Home.com: The Greatest Stories Never Told - Andrew Miller, Larry Fischer at NamesCon 2023
Summary
TLDRIn this engaging session, industry veterans Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher recount their experiences with high-stakes domain name deals, including the eight-figure sales of chat.com and home.com. They emphasize the importance of confidentiality and the unique challenges of such significant transactions. The discussion also features David Laz, whose company Fairway acquired home.com, sharing insights on the strategic value of a powerful domain name in the digital era.
Takeaways
- 🎤 The session features Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher discussing their experiences in the domain industry, highlighting significant domain deals they've been involved in.
- 💼 Andrew has been in the domain business for 25 years, having founded creditcards.com and insurancequotes.com, and has been involved in various successful domain transactions.
- 🔍 Larry entered the domain business in 1997, nearly left in 1999, but a significant deal on 'portuguese.com' kept him in the industry, leading to the creation of the first parking company, SmartName.
- 🏆 Notable sales by Larry include 'messenger.com' to Facebook and 'teams.com' to Microsoft, emphasizing the importance of confidentiality in high-value domain transactions.
- 🤝 The speakers advocate for private mergers and acquisitions for significant domain transactions, stressing the need for confidentiality on both the buy and sell sides.
- 🔑 The discussion reveals details about two major deals, 'chat.com' and 'home.com', which are considered among the top five in their careers due to their high value.
- 🗣️ David Laz, from Fairway, shares the story of acquiring 'home.com', illustrating the importance of having an internal champion for a domain within a company to push through a significant purchase.
- 💰 The 'chat.com' deal involved a last-minute change due to one buyer's legal overreach, allowing Dharma Shaw, from HubSpot, to secure the domain quickly with favorable terms.
- 🏦 A humorous anecdote from the 'chat.com' deal involved a wrong bank number being given during the escrow process, which was fortunately resolved without issue.
- 🔄 The 'home.com' deal was initially rejected by Fairway's CEO but was reconsidered due to the domain's potential value, leading to its acquisition and future integration into the company's brand.
- 🌐 The speakers emphasize the long-term value of domains as assets, comparing the potential of domain acquisitions to the fleeting expense of Super Bowl advertisements.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the session that Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher are discussing?
-The main topic of the session is 'Greatest Stories Never Told,' focusing on significant domain name deals that have not been widely shared in public.
What significant domain names have Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher been involved in selling?
-Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher have been involved in selling significant domain names such as messenger.com to Facebook, teams.com to Microsoft, home.com, and chat.com.
How did the deal for chat.com unfold, and what was the role of Dharma Shaw in it?
-The deal for chat.com unfolded when Dharma Shaw, the founder and CTO of HubSpot, decided to publicly disclose his purchase of the domain for an eight-figure sum, opening the door for further discussion about the transaction.
What was the initial offer for chat.com, and how did it eventually sell?
-The initial solid offer for chat.com was three million dollars. It eventually sold for a significantly higher amount after Dharma Shaw decided to quickly accept the terms and use the escrow as specified by the sellers.
Why was the deal for chat.com considered a 'Mega deal' in the domain industry?
-The deal for chat.com was considered a 'Mega deal' because it was an eight-figure transaction, which is rare and significant in the domain industry.
What was the role of David Laz in the acquisition of home.com by Fairway?
-David Laz, being a top shareholder at Fairway, was instrumental in recognizing the value of home.com for the company's future and championed its acquisition within the organization.
What was the initial response from Fairway's CEO to the idea of purchasing home.com?
-The initial response from Fairway's CEO was a decline, stating that they had to make hard decisions and the answer was no.
How did the situation change for Fairway to eventually purchase home.com?
-The situation changed when the president of digital at Fairway expressed her desire for the domain, leading to further internal discussions and eventually the decision to purchase home.com.
What is the vision for home.com within Fairway's business strategy?
-The vision for home.com within Fairway's business strategy is to use it as a central hub for all home-related services and transactions, aiming to become a one-stop destination for consumers, referral partners, and employees.
What is the significance of the domain name 'home.com' for Fairway's branding and future growth?
-The domain name 'home.com' is significant for Fairway's branding and future growth as it is short, memorable, and directly related to their core business, making it an ideal platform for expanding their digital presence and services.
Outlines
🎤 Welcoming the Domain Experts
The session 'Greatest Stories Never Told' commences with the introduction of Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher, two domain industry veterans, along with a mention of David, who will join later. The host reflects on his 25-year journey in domains, his involvement in founding creditcards.com and insurancequotes.com, and his various roles as an investor, buyer, seller, and advisor. The session aims to delve into previously unshared stories of significant domain deals, emphasizing the importance of confidentiality in high-value transactions.
🏆 Reflecting on Major Domain Sales
Larry Fisher shares his background in the domain industry since 1997, including a near exit in 1999 rescued by the sale of 'portuguese.com'. He discusses the establishment of the first parking company, SmartName, which was later acquired by GoDaddy, and his significant sales such as 'messenger.com' to Facebook and 'teams.com' to Microsoft. The conversation highlights the rarity and complexity of eight-figure domain deals and the importance of being prepared for such transactions.
