poll Who is the greatest domain investor of all time? 2021 edition

[equity78]

It’s been 7 years since we did a poll on the greatest domain name investor of all time on TheDomains.com. Frank Schilling won back in 2014. Over the last 7 years many new investors have come into the business.

Some investors might be perceived differently today than during the last poll, so here is the 2021 poll.

Sometimes people ask what is meant? Like so and so might not have made as much money but they lifted people up or they were a nicer human being.

This is who is the greatest domain investor of all time, the selling, sales attained, marketing and name selection skills should be what is considered.

Results of last poll

• Frank Schilling (31%, 77 Votes)
• Yun Ye (17%, 43 Votes)
• Rick Schwartz (11%, 27 Votes)
• Mike Mann (6%, 14 Votes)
• Anything.com (5%, 13 Votes)
• Michael Berkens (5%, 12 Votes)
• Castello Brothers (4%, 11 Votes)
• George Kirikos (4%, 9 Votes)
• Adam Dicker (4%, 9 Votes)
• Igal Lichtman (Mrs.Jello) (3%, 8 Votes)
• Chris Chena (3%, 7 Votes)
• Thunayan Al-Ghanim (FMA) (3%, 7 Votes)
• Scott Day (2%, 6 Votes)
• Marc Ostrofsky (2%, 4 Votes)
• Mike Zapolin (1%, 3 Votes)
• Nat Cohen/Telepathy (0%, 2 Votes)

 

[equity78]

I believe that like Boxing we should select different Champions for different levels,

Like who is the greatest Champion amongst the heavyweight oldtimers

Who is the Champion amongst the mediumweights which might include a lot of the domainers here at NamePros

And then the lightweights and hobbyist who might stand out within their class for their contributions

And we should even select a Champion amongst the Newbies, Like when people enter the domaining scene for the first time and six months later become gurus with a proven track record those people need to be acknowledged for their achievements somehow.

(Otherwise what's the use of asking this question because the answer will almost always be about the same).

IMO

I have thought about that OldTimer, certainly there are weight classes, there are flyweights here going up against super heavy weights.

 

[oldtimer]

there are flyweights here going up against super heavy weights.

And the point is that people from different classes should not be put against each other,

Every one who has excelled in domaining or who has contributed to the Industry or the community here should be acknowledged separately within their own class.

IMO

 

[equity78]

And the point is that people from different classes should not be put against each other,

Every one who has excelled in domaining or who has contributed to the Industry or the community here should be acknowledged separately within their own class.

IMO

It should in that setting this setting was who is the greatest domain investor of all time. Like who is the greatest NBA player of all time, no one says Gary Payton or Dwayne Wade even though they had excellent careers.

Sometimes there will be greatest guard of all time or greatest little man of all time. This poll which was run as a mirror here to thedomains was to show and see how different people vote. But it was meant to be all encompassing and it was noted investor, not great human being or lifted people up or told better stories etc...

 

[oldtimer]

It should in that setting this setting was who is the greatest domain investor of all time. Like who is the greatest NBA player of all time, no one says Gary Payton or Dwayne Wade even though they had excellent careers.

Sometimes there will be greatest guard of all time or greatest little man of all time. This poll which was run as a mirror here to thedomains was to show and see how different people vote. But it was meant to be all encompassing and it was noted investor, not great human being or lifted people up or told better stories etc...

Even from the investor point of view the degree of achievement at the different levels and times that domainers belong too is still an important factor.

Someone who starts today with a few hundred dollars in capital and manages to put together a nice portfolio in a year or two is perhaps a better investor than some of the heavyweights who got started on the path to riches just because they were there at the right place and at the right time and not only that they were able to pick the best domains, but also had help paying for their renewals through parking without having to depend on domain sales as much and in that context we really can't have a greatest domain investor of all times since we need to separate the old era from the current environment and acknowledge people's achievements in each era separately.

I understand that for certain reasons you might be beholden to some of the super heavyweights of the past era, but most other domainers here seem to have more appreciation for the achievements made by some of their friends here at NamePros.

IMO

 

[equity78]

Even from the investor point of view the degree of achievement at the different levels and times that domainers belong too is still an important factor.

