In a downturn, cash is king. KillerStartups, a blog that covers killer startups (and any other startup that issues a press release, actually) has acquired the domain Startups.com for “mid six figures” in cash, CEO Gonzalo Arzuaga tells me. So let’s call it $500,000. That is within reason for a primo domain name. After all, Business.com was built into a business that sold for $350 million.
Contrast that against the $17.2 million that Startups.com raised during the dotcom boom before shutting its doors in January, 2002. Back then, Startups.com was a startup incubator, offering office space, HR, and other business services to startups (Guy Kawasaki was on its board). The only asset that survived was its URL.
KillerStartups, which is backed by $250,000 in angel money from South American domain-name entrepreneur Matias de Tezanos, plans to create a network of startup-related business sites around the new domain. The company will rename itself Startups.com Network, but will keep the name KillerStartups for the blog. After plunging to 160,000 unique visitors worldwide in July (their servers melted, it is fixed now), KillerStartups shot back up to a respectable one million uniques in September, according to comScore. (Arzuaga says the site is attracting 1.5 million uniques a month). He says:
We would never kill this concept. It’s a stepping stone to build our network of business-related websites.
Diversifying is always a good idea. Arzuaga adds that the acquisition was funded from cash flow. Sounds like a killer startup in the making.
any idea what prompted the jump upwards after july?
best article i have heard in a along time. KS knows what they are doing. they made internet history was when they were the first to critique our company and offer an unbiased opinion of its potential. domain names can and will; make and break companies. Domain names appear to be the greatest appreciating substance in the history of free trade.
question?
who owns the greatest strategic natural language location based domain portfolio?
NaturalLocator.com
Question.
Who owns a portfolio of worthless domains?
Hint: Look into the mirror.
huh, you hit it…. the locatorguy has an idea, a shit load of domains but zero content, in the end they are all useless.
Here’s a real killer: http://12tb.com
Dear TechCrunch:
Please block this guy from posting. Every post is SPAM about his crappy sites. He doesn’t even have the smarts and/or money to hide that he is using Ning!
The TechCrunch readers will thank you.
Thanks
That’s the one I’ve been looking for all this time to get rid of techcrunch.
Bye bye arrington, unsubscribed!!!
One word for you son. COCK!
lol so why r u here?
name’s Failure?
I have always thought about using this site…but wasn’t sure what kind of pull they were getting. Seems like a very respectable number. Pretty cool idea and I am glad that they are making some cash.
You can always check their montlhy number by using http://www.compete.com (it will show you the US numbers though…but you can double that number and have an approximate toital number).
For the last month it had 517,876 uniques from US. Double it and you are more closer to the number Arzuaga says it has).
One drawback of Killerstartups is that I’ve seen lots of spam comments there. Like nobody cares about them…
reminds me of startup.com, awesome movie
Second that.
these guys astro turf a lot
KillerStartupLocator.com?
ahahahaha
Pretty neat. I’ve always liked KillerSartups.com
Here’s another cool site that digs up hot startups:
http://www.venturedig.com
I have a hard time believing a lot of readers become “premium” and cough up $499 a month (yes, a month, not year) to access startup data.
you don’t need that many…if only .1% of those 1 million users cough up, thats a monthly income of $500,000.
Alex, do you really believe a thousand people would pay $6K per year to see their data?
And may I introduce you to Crunchbase
CrunchBase is a great resource.
May I introduce you to http://www.NetWhosWho.com (that uses Crunchbase data)
Oh, no, now that you’ve seen the light, you will start charging $999/month for CrunchBase access
there is an idiot born every minute, plans like that don’t focus on the 99% of the population who will never cough up. They focus on the uninformed who think paying $600/month is a STEAL compared to the $10K/month they pay at some other company
even if its $500k / year it’s a healthy business, i guess. Nice to see some sites are figuring out the paid content business.
Interesting:
I guess my http://www.GreatStartups.com (recently launched) and my http://www.StartupWorld.com (coming soon) will have some healthy competition.
Erick, you are the perfect person to ask: what is the best and most inexpensive way to do a press release?
sorry, I meant “issue” (a press release)
Just dump it to the trash can.
Do a blog post.
actually, you should:
1) do a blog post, then
2) do a press release about your blog post, then
3) do a blog post about your press release…
u get where i’m going here, right?
i am *SO* money.
Gonzalo, what happens in Jul 2008, your traffic go to equal at the beginning of the startup (see graph).??
Supposing that Google sends to you 80%+ of your visits, I believe that the problem was some SEO improvements that don’t work… i’am wrong??
Regards! and Exitos con la adquisicion.
Santiago @ http://www.cuoma.com
Um…am I the only one who thinks 500k for the domain startups.com is NOT a killer deal!?
i agree
No u aren’t
I wouldn’t describe 500K for startups.com ‘killer’ too…but it is kind of a good/ok deal.
It is afterall a business-related, clear, domain
As in, it is a total ripoff?!
MikeT. You can use PRWeb or PRNewswire. Expensive though. What you might try to do is find someone with access to MediaSource (Bacon’s, etc.) and contact people who would be interested in your company.
Best of luck!
It’s nice to hear someone actually has cash to spend!
Great fun on startup.
http://www.iboozi.com
Score for KillerStartUps.com! Didn’t realize they were backed by angel investors.
