I have received an offer for my domain. what should I do?
I have received a great offer for the domain name techhotbed.com and techhotbed.net (all of which I own under a company name). A very powerful blog building company approaches me last week and made a great offer. I turned it down at first just to gauge how serious they were. They came back with their business lawyer and have an offer letter drawn and sent to me in an official US Post office mail. This made me pause and thought long and hard about it. Now I am all confused. We are using the domain name to build a very competitive IT career site and think that we can disrupt the biggest and best IT Career sites out there. But It will take time and money. Is now the time to take the money and Run? Please advise.
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This is the same site thst you keep asking about just turning over to people because you don't want to spend the time to run it? The same site you discussed when you said you found another business to work on? What's to think about? Get on with the other business. – Tim J 14 years ago
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You asked 11 questions and never accepted answer. Maybe it is time to learn the rules here. http://answers.onstartups.com/faq – Ross 14 years ago
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I know the rules. I wil accept the answer if and when I choose to. No need for a reminder. Just worry about your own acceptance rate. – Donald 14 years ago
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Whats wrong with asking more than one question? Sounds a little biased. The point of this whole forum is to ask questions, (MULTIPLE). There are plenty of folks here that ask more than one question about ONE business they own. – Frank 14 years ago
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my acceptance rate is ok, but you should not post personal comments on my questions just to prove you point. Post all you comments here, or on "meta" site. Thanks. – Ross 14 years ago
3 Answers
I took a look at your web site. You have chosen an unbelievably competitive market, where your competition can afford to run TV ads during the Super Bowl. Your chance of success is vanishingly small.
So ask yourself, how much in sales did you make in the last quarter? And how much in the quarter before that? Is the sales number at least doubling every quarter? (Yes, doubling- you are just starting and that should be an easy target.) Figure your sales keep doubling every quarter for a year. Then figure your profit for that year.
Is their offer for the domain name more than you will make in a year? Is it a lot more? Then go for it. You haven't invested much of anything in marketing and promoting your name, so a switch will be easy. Find another domain name.
Also note that you can probably get more money than they offered by negotiating with them. And remember that you are probably not the only domain name they are after. If they don't come to terms with you, they will find someone else. So act promptly.
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+1, @donald, I too have studied your web site, and dont think without some innovation that its going to be a game changer. More important and to your question, your domain has little value. The name is made up or one abbreviation (tech), and hotbed itself is slang. The domain is not short, although it can be catchy if branded correctly. There is no pagerank, associated with the domain, so its not worth value because of that. I think its worth at best 1200. Now what i think its worth does not matter, but keep in mind that you could buy a good domain for around that for the focus of your – Frank 14 years ago
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... site, so if you can sell techhotbed.com for 10k, and buy a replacement domain for 1200, (or less if you actually spend time searching), then its probably a smart sell IF YOU CAN USE THE CASH. I still keep my advice from your previous question about giving away 50% and say you should introduce a real revenue model, develop an API allowing others to access job listings and create them, and continue to grow the business. The site really needs a re-design. It is coded poorly, and very bland. Best of luck. – Frank 14 years ago
In my opinion, it looks like a pretty generic domain. From what I can tell, it doesn't look like you're going to disrupt much just by owning the domain name (but I don't know the full story). If you want to disrupt, do so by making a great competing service.
Take the money. :)
You mentioned in another thread you have a more lucrative venture to spend your time on. So I'd sell the domain and use the proceeds from the sale on your other project. As the others have said here, the market in this area is extremely competitive. The video aspect you have is a little unique, but easily replicated by larger, more established competitors like monster, payscale, manta, jigsaw and even the relatively fresh glassdoor. There was another user on here who created something similar months ago as well. They all have what you have plus a lot more.
Are you sure they want to buy your domain name because of your site content or because they branded something else with the same name and want to claim it? If you can find out why they want to buy your domain at the price offered, you may be able to posture yourself with a sweeter deal.
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Just cause he has a lucrative venture to chase, doesnt mean he should sell? Why sell it if it can generate revenue? If he can offload the management it would not be wise to sell. I have friends that have a ton of rental properties, its a similar concept. I wish I had never sold a venture or property, id be sitting pretty! – Frank 14 years ago
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The premise of revenue generation is suspect. This is a website in a highly competitive market with tons of risk (again, there are similar sites out there that have a huge lead), not a rental property with static demand and little competition. Unless it's capturing a lucrative niche (which doesn't appear to be the case), I don't see how sitting on it without incurring more costs would generate revenue. If he doesn't sell it he will wind up dividing his energy between the two projects - that includes finding the right people for offloading management. – Henry The Hengineer 14 years ago
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Of course, the sale price should be high enough to make a difference for his other, more lucrative, project. – Henry The Hengineer 14 years ago
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The whole point is that the OP has stated he wishes to move on to other ventures (more than once) - and now he is asking about this. You couldn't ask for or expect an easier exit. – Tim J 14 years ago