🤝 The Art of Domain Deal-Making
The discussion continues with insights into the process of selling high-value domains, focusing on the 'home.com' and 'chat.com' deals. The importance of using standard agreements and escrow services for quick transactions is emphasized. The story of 'chat.com' involves a last-minute change due to over-lawyering by a potential buyer, which opened the opportunity for Dharma Shaw, the founder of HubSpot, to acquire the domain.
🕊️ The Chat.com Deal: A Lesson in Agility
The narrative details the 'chat.com' deal, highlighting the agility of Dharma Shaw in swiftly securing the domain at 3 AM, demonstrating how even large corporations can be outmaneuvered by quick decision-making. The story underscores the importance of being ready to act on a good offer and not letting the opportunity slip away.
🔄 The Home.com Deal: Persistence Pays Off
The story of 'home.com' unfolds with initial rejections from the CEO of Fairway Independent Mortgage, followed by a change of heart recognizing the domain's long-term value. The deal was co-brokered by Larry and Andrew, who leveraged their overlapping client base to expand the market reach. The persistence and belief in the domain's worth eventually led to a successful sale.
🎥 Showcasing Home.com's Vision
David Laz, a shareholder at Fairway, shares his company's vision for 'home.com' as a central hub for all home-related services, aiming to provide a one-stop digital solution for consumers, employees, and referral partners. The video presentation illustrates the company's mission to make 'home.com' a destination for the next generation of home ownership and services.
🌐 The Future of Home.com and Fairway
David Laz discusses the strategic importance of 'home.com' for Fairway's digital transformation, emphasizing its potential to become a billion-dollar asset. He contrasts Fairway's community-based growth with the digital-first approach of competitors like Rocket Mortgage. The company's employee-owned structure and commitment to the long-term vision of 'home.com' are highlighted.
🏆 Celebrating the Success and Looking Ahead
The session concludes with reflections on the significance of the 'home.com' deal for Fairway and the domain industry. The host and Larry express their excitement about the future of domain transactions and the potential for even more significant deals. The audience is encouraged to support Fairway and engage with the industry, as the panelists look forward to the next big deal.
📝 Lessons from the Domain Auction Chronicles
In a final anecdote, the host shares a story from a past domain auction involving a Forbes 400 individual and a bankrupt company. The story illustrates the intense and unpredictable nature of domain auctions, where deals can change rapidly and the importance of being prepared for any scenario.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Domains
💡Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)
💡Confidentiality
💡Eight-Figure Deal
💡Liquidity
💡Broker
💡Escrow
💡KYC (Know Your Customer)
💡Co-Brokering
💡Digital Transformation
💡End User
Highlights
Andrew Miller and Larry Fisher share the stage to discuss the domain industry's greatest stories never told.
Miller discusses his 25 years in domains, founding creditcards.com and insurancequotes.com, and his involvement in major domain deals.
Fisher shares his experience since 1997, including the sale of messenger.com to Facebook and teams.com to Microsoft.
The speakers emphasize the importance of confidentiality in high-value domain transactions.
Dharma Shaw's public disclosure of purchasing chat.com for a high figure allows the speakers to discuss the deal openly.
David Laz of Fairway discusses the acquisition of home.com for strategic branding and future business expansion.
The chat.com deal involved a complex negotiation process with competing buyers and legal challenges.
Miller and Fisher highlight the rarity and difficulty of closing eight-figure domain deals.
Laz explains how the home.com domain will be integrated into Fairway's business model to enhance consumer experience.
The speakers discuss the potential long-term value of high-impact domain names like home.com.
A humorous anecdote about a bank account error during the escrow transfer process is shared.
The importance of having a clear agreement and swift escrow process in domain deals is emphasized.
Laz shares his perspective on the long-term vision for home.com and its role in Fairway's growth strategy.
Miller and Fisher reflect on their experience co-brokering high-value domains and the unique challenges involved.
The speakers provide insights into the future of domain investing and the potential for new record-breaking deals.
An audience question prompts a discussion on the importance of seizing opportunities in domain sales.
