Loving the t-shirt @nameninja… You have the cure! #startupfest pic.twitter.com/t0USGPqAfa
— Amy Davies (@AmyonAdventure) July 10, 2014
I spotted this photo of Bill Sweetman on Twitter yesterday. Sweetman is the founder of Name Ninja, a domain name consulting company, and he is attending the International Startup Festival in Montreal this week.
Although it is a bit jolting to see a domain name industry expert / consultant wearing a shirt that refers to “domain squatters,” I think it a creative way to get attention (and presumably business). There are many people who consider domain investors to be “squatters,” and I would imagine that quite a few startups at #StartupFest couldn’t get their ideal domain name for their venture/
Wearing a shirt like this can help open a dialog with some of these people, allowing Sweetman to educate them on the difference between cybersquatting and domain investing. After educating people he meets, Sweetman can discuss his domain name consulting and acquisition services.
I don’t think a shirt like this would go over well at TRAFFIC or NamesCon, but I do think it was well received at a startup conference.
One can wear a horse head and still be able to greet the President 😀
Hi Elliot. This one-off t-shirt was a big hit with the Startup Festival crowd judging by the number of people that approached me specifically because of it. It speaks to a pain they have in the language they are familiar with. I spent a lot of time explaining to people that domain investors are not cybersquatters and instead are legitimate business folks who are often more motivated to sell a domain name for a reasonable price than a Fortune 500 company who is just sitting on a domain indefinitely. Good luck getting a domain name from P&G or Apple for less than six figures!
“domain investors are not cybersquatters”
http://googlemicrosoft.com
Browse DomainMarket.com and tell us if you still think so.
@ Raider
Well, the tagline for DomainMarket *is* “#1 Source for the Best Brands” so I guess they live up to that claim. ;+)
Bill – What do you charge for consulting to the startups? How do you price that service?
@ Larry
For domain aquisition, which is what we specialize in, the typical gig consists of an upfront retainer and a success fee. Retainer and success fee are scaled to be in line with the *value* of the domain name to our client. We provide an exact quote to prospective clients at the conclusion of our initial situation assessment phase. If you are looking for more details and have a specific domain name you want our help acquiring, contact me via email: bill(at)nameninja.com. Cheers and thanks.
“I don’t think a shirt like this would go over well at TRAFFIC or NamesCon”
You must believe like I do that cybersquatting is a accepted practice in our industry, that’s it’s a part of domaining that most don’t like to talk about.
And they don’t like being called cybersquatter when parking or trying to sell obvious TM’s, instead of acknowledging the wrong they attack and intimidate whoever calls them out, “Your a troll, “What’s your name? I’m on the phone with my lawyer now” OR they acknowledge it’s a violation and give a lame excuse like “I didn’t register these names, a machine did.”
As for TM’s of new GTLD’s, I dont think TM holders have a lot to worry about, since traffic to these names will for the most part be minimal.