Five killer domains I own … looking for technical co-founders.
calacanis.com
calacanis.com
Not that he's wrong, but just an example of how he comes off as abrasive. The "so please don't think that any idea you send is really that important" just serves to belittle everyone else's ideas (while his ideas are "killer").
The startup community generally embraces the "execution is really important" mantra, so just stop it at "i can't sign any NDAs or anything, i invest in a lot of companies"
He paid 40k for aday.com?!
Ping me jason, I've got abridge.com to sell to you.
$ whois abridge.com
:
:
Registrant:
Abridge Inc.
134 Sumner St
Newton, MA 02459
US
:
:
And is already in use.
Or to put it another way. Has anybody seen any significant increase in business after switching their site to an expensive "killer" domain?
Update: missed a really obvious one--Twitter. It launched as twttr.com and was nearly impossible to explain to people. I don't think it would have gone mainstream without the URL that includes vowels.
Dropbox went on a tear after their domain purchase, but I suppose it's possible they would have anyway (though I know from personal experience it was tricky to tell people about Dropbox and then try and remember the domain).
http://www.google.com/trends?q=dropbox
(Dropbox.com was acquired in October 2009, right where growth turns from linear to exponential.)
(Not arguing with you, just pointing it out).
But both Dropbox and Facebook were building brands around those particular words, yet had domains that were not the branding words (getdropbox.com, thefacebook.com). Facebook also started out initially as a college-only thing, then opened up to the world, so it's hard to say their growth was linked only to domain name changes.
In either case though, (the)facebook.com could have just as easily been "allmypals.com" or something similar where the branding matched the domain name in a more direct fashion.
Your domain name / brand name is only a portion of the pie, and considering the reputation of Mahalo, starting with nothing but a domain name and a potentially poor co-founder match will not bring quality technical people to Santa Monica.
Not to mention brand credibility. Others have mentioned Mint.com (which they paid a pretty penny for). Dropbox got dropbox.com pretty recently (switching from "getdropbox.com").
And, word of mouth marketing.
Plenty of examples of companies succeeding with weak domain names, but yeah-- I think "killer" domain names matter a LOT.
Google, Twitter, 37Signals and yes even Ycombinator are all things that meant nothing until their founders made them mean something. Once that happened their uniqueness became an asset
In fairness 37 Signals also means something just not a specific concrete thing that someone would search for
Regardless in hindsight it's a pretty good name by all metrics.
It's short, pronounceable, very typeable (on QWERTY), memorable, works as a verb, looks good (double-o), starts with "go", and even has a double-meaning in the context of their business (googol and goggles).
As far as spending $125k on domain names, he could have created at least 2 - 3 killer apps for that price, especially with his marketing influence.
On the other hand, Jason has 125K and I don't so WTF do I know.
But I will say that I don't buy into the idea of really good domain names these days being rare as gold dust; I brand a lot of client companies, and just picked up the perfect 5-letter.com on the aftermarket for $79 on behalf of a client. Granted, that was a steal but I've never, ever paid more than $300 to brand a company with a great .com.
YMMV
well except for 20.com.
but 20.com is a horrible name in itself, because the majority of people would just go to twenty.com
Aday.com is worth thousands. I've been looking at hundreds of potential domains for a daily deal site and it's been frustrating. If I had found aday.com for $10 I would have shouted so loud all my neighbors would be deaf.
UGH. Now I hate him even more.
How is this not domain squatting? If Calacanis isn't using the domains, he should sell them.
He's a killer guy with killer companies and conferences and killer domain names. Sign me up!
The domain name lead is ancillary to his interest in HN users – eg the domains are his way of inserting himself into the HN conversation.
There are worse people in the world to have as your co-founder, and if you hit even a base hit with Jason you're as good as made on the west coast because you can be darn sure everybody will hear about it.