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interviews 14 Great Interviews from the NamePros Blog

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Interviews provide insights directly from those involved in domain name sales, acquisitions and the industry. Nothing can quite replace hearing domain industry influencers speak in their own words.

While several of the well known domain industry blogs and podcasts serve up interviews weekly, I went looking for great interviews right here on NamePros. The results certainly did not disappoint me, with many fantastic interviews. In this article I share my favourites.

Was I expecting to find an interview on negotiation with a retired FBI crisis negotiator? No, but there is one! We have heard lots about Elon Musk acquiring the domain name Tesla.com, but what about an interview with the domain investor who sold that domain name? Yes, that is right here at NamePros.


14 Interviews with Impact and Insights

There are many deserving interviews, but these are my favourites from past issues of the NamePros Blog.
  1. This interview with Frank Schilling, conducted by DN.com in 2016, is particularly timely, given the recent Uniregistry acquisition by GoDaddy. The interview includes an interesting anecdote on how he sold 10 related domains as a package, for ten times the price he had assumed.
  2. James Booth of Booth Domains, now Phenom, is highly successful in domain investing and brokering, and he shares his background and a top tip in this interview with James Iles. It was part of the Expert Exchange series.
  3. Daniel Chen, CEO of 190.com, has been described as one of the most influential domain investors in China. At the time of this 2016 interview with James Iles, Daniel Chen had been seriously investing for only about a year, but already had amassed an impressive portfolio at 190.com.
  4. This short interview by James Iles is with domain name investor Mr. Stuart Grossman who sold the name tesla.com to Tesla Motors.
  5. We probably don’t do enough interviews with highly successful domain investors who are also very active on NamePros. One such person is Brad Mugford owner of DataCube.com. In researching this article I stumbled upon a great interview that Eric Lyon conducted with Brad Mugford in 2012. In case you did not know, Brad operates his domain site on one of the 100 oldest .com registrations.
  6. It is worthwhile to read interviews from both domain buyer and domain seller perspectives. Fortunately, James Iles has conducted a number of interviews with domain buyers, including this one with the buyer of 37.com that sold for $2.1 million.
  7. Brent Oxley founded HostGator while he was a university student, and ultimately sold it for a reported $225 million. He acquired and sold some great domain names over the years. In this Inside Interview with James Iles, he talks with about the $500,000 acquisition of Give.com.
  8. At NamesCon 2019, I interviewed Dr. Paul Mockapetris, the inventor of the domain name system. One of my favourite quotes from that interview was the following.
    ”One of my principles was to keep it as simple as possible but have room for growth. It has grown in a number of ways, some of which I foresaw and some of which I didn’t. I always say if you design a system and can imagine all of the possible uses, it really is not very interesting.
  9. Some interviews are full of practical advice that you can put right into practice. No place is that better demonstrated than the four-part series that James Iles conducted with Mike Robertson, Director of Business Development at Fabulous. Among many other sales, he sold BTC.com for $1 million. In part one Mike shares this advice:
    “All opening emails should include an email signature. It's an opportunity to build trust and confidence with potential buyers you are approaching.”
    He goes on to summarize the content that might be included in that signature.
  10. The second part of the interview with Mike Robertson looks at finding potential buyers, and Mike shares five techniques he uses, and you can readily adapt, to compile a complete list of potential buyers. He also shares why he does not usually list names on marketplaces.
  11. In the third part of the interview, Mike Robertson shares valuable common sense advice on contacting potential buyers. For example,
    ”When composing the initial email to send to prospective buyers, I like to keep it short, direct, informative and have an action point.”
  12. Finally, in part four Mike Robertson and James Iles discuss negotiating and closing deals. Many important points were covered during the interview, such as this important one on timing.
    ”Understand when might be the best time to approach an end user. Sometimes companies are more willing to negotiate at the start of the year when new marketing budgets are typically set. On the other end of the spectrum, at year’s end, companies may have unused budgets. Another good time is when a company receives funding.”
  13. Many major domain name sales are part of company upgrades. James Iles has conducted numerous interviews around name upgrades, such as this one with Greg Warzecha, founder, and CEO of User following the $150,000 sale of user.com.
  14. Negotiations for major sales can sometimes get tense, but that is nothing compared to negotiating in a hostage situation. NamePros Blog has an interview with a former FBI hostage negotiator, and the author of a book on the negotiation process. In 2016 Keith DeBoer conducted this fascinating interview with Chris Voss on the art of negotiation. It has a wealth of directly applicable insights for those negotiating domain name sales, such as don’t plan to meet in the middle.