Transcripts
um super excited to have Andrew Miller
up on the stage again with us as well as
Larry Fisher we also have uh somebody
dialing in David is going to be dialing
in in a little while
um but our our session here is greatest
stories never told super excited to have
the gentleman up here on the stage with
us and enjoy welcome Andrew and Larry
Andrew and Larry come on up
[Music]
all right
all right
hello
nice to meet you tough act to follow
okay and in the proceed
um so this is kind of a welcome back
first of all I'd give a quick background
of each of us again
um
I am uh been in domains for
as I said earlier in 25 years been a
founder of creditcards.com and insurance
quotes.com both successful exits and
investor buyer seller advisor for a long
time
um and today we're going to kind of be
able to break some ground and things we
haven't done before I've known Larry
since
you know we're old man since 1998 and uh
cannot believe I get to be up here with
him this is like epic so a little
background on you and then we'll I
started the business about a week ago
done well
um now I I actually got into business 97
learned how to uh snag domains back then
uh almost left the business in about 99
came down to uh paying the bills
um I was able to do a deal on
portuguese.com for three thousand
dollars that saved me from having to
leave this business and
was very lucky met some good people Ari
goldberger is one of them we ended up
starting uh the very first parking
company called smart name which we sold
a few years later and from there that
got rolled up to GoDaddy and I've been
involved in domains buying selling
monetizing for uh ever since then some
of the big deals done over the years
I've sold messenger.com to Facebook
teams.com to Microsoft
mention home.com which was my largest
deal along with Andrews up until
chat.com recently so we've you know just
had a lot of fun and along the way met a
lot of great friends and it's really
nice to see a lot of you guys out here
that I know and hopefully people that
I'll meet in the future so we wanted uh
this is microphone working Peter is this
okay I got bumped a little okay so we
had a um we wanted to do this today kind
of recalled it from fun the greatest
stories never told I know Ron Jackson
gave me my Grateful Dead shout out
earlier that's a The Greatest Story
there he is greatest stories ever told
uh never told a great story ever told
the Grateful Dead song so it was a
little bit of a take off on that but um
Larry and I have been part of many of
the largest deals of all time and we're
both pretty big Advocates that like
private mergers and acquisition deals
that the most significant domain
transactions really need confidentiality
on both sides and I would never buy a
domain for eight figures where I'd want
the price disclosed and we kind of
advise both our buy and side sell side
clients the same and there are a lot of
reasons for that so
I've been up for years trying to find a
productive way to like said someone shed
some light on some of these Mega deals
and today we can actually make that
happen uh by way of I know I think I can
say our two largest and most important
deals of either of our long careers
chat.com and home.com and we're able to
do this because the buyer of chat.com
the first buyer a few weeks ago uh
decided to post about the transaction
publicly which opened up the door for us
to do that it was bought by Dharma Shaw
founder and CTO of HubSpot uh and he
disclosed that he bought it for eight
figures plus and then with home.com one
of my oldest friends in the world who
will be joining us by screen which he
will take over this room he's amazing uh
is David Laz uh that uh the his company
Fairway bought that domain and he'll be
able to talk about it in really a way
that I've never seen an end user come on
and namescon and speak about an
eight-figure transaction I did post on
LinkedIn recently that I do believe we
always need to look back on these deals
carefully when one peels back the onion
and Larry you and I discussed this
recently you know I'm in the camp that
there's probably been 25 maybe 50 but
probably 25 to 50 eight figure deals
ever I think we've talked about this and
yeah we kind of figured that the home
and chat are both in the top five and I
think it's important to understand in
this room too that they are infrequent
and it's tough to make them The
Benchmark especially if an active sale
is the goal and I always tell those that
I'm advised and that are you know aim
high but you also need to be prepared to
pass the name on to your grandchildren
if you're always looking for to be in
that upper top 25 right it just doesn't
mean you shouldn't be but you be
prepared that the main could go to your
estate because as we said earlier in the
squad help session liquidity can be
challenging so I still see the like Zone
I call it the zone of possible agreement
the Zopa The Sweet Spot of these deals
are kind of one and a half to seven
million or seven and a half million and
once in a while we get one that's higher
and that flies higher and that can
happen by luck it can happen by
negotiation skill let me take some
credit it can happen in rare cases where
it is one buyer who wants it badly
enough to keep going in a I guess a
bidding war
um so any thoughts on that uh ditto
um basically doing an eight-figure CL is
not easy usually not easy
um sometimes you look back and say if
it's too easy well what the result too
cheap you just never know
um uh home.com
took many months to get involved with uh
the reason Andrew and I co-brokered the
name was for the fact that we you know
some of our clients overlap but very few
do so it gives us a wider range and
knowing that we both go after the same
high-end client has the values that we
that would really would want a name like
this it gives us the opportunity to
expend them expand the market and we
were very lucky with home on home we
actually had three people down
coming down to the wire all within a
month radius that got involved and we
actually had a deal that would have been
a little higher but it was over time and
uh the other client wasn't ready to pull
the trigger uh so it just fell into
place and uh you know that's how home
came about yeah it's a good segue into
chat so you got everyone here has
probably read something about the
chat.com deal recently and again
normally couldn't even talk about it but
darmish opened the door but I do think
you know it's an interesting story to
tell
so could I say what thing on the on
track just before we get into that end
Larry's going to say that we undersold
it that's not what we're going to say no
I'm going to say you won the soldier but
that's another point
every day every day seriously
um we bought I I by the way I was an
investor in both home and chat uh
minority investor in both
um
the
we got chat from CBS Interactive about
10 years earlier I think the price on it
was just a little over a million dollars
um
in terms of offers over the year
the only solid offer in 10 years I mean
we've had offers around a million but we
paid for it but I think we had a three
million dollar offer that we knew was
solid and then we had a 6.6 that was
sketchy but it got to a point where as
Andrew was saying do you keep this for
your kids or you keep waiting and if you
have the ability if you really believe
in a name like we did in chat we held on
to it we said you know we're not looking
to sell for uh you know a two Acts or 3x
we ended up
getting to a point where when chat GPT
was announced that first month when we
saw things take off it was incredible uh
all of a sudden we're getting offers you
know uh first from the domainers the
main is that I know and most domainers
you know they want to go low and
somebody I know who I respect very much
and it sold a lot of high-end names came
in at two million dollars and I go to
him
well first of all when he sent the email
he didn't know it was me it was going to
and when it did he goes okay I'm never
getting this
um and his thoughts were you know
he wanted to resell it for 30 to 60.
that was what he was going to do if he
had it and bought it and whether that
would have happened I have no idea but
having chat GPT come out opened the door
for I mean our original Target price in
the name was 10 million that's what we
thought the name was worth
that changed all of a sudden with the
chat gbt and then when you get a very a
very solid offer through outbound and a
number of orifice came in very quickly
but when you get a very solid offer
sometimes you have to say
okay the strategy of saying no and
continuing to get a higher price is a
nice thing but
do you really want to pass up a stupid
amount of money and that's what it came
down with chat.com we decided that the
offer that came in we were happy with
could have we gotten more
yes I believe we could have if we pushed
and or possibly waited for other buyers
stuff like that but one thing you have
to realize if an offer comes in that
you're truly happy with
don't it up don't pass on it
because you never know
there have been people here I'm sure
there have offers and you get that first
offer and it's like oh my God this is
great I'm gonna you know do great and
then you never get an offer again for
three years and then when you go back to
that guy he's either no longer
interested or uh he'll give you half the
price or a third the price that it was
so yeah that I just want to lead into
it's an interesting segue into the story
so
I'm gonna say what I can say carefully
so we
um we had a
obvious company that was at the table
and um I'm not going to say who it is
but you can all use your imaginations
big company well if we can use the name
chat and other people can think of it
um and you know we're talking you know
them and it was actually a Wednesday
afternoon and
um they were at a really good number
um and by I told them that we had
another serious buyer and there were two
factors the price the timing and the
process and I want to come back the
process was as important I would say as
the price at this point and I said
you're going to use my agreement you
know our hilco purchased and sale
agreement as is and we're going to use
either escrowdomains or escrow.com
period and we're going to move quick and
they're like no problem great buy I got
a phone call about doing errands that
afternoon with a we're so concerned we
had another buyer they upped it about a
million dollars and you know just to say
that this was our largest deal ever so
you guys can put that in perspective but
it was much more than the 10 plus that
you know darmish posted much more
massively more in a percentage basis so
um
around three o'clock the afternoon
we got a uh I I got back a call and they
said hey we have some small changes to
your agreement we're going to send over
our version of the agreement can you do
a call with our La lawyers in three
o'clock Eastern time well I get back a
36 our agreement's about 8 10 pages
pretty standard use it for all my big
deals we get back at 36 page asset
purchase agreement as if they were
buying an 800 million dollar company
with multiple layers of assets and I
said this is a problem
in this thing we got in the same breath
they said oh we're going to have to use
Citibank
for escrow
and I'm like well that's a problem so we
get on a phone within 10 minutes with
their attorneys all of us me not Larry
and you know by the end of the call
they're like all right give us till
tonight we're going to send you a
revised scale down agreement but we
really have to use
someone other than escrow.com or
escrow.domains
I get they get on an hour phone call
with my good friends who are probably
here I mean at escrow.com who did an
amazing job and they called me back and
said not going to work for us it's too
we don't it's not enough of a kyc
process and a bunch of nonsense so now
it's around nine o'clock that night and
I get a um
back a new agreement which is my
agreement with about eight pages of
changes but better than the one that was
sent earlier and a six page kyc
questionnaire for the seller Larry's
partner uh to fill out in order to move
forward with Citibank is escrow.com and
this is a seller who's well known at
escrow.com and already kyc don't forget
about they wanted to leave the money in
escrow for a year well there was that
but that was going to go away I think
but there was some there was other stuff
and I texted darmish who I know well who
was the other bidder now I can say that
and I said there's a crack and by the
way just to say one thing I don't like
to play one bit off another I said to
either party whoever comes first with
the number we're looking for willing to
sign our agreement as is and use escrow
we'll get the domain I won't bring it
back to the other side right we're not
gonna I believe you lose deals by
playing one off another even if you can
try to squeeze out the highest possible
price I think that is not how I role so
but the window opened up because of this
over lawyering let's call it and I
texted darmish and he was in San
Francisco at a HubSpot board meeting and
he said I said there's a window if you
if you can do this fast sign DocuSign
the agreement and accept the escrow
terms there's a window and he's like I'm
in a board meeting and then at dinner
till 2 30 a.m Boston time where he lives
but he was in California and he goes
send me the I can sign the DocuSign at 3
A.M except the escrow on wire tomorrow
and I'm like I'll be up at 3am let me
know when you're back and
and
um sure enough 3 A.M 2 50 a.m I get a
text and he's like I signed the DocuSign
except for the escrow did we have a deal
and I go we have a deal and he came in
and you know this was a great example by
the way of um what I would say is a you
know very successful billionaire right
founder entrepreneur who was able to
understand the nuances and beat out you
know a large venture-back multi-billion
dollar venture-backed Corporation who I
think was a bunch of I don't want to say
this because I'm dating myself but I
hear a bunch of young people working for
the VCS who were scared to tell their
lawyers no yes and what to do where
dharmers looked at the agreement he's
like great I've bought domains before
I'm good and you know he came in and
swooped it you know literally at three
in the morning but but one thing I do
want to add you had to talk to domus
Earl in the week
he had said I love it but I really don't
want to pay that yes and gave lower
numbers no that won't work so he you
