Andrew Miller, Managing Director of Hilco Digital Assets, is someone I chat with on a regular basis. In addition to general discussions about domain names and the industry at-large, I will occasionally connect with Andrew to do a sanity check when acquiring a valuable domain name or when I am evaluating a substantial offer. Andrew has been involved in the domain investment space for many years, and I take his insights seriously.

Yesterday, Andrew shared his 100th “Random Sunday Thoughts” post on LinkedIn. In his first point, he discussed .AI domain names as investments. As you know, .AI domain names have become the biggest topic of discussion amongst domain investors. It appears that many companies in the AI space have been using .AI domain names, and each week we see sales reports with .AI domain names amongst the leading sales.

I think Andrew offered some good food for thought. With his permission, I am sharing his commentary below:

Howard Neu will always be remembered as a pioneer in the domain industry. A respected attorney by trade, Howard made a name for himself as Co-Founder of the TRAFFIC conferences that welcomed thousands of domain investors from around the world. Sadly, I learned that Howard passed away yesterday.

Earlier this year, the ICA honored Howard with a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. I always felt welcomed at TRAFFIC when I was greeted by Howard and his wife, Barbara. It was like seeing family. Howard emceed many keynotes, panels, and award presentations. He was a natural.

When looking at domain investor Twitter, I’ve noticed a few promoted/advertising tweets mentioning Rob Schutz and/or Snagged.com. I recently wrote about Rob and his domain name brokerage after seeing a tweet from Reddit Founder Alexis Ohanian recommending Snagged.com.

Yesterday on X (formerly Twitter), the corporate XBusiness account mentioned the successful Ads campaign run by Snagged.com:

Todd Han, Founder and CEO of Dynadot, highlighted a newsworthy story about the CEO of another domain registrar. Ray King, CEO of Porkbun, was written about in China Daily, the largest English-language news portal in China, for returning a once-stolen bronze ritual vessel.

Last month Ray King, CEO of @Porkbun, returned a priceless 2800 year old relic to China. The relic was stolen from a Chinese museum in 1984, and sold overseas. The unsuspecting King family ended up with the relic decades ago.
Ray King recently found out the relic was stolen. He… pic.twitter.com/x0pVciHTzX

— Todd Han (@dynatodd) February 12, 2024

I have known Jen Sale for many years. Jen has been involved in the domain name space long before she and Adam Strong launched Evergreen. Jen is CEO of the brand and she manages its brokerage.

Although Jen has maintained a fairly low profile, she has made quite a few appearances on Domain Sherpa and she’s well-known and respected in the domain investing space. Jen is someone I trust and have sought out for advice.

Yesterday afternoon, Jen shared a Twitter post with some thoughts and advice for new domain investors:

Throughout my years as a full-time domain investor, my business model has not changed much. I’ve been buying and selling domain names for around 20 years, and I went full-time into domain investing in 2008 when I left a corporate Direct Marketing job.

My philosophy about domain investing and my business strategy haven’t really deviated much since the beginning. My philosophy is pretty simple. I want to own domain names I think startups and businesses will be willing to pay a premium to acquire from my company.

This translates into my domain investing business model: