discuss Happy New Years - What is your 2020 Forecast?

[Rob Monster]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

First of all, I extend a warm Happy New Year blessing to all. May your domaining efforts be fruitful, and may your use of sale proceeds be wisely aligned to the things you feel called to do in 2020!

In the meantime, some folks have asked me for my 2020 predictions. Well, I am no prophet, but I will share some scenarios that I think would be not unreasonable to see unfold:

• Namepros' Alexa rank clears 10,000: After a steep incline in 2019, the NP growth engine keeps humming and clears Alexa rank of 10,000 like a hot knife through butter.

• Emerging markets set the outbound pace: The industry onboards 100,000 new domain investors in 2020 alone. Many find their way to NamePros and learn how to outbound from industry pros.

• PIR acquisition: Despite flag-waving by industry pundits, the deal goes through. The price increase does not happen as the dust settles. After all, the .ORG deal was not about price anyway.

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix

• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

• WHOIS makes a comeback: After 18 months of emasculation, WHOIS makes a triumphant return with the launch of GDPR-compliant WHOIS.

• Cloud hosting goes mainstream: An explosion of cPanel sites will move into the cloud thanks to technologies which will bring cloud migration tools for non-technical people.

• 3N.com domain market moonshots: 3N.com domains clear 7 figures as the industry consolidates into very strong hands.

• Digital brands not domains: I believe during 2020, we'll see a big pivot from selling naked domains to selling integrated brands. Squadhelp and Flippa were only the appetizer there.

• WIPO UDRP thuggery thwarted: After a year of boundary testing by WIPO, the industry calls bullshit on the overreach and fights back. Sunlight proves to be a potent detergent in 2020.

• Super-broker Andrew Rosener sells Clear.com for mind blowing $10 million: Sure, it sounds like a crazy moonshot, but Andrew does crazy deals like few others!

So, that's it for my 2020 predictions. Let's see what happens.

In the meantime, curious to hear what folks think will happen in the next 12 months that impacts our industry and community.

 

[tonyk2000]

If I were Frank, I would dump the registries to Donuts

Would anybody like to run what Franks currently runs? On a spot view, 100% imho:

1) Radix: Quality Over Quantity. They run less than a dozen extensions, including reasonably looking onces like .site, .online and .tech

2) Donuts: Quantity Over Quantity. 200+ extensions

3) Uni and XYZ: neither quality, nor quantity. Dot .guitars? .hiphop? .lol? Or (XYZ case) .xyz and .monster ...

Yeah donuts will gladly add a few more extensions to their collection, but for cheap. So the sale is unlikely to happen IMO. Besides, Frank will then have to pay premium annual renewals for what he reserved for himeself and is now trying to sell. Would be very interesting
And he cannot drop those... there should be a number of leads inside his marketplace already, with the bot actively sending reminders like "any further thoughts on this?".

 

[frank-germany]

1. I believe in "Wisdom of the crowds" -- the larger the crowd, the greater the pool of wisdom.

I believe in the stupidity of masses
the larger the mass
the more the stupid and violent become dominant

As for Dr. Freud, he was an occultist, and a secret high level Freemason. He was instrumental in getting more of humanity to think with their dicks, and less with their hearts. I suggest you ignore him.

As far as I know Dr. Freud is the founder of psychotherapy as such
and therefore has done a lot for humanity.

he was neither perfect nor right is every aspect,
but the "Freudsche Fehleistung" is a quite useful concept
-applicable here-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freudian_slip


https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fehlleistung

 

[Embrand]

Some interesting thoughts, Rob. Though I guess selling Uniregistry this year will be complicated considering Ms. Schilling's lawsuit.

Who do you think will buy DAN? Are you giving it another go, this time as a purchase?

 

[frank-germany]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

I know nothing about LetsEncrypt
but I do use Cloudflare

I like to use Cloudflare
they have built a great -and by the way- free service
for nameserver use and enhancement

they offer a .com registration for $7.83 USD or so
no coupons or promotions
simply $7.98 for a .com - thats it

when I watch their Twitter postings
I see people, whom I like
and I see no reason not to trust them

but I have a lot of reason not to trust you, Rob
based on the strange ideas you posted here earlier

So why the heck are you constantly blaming the people at Cloudflare?
I see no other reason than competition.

Please come up with proof.
Or stop dissing them.


https://twitter.com/Cloudflare

https://www.instagram.com/cloudflare/

 

[Rob Monster]

Some interesting thoughts, Rob. Though I guess selling Uniregistry this year will be complicated considering Ms. Schilling's lawsuit.

Who do you think will buy DAN? Are you giving it another go, this time as a purchase?

I think Godaddy needs them. It is a great fit with their existing European footprint. The strategic synergy is obvious. Godaddy has spare leadership talent like Timo Kargus that can work with Reza right after NC.

For me, this outcome will be bittersweet for me since DAN is one that got away. I won't speculate on the price tag, but I will be happy for the DAN team who surely worked hard t get to this point.

 

[loredan]

Happy New Year to all Namepros members and staff!

Haven't checked my magic globe in a while but ...

1. I hope the smart heads at Afternic will finally stop milking the cow only and will do a proper re-design of the platform (wishful thinking I know).

2. I hope someone will launch a proper domain auctions marketplace this year.

 

[Samer]

but I do use Cloudflare

I like to use Cloudflare
they have built a great -and by the way- free service
for nameserver use and enhancement

they offer a .com registration for $7.83 USD or so
no coupons or promotions
simply $7.98 for a .com - thats it

Now who’s promoting whom, frank-germany?

Cloudflare, the public company (NET) and they dont even let change your nameservers. Pass

Going with Epik, and the open owner.
Glad you like Cloudflare, though.

Happy 2020! Wish you nothing but success.

Samer

 

[Samer]

The rest of your post was off topic issues were already addressed in ask rob anything thread 100+ pages Rob personally defended integrity.

happy New Years again
Samer

 

[eternaldomains]

I guess Nissim Alkobi might be helpful in this regard. Here is his linkedin link.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nalkobi

Never knew that Nissim's still around. Saw him long ago in other forums and he was being very (extremely) helpful to members, and then suddenly he's no longer active. Always thought that he might've quit his job or something like that.

Wasn't there another one who was hanging out here on NP when their escrow service was still alive? What was his name - Brandon was it? I wonder what happened to him?

I do predict Dan.com and epik.com introducing 2FA for each account holder.

Urk, 2FA is overrated. All criminals need to do these days is figure out your phone number + a tiny bit of personal info and then gain control of everything. Hack the telco database, fool some employees, disable your SIM card, etc etc. Security methods are mostly only good until somebody figures a way to go around it. The more popular a certain security method is, the more motivation for criminals to crack it, and they eventually will. In the end genuine users risk getting more trouble e.g. getting locked out forever because - lost phone; message cannot receive; app failure; etc etc

If ever implemented I hope it's optional rather than forced. Another reason why I'm avoiding P/a/y/P/a/l since this year, something I find quite ridiculous since they've already force accounts to only work in a single country.

 

[hui2000]

I find it better doing an account recovery in case i loss the phone or app failure other than losing my premium name name just because i could not have 2FA on my account. To me nothing is more important than guiding your investment.

I guess if implemented it will be optional

 

[ThatNameGuy]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

First of all, I extend a warm Happy New Year blessing to all. May your domaining efforts be fruitful, and may your use of sale proceeds be wisely aligned to the things you feel called to do in 2020!

In the meantime, some folks have asked me for my 2020 predictions. Well, I am no prophet, but I will share some scenarios that I think would be not unreasonable to see unfold:

• Namepros' Alexa rank clears 10,000: After a steep incline in 2019, the NP growth engine keeps humming and clears Alexa rank of 10,000 like a hot knife through butter.

• Emerging markets set the outbound pace: The industry onboards 100,000 new domain investors in 2020 alone. Many find their way to NamePros and learn how to outbound from industry pros.

• PIR acquisition: Despite flag-waving by industry pundits, the deal goes through. The price increase does not happen as the dust settles. After all, the .ORG deal was not about price anyway.

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix

• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

• WHOIS makes a comeback: After 18 months of emasculation, WHOIS makes a triumphant return with the launch of GDPR-compliant WHOQ.com.

• Cloud hosting goes mainstream: An explosion of cPanel sites will move into the cloud thanks to technologies like CloudChase which will bring cloud migration tools for non-technical people.