didn't go back really to ask for more
money or play I mean you just told him
the window was the windows open that's
all and um it was an amazing turn of
events and you know I didn't look
forward to the uh you know Larry's like
you have to call them I'm like I'm not
calling them I'm sending him a quick
email a message that we went to the
agreement with the other terms because
process was a big part of it and you
know let the other company know and you
know the deal closed in a matter of and
we never had four hours we never got a
phone call back from them no eventually
got an email they didn't respond to
anything but you know it was an amazing
um
scenario where obviously to at least two
um
groups people entities wanted it now I
also know it's been well publicized that
it was darnished resold the domain last
week posted about that I I know a little
bit about that but I'm not going to
really get into it I didn't I was not
involved in the resale I don't think
that would have been it would have been
hard for me to go back and resell it and
then have Larry in his
Partners say well do you already have
that in the back door you know that you
have that did you know it was going to
happen so I felt like it was just better
to stay out of it my gut feeling is you
will see it was not sold to the other
company we were negotiating with
although we'll see and it was likely
um a company that darmish has
significant long-standing Equity or
upside in as my guess down the road
versus a major cash windfall I mean I
don't think you know there's no amount
of cash that would change his life but
he loves the domain and thought it was
instrumental to the future of this
business of and I think we'll find out
that it was yeah I think it's AI related
I just can't see it be it not being in
an AI based business because he made it
publicly now do you want to tell them
one of the stories about what happened
with escrow as a funny story no you tell
it oh okay so
everyone's excited
we just did the deal
we keep refreshing escrow the money's in
escrow okay holy right so we you
know the escrow starts Distributing the
funds I talked to Andrew about a half
hour later I said hey did you get yours
yet oh yeah I got it right away right
afterwards come looking about an hour
goes by I said let me check something
and then I'm looking at the escrow I'm
looking at this holy we gave the
wrong Bank number
so needless to say the next 45 minutes
were very intense
we were very lucky the a number was
added not a number change so because of
the wrong digits it turned out that the
bank it went to had automatically kicked
it back but we didn't know that at the
time but uh
the accounting aspect can be very
important done deals so don't don't end
until it's it's over and I don't know if
Molly or Emanuel are in the room but I
mean escrow.com you know did an amazing
job they did you know handling what
because it could have been I mean not
for me fortunately but oh yeah a very
very stressful situation
um for Larry you know when he figured
out what was going on I would have
blamed you anyway it doesn't matter so
yeah of course so we you know when
things move this fast you have to be
careful yeah so it was an amazing I mean
you know for as long as we've been doing
this this was you know
um felt good a pretty epic deal and you
know felt pretty good and but like I
said it's not I don't think it's the
standard sometimes you know you get a
Powerball ticket right and um but not
they don't come around very often and
you know you have to recognize that and
I think it's important for domain name
owners for Brokers everybody on every
side to understand that these are not
again I think there's been under 25 ever
personally so and when I say real true
cash above 10 figures yeah above uh yes
and
um you know I think it's also okay to
play in a lower Zone and still have
great wins
um so that's a you know I thought I
thought in 2000 in late 2021 when we
soldhome.com together I thought that was
going to be the I'm like we're never
going to do one bigger than this or
better then of course Chuck came along
but home.com is an amazing story I don't
know
um when this
my uh my mic just fell so hang on one
second I don't I'm good I got it and
then I don't know when um yeah is that
are we is David ready oh Paul so we're
going to bring on um Dave there he is
do we have volume on you guys
what's up Mills how are you what's going
on so hang on one minute so I can
introduce you and so um
David Laz is an incredible person and an
incredible story but he's an old lungs
one of my oldest friends and is a great
example and I've talked about this last
year and before I think I don't know who
I was talking to before I came in but of
both letting a domain name kind of
marinate with a buyer that wants it
until it was white and makes sense and
having an internal Champion or Champions
at a company where it makes sense so
backing up from chat.com
um
I was helping Larry sellhome.com in late
early 2021 and
um we were in as he said there were two
or three parties that had already made
really serious offers and
um I had another one as well a big name
public company and I sent it over to Laz
Laz is um I'll let him introduce himself
on his own but Laz is a top shareholder
in mover and Shaker at the third largest
mortgage company private League owned
company called Fairway Independent
Mortgage and
you know I I can't tell you how many
business things I bring the lads over 20
30 years of friendship and none of them
we never really do anything and he's
like this is interesting and that
accelerated into kind of back and forth
conversations suddenly I'm on a call
with you know Fairway calls their people
teammates right and they have a very
unique culture and suddenly I'm a
teammate like I'm on the call with like
40 people in management and the CEO who
owns 54 of the company and and this is
starting to pick up steam and
um
December 29th
uh Steve Jacobson the CEO and founder of
Fairway says
my team really wants to do this but I
have to make hard decisions and the
answer is no and the deal is dead in the
water
and I said all right we'll carry on it's
December 29th let's go have a new year
and a holiday and January comes around
and we're into the second you know first
week of January while this is going on
I'm also trying to help Fairway by
fairway.com which they did not own
from the Golf Channel from NBC Universal
