An Interesting Outside View on the Domain Industry
Friday, December 11th, 2009
What happens when an amateur shows up to a domain meetup.
I came across a blog post today by a self-proclaimed “amateur” domainer who attended the South Florida Domainers event last week. It’s an interesting read because the author, Craig Agranoff, showed up to the event thinking he’d be surrounded by prolific domainers. Instead, he claims, the majority of them were amateurs like himself. In his own words:
I’ve dabbled in domain trading and development before and have made some money doing it, but have always thought of myself as just a dabbler, an amateur. Turns out, I’ve done more of it than most of the “experts” in attendance. A lot of them were there, I think, to try to siphon information from the successful domainers.
Even the examples Agranoff gives of the top sales by people that he at first labels as “some of the pretty well-known and prolific domainers in the world” are not substantial.
Agranoff also writes that he was surprised by how much legal wrangling goes on in the background of the industry:
It’s amazing how many things there are surrounding the domain business as well. Lawyers, mostly, but they are the back-end that most people don’t see. They cut deals, smooth out the legalities, and work on people’s behalf to defend against or prosecute theft of trademarks or copyrights. With them are the paralegals and support staff. All focused on the domain name industry.
It’s worth a read to get an outsiders take on meeting a group of domainers for the first time.
No related posts.
An Interesting Outside View on the Domain Industry – http://tinyurl.com/y8lx79k
Heh! Nice find Andrew.
I got a laugh out of his “Rich” Schwartz typo.
Definitely an interesting read. I am concerned why he blatantly says in a bulleted point that we are a “conniving” crowd?
There is nothing illegal or secret about domaining, so I have to assume he is misinformed or referring to the newbies showing up to the event.
Lawyers? Really? A main driver of the indutry? This guy is clueless. On a side note, mark, don’t kid yourself. You are conniving. :0
The level of conniving is what makes a domainer prolific
Dub-A,
It’s so not like you to pick on the lowly and pathetic.
Stephen – who’d I pick on?
Who posted the ridiculous article on their blog that you reported on here?
I read it his post, and realized just how dumb some smart people are. I posted a long, probably hopeless response to his “logic” behind his article… As you might know, I’m trying to stay abreast of Atom Bomb in verbosity. I’ve been keeping my posts shorter than usual… too busy I guess…
Hey, when will you actually post a comment on MY blog? If I stopped commenting on your blog, you’d lose about 5000 words of content a month… lol
cheers
When 2/3 of the people you speak to at a conference insinuate they cannot disclose details of transactions due to lawyers involved, I would say that means lawyers play a pretty adequate part in the equation. After speaking with several lawyers throughout the country, I felt more than comfortable stating that.
Craig
@lapp
Not sure where you went to school, you do not need a lawyer for an NDA. Many sales are not disclosed on a handshake agreement.
For sale XXXXX.com $500
Buyer SOLD
Money sent, Name Pushed
Buyer to seller “I would appreciate price not being disclosed.”
Seller “No prob”
Next time try doing real homework.
Just for the record….
The confidentiality clause you refer to are usually insisted by the buyer not the domainer. They are AFRAID that their competitors will LAUGH at them for the price they paid. That’s a FACT! The domainer would risk their $$$ by disclosing. That is also a FACT. As for 2/3 using lawyers, what other transactions do you do for 6 and 7 figures that DON’T involve a lawyer? In any industry?? For any large transaction? Just a silly comment. A silly observation because it is measured against nothing and indicated NO understanding of BASIC BUSINESS. It’s called doing business in 2009.
Rick I guess my request to you on Twitter to provide me insight on the industry wasn’t important enough but leving comments after the fact is.
Once again I am done commenting here. If you want to reach me I am @Lapp on Twitter. Leave all the remarks you want here but Iif you “top level domainers” truly want to shine a different light on the industry I am all ears and will write a follow up article. Otherwise enjoy your grandstanding.
Well there you have it folks. Its seems that the ultimate reporter, Craig Agranoff, wants you to “twitter” him with your answers. Twitter? 140 characters for a subject as deep as domain investing?
Hey Craig, use some other industry that doesn’t have SUCKERS to lure them into your lame TWITTER account. What will TWITTER do for you than having a logical discussion on the various domain blogs that featured your biased, incomplete, and subjective comments based on ONE event you attended, and didn’t even push the room for comments.
I’m pretty sure that most domainers aren’t going to pump up your lame Twitter account in order to give you answers to questions you SHOULD have obtained while you were present at an event that provided you with a mind congregation of successful domainers.
Dammit, are we still talking about this loser? Why is that? IS it because we’ve identified this guy as the worst news reporter who not only has his fingers dipped into the honey of domain development and monetization, but who has also lured us all into having a conversation with a nobody.
I don’t care if he’s a reporter. If I was his editor, I’d call him into my office and say “what was this piece of crap you wrote?”
If his paper wants a real report, with the good and bad of domain investing, then get a real reporter who RESEARCHES the facts and talks to people, and includes QUOTES and other comments verified by their websites or other domainers who agree or disagree.
It just looks like another guy wanting to build up his Twitter account… something I warned against a month ago.
“Hi, I have a Twitter account. Give me your detailed explanations of your domain investing experience and send it to my Twitter account, which won’t allow you to make a significant response, unless you make a series of posts, connected. Which makes me look good. ”
BTW — My sarcastic remark above would be too long for a Twitter post. That shows you how important Twitter is to real professionals.
Oh and by the way, reaching me on twitter is just the best way to dm me your email address, could care less to speak to you in my steam Stephen, you aren’t nearly worth my time there.
In fairness, Mr. Agranoff did end his blog post with “It’s an amazing industry”. Not “most of it” necessarily takes place in South Florida, though, if others are checked and attended.
[...] I read the post about the reporter from the New Times, Craig Agranoff who reported on the South Domainers meeting, [...]
@ Craig Agranooof
You sputtered: “Oh and by the way, reaching me on twitter is just the best way to dm me your email address, could care less to speak to you in my steam Stephen, you aren’t nearly worth my time there.”
Then you went and tried to get me to connect to you as an associate on Linkedin. Nice try. Buy a copy of “Strunk & White” and write me back after you’ve read it – three times.
However, I must commend you for using your real name, so you have my respect at that level. I think a lot of domainers would like to continue reading your opinions. I was wrong in stating that your comments are a waste of time. I apologize for that statement.
Don’t stop stating your perceptions and opinions about domaining because of the “heat” you receive. Learn from responses to your comments by domainers who have spent years promoting and building the domain industry. Realize we’re still little teeny babies in that respect, because this industry, as a collective whole, is really only about 7 years old, or less.
cheers
Cheers