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that
will go into
effect Friday night (October 3) at midnight,
you will need to register
before then (you can get 20% off by using the
"DNJ20" discount code that NamesCon
provided for our readers). After
running the past four years in Austin, Texas,
NamesCon decided to change things up with a trip to South
Florida, a region that many regard as the cradle
of the domain investing because so many industry
pioneers were (and continue to be) based there. Most
of them are still on the scene and you will see them
on stage, in the halls and at the social events. A
prime example will be Mike
Mann, the builder of a premium domain
portfolio that contains hundreds of thousands of
domains, as well as the founder of what became a
wildly successful aftermarket sales platform in BuyDomains.com
that he sold in 2005 for a price believed to be
around the $80 million mark. He is now the
Founder & CEO of DomainMarket.com. Mike
will be part of a powerful twin-bill that NamesCon
has set up to start this year's conference off with a
bang. The first day of business (November 5) will
begin with a 9:10am Keynote from Hilco Digital
Assets Managing Director and super broker Andrew
Miller about High-Stakes Domains: A Look Inside the World's Most Valuable Digital Assets.
Then at 10, in the show's first panel discussion,
Mike will join fellow investing all-stars Braden
Pollock and Josh
Reason to provide advice on Mastering Domain Investing - Building, Pricing & Selling a Profitable Portfolio.
You
can count on a lively discussion in which
not everyone will agree with what Mike has to
say. Whatever the question may be, he will
give you his honest opinion - one
that often runs counter to that of others in
a business that has grown into a
colossus with more than 1,500 TLDs
and the competing interests that
entails. To give you a preview of what the
NamesCon audience can expect - as well as
some background on how Mike got to where he
is today - I connected with him to pose the
questions below. DNJournal:
From ground zero you went on to build
a portfolio of hundreds of thousands of
domain names and build a dominating
aftermarket acquisition and sales platform.
Just the mechanics of doing that
(especially given the primitive state of
technology back then) would seem to be
practically impossible. You had a reputation
of being absolutely relentless in
your pursuit of good domains which obviously
would help, but where did that fire come
from and how did you make it all happen
from a physical and mental standpoint? Mike
Mann: I have a strong work ethic
and have always worked extreme hours,
trying to prove myself and get paid in the
process. I have overcome a lot of challenges
in life and business which has shaped my
brain accordingly to survive and persist. |
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One
of the earlier pictures of Mike
Mann from our files. Snapped
during a party at the 2007 TRAFFIC
New York City conference. |
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Having
said that I have failed a lot along the
conceptual path to success. I also do a lot of
charity donations and charity work to balance out
the pursuit of money; you can’t take it with
you; helping others plus building a reputation
and legacy is important. |
DNJournal:
Before someone starts investing in domains they have
to learn what makes specific domains more
valuable than others to have any chance at all
to succeed. Today there is a ton of information and
opinions on that topic out there but as one of the
original pioneers you had to figure everything
out for yourself. How did you determine what you
should be acquiring?
Mike
Mann: I compiled an enormous expanding data
set applied to each domain; a lot of it is proprietary
data that nobody else has or has even thought of.
And we have special ways of acquiring and organizing
the data; and ways to study that data and apply our
algorithms to come up with the value of a domain,
i.e., it’s appraisal; then we compare the
value of the name to its for-sale price; and if
there is a huge margin in our favor we buy it.
We have super cool and effective user interfaces to
make it all work together relatively easily;
including on auctions. But it requires my
personal expertise to operate it all profitably
(until I train someone else). It is very difficult
and time consuming to leverage the data and
surrounding technologies effectively despite the
easy interfaces. For a novice they should use the
common tools and sets of data that many domainers
use, and work hard to become the best at making
sense of it all. The main rule is to stick
with .Com or else the risk is too high. Some
experts might know how to exploit alternate TLD
domains to their advantage but it is hard to believe
novices would succeed.
Mike
Mann speaking at the 2023 NamesCon Global conference
in Austin, Texas.
DNJournal:The
domain environment today is much different than
it was back then when the investment choices were
just .com, .net and .org.
Today, there are over 1500 TLDs available. How, if
at all, do you think that has changed the picture
for investors?
Mike Mann: It
makes all of the legacy TLDs less valuable,
diluted; except .Com, which is always the
elite extension, flight to quality. All of the
Fortune 500 best companies and marketing
professionals use .Com. Almost all of the names in
the other TLDs are worthless except some .co,
.ai and .io; and the old .org and
.net. I say almost because there are
some exceptional names in each TLD and possibly some
exceptional TLDs overall, mixed with some fraud in
some of them. If 2% are exceptional then that
leaves 1470 essentially doomed TLDs. Some
charge outrageous fees so may survive with few
users. But the main point is they just confuse
people online who often think they are spam and
hackers using them, or the people type them in
wrong and end up at the .Com I own. It makes no
sense for a serious company concerned about building
a sustainable brand, and online market presence to
use alt TLDs. For a hobbyist I guess it could
be whimsical and interesting, but even small
companies can find a great .Com for cheap, and
should do so instead of losing money
experimenting.
DNJournal: While
you have always been a .com guy, BuyDomains had an extraordinary
collection of .net and .org keyword domains too.
What do you think about their respective merits
today?
Mike Mann: They
lost a lot of value due to dilution and confusion,
but fortunately I still have the very best ones at
DomainMarket.com. So, the ones that were worth
$100,000 each a few years ago are now worth $33,000
for example. I also have the best little
collection of .co domains. (a registry I
helped start)
DNJournal:
I doubt there is anyone established in the
domain industry who doesn’t know who Mike Mann is,
but NamesCon always draws in new people
who are curious about this business. There are a
hundred good reasons but, why would you personally
say those people should be sure to join the rest of
us in the audience for your session with Braden and
Josh?
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Mike
Mann: Well, it depends on who
they are and what their goals are.
Investors would be well served to attach
themselves to the best companies represented
there. People looking for a successful
husband or wife might be well served? :-) Branding,
marketing and advertising professionals
could learn a lot and meet a ton of
smart people in the business. Technology and
AI professionals could learn a lot and
add a lot of value to others. People new
to the domain business can learn a lot. But the
most important lesson I can give the
novices right now is that domaining
is an extremely difficult and risky business
for the best professionals, and even more
risky for a newcomer. Don’t throw good
money after bad! |
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A
big thank you to Mike for his time and a note for you if you're
going to NamesCon as a newcomer - don't be shy!
Mike and the many other South Florida domain OGs who
will be there are always happy to meet people and
answer questions. Many of them have been doing it
for 30 years now, but their passion for domains
burns as brightly today as it did when they began.
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