who I represent for a lot of their
domains so I knew them well and
um I remember Larry is saying to me if
you if they buy fairway.com they'll
never want home.com and I said actually
Larry it's the opposite if we get
fairway.com it will help with home and
December 29th it's dead I've never told
Larry any of this by the way I
completely lied to Larry I'm like oh
yeah they're thinking about it we're
going to get back in the new year we'll
see where things are and friendship
friendship 20 something years that's
what it does and uh and then on January
first second week of January I got a
phone call from a woman who was the
president of digital at Fairway laza's
works with Laz and she says what I think
were the magic words which is I'm losing
sleep at night knowing I can have this
domain name
well if we talk about championing right
you know now you have a champion so I
decided all right I'm going to start
working with her to help her understand
you know help her internally get this
Soul through and I'm like Laz was
amazing in that in that process and you
know fast forward we buy um
we buy fairway.com
um
a few weeks later successfully and get
that over and they're happy and that was
important to the founder of Fairway who
in last could say more but who was a
former division one college basketball
player right last at Wisconsin
he was walk-on basketball player at
Wisconsin so I said I texted with laz's
permission I texted the owner and I said
or the CEO and I said uh all right we
just got Fairway now let's go get
Michael Jordan
dot dot dot home.com
and three minutes later he said let's do
it
and we went from dead on December to a
done deal in February
um with that said Laz I want you to uh
come in and say hello to a lot of people
watching introduce yourself
um I want you to talk a little bit about
both the transaction that we just I just
described the deal process and obviously
last is a video to show you guys of
where they're going with the domain and
um other stuff so it's amazing to have a
um an end user join us this doesn't
happen very often about openly talking
about these transactions so I'm I'm
pretty excited about that we have made
it happen
yeah hey thanks uh pleasure to be here
uh Larry nice to see you I know we've
chatted uh last week for the first time
same here uh but good to see you on on
the screen uh good to be here with all
of you uh I uh I've known Andy uh our
very first jobs on Wall Street uh right
out of college is where we met and we've
uh been been fast friends ever since
that uh very first day we met so it's uh
and it is true it's brought me a lot of
transactions over the years that I have
not participated in but this was uh
interesting because of where we're
taking our company and what we're trying
to do uh within the space uh so it
really uh was special for us and is a
valued asset for us going forward as we
we develop it
um I feel a little like second fiddle
because like chat.com is totally
replaced us I thought we were like a big
deal for you now we're just like you
know whatever but
yeah
but uh congrats to you both on that
transaction that sounds like that was
pretty amazing it it
um our transaction was a little bit
different in our transition our
transaction is more of a lesson in never
think it's no it just might not be not
now because when we first started
talking about it although it sounded
interesting uh it's just multiple
conversations with our CEO
um it was definitely a no at first but
it was one of those names that we think
is so powerful that once you see it you
can't not see it especially as you start
uh thinking about the potential and we
have a problem to solve going forward
because our interest at Fairway is to
solve for the next generation and really
mortgages are going more and more
digital uh you're seeing AI coming to
the mortgage space so we wanted
something that we could solve for our
next generation and our website was not
something that was user friendly I mean
Fairway independ
thenmc.com is a mouthful so uh but
home.com
is just incredible and what that does
for us
um you know I think a good way to look
at it Andy and how we're thinking about
I'd love to I want to play the video
early on in this because I want people
to get a flavor for what we're thinking
as an investor with this asset so if
we're able to queue that up I'd love to
do yeah Peter can we get the video
queued up now
foreign
[Music]
[Music]
what's up
[Music]
[Applause]
so the notion of all roads lead home for
us
takes care of our next Generation we
think about all the people we touch so
for us it's the consumer
it's the people that work at our company
we're a company right now of just about
7 000 employees
we're in all 50 states we had we have
650 branches and we're the largest
lender that no one's ever heard of
and that's because we work typically uh
by referrals and within the real estate
community so when we say all relatively
home we wanted a destination that we
could use for our consumers of course
our referral partners and our employees
and we view this asset as something that
will take us there eventually you'll
probably see our name uh be replaced
although that will take some time
but we will be home.com eventually and
that opens up the door
for ancillary businesses for us really
anything that has to do with the home uh
certainly anything that has to do with a
real estate transaction and that's
everything from title companies to
insurance companies uh it is a place
where a consumer can go in and store all
of their home documentation everything
from their appraisals to their
inspections and then be connected
through AI with local representation in
each community that were present so
imagine you go to your
um to your home page you go to home.com
and everything that has happened from
your home is located there and that is
as the inspection report comes due and
you've got things like a roof that needs
to be replaced or windows that need to
be done which you know about from your
inspection it will direct you to local
service people that we will have
relationships with so that's part of the
bigger picture of home com in addition
to the ancillary businesses that come
from it it's almost like a benzo box is
how we're viewing this and each each
room in a house will will bring you a
different value and that's how we're
looking to develop this asset
um in talking about the transaction a
little bit Andrew it wasn't quite as