Ask Me Anything


NamePros also has a segment called Ask Me Anything (AMA). The idea is that someone agrees to field a series of questions from the NamePros community, essentially a group-conducted interview. There are existing AMA threads with Nikul Sangvi, Shane Cultra, NetworkPearl, Page Howe, James Iles, and a few others. I hope some other members of our community will be willing to host an AMA session to expand the collection.


Share Your Opinions
  • So what is your favourite interview from this list, and why?
  • What have you learned from an interview that changed how you invest in domain names?
  • What interview that I did not mention do you think deserves inclusion? Please include a link to the interview, along with your comment.
  • Who would you like to see interviewed, from those who have not yet been featured on the NamePros Blog?



A sincere thank you to all who created these NamePros interviews, both those willing to be interviewed, and the interviewers. A special shout-out to James Iles who conducted the majority of these interviews.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
the interview with Mockapetris is priceless, ty.. :)
 
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What a wealth of knowledge from industry experts. Will have to bookmark and take my time on this thread. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
 
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got a lot of reading ahead of me - thanks Bob
 
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A great compilation, Bob.

During my post interview chat with Chris Voss, he told me he grew up in a small MidWest town 20 minutes from where I live. Small world eh?

Anyway, at the time in his career, he had not addressed the topic of email negotiations, because he dislikes them so much and because most of the top level execs he coaches always negotiate face to face. But after hearing my questions he decided to incorporate email options into his seminars.

Here's a snippet of his further insights on the topic:
 
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Hello Bob,
US/international domaining seem to me like stuck in the past. For the last 15 years, famous domainers have been repeating the same cliches about selling techniques, speculation and storytelling. The only new thing is nTLD, whose interest is more than limited.
Domaining can rapidly be boring and does not require much more than money and negociation skills. I fully understand that most domainers need such advices because their goal is making a living from domain names. However, some of us chose this activity because we like it.
The domain name sector is exciting. I would love to hear interviews about expired domains for SEO, ICANN evolutions, automatization, building and monetization of huge portfolios, branding, law, Geopolitics, Technical and security issues, etc.
 
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Saying that, I read with great interest n°3 and 8.
 
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The domain name sector is exciting. I would love to hear interviews about expired domains for SEO, ICANN evolutions, automatization, building and monetization of huge portfolios, branding, law, Geopolitics, Technical and security issues, etc.
Thank you for some excellent suggestions, which cover a lot of ground. The topic of branding, in particular, is one that I agree that it is critical to look ahead more than look back, and that hearing voices from outside our own domain community is important.
US/international domaining seem to me like stuck in the past. For the last 15 years, famous domainers have been repeating the same cliches about selling techniques, speculation and storytelling.
I do not disagree with this view, although at the same time there has been, I sense, some evolution in certain ideas. My experience is much more limited than yours, in years in domaining, so I am probably not in a good position to reflect on this.

I think overall it is important to have a range of topics represented in the NamePros Blog, some of which will appeal to those newer in the field, as well as to the more experienced. To those with big portfolios and small ones. Also, some more based on traditional thinking, and some more speculative in outlook. Some prefer more analytical and data-rich approaches, and some do not.

It is not always an easy balance to achieve, but rest assured that your point about emphasizing things which are new has been noted. Thank you for your comments.

I would also emphasize the obvious that this was a look back at interviews published at NamePros in last few years, so by its very nature there will be some degree of looking at the past.

Thanks again,

Bob
 
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But after hearing my questions he decided to incorporate email options into his seminars.
Thanks both for the amazing interview Keith, and also for the added content here! It is impressive that he modified his approach, at least a little, based on your questions. And indeed it often is a small world. Thanks so much for all off your great writing, and this interview in particular.
Bob
 
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Signature is the most annoying part. People trust Godaddy, Sedo, but not me? Very stupid.
 
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That is an excellent compilation of interviews worthy of reading and re-reading for those pursuing a serious long term path with domain names.

For those with less lofty goals and less available investment capital - the average typical domain name player - interviews with some of NamePros' best, brightest and frequent posters of nice sales might prove valuable to those masses. The " small " portfolio holders you wisely alluded to above.

And who would not benefit from an articulate interview re the legalities of domaining - including of course an idiot-proof Q & A interview re trademarks etc.

Thanks Bob for once again enriching the Forum with another excellent article!
 
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Really appreciate on your super threads Bob... Its another way to learn more from many incredible person in domain industry.
 
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thanks a lot for you efforts and sharing, which is very helpful!
 
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the average typical domain name player - interviews with some of NamePros' best, brightest and frequent posters of nice sales might prove valuable to those masses.
This is an excellent suggestion. Thank you. Those who are well known to our community, both for their interactions and their success, have a particularly important message to share.
 
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Thanks for sharing those interviews.
 
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Hello, I am looking for a good URL finder for companies. If you know, help me please.

The price is important to me.
 
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