Thoughts

Andrew Miller

March 2, 2025

Still Going Strong!

The trend of leading brands acquiring their category or exact match .com domains continues, as we had another strong week overseeing several important transactions, with multiple others in late stages of discussion. I am seeing VC’s and CEO’s with portfolio companies with secondary TLD’s, from .io to .ai, reaching out to inquire about the exact match .com. By next Sunday’s post, we will be able to discuss a few of these new deals.

Just Because They Should Doesn’t Mean They Will

I have often said in my keynote talks and posts, that “90 percent of the time, domains are not acquired by who you or I ‘believe’ should acquire it”. It is nice when that does happen. Word to the wise based on a lot of experience and track record; do not acquire or invest in a domain name only because you are certain that you have targeted the company, as obvious as it may be to you, who should acquire it. If they do not get it, which is more likely than not, you need an asset that has a much wider appeal.

BATNA vs ZOPA

As my readers are well aware, I regularly use the term “ZOPA” (zone of possible agreement) when negotiating on buy or sell domain transactions. Without a ZOPA, it is strategically hard to get to a win-win deal. The other night, I got into a back and forth Whatsapp exchange with my fellow Harvard Business School OPM’er and friend Slavik Viner. Slavik texted me a question, “Zopa or Batna (best alternative to negotiated agreement”)? I said “both”. He said wrong answer. A BATNA usually boils down to the ability to say no or walk away if the deal is not right. My argument to him was, a BATNA is important IF the negotiation is not within the zone of possible agreement. Anyway, it was a fun exchange with a good friend and one of the most experienced domainers in the world. I recently have been engaged in a very high dollar negotiation on a domain we oversee, that is just outside the ZOPA for both sides, so the answer has been no from both sides. Hopefully, a win-win can still occur if it is the best domain for the business.

We Are Now Overseeing Hire.com!

We are overseeing many of the world’s most valuable exact match and category defining domain assets, and are so excited to now add the category defining, massive domain name, Hire*com, to our mission. You can see all our domains here https://lnkd.in/e6V-QDgh. Please reach out to discuss any.

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