exciting as the chat uh GPT and I'm
really glad we got the correct bank
number right off the bat because that
would have been stressful for sure
um but it was more about hey you know we
did say no but then it got to a point
where we realized the value of this
asset to us for the Next Generation we
said no I think it was two times the CEO
turned me down the third time
um he really understood that we're not
we're not spending money on a Super Bowl
ad we're buying an asset that no matter
what we do with it or how long it takes
us there's value here
uh and I think that was a turning point
in conversation yeah and I think I mean
you know we talk about this all the time
right I know that you know my team I
mean I love the Super Bowl ad analogy
right because you're gonna go spend
six seven million yeah six seven million
for a couple Thirty second spots another
2 million for production 10 million it's
over in a you know a few little PR if
you do well it's over in a week and you
either worked or it didn't work and if
it didn't work which it doesn't
sometimes you know that's a your p l you
just write off the 10 million and off
you go you know it whereas you know this
is an asset for life that could in
theory become the name of your company
the main address of your company I mean
maybe talk a little bit about the Gap
you know the difference between you guys
and and Rocket right and you know the
desire to close that Gap
yeah so it listen rocket is uh invested
uh a lot of money over the years in
their name the way we started as a
company we've been in business for 27
years
um but our approach was much different
than a rocket right we we started off as
a company by meeting people in
communities we're very Community Based
uh charitable organizations we've grown
uh with what I'll call hand-to-hand
combat in communities uh so the way that
we've grown to 650 branches is by
meeting good people very organically and
growing that business over the last 27
years that's a Grime and it's very
effective there's some power in having
that type of presence throughout the U.S
but as the saying goes what got you here
won't get you there and what we need to
be conscious of is moving uh towards a
digital world that we're in still being
involved in communities this is still an
amazing amazingly large transaction and
people want to drive it digitally to a
point but they love that we have the
best of both worlds so you can do the
transaction digitally but we also have
boots on the ground and that's our
unique value proposition is being
involved in communities but also having
the digital presence for those that want
to drive that way yeah and I think you
know I mean I think that we'll find
Tesla to come over time but um I think
we'll find that you know when we look
back on this in five years that this was
a billion a billion dollar transaction
for Fairway
um ultimately and what's the downside
right the downside is it it didn't
happen that way and we go re you know we
resell the domain name maybe for 25 PM
maybe 5 million more maybe for 2 million
less whatever but the upside is probably
in the billions and you know we've seen
that Mike talked about some earlier I
mean we've seen that with other
companies and you know I don't think you
get it more as great as chat is you know
there's not a more powerful word than
home right and um you know arguably the
most powerful happy you know not always
happy I guess but the most powerful
world world uh you know word there can
be to most people and um you know well
home just crosses everything right
because home has become uh especially as
what we've learned through covid uh the
home has never been more important to
people and we realize that so for us uh
we do believe it has the potential to be
a billion dollar idea
um it is something we are approaching
very methodically it will take time and
realize that but it's an extremely
exciting project for our group to be
working on
um we feel that we are positioned
because of the volume that we do just to
give you a little bit of scope
um Fairway last year closed 42 billion
dollars in residential transactions the
year before we did 72 billion dollars in
residential transactions
um this year we're on Pace to do
somewhere around 30 billion given the
inventory challenges uh in the overall
Marketplace and the move that you've
seen in interest rates and by the way we
should all support take do your do your
finances with more Fairway because we
should always support those who support
our industry that's my take
um but sorry lastly you can find us you
can find us a lot of ways but the the
quickest way is just to go to home.com
right now and that's how you'll find us
as well as fairway.com so thank you for
that Andy
um that was significantly less than
home.com but also very important to us
um you know when we think about this URL
um we believe that it takes us to a
place that we could not have gone before
and our employees are more excited about
working at this company because of that
so it's not only an asset that's
important for us in our future it gives
it gives the people that work here a
vision that they could buy into so we're
also an employee-owned company so we
don't have a hedge fund we are not
supported by private Equity we are owned
by the employees 100 so to give this
type of asset to the employees as a
vision to work on is is extremely
exciting and that's another thing we
don't have we're not looking to flip
this name we're not looking to go public
uh that's not rml we want to have the
best place to work for our next
generation and that is what the CEO
wants uh that is the vision this company
um
to pass this on to the next Generation
we believe home.com is part of what
we're passing on and actually it's funny
I come back to the Super Bowl thing
um if you're going to spend 10 million
dollars on a Super Bowl commercial
at least stick in like the category
generic rememberable never forget it
domain name and it
might as well spend another you know 10
million looking at UMR
um but uh you know to be you know that
that's even a more reason that if you're
going to bother doing that at least take
the asset that goes with it and plug it
in so
um yeah really appreciate Laz joining
today and being even willing to talk
about a transaction at this scope in
this space
um so thank you first of all happy uh
happy to be here and and I would put I
know there's a lot of smart people in