So Erick, I’m curious to know what you’re implying when you mentioned, “a blog that covers killer startups (and any other startup that issues a press release, actually).”
Are you thick? They are like mashable: cover anything without any analysis, regurgitating press releases. “blog whores” would be another name.
Tim: It’s called sarcasm. Idiot… I know exactly what he meant.
If you want to get covered by Killerstartups just follow these steps: http://www.quic...t-your-startup/
Free…
Glad to see they have the cash flow in this economy.
Congrats Matias and team, good going guys.
FYI, this site covered loacatorDude
Wow imagine that, a business that actually invests in a great domain….
Now if only Odysii could figure that out.
KillerStartups, kudos.
We like our domain http://www.SinglePill.com (as a single source of daily news)
We had to pay $$$$ for the domain, but we think it was worth it and we’re on a shoestring budget.
You had to pay “$$$$”. If you mean it’s a four digit figure, I’m afraid it’s not a good deal. Get some pills and you might feel better.
Hi, I know Gonzalo, before the buble he sold gauchonet , an argentinean search engine in 5 millons, he is a veteran , I think he knows what he is doing……, we`ll see….
greetings from Mendoza,
Mariano.
“domain-name entrepreneur” is synonymous with useless cyber-squatting douche bag.
So you’ve bought and sold some domains. Now because you have a decent name we should take your analysis of startups seriously?
Unfortunately we know that google will. The Internet is borked. Killer indeed.
Only the jealous people call it cyber-squatting…
If someone buys beachfront property, as an investment…you’d call that ‘real estate-squatting’
I think it’s a really smart investment that they switched, and acquired that name…it’ll really help their cause
Real estate-squatting is also for useless douche bags. It drives up the price for people who need a place to live.
Here’s a novel idea: try actually building something.
domain buying is in the eye of the beholder……..so some will think it’s a good deal some will think it’s a bad deal but that’s domaining.
Six figures for an 8-letter domain name? It’s a better name, but did they really need to pay that much?
lol – don’t under estimate the power of a good name.
I say it’s worth it.
location, location, location…
and if you own a single word, or phrase dot com that’s desirable, then yes – it’s very worth it.
For all of the haters, look at CreditCards.com – 90% of their traffic comes off of the domains ability to rank and the type in traffic. The guys who own DebtConsolidation.com are bringing in $500k a month off of the type in traffic. They hardly do anything with SEO and the site is banking! Get real, you can really increase revenue with a great domain. Do some analysis before you just shoot your mouth off.
And yeah we paid $ four figures for the domain, and I’d do it again. But maybe having your company name be something complex that you can’t even spell is the way to go…
Owning a good domain, and parking it is a gold mine.
Assuming its any word or phrase dot com.
The people who own keyword dot coms that are parked make a shit load of money.
It’s basically the easiest money in the world – you’re printing money.
but that boat has somewhat passed already. those were the really early gold miners.
Now, if you want to obtain those diamond properties…you’ll have to pay a very high multiple, assuming you can even get the owners to sell.
We own Copies.com and have put the name up for sale. You can catch the details on our Dividend.com site. The name has tremendous SEO and can be a huge brand for a company. Please contact us if you are interested. We are listening to six figure offers for the name.
Oh please! Go SPAM your domains somewhere else you opportunistic moron.
Paying that much for a domain name is really stupid.
500k down the drain my friend. I remember KillerStartups from the TechCrunch Jive powered forum. I’m disappointed in him.
You’re not very bright are you.
The domain one chooses makes ALL the difference in the world. Generic domains rank exceptionally higher in search engines, are all to easy to remember, get the most targeted traffic on the planet (type-in traffic), and create instant credibility.
Not to mention the fact that top-quality generics are appreciating faster than most other business lines and they will always be able to liquidate the asset [e.g., TigerDirect picked up Computer.com in 2006 for $1.1 million and sold it 12 months later for $2.2 million.
I HATE ignorant comments like yours. Your just so clueless!
How much would you pay for nextweb.com, for example?
Hmm. With the recession rendering the startups less viable, wonder where they get half a million dollars for buying a domain name.
I would like to recommend two sites that cover startups and provide tips: businesshackers.com and amazingstartups.com
Chris you’re a F%&%*%& moron. Money down the drain? Please gives your marketing wisdom. We’re all listening.
local search engines in one place to find the stuff locally.
http://www.WOWWAO.com
These morons coming here and bashing a perfectly killer domain name. Understand you bozos, the url was the only assets that survived the original startups.com
Considering your job is not next on the chopping block, I know what you losers are doing today. Taking a well deserved rest from your Monday-Friday up for a $25 dollar raise job 40 miles away from your wife and kids every day.
Heres a clue, they already owned startups.com at least the 2 years.. check thois history lol
Fake publicity stunt! nice move
Anyone have any thoughts on what the value of StartupWatch.com domain name would be?
most expensive fund to build a web business. take care and keep good job
I’m very disappointed from Killerstartups.com
They allow spam comments and that’s pity!
Some one has spammed my entry here: http://www.kill...acation-rentals
I have reported that to Killerstartups but who cares!!!
No response, and the spammer enjoys his free spammy links!
Looks exactly like stackoverflow