Thomas Heath of the Washington Post published an article about domain investor Mike Mann, and I thought you might find the article interesting. There have been quite a few articles written about Mann over the course of the last three years, and while there isn’t much new information shared in this article, there were some things you might find interesting.
In my opinion, three of the most noteworthy aspects of the Washington Post article include
- “The biggest is probably DomainMarket.com. The business grosses around $4 million a year in domain name sales, but it spends $3 million alone in buying new names.”
- “He sold his first domain company, called BuyDomains.com, in 2005 to a venture-capital firm for $80 million, pocketing around $25 million as his share.”
- “He said any net worth he has is tied up in his companies. Right now, ‘I am $2 million in debt, which is ridiculous for somebody who has earned as much as me. I have a lot of small failures.'”
Overall, the article was friendly towards Mann, which isn’t always the case. In general, people seem to have quite a bit of animosity towards domain investors and domain name speculators, and they seem to particularly dislike those in this business who own very large portfolios of domain names. In this article, Mann touches on both his successes and failures.
I would say that Mike Mann is a polarizing figure in the domain space, but he has certainly done quite well building his businesses and generating a buzz about his business activities. Check out the Washington Post article when you have a chance.
Thanks to Josh Metnick for sharing the news via Twitter.
“When he called me out of the blue, asking me to write about him, I asked why.”
“I have a bit of an ego, so I don’t mind the attention,” said Mann
What kind of loser calls a newspaper and asks them to write a story about themself? Are these the kind of people you would meet at a domain conference?
I think there is a very big mix of people and personalities at domain conferences, much like any other business. I am quite sure you will find a similar mix at finance, real estate, and other industry conferences, too.
Great point Elliot.
“Are these the kind of people you would meet at a domain conference?”
Most definitely YES!
I attended a convention with Rick, Monte and many others and the level of arrogance in the room was astounding, probably the highest of any convention I’ve been to, and I attend 3 a year on average, not domain related, It’s probably one of the biggest reasons I have no interest in going.
When you look at the number of bloggers (not so much Elliot) out there who idolize and patronize this guy, their doing it for a guy who peddles in domains highly considered Trademarked, names like googlemicrosoft.com, Not only that, but Mann paid Registrars to catch names exclusively for himself when he owned buydomains, And we still kiss his butt, it’s only a matter of time before one particular blogger writes whether Mann wears boxers or briefs.
The domain industry is uniquely a joke in terms of the quality level of the players. Fringe industries attract fringe people (ala Chef Patrick types)
Whereas in something like real estate you get 7 or 8 normal people for every 2 or 3 personality-disorder cases, in ‘domaining’ its the exact opposite. You have to wade through a shitshow to find a relatively small handful of people who are respectable.
Elliot comes off as a genuine and nice guy but he is in no way, shape or form representative of this industry. Don’t believe me? Go to a trade show and see for yourself.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment.
I actually felt like there were smarter (and less sketchy) people in the room than other marketing and SEO conferences I’ve attended. I haven’t attended all that many conferences nor been active in many industries though.
@ Elliot; SEO and SEM are also mostly shit industries populated by fringe players.
If you want to see the big-boy pants world in tech that isn’t made up of scum and grifters, the valley has a bunch of conferences on this-or-that in tech that are attended by accomplished people, unlike ‘domaining’ or ‘SEM’ where you’re more likely to encounter someone who has been subpoenaed for something than someone with a college degree in a tech discipline.
Tech is truly the last frontier and for that it has its charms but some of the cottage industries that have sprung up around it are grotesque. Don King keynoting at TRAFFIC and Schwartz, in his uniquely self-unaware way, utterly fu*king clueless at the hilarity of that pairing, was one of my favorite tech moments, ever.
100% correct
I loved the article. I got a real kick out of it. What a character! Congratulations to Mike.
Fun article. Thanks for sharing it Elliot.
Quoting from the article: I asked him if he had any advice for other entrepreneurs.
“Don’t sleep,” he said. “Follow your passion. You can sleep when you are dead.”
This way of thinking will make him an early adopter — of Heaven. The ocean view in that $8 million mansion will be so much nicer if he’s around to enjoy it along with his grandkids.
Congrats on your personal success and your philanthropy, Mike. It’s energizing. Now go get some sleep!
LOL 🙂