- Usually domain squatters have a whole portfolio and prefer people not knowing the real prices
- It makes for more dramatic blog posts
- They signed an "NDA"
For others reading and thinking of trying something similar:
You could offer to lease the domain instead. Rent-to-buy. And/or a mix of cash and options/rev-share.
Talk to your accountant (get an accountant you doofus) about writing it off, there may be tax benefits. Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything. They just write it off.
Best to come up with a proper name to begin with and avoid all of this hassle.
The one example I know personally where this actually mattered is a company called face.com (facial recognition) sold to Facebook. To be sold to a big company got to get on their radar first. And all things being equal, out of several face recognition startups, the one with the face.com domain is the more obvious choice :P
- It makes for more dramatic blog posts
- They signed an "NDA"
For others reading and thinking of trying something similar:
You could offer to lease the domain instead. Rent-to-buy. And/or a mix of cash and options/rev-share.
Talk to your accountant (get an accountant you doofus) about writing it off, there may be tax benefits. Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything. They just write it off.
Best to come up with a proper name to begin with and avoid all of this hassle.
The one example I know personally where this actually mattered is a company called face.com (facial recognition) sold to Facebook. To be sold to a big company got to get on their radar first. And all things being equal, out of several face recognition startups, the one with the face.com domain is the more obvious choice :P