Thoughts

Andrew Miller

May 18, 2025

Make it Happen!

Regardless of one’s role in a higher stakes domain name transaction, it is important to understand that these are often complicated deals, that involve problem solving, tricky negotiations, legal and structure skills, escrow issues, and of course, being able to close a deal where all sides walk away with a win.  It is why having a background as an entrepreneur who has acquired many of the most premium domains for my own businesses, a solid understanding of legal, a masterful education in negotiation from Mike Milken and Harvard Business School’s John Hammond, and most of all, tons of experience (the most important one), makes a huge difference.

The Evolution of Hilco’s Approach to Domains

In light of the above, I asked my Hilco partner David Peress to share some thoughts as a guest this week. He discusses the evolution of Hilco from their earlier days in domain assets to today with HDA.  David’s thoughts are below.

David’s Guest Post:

Last week, my partner and the leader of Hilco Digital Assets Andrew Miller published his weekly RST.  In it, he discussed the differences between acting as a “broker” in a premium domain name sale and acting as a “consultant”.  It got me thinking about Hilco Streambank’s early experiences selling premium domain names before we partnered with Andrew to form HDA and to consider how we approached those assignments at the time, and how we might have achieved different outcomes if we had been positioned to take a more consultative approach versus a brokerage approach.

Streambank was launched in 2007.  It created a new type of professional in the corporate restructuring and liquidation industry.  A professional whose singular focus was the monetization of intangible assets.  In our early days, most of the premium domain names we sold were bundled with trademarks (brands) and customer data, but we quickly got approached to sell premium domain names as standalone assets.  Generally, our clients were Receivers and Chapter 7 Trustees who had little patience for long drawn-out sale processes.  Some of our early transactions in this vein included Bargain*com, DL*com, Dots*com, CMDY*com, Garden*org, Vanity*com and Shoes*com.  In these cases, we had a limited sales window of 60 to 90 days (or less).  Although we engaged in targeted outreach to potential buyers with a strategic interest, we generally ended up selling the assets to Domain Investors.  The Court supervised liquidation process and the timeline demanded by circumstances and our clients, compelled us to act as “brokers” and not “consultants”.

We launched Hilco Digital Assets in 2022, and with the benefit of Andrew’s experience and guidance, sought to take a more advisory approach to premium domain name sales, even when those sales took place in a formal insolvency proceeding.  Last year, we engineered the sale of two premium domain names: Shift*com and Fair*com in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of a failed used car marketplace.  We focused our initial outreach on identifying a “partner” to serve as a “stalking horse” to establish a floor price for the assets in return for the payment of a “break-up fee” in the event the stalking horse was eventually outbid.  In this way, we signaled to buyers with a strategic interest in the domain names that if they did not step up now, they might lose the opportunity to ever acquire these assets.  In this regard, we ultimately succeeded in achieving sales that were more reflective of the strategic value of the domain names.

Conveying this approach has enabled us to leverage the relationships we have established with buyers and sellers across our platform.  Recent examples include the sale of Rocket*com, the acquisition of Stage*com, and the sales of Near*com, Prima*com and GBG*com.  In these cases, we depended on our knowledge, experience, and credibility established over many years to negotiate and execute value maximizing transactions for all the participants. In this regard, our premium domain name sale transactions now more closely resemble the rest of our intangible assets advisory practice.

Venture Capital’s Pivot, And What That Means For Domains

We are currently involved in closing several significant new domain name transactions, and in advancing negotiations on many more. My prediction at the end of 2024 was that with reinvigorated venture capital and crypto markets, and the race to start AI centric businesses, domains would be strong. So far so good. Speaking of AI startups, another clear trend that i am seeing is a fundamental shift in the way VC”s do business, which is a depart from their traditional approach of investing more passively in a large portfolio of founders and companies, banking on some working out significantly, some decently, and many failing. The “new model” is most visible by many of the largest VC’s changing their corporate structures to RIA’s (registered investment advisor), allowing them to invest in public companies, later stage companies, and most notably, incubating more companies. The onset of AI and its low cost of entry is driving this approach. The more companies VC’s incubate at a lower investment threshold, the more the most valuable exact match, category defining domains make sense as both the brands for these companies but also, assets that almost always appreciate, standalone, protecting the investment.

Acquired: Common.com

We added Common*com to our own portfolio of the most valuable domains, which now includes Candy*com, Excel*com, Frozen*com, Permission*com, Scientific*com, Energize*com and Perch*com. Contact me to discuss if interested.

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