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Comment by chickenpotpie | Hacker News Reader

Ok I got to know: how much did you spend to get pop.com?

Since our company is personally bootstrapped by me, answering this will divulge more of my personal financial situation than I would like to share.

However, I can say that I worked with https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ted0 who was AMAZING at helping find and acquire the domain. I can strongly recommend him as an amazing person to work with for anyone interested in buying a high-value domain.

can also vouch for Teddy. super helpful for getting modest.com back from pypl

Can you or GP comment on how Teddy was able to help?

Teddy helped me get modest.com back from paypal after our acquisition for about 10% of their original asking price.

Yeah, I'm pretty curious because it must've cost in $10k-100k range right? Isn't this the type of vanity purchase that usually happens after you validate your idea with 10,000 customers and you got a round of investment to go big? I would expect a newly launched startup to use getpopapp.info, or used a made-up company name with an acquirable domain.

My experience is from 5+ years ago (when google counted keywords in domains), but a 3 letter domain would go for at least 6 figures, possibly up into 7.

And pop.com would be in the high end of that would be my guess, given it's better that most 3 letter domains as it spells a very marketing-friendly word

Yeah it’s nice but IMO I’m not sure that this is the product I would put on it. I mean how many more apps do I need that insist on turning on my camera? Zoom fatigue and privacy needs are real things. And now this apparently detects who I’m standing next to in virtual space. Why? Anyway I’m certain it feels awkward and uncomfortable and that’s not something you want with a new concept.

I would put a bubble bobble clone on the domain. This is what the internet is lacking and perfect for pop.com a major tour de force of classic arcade game remakes!

I believe you're off by at least one digit in your range.

yep. dictionary three letter .com. only way that gets more expensive is if Microsoft sat on it for no reason

I think it's closer to $1M, if not more.

Easily $1M.

I think the players here have already validated many other ideas and have the cash to get this without too much problem. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure they can find a buyer...

jacquesm (on HN) sold ww.com for about $1m. California.com was $3m, and voice.com was $30m.

If I had the money or was running a big corp looking to launch a new product, I'd pay $5-10m for it. I'll be very surprised if it was less than $3m.

The domain is not a cost - it’s an asset - if they flop they should be able to sell it. The risk is paying rent and salaries etc

> Isn't this the type of vanity purchase that usually happens after you validate your idea with 10,000 customers and you got a round of investment to go big?

- The founder previously flipped his startup Screenhero to Slack and got some cash out of that I suppose.

- Interest is negative, that money is just costing money.

- Short dictionary domains are a pretty low-risk investment, I don't know the market well but I suppose they tend to increase in price over time.

- So if the company fails he can sell it. Meanwhile it's an asset on the company's books so it's part of the valuation etc.

Sounds like this is the "second startup" version of rich-ish parents buying an apartment near college for their kid to live in, hoping to flip it for more when they graduate. Doesn't seem all too "vanity" to me, it's just combining pragmatic usefulness with an "good enough" investment opportunity.

ps. wow this app works really well!

Yeah, I'm incredibly curious as well! I think it's a very cool project, but ball-parking development costs, my guess is the domain probably cost more than the product itself, assuming they didn't go down NIH-type rabbit holes.

Edit: And to be clear, I'm not even necessarily knocking that decision. Maybe an expensive TLD could make life easier for a project like this, since it could promote trust / buy-in, increasing usage at an early stage. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yes, I’m also wildly jealous of that domain name...

Author co-founded screenhero which was valued at $1.1B after less than a year and later acquired by slack. 1 round of funding of $1.8MM from YC and founders club.

So a few million for a domain is probably the equivalent of me spending ~$500 for a domain. Honestly not crazy at all with that perspective.

Ha, pretty sure the valuation you read was for Slack, not Screenhero.

also very curious! that domain has to be worth a lot, 3 characters, two letters, easy to remember...

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