Someone who starts today with a few hundred dollars in capital and manages to put together a nice portfolio in a year or two is perhaps a better investor than some of the heavyweights who got started on the path to riches just because they were there at the right place and at the right time and not only that they were able to pick the best domains, but also had help paying for their renewals through parking without having to depend on domain sales as much and in that context we really can't have a greatest domain investor of all times since we need to separate the old era from the current environment and acknowledge people's achievements in each era separately.

I understand that for certain reasons you might be beholden to some of the super heavyweights of the past era, but most other domainers here seem to have more appreciation for the achievements made by some of their friends here at NamePros.

IMO

I am not beholden to anyone, I pledge allegiance to no man. We are talking all time about the history of domain investing. As I said I agree with trying out some other polls as well. The point I was making was that if I played for the Miami Heat and loved Dwayne Wade and he was a good friend I still would not say he was a better basketball player than Michael Jordan.

Different era's is something I have sketched out before and I will look to publish something along those lines. Some from the old days are still doing it today, Nat Cohen, Castello Brothers, Rick, Mike Mann, Anything.com, etc...

The greatest domain investor here in my opinion would be @RJ because without him many would have been without a great place to learn.

 

[Samer]

Do we have permissions from these people?
Personally, I don't like it if someone just put my name on the list.
And what do we use the result for?

i would say for clout,
but let’s be real here In any case...
johnn, stop being a negative nancy, if i’ve never heard of said person, this great flattering way to find out about. You think kno everyone!

 

[gina ferrano]

No Mrs.Jello is the late Igal Lichtman

So no women on the list then. But thanks for the clarification I saw the Mrs. Jello reference.

 

[nononsense123]

So no women on the list then. But thanks for the clarification I saw the Mrs. Jello reference.

The Internet seems to be discriminating against women. Let's write a letter to the Internet.

 

[Samer]

The Internet seems to be discriminating against women. Let's write a letter to the Internet.

Actually, she’s right.

It feels like domaining discriminates against women. I would have liked @Kate Buckley to have made the list

 

[nononsense123]

Actually, she’s right.

It feels like domaining discriminates against women. I would have liked @Kate Buckley to have made the list

As someone else pointed out Kate might be one of the greatest if not the greatest domain broker in the world..
But this is about investors

 

[oldtimer]

I say that the greatest domain investor should be chosen based on the level of difficulty that a person has had to overcome to produce an outstanding result.

While we need to acknowledge the success that some of the oldtimer domainers have achieved and all that they have done for the Industry, but I believe that there are many domainers who have managed to triumph in a much more difficult environment in the more recent years and that thier achievements should not always be overshadowed by the old boys club of the past era.

IMO

 

[satsdifference.com]

In January 1999 I did a lot of WHOIS from then and there was just one guy who registered alot, I mean alot, that was stand-out

Kept seeing his name from china as registrant "No Name"


Ask @DomainKing inc.
Priceless memories

 

[nononsense123]

In January 1999 I did a lot of WHOIS from then and there was just one guy who registered alot, I mean alot, that was stand-out

Kept seeing his name from china as registrant "No Name"


Ask @DomainKing inc.
Priceless memories

Would love to know more

 

[Chris Hydrick]

If greatest domain investor of all time is defined by sales, money, resources... it'd be too difficult of a discussion given folks different entry time/capital (don't tell some 18 year old he/she should have believed in the internet sooner, I don't imagine many two year olds knew their way around a registrar in 2005, and even if they did, I don't know how many domains a two year old child's allowance can afford.) or if it's solely about raising capital, then it becomes a question of who are your inside connections, and how good of a fundraiser are you. e.g. Ethos Capital *sigh*

I would have liked @Kate Buckley to have made the list

Agreed

Setting her sales record aside (warning: don't question her sales) and solely basing this opinion having listened in to a few of her clubhouse talks / DomainSocial discussions, it doesn't take very long to realize that her approach to domains/brands is miles beyond the echo chamber of most domainers/brokers. A a true DomainWordSmith if you will, and a power blend of tenacity and elegance.

I also think Raymond Hackney deserves a place in the polls. I'm not sure if any post 2010 domain investor would be as knowledgeable as we are today without his contributions to TheDomains.com, TLDInvestors.com, and to this forum.

