about the liabilities in domain leasing and importance of a brand, and I was rumbling about the future of search and how it applies to domains and the mobile world.
As in other conferences I tend to spend my time in the halls talking to friends and associates. The only other event I attended was the domain auction. While it was long, I found it to be a huge success, raking close to 4 millions in domain sales. Domaintools’ Jay Westerdal has done a great job pushing reserves down to prices more were comfortable with and I’m sure he will take lessons from this auction and will make it even better next time.
Companies and individuals I spoke with and was highly impressed with:
1. Fabulous.com - pay close attention to our Australian mates. With the addition of DDN I believe they will change everything we know about domain valuations and tremendous growth to the portfolio owners.
2. Ask.com - while I don’t believe they attended, Ask.com is getting in the domain channel and as I mentioned long ago to few close friends privately, they may be one of the crucial missing pieces in this game. The beauty of Ask.com involvement is they need the domain channel just as much as we need them. The perfect match? time will tell.
3. Domain Capital - No doubt Domain Capital are doing an important service to the industry leading the way to more liquidity and ease of purchase. No doubt this is the beginning, not the end.
4. Hitfarm.com - As I’m a HF client I’m not objective here. HF folks are ahead of the curve by working with key domainers on long term deals. In addition, Kevin Ham and Colin Yu, the folks behind Hitfarm, are hard at work on Reinvent.com.
5. BPHG - In short, Mike Bahlitzanakis is driven!
6. DNZoom - Spent an hour chatting with Dan Kimball, I think we will see allot of positive products coming from these folks.
7. NameMedia - The presentation was one of the best I’ve ever seen. It included many slides and tests of landing pages, sales stats, and lessons learned along the way.
Thanks to all the sponsors for the great hospitality, especially Ammar Kubba of TrafficZ and Greg Manriquez and all of NameDrive staff for the fun games, coffee, and nights (Hi kate).
Overall I think Domain Roundtable is here to stay and I am glad I went. I would highly recommend other domainers and those of interest in the domain industry to attend future events.
Great meeting you at the auction Sahar! Even though we could only understand every third word spoken to each other with the loud volume of the auction. My wife and I both agree that you are as nice a guy in person as you seem to be on your blog.
Nice job snagging FuneralArrangements.com!
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Thanks Derek, pleasure meeting you two as well
Did I say they don’t make sense ? I’ll play back the tapes.
“because Adam mentioned it I had to disagree”
At least you can admit that.
The multiples do set the floor as you said.
Won’t argue there. I haven’t sold a domain on a multiple of ppc for a long time, but as you said it’s nice to have as a starting point if you NEED it.
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I’ll try to write more about it today, it’s a good topic.
bummed I couldn’t make it.. gonna do my best to make it next year..
hey Sahar, you mind going into a little more detail on ask.com? Confused on how they’re the missing piece in this game…
thanks man!
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We need another party besides Google and Yahoo that needs the domain channel to create more competition for our traffic. Google is too big (besides the fact they are like a “black box”, sharing little information with their aggregators) and while having the domain channel is good for them, because they are market leader, liability from the domain channel is greater then for smaller players (more money you have, more people want a piece of it).
Having only one party that is bleeding badly is a problem. What happens if Yahoo for some reason pay less attention to the domain channel or even close it? You will have one major company on its own that now can play with pricing even worse then they do now. The fact we only have Yahoo and Google today is one of the worst situations for this market.
Why ask.com then? Because ask.com has been struggling to gain market share for years staying at #4 behind ms, yahoo and google. For ask.com having the domain channel is literally solving the problem they have been trying to solve unsuccessfully for years - gaining substantial search market share quick.
Great roundup Sahar, it’s great to hear your thoughts on the conference.
Thanks for taking the time to chat with a stranger, I really appreciated the chance to talk with you.
I agree with Derek: “you are as nice a guy in person as you seem to be on your blog”.
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Thanks Stephen, it was truly my pleasure.
Cheers
Sahar