• 3N.com domain market moonshots: 3N.com domains clear 7 figures as the industry consolidates into very strong hands.

• Digital brands not domains: I believe during 2020, we'll see a big pivot from selling naked domains to selling integrated brands. Squadhelp and Flippa were only the appetizer there.

• NameLiquidate.com shocks expiry stream economy: The new upstart site becomes the #1 place for liquidating expiring domains, sending shockwaves through the expiry economy.

• WIPO UDRP thuggery thwarted: After a year of boundary testing by WIPO, the industry calls bullsh*t on the overreach and fights back. Sunlight proves to be a potent detergent in 2020.

• Super-broker Andrew Rosener sells Clear.com for mind blowing $10 million: Sure, it sounds like a crazy moonshot, but Andrew does crazy deals like few others!

So, that's it for my 2020 predictions. Let's see what happens.

In the meantime, curious to hear what folks think will happen in the next 12 months that impacts our industry and community.

Rob...thanks for being a gracious "Greeter" for the domain industry when we first met online via Linkedin 24 months ago. Like you, I've not only been a greeter for the Lord for the last twenty plus years, I've also been a greeter for other industries where I've had the pleasure of working, learning and serving. You asked what "folks think will happen" in 2020? I'm not sure about others, but I have a mandate like the domain I've owned since September 1, 2001 to;

"MakeSomethingHappen.com" 2020 Will be Awesome!

 

[frank-germany]

Now who’s promoting whom, frank-germany?

Cloudflare, the public company (NET) and they dont even let change your nameservers. Pass

Going with Epik, and the open owner.
Glad you like Cloudflare, though.

Happy 2020! Wish you nothing but success.

Samer

@Samer
looks like I have no other connection to cloudflare than being a non-paying customer

 

[Michael Ehrhardt]

this year will be a good year for the nGTLD,s

 

[Banezer]

Congrate Rob,
Nice predictions.

My prediction for 2020

* I see more domain investors and people diverting some of their fund into domain investment on a long term scale.
* I see huge growth to new registre like Epik who are out to bring new and advance innovations to the industry.
* i see more competitions for good domains which will increase the price of an average names close to an end user price.

* finally
I see myself making my first 5 figure sale 2020.

Overall 2020 is a great year

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

Nobody is interested in buying Efty. We're way too domainer-friendly and on the wrong side of the business model with our commission-free sales platform.

As for DAN, they are more likely to acquire GoDaddy in this decade than the other way around

Happy 2020 everyone!

 

[ThatNameGuy]

This is post # 3,000 at NamePros. So I thought to make it a meaty one.

First of all, I extend a warm Happy New Year blessing to all. May your domaining efforts be fruitful, and may your use of sale proceeds be wisely aligned to the things you feel called to do in 2020!

In the meantime, some folks have asked me for my 2020 predictions. Well, I am no prophet, but I will share some scenarios that I think would be not unreasonable to see unfold:

• Namepros' Alexa rank clears 10,000: After a steep incline in 2019, the NP growth engine keeps humming and clears Alexa rank of 10,000 like a hot knife through butter.

• Emerging markets set the outbound pace: The industry onboards 100,000 new domain investors in 2020 alone. Many find their way to NamePros and learn how to outbound from industry pros.

• PIR acquisition: Despite flag-waving by industry pundits, the deal goes through. The price increase does not happen as the dust settles. After all, the .ORG deal was not about price anyway.

• Godaddy restructuring: During Q1 2020, Godaddy announces housecleaning -- takes out $2 billion of intangible trash. Stock gets rocked. Private equity players directed by Fadi Chehade are in the mix

• Industry consolidation: Look for DAN, Efty, Escrow.com and Uniregistry all to be acquired in 2020. Godaddy will be a buyer of innovation as they throw in the towel on building great tech internally.

• Hidden hands exposed: Thanks to high impact forensic work by a network of truthseekers in the domain community, the hidden hands behind Cloudflare and LetsEncrypt begin to come to light.

• WHOIS makes a comeback: After 18 months of emasculation, WHOIS makes a triumphant return with the launch of GDPR-compliant WHOIS.

• Cloud hosting goes mainstream: An explosion of cPanel sites will move into the cloud thanks to technologies which will bring cloud migration tools for non-technical people.