 

[Short-domain-name]

Rothschild has 50 trillion US dollars, why didn’t he make it？

 

[Surya Giri Kurniawan]

I vote Rick because he still shares interesting lessons about domaining.. For me Rick, Mike Berken, Adam Dickers, Andrew Rosener, Frank and Mike Mann and others also Doron Vermat (not in the list) all are the great persons who have a lot of contributions to domain industry. But the greatest teacher in domaining for me is still Rick Schwartz, with his Rick's Blog newsletter...

 

[main]

Come on. The greatest domain investor of all time isn’t the person who taught you the most. It would be the person who has cashed out the most or had the highest year-over-year ROI or success over a long period. The person who taught you a lot might be the greatest teacher or favorite.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Come on. The greatest domain investor of all time isn’t the person who taught you the most. It would be the person who has cashed out the most or had the highest year-over-year ROI or success over a long period. The person who taught you a lot might be the greatest teacher or favorite.

Fair point... as this is 2021 edition.

But excluding 2021 edition, the century is still young. Call it a long shot, but it will be interesting to circle back to this thread 40 years from now. Anybody know what the odds are on @equity78 winning this contest 40 years from now? A little backing + his connections + some hard work + a little luck... we never know what will happen.

FWIW: my vote went to @Rebies Brothers -- they built a fortress while everyone else was building a portfolio.

 

[Lox]

Shimoshita is not included?

( f.e. last year Shimoshita sold GoWork.com to Polish GoWork for $50K. - with .com the company expand into Spanish, German and Italian speaking market. https://es.gowork.com/countries )

 

[bmugford]

This is really an impossible question to answer. It is like asking who is the best stock investor.

In the domain field you have investors who started from the 90's until today.

The people in the 90's had the foresight and took the financial risk. Many current investors were young kids or not even alive then.

Some on the list are pure investors, some are brokers, some created registrars, some created drop catch systems, some built businesses, etc.

It is not really an apples to apples comparison.

Brad

 

[Surya Giri Kurniawan]

Dot com is indeed the King. But for someones who didn't catch the train, GTLDs are good investments too. Like in Crypto, Bitcoin is the King.. But investing in Bitcoin now is crazy, a lot of people get money from Dogecoin or even Shiba Inu. The best investors invest in Category Killer .com. But investing in GTlds are not bad option too.. Indeed GTlds are not prooved as good as altcoin in Crypto, so best investors are still the owners of bunch of .com

 

[Mister Funsky]

I voted early on and I see someone joined me in picking Mrs Jello...Igal was the man early on and would share tips with those he liked (I am told).

 

[bmugford]

Show attachment 192650

source: Thedomains

NOTE - Nothing personal, just Business!

Regards

I agree with that comment. I responded to it saying the same, but the post is in moderation for some reason.

The people on the list are legends. Even people with 0 or a few votes. People like Nat Cohen, Garry Chernoff, George Kirikos, Scott Day, and many others.

It is pretty hard to put all these people in the same group. Many had completely different contributions.

How do you compare Rick Schwartz to Bob Parsons to Andrew Rosener? They all did different things at different times.

Someone like Brent Oxley has an incredible portfolio, but that is because he built an incredibly successful business in Host Gator which is a more impressive achievement IMO.

Brad

 

[forge]

This thread really ought to be cleaned up.

But while I'm here, Andrew R. because he bought one of my names.

 

[Lox]

I agree with that comment. I responded to it saying the same, but the post is in moderation for some reason.

The people on the list are legends. Even people with 0 or a few votes. People like Nat Cohen, Garry Chernoff, George Kirikos, Scott Day, and many others.

It is pretty hard to put all these people in the same group. Many had completely different contributions.

How do you compare Rick Schwartz to Bob Parsons to Andrew Rosener? They all did different things at different times.

Someone like Brent Oxley has an incredible portfolio, but that is because he built an incredibly successful business in Host Gator which is a more impressive achievement IMO.

Brad

Many here can't grasp the huge numbers involved in transaction. Hardly understanding what it takes to run a business and how the "investment of $10M in 1 domain.ext " is handled, write off, tax benefits, etc.

Every Investor did a thing or two or more for the community. The question "Who is the Greatest" is more of subjective nature vs objective. i didn't vote ... and I like Schwartz's "get out of that stupid box" message, and I like Kirikos "Hey look what I found! Unreported $1M sale" ...

Regards