Comments on: Big Day for Acme Media

By: New Rio.com Website Now Live | Elliot's Blog

New Rio.com Website Now Live | Elliot's Blog — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 22:46:14 +0000

[...] New Rio.com Website Now Live A little over a year ago at the TRAFFIC auction in New York City, Keith Levenson of Acme Media purchased Rio.com for $450,000. [...]

By: David J Castello

David J Castello — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:38:29 +0000

Eppie:
I don’t know if you own any large Geos, but I can tell you that building, launching and maintaining one is a 24-7 gig. And the keyword here is micromanage. Don’t micromanage one of these babies and you stand a good chance of having a disaster on your hands. And there’s even more to deal with if you add a JV scenario.

I’m not being facetious, but if you know any serious development teams who know how to build a Geodomain (and are available), please let me know. I know over 20 great teams and not one can build a Geo properly without Michael and I having to jump into the mix every two seconds. Put it this way, some of the best looking, high tech city sites are those for CVBs and most don’t make any money. They sure look great, though. I could write a chapter about this. The other chapters would be about dealing with investors, partners, sales, marketing, etc.

Put it this way, if Michael and I only had 5 developed domains we would have been all over Rio.com. But you can’t simply buy a Geo of that magnitude and hand it over to a 3rd party with a blueprint. Speak with Kevin in a year and I’m sure he’ll tell you that Rio.com is 1) t\Taking up most of his time 2) He’s a having the time of his life with his new “friends” in Rio and 3) He wouldn’t be caught dead letting anyone else manage it.

By: Eppie

Eppie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:10:06 +0000

David:

I didn’t mean to offend, and I hope my comment was not taken as a knock on your business acumen. I’m fully aware of your reputation within the industry — particularly this niche.

My point was that if the name was really a STEAL, it’s worthwhile to find a way to commit extra resources to the project. Buying a geo, by nature, means you’re buying a ton of work for yourself. I get that. But if the name is really undervalued and you’re well capitalized, you can afford to pay a lot more for development and have it all wash out in the end. That means you can get a serious development team working on the project and you won’t have to micromanage them.

Is it fair to say that the real problem is a lack of quality development partners? Maybe it’s a lack of awareness by good developers that they could engage in a JV with a premium name owner?

I’m very curious to hear your thoughts on this.

By: David J Castello

David J Castello — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:56:31 +0000

Eppie:
LOL It’s that easy? After 15 years in the business we must be missing something.

Speak to Dan Pulcrano, Skip Hoagland and all of the other major Geo players. They’ll all give you the same “false” answer I gave for the exact same reason. We all own thousands of premium names and have many still waiting for the right JV deal or trying to find the time to build them in-house.

By: Eppie

Eppie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:59:11 +0000

@David J Castello – Not buying Rio.com because it would require a 24-7 commitment rings false to me. If you really believe the name is a steal, you could invest the unspent portion of the name’s real value on a development team. Or you could have purchased the name and struck a JV deal where the developer gets an ownership stake in the name.

There are lots of creative solutions to solve the time commitment problem. Fewer to solve a lack of funds or lack of ideas problem.