“When I set out to do this, new domains were kind of a bad word,” said Daniel Negari while making a speech to the Southern California Domainers Meetup last Thursday in Santa Monica. He further added that if we fast-forward to present day, we have large companies like Google registering abc.xyz for their new parent company. However, new gTLDs are still a topic of contention for many domain investors and Daniel hopes to change this perception.
Organized by one of the integral founders, Jason Thompson (@dnpimping.com), the Southern California Domainers Meetup was a unique one to say the least. After serving gourmet street tacos and refreshments during the introductory “schmooze” hour, the crowds attention was grabbed by the quite unexpected blowing of a shofar. My initial reaction was “did I forget to call my parents for the Jewish new year?” But no, it was Daniel about to make a speech and thank everyone in attendance.
I had a surreal moment mid-speech when Daniel introduced Morgan Linton over speakerphone to make a statement to the audience. Morgan was also one of the original founders of the SoCal Domainers Meetup, and I had just traded emails with him the previous day. Morgan recounted memories of a tiny group meeting in an even smaller bar in LA—all the while on conference call via an intercom to a large audience in one of the headquarters for a new gTLD in Santa Monica. That juxtaposition made me realize just how far the domain industry has grown in the last decade. The increasing attendance of domain industry gatherings like the SoCal Domainer Meetup and growing size of NamesCon is undoubtedly a reflection of the industry’s growth.
Following Daniel’s speech and short Q&A, I had the pleasure of speaking with several domain investors with large portfolios, as well as representatives from a plethora of prominent domain service companies. Everyone was in great spirits, enjoying the food, refreshments, and beautiful scenery made possible by .xyz hosting the event.
A frequent topic of conversation was, “Where will each gTLD rank in the future domain economy, if at all?” Ultimately people find themselves in one of two camps: those with prominent and older TLD portfolios that can rest easy and are convinced, as I am, that they will see a return, and the investors in newer gTLDs that are looking to the future with high hopes. Another common topic was .xyz’s large foreign base of registrations. Statements like, “10% of .xyz’s registrations are IDNs” were claimed and compared against .com taking decades to secure footholds foreign markets. Statistics and statements such as these can be used to support either camp as promoters will say that’s a positive sign for .xyz’s explosive growth, while .com holders will point out that it took older TLDs a substantial amount of time because of the nature of web 1.0 and its evolution up until now.
With the plethora of new gTLDs, it’s difficult for anyone to say which ones, if any, will come out on top and which ones will fail. Regardless of their outcome, gTLDs like .xyz being used by Google or mentioned on HBO’s Silicon Valley series, garners awareness for our industry. Whether or not you have faith in gTLDs, the industry needs to work together to combat the limitations of our size and foster growth. Frank Schilling spoke to this effect during his keynote at NamesCon 2015.
I leave you with his exact words: “Why is this industry so small? . . . Well, names are difficult still and unwieldy to use . . . It’s still very, very, very early days . . . Success in one company is going to lift all the other companies in the space . . . No one company can be all things to all people . . . It’s growth without cannibalization.”
Organized by one of the integral founders, Jason Thompson (@dnpimping.com), the Southern California Domainers Meetup was a unique one to say the least. After serving gourmet street tacos and refreshments during the introductory “schmooze” hour, the crowds attention was grabbed by the quite unexpected blowing of a shofar. My initial reaction was “did I forget to call my parents for the Jewish new year?” But no, it was Daniel about to make a speech and thank everyone in attendance.
I had a surreal moment mid-speech when Daniel introduced Morgan Linton over speakerphone to make a statement to the audience. Morgan was also one of the original founders of the SoCal Domainers Meetup, and I had just traded emails with him the previous day. Morgan recounted memories of a tiny group meeting in an even smaller bar in LA—all the while on conference call via an intercom to a large audience in one of the headquarters for a new gTLD in Santa Monica. That juxtaposition made me realize just how far the domain industry has grown in the last decade. The increasing attendance of domain industry gatherings like the SoCal Domainer Meetup and growing size of NamesCon is undoubtedly a reflection of the industry’s growth.
Following Daniel’s speech and short Q&A, I had the pleasure of speaking with several domain investors with large portfolios, as well as representatives from a plethora of prominent domain service companies. Everyone was in great spirits, enjoying the food, refreshments, and beautiful scenery made possible by .xyz hosting the event.
A frequent topic of conversation was, “Where will each gTLD rank in the future domain economy, if at all?” Ultimately people find themselves in one of two camps: those with prominent and older TLD portfolios that can rest easy and are convinced, as I am, that they will see a return, and the investors in newer gTLDs that are looking to the future with high hopes. Another common topic was .xyz’s large foreign base of registrations. Statements like, “10% of .xyz’s registrations are IDNs” were claimed and compared against .com taking decades to secure footholds foreign markets. Statistics and statements such as these can be used to support either camp as promoters will say that’s a positive sign for .xyz’s explosive growth, while .com holders will point out that it took older TLDs a substantial amount of time because of the nature of web 1.0 and its evolution up until now.
With the plethora of new gTLDs, it’s difficult for anyone to say which ones, if any, will come out on top and which ones will fail. Regardless of their outcome, gTLDs like .xyz being used by Google or mentioned on HBO’s Silicon Valley series, garners awareness for our industry. Whether or not you have faith in gTLDs, the industry needs to work together to combat the limitations of our size and foster growth. Frank Schilling spoke to this effect during his keynote at NamesCon 2015.
I leave you with his exact words: “Why is this industry so small? . . . Well, names are difficult still and unwieldy to use . . . It’s still very, very, very early days . . . Success in one company is going to lift all the other companies in the space . . . No one company can be all things to all people . . . It’s growth without cannibalization.”
