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Not once have we developed a business because of domain ownership. I believe, for us, we first fall in love with concepts rather then fall in love with domains. It is only after we have a concept in mind we truly feel comfortable with we then either match it with a generic domain within our portfolio, buy a generic domain, or move on and develop on a distinctive domain.
For example, we did not know we would develop FuneralHomes.com until two years ago, which is two years after we initially started building the directory software. We did not know what we would call Lifememory until a year into the project, we did not know what we would call ASSISTA until two years into the project, and we did not develop Flowchart.com because we owned the domain - we went and acquired it because we had a concept in mind.
I believe choosing a business to develop simply because you happen to own a strong generic domain is the wrong way to go about it. While it may work, developing because of domain ownership will rarely match your skills, passion, and personal interest. Developing because of domain ownership will limit you from finding what’s best out there, both in terms of business development and finding what’s best out there for you. In the long term, can your business survive with lack of passion? with lack of personal interest in the subject, what kind of message will your business project to the world? And do you really want to limit the pool of opportunities because you happen to own a strong domain?
Few days ago while in meetings in San Fransisco I had a similar discussion with a business associate. Their group happen to own some category killer domains and while discussing development they showed strong interest in developing a number of their domains. My take on it was we first need to do market research to learn the industry, then we need internal research within our organization to see if it matches our skill-set, our business plan, what we do, what we want to do. The question I presented back to their group was “are you in it to develop your domains or are you in it to make money?”. When we think in terms of making money with a business, when we think ROI, we should look objectively rather then let limited resources in our hands dictate what we should do, dictate our direction.
Sahar
This is so true. While owning and running a business can be great fun and incredibly rewarding, it is also hard work and occasionally frustrating. A PASSION for the business gets you through the challenging times. I would argue that an entrepreneur with PASSION and a mediocre domain name will fare much better in BUILDING A BUSINESS than one with a great domain name and no passion.
Come on Sahar! I would definately sell rice now if I owned Rice.com like you!
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Truth though, as you see, we don’t. That goes across the board as we have many other domains of such caliber.
Sahar
Sorry, Sahar. Michael and I are die-hard Italian romantics.
We fell madly in love with PalmSprings.com, Daycare.com, Kennel.com and Whisky.com before we developed them
I see what you mean. I recently got Doggee.com since I love dogs, and would love to develop a dog supplies site. After seeing the sale of PetSupplies.com, I started getting ideas popping in my head. If I ever sat down to actually make something of my ideas, I think having the passion for dogs would definitely help. I can’t imagine putting my time and effort into a something like a site selling motorcycle parts when I know nothing about them and don’t really care to.
Funny, we do just the opposite. I think passion is what it is all about but you left out a major component in attaining ultimate success, the “fun” factor. Are we having fun yet? There are many sites that we developed that at first had no clue as to how to make it work but we did have fun trying and ultimately did succeed at several of them. I know individuals in this industry who don’t have a passion for the domain name or business they are in. What they do have is a passion for money, and spending it. That can also be a great motivator but they had better start making and spending money fast because if there is no passion or fun the work that you put in, it will get old and tough real fast.
I seems like I am working 24/7 but I still feel I have a lot of freedom. Maybe it is because I enjoy what I am doing and can make time for anything. That is where passion will pay dividends to those that are attempting to start a domain name business. While someone may not have a lot of money to start, they do have their time and energy to offer. If we are impassioned in our time spent in creating that business it will be fun and rewarding and might even make millions if not billions.
That fact that you have a passion for developing FuneralHomes.com allowes you to create wealth from the concept of “how”? to promote it to your customers and clients. I believe they are many different ways to create a successful site and business. Many of these concepts would not be taught in college because they are foreign to the way business was taught in the past. We did not know much about Whisky or Palm Springs, Acapulco, or daycare but we had a lot of fun building out the sites and finding revenue streams. A lot of that is creative and rewarding. I guess what I am trying to say is we are creating a lot of this as we go. What may work for you and me may not work for someone else. The internet is a place for creative successes, impressions and individualism. Those are the kinds of concepts that it offers, are its platform and should not be encumbered by old world theories. While the old teachings will and can work, I believe we have evolved beyond them.
Thought provoking post and thanks for shedding more light on your domain development strategies.