Thoughts

Andrew Miller

October 29, 2023

Evolving the Domain Game: Insights from Hilco Digital Assets and Squadhelp’s Collaboration

I and Hilco Digital Assets (HDA) have overseen a lot of the highest-value domain name transactions over the course of 25 years. There are many important aspects to understand about domain names. These include negotiation tactics such as knowing your “ZOPA”, zone of possible agreement; the fact that the most premium domains provide standalone ROI better than most other asset classes but lack liquidity; the strategy of letting domain names marinate with potential end-users; and, the art of truly casting a wide net. In March, HDA invested $10m in Squadhelp for many strategic reasons, one of which was the combination of its expert use of technology to reach the largest and most targeted audience. As part of the deal, we agreed to combine our strengths to create the Ultra Premium Marketplace, which showcases the most valuable one-word exact match, brandable, and category domains on the Internet. We had a theory that this would be game-changing because as good as we and others may be at reaching end-user buyers, the globe is really large, and there is no database, social network, or search engine that can truly uncover even a fraction of who might want or covet the world’s most valuable domains. We are now 60 days into the UPM and I am so excited and encouraged about the interest we are getting from acquirers that we unlikely would have found otherwise. While there are other marketplaces that reach a ton of users on the Internet, none are doing it as targeted and as well as Squadhelp. There is still so much to learn and it is too early to deem it a smash success but I am hopeful and that is great news for domain name assets.

Navigating Q4

Q4 has always been a great time for high-level domain deals. This year is certainly entering Q4 with so many bigger picture challenges including very high interest rates, a slumping, stuck mortgage and real estate market, a retrenchment of Venture Capital investment the likes I have not seen in many years, and of course, global turmoil. But I have always preached that business deals get done in all economic cycles and I expect this one will be no different. As my friend Shane Cultra recently posted, bear markets are a time to invest, and bull markets sell (or something along those lines). We are working on some major deals that will close in Q4 (more when they occur), and others that are being teed up for 2024.

HDA’s Investments into Category-Defining Domains

This summer, HDA invested in the domain names VentureCapital.com and PrivateEquity.com, category killer domains for trillions of dollars of investment capital worldwide. VentureCapital.com will be a leading provider of investment news, a directory, a resource center, and a vehicle for founders seeking capital. We are so excited for its potential.

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