Brokering short .com domains between owners and startups
Buy underpriced short domains, sit on them, then reach out to funded startups whose brand matches.
How it works
Founders often name their company before checking domain availability. If you own the exact-match .com, they'll pay 10-100x what you bought it for. The trick is patience and cold outreach that isn't sleazy.
Step by step
- 1Watch expired-domain auctions daily on GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, DropCatch and Dynadot. Set alerts for 5-8 letter pronounceable .coms.
- 2Learn to score names quickly: pronounceable in 2 seconds, no hyphens or numbers, no trademark conflict, no unwanted meaning in Spanish/French/German. Reject 95% of listings.
- 3Screen every candidate through USPTO TESS and the WIPO trademark database before bidding. Never buy a name that conflicts with an active mark.
- 4Set a hard budget of $150-200 max per domain in year one. Buy 10-20 in the first year to build a diverse inventory.
- 5Park each domain on Dan.com or Afternic with a clean 'For Sale' landing page and a listed price 5-10x acquisition cost.
- 6Every Monday, search Crunchbase for startups that raised $2M+ in the past week. Filter for company names matching your inventory.
- 7Cold-email the founder from a personal address (not sales@). Two sentences: 'I noticed your fundraise. I own [domain].com and would sell it to you at $[price]. Happy to walk through it if useful.'
- 8Never chase. If they don't reply after one polite follow-up 10 days later, move on. Desperation kills prices.
- 9Use Escrow.com for every deal over $2k. Never accept wires from unknown parties without third-party escrow.
- 10Track cost basis, holding period and sale price per domain in a spreadsheet. After year one, kill the bottom 30% by ROI at year-two renewal time.
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