that room uh my email is Laz l-a-z at
home.com so if anyone has any insight uh
love to connect with you happy to answer
any questions privately uh about this
but it's Laz at home.com
I love giving out that email address by
the way
[Laughter]
and that does not mean baraging with
third tier domain names for sale
but uh there was uh
yeah he's got a lot of that since his
deal right yeah
um so um
thank you for joining that was awesome
obviously as I said support Fairway in
home.com because you know obviously it's
all the best thing that could happen is
for this company to make this worth a
billion billions of dollars as a brand
um anything else that Larry and you're
in to add I mean I think I just will say
that um we need to find the next one for
next year well I think we did we're
close we're close
um I just wanted to add that it was
funny and I mentioned this to Andrew
that a couple of months after uh your
deal happens that the person who had
offered a little bit more money over
time came back and it said to us do you
think there's ever a chance that they
would sell the name and as Laz just said
a few minutes ago they have no interest
they have too much going on that this is
their future so it's it's good to see
that
um how strongly they believe in the name
and how it works for them so as a
pleasure and hopefully we'll meet in
person one day down in Boston and there
we go I hope so great to be here uh keep
doing what you guys are doing the future
is bright very exciting and uh Mills
thanks for having me on always good
thank you for joining us we'll wrap up
and we'll go from there thanks
so we got four minutes we're not
supposed to take audience questions so
no so
um why not I don't know okay
wrap it up
oh we can take audience questions all
right anyone have any questions
oh I just said for next next year
we're working on one we're close we're
really close uh I have a Blog that I
don't keep up anymore but if you go to
directnavigation.com and do a search for
the auction I think it was the auction
nobody knew about it's a five-part Blog
I wrote about some crazy auction that I
was involved in and I found out about it
at one of the main shows and it just
goes back and forth but basically quick
quick synopsis I find that about this
auction uh some amazing names these
names are owned half by a company and
the other half are owned by the person
who at one time was on the Forbes 400
list and who's attended many of these
shows and it turned out that the company
was going bankrupt and he was about to
buy all these names relatively cheap in
killer names and I remember I went in to
their uh to the board directly and I
found out what the offer was I said
we'll give you 20 of it it's it's
material we feel that this should change
things and it did he had another auction
um they had another auction which we won
but then they said well technically we
have to do the auction again and when
they did the auction the third time they
changed the requirements that all funds
had to be in within 24 hours in cash and
I'm like okay we TR we we then had to
call up everyone we knew to figure out
how much cash we can get quickly but we
realized that this other guy no matter
what we did would not sell and uh it's a
little bit more detail in there in the
blog if you go into it but it it was it
was funny because uh yeah sorry no I'm
sorry
oh I tried teaching him things he really
doesn't know much
learn everything I know from them
um I think I think it's a good question
though so I'm gonna yeah we're we're
very sarcastic with each other but uh to
answer it honestly I mean look first of
all
um there's no one I'd rather I mean
Larry's good people so there's no one
I'd rather work with that helps right
um but I think you know he has access to
some amazing names and I think we have
different skill sets and we work well
together and we're he's patient and um
you know he's I'll never I'll hear for
the rest of my life every day that we
should have got more money for Chad that
will happen Forever Until but um you
know you have to live with those
consequences but I mean look some I do a
lot of deals with people in this
industry a lot of people in this room
and I'm you know
um I learned very young from Michael
Milken if those who know who he is the
financier who said
fifty percent of something's better than
zero percent of nothing so help have
other people help you and write your
tickets is how he described it in the
wall Street's world and I've kind of
carried that forward I'm going to get
you because I actually was calling you
but that's okay
either way we're good it was a great
question
we sold teams.com
uh no
well I will tell you it was cope I was
another co-broker with um Amanda Amanda
you in the room she was up here uh a
little while ago so uh so I like working
you know both on my with myself uh and
also with other Brokers because it just
so depending upon the broker every
broker has their skill and um there was
a reason at the time I worked with
Amanda and um it just worked out well
and um another complete complete sale so
we got one minute on the clock so we can
do one more question I think
if there isn't one we can probably just
wrap it a minute early and yeah hey
uh
uh basically uh regret that he didn't
buy it
uh he realizes how scoring the name was
and like any transaction it takes two it
takes a buyer and a seller and this is
right it can only be one and once that
name's gone it's gone and he realizes
afterwards that name was so powerful for
his business that
he basically would have given probably
about another 30 percent to what they as
we also know in life people want what
they can't have yeah exactly so yeah in
anything right so I think there was
always a little bit of that yeah you
know oh damn you know well he should
have done it when it was you know we're
pretty transparent with people about you
know if there's someone else there well
which you said that when you were
talking in the chat you told those guys
I you know I said I'm there is another
buyer and they're ready to go right
did they didn't believe me or they
couldn't get out of the way of their
lawyers and then with that said we got
eight seconds so I think we keep you on
track because we got a big speaker
following here who don't want to make
them late so
I think we're good right awesome good
thank you guys appreciate it
[Applause]
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