• 3N.com domain market moonshots: 3N.com domains clear 7 figures as the industry consolidates into very strong hands.

• Digital brands not domains: I believe during 2020, we'll see a big pivot from selling naked domains to selling integrated brands. Squadhelp and Flippa were only the appetizer there.

• WIPO UDRP thuggery thwarted: After a year of boundary testing by WIPO, the industry calls bullsh*t on the overreach and fights back. Sunlight proves to be a potent detergent in 2020.

• Super-broker Andrew Rosener sells Clear.com for mind blowing $10 million: Sure, it sounds like a crazy moonshot, but Andrew does crazy deals like few others!

So, that's it for my 2020 predictions. Let's see what happens.

In the meantime, curious to hear what folks think will happen in the next 12 months that impacts our industry and community.

Another prediction for you Rob....NameWorth's appraisal's for Epik vs. Epic will reverse, and Epik will become worth 10 Million dollars and Epic will be worth $64,000. Wouldn't that be an EpikMiracle Stranger things have happened. I wonder if we could "Make Something Happen" like that

 

[Rob Monster]

Nobody is interested in buying Efty. We're way too domainer-friendly and on the wrong side of the business model with our commission-free sales platform.

As for DAN, they are more likely to acquire GoDaddy in this decade than the other way around

Happy 2020 everyone!

Thanks Doron.

I stand by the thesis that Godaddy will have a restructuring in early 2020.

Consider Web.com, acquired for $2 billion for a little more than 2X revenue as a mature peer company with little in the way of vision or innovation. It was a cow-milker, and it it still is very much a cow-milker.

Godaddy at a market cap of $12 billion, trades at about 4X revenue. So either the growth/innovation story gets re-ignited in some compelling way or the multiples come way down.

My thesis is that in early 2020 Wall Street analysts will give Godaddy a free pass to announce one big restructuring with a compelling growth story around innovation and emerging markets.

And right now, without the benefit of meaningful inside information, it is my thesis that the "Godaddy 2.0" story is incomplete and that the existing innovative capacity is insufficient to credibly support that narrative.

Goaddy's overwhelming advantage is their access to capital markets which affords them the opportunity to buy what they don't have and probably can't build internally fast enough.

Let's see what happens. I am reasonably certain that 2020 will be a year of great change.

 

[oldtimer]

Godaddy at a market cap of $12 billion, trades at about 4X revenue. So either the growth/innovation story gets re-ignited in some compelling way or the multiples come way down.

My thesis is that in early 2020 Wall Street analysts will give Godaddy a free pass to announce one big restructuring with a compelling growth story around innovation and emerging markets.

And right now, without the benefit of meaningful inside information, it is my thesis that the "Godaddy 2.0" story is incomplete and that the existing innovative capacity is insufficient to credibly support that narrative.

Goaddy's overwhelming advantage is their access to capital markets which affords them the opportunity to buy what they don't have and probably can't build internally fast enough.

Let's see what happens. I am reasonably certain that 2020 will be a year of great change.

It sounds like you are courting Godaddy for a merger or acquisition,

I don't mind if my two favorite Registrars became one.

 

[Rob Monster]

It sounds like you are courting Godaddy for a merger or acquisition,

I don't mind if my two favorite Registrars became one.

Haha, not really.

Their new CEO, Aman Bhutani, is in Seattle. He is Indian, and Epik's footprint in India is growing quickly.

That said, I have never met him and I don't think we are on their radar screen in a strategic way.

Regardless, our goal is to just make the pie bigger. That should benefit everyone, including Godaddy.

 

[Doron Vermaat]

Thanks Doron.

I stand by the thesis that Godaddy will have a restructuring in early 2020.

Consider Web.com, acquired for $2 billion for a little more than 2X revenue as a mature peer company with little in the way of vision or innovation. It was a cow-milker, and it it still is very much a cow-milker.

Godaddy at a market cap of $12 billion, trades at about 4X revenue. So either the growth/innovation story gets re-ignited in some compelling way or the multiples come way down.

My thesis is that in early 2020 Wall Street analysts will give Godaddy a free pass to announce one big restructuring with a compelling growth story around innovation and emerging markets.

And right now, without the benefit of meaningful inside information, it is my thesis that the "Godaddy 2.0" story is incomplete and that the existing innovative capacity is insufficient to credibly support that narrative.

Goaddy's overwhelming advantage is their access to capital markets which affords them the opportunity to buy what they don't have and probably can't build internally fast enough.

Let's see what happens. I am reasonably certain that 2020 will be a year of great change.

I agree GoDaddy is likely to make an acquisition or two in the new year but it won't be in the domain name aftermarket if you ask me. They are more likely to scoop up a popular website builder like Squarespace (if they can pull that off).

It's unclear to me why you list a few competitors as likely acquisition targets but leave out your own company, Epik. Are you saying Epik isn't innovative enough to be acquired or should we interpret it as Epik being the only company in it for the long haul and the others being sell-outs?

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Haha, not really.

Their new CEO, Aman Bhutani, is in Seattle. He is Indian, and Epik's footprint in India is growing quickly.

That said, I have never met him and I don't think we are on their radar screen in a strategic way.

Regardless, our goal is to just make the pie bigger. That should benefit everyone, including Godaddy.

General Question Rob...about the infamous Radio test? If Epic sounds like Epik as seen here;
https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/epic what exactly does that mean? How much of a negative is that in the big scheme of things.

On another note, a member here from India Royhit? is really kicking butt employing "outbound". I'm thinking EpikEast.com. What's it all mean?

 

[oldtimer]

Haha, not really.

Their new CEO, Aman Bhutani, is in Seattle. He is Indian, and Epik's footprint in India is growing quickly.

That said, I have never met him and I don't think we are on their radar screen in a strategic way.

Regardless, our goal is to just make the pie bigger. That should benefit everyone, including Godaddy.

Whoever can implement AI into their system first is going to rule this new decade not only in the domain Industry, but any other Industry at large, my recommendation to any company CEO is to familiarize themselves with true AI and perhaps even hire a team of engineers or scientists in this field who can integrate AI into their projects and operations as soon as possible.

IMO

 

[ThatNameGuy]

Whoever can implement AI into their system first is going to rule this new decade not only in the domain Industry, but any other Industry at large, my recommendation to any company CEO is to familiarize themselves with true AI and perhaps even hire a team of engineers or scientists in this field who can integrate AI into their projects and operations as soon as possible.

IMO

oldtimer....I think Epik East out of India is working on AI, but I can't be sure.

 

[Rob Monster]

I agree GoDaddy is likely to make an acquisition or two in the new year but it won't be in the domain name aftermarket if you ask me. They are more likely to scoop up a popular website builder like Squarespace (if they can pull that off).

It's unclear to me why you list a few competitors as likely acquisition targets but leave out your own company, Epik. Are you saying Epik isn't innovative enough to be acquired or should we interpret it as Epik being the only company in it for the long haul and the others being sell-outs?

First of all, suffice it to say that I have reasonable intelligence-gathering on who is talking to who about what. That said, I don't claim to be a prophet. As such, feel free to ignore me when it comes to my theses about what happens next in our industry.

As for Squarespace getting acquired, I think that scenario sense. Wix is likely too big and already public. However Squarespace is still private, PE-backed, and has a solid product. Price-wise, their 2017 PE round was done at $1.7 billion. Godaddy already has $2 billion in debt so that might be too big a bite in 2020.

Specific to Efty, frankly, I don't have any intelligence. However, as I have stated elsewhere, I think Efty's core value proposition is a feature not a business. So, either the business model evolves, e.g. to transactions, or it makes sense to align the feature to a sustainable business model. Again, feel free to ignore me.

One logical acquirer for Efty is Escrow.com. After all, 50% of their business is domain-related and they lack strong domain tech competency. The problem is that they don't have balance sheet strength. That said, there is a natural constellation of Escrow.com, Efty and Uniregistry where I believe many synergies exist.

Ultimately, I believe rational people do rational things. I am reasonably sure that there will be at least one other industry-transforming billion dollar international player in this industry, besides Godaddy, within the next 3-5 years. Lord-wiling, Epik gets to be one of them, and we get to lift up a lot of folks along the way.

 

[frank-germany]

... As such, feel free to ignore me ... Again, feel free to ignore me.

@Doron Vermaat

that's solid advice