Domain Name Wire Podcast

The clock is ticking down if you want to apply for a top level domain name. Applications close on August 12. 

On today's show, I talk with someone who has launched a top level domain name to better understand the business.

Colin Campbell founded and launched .Club, which he later sold to GoDaddy. Today, he discusses the cold, hard reality of running a top level domain name. We talk about ...

Most people who have a full-time job and invest in domains count on their full-time job for their income. Today's guest is different: domain investing makes much more than his regular job.

So why keep the regular job? Well, it's not so regular, and it's quite rewarding. Stu Maloff has been teaching for over 30 years.

On today's show, he discusses how he got into domains, building his portfolio...

We all have our war stories about trying to acquire domains from stubborn sellers. But Rob Schutz of Snagged has a story that might just top them all.

Rob helped a company acquire a name from a domain seller who was, let's just call him, a bit erratic. To get the deal done, Rob had to deliver the money in gold coins, in person, at a neutral location. He even hired an off-duty police officer to be in the ro...

On this week's show, Nadya Frost of domain and hosting analytics company ShareShift shares interesting data about the .AI namespace, as well as other trends related to artificial intelligence.

We discuss how AI is changing the technologies people use for building websites and how sites are optimizing for large language models.

ShareShift focuses on the European market, so we also explore how t...

Last week, Internet Commerce Association announced changes to its board.

Longtime board member Nat Cohen stepped up to the role of president, and Ryan McKegney is the new vice president.

On today's show, both Nat and Ryan will join me, along with executive director Kamila Sekiewicz.

We discuss the recent ICA meetup in New York and what the organization is working on this year.

Human rights organization Article19 recently released a report titled Damming a river to catch a fish, examining how governments and other entities are increasingly turning to the DNS layer to censor content.

On today's show, Michaela Nakayama Shapiro of Article19 explains what the organization found and what can be done about it, including recommendations for registries, registrars, ICANN, and government...

Nordic Domain Days took place in Stockholm, Sweden, last week. It was my first time attending the event, and the trip was very worthwhile. Not only was the content good, but the networking was solid as well, with many people I had never met.

On today's show, you'll hear from five people who were at the conference, including a conversation with the event's founder, LG Forsberg.

Also: Domain ren...

Very few domain name investors ever reach the point where they do it full-time. It's even rarer when they primarily invest in non-.com domains.

One investor who went full-time is Nikul Sanghvi. He was a part-time investor when the pandemic hit, and as his consulting work dried up, he took the plunge.

On today's show, Nikul talks about some of the pros and cons of investing in domains full-time...

Artificial intelligence is having a huge impact on the domain name industry. One area it could help grow the business is if agents use the DNS for identity.

Today, Identity Digital CEO Akram Atallah discusses the company's new DNSid, which it bills as "birth certificates for agents."

We discuss the need for a standard and how Identity Digital's initiative differs from the one GoDaddy is buildi...

Top level domain company ShortDot didn't apply for any top level domains in the 2012 round, but it later acquired TLDs and has grown its portfolio to millions of second level registrations.

On today's show, ShortDot CEO Lars Jensen explains why ShortDot was founded and how it has grown its registrations. He also talks about his expectations for the next round, in which ShortDot will likely be among the lar...

Phil Davis has named 750 companies and brands, such as PODS, since he started his naming agency, Tungsten Branding. The process led him to get into domain investing.

Grab a pencil and paper as Phil explains how he built his portfolio to 22,000 domains, almost solely with hand registrations.

He explains how the processes of naming companies and investing in domains are distinct. Phil also dis...

ICANN is opening applications for new top level domain names this week, 14 years after the last round of TLD expansion.

The rules have changed: Fees are higher this time around, and applicants can't coordinate to settle string contentions after applications are revealed.

On today's show, Ray King discusses some of these changes and why he built Early Warning Report to help applicants.

Most domain investors know the lifecycle of domain names, but the same can't be said for entrepreneurs, businesses, and individuals who have their eyes on a domain.

Mike Cyger's latest creation solves that problem. Notify.domains is like Google Alerts for Domains. It tracks domain names and notifies users whenever there is a change: the domain expires, it's listed for sale, a nameserver changes, or even t...

I've been a fan of Instant Domain Search for many years. The domain search tool has been around for over two decades, but it's expanding its ambitions this year.

Under the umbrella of Instant Labs, the company is introducing new search features, an API for its data, and its own domain name registrar.

On today's show, Instant Labs CEO Matt Maiale fills us in on the details, and tells the stor...

Most domain transactions go smoothly. When they don't, people turn to attorney John Berryhill for help.

On today's show, John shares stories about some of the things he's seen happen: a UDRP filed during a long-term payment plan, a bankruptcy impacting a previous domain sale, and habitually late payers on LTOs.

Thankfully, John also suggests a fairly simple way to protect yourself.

One of the fastest-innovating companies in the domain space is Atom. Some might say it releases new features too fast, making it difficult to keep up.

But some of the features and tweaks it has made this year are examples of why you need to try new things. 

On today's show, Atom CEO Darpan Munjal discusses some things the company has tried this year and the results so far. He also share...

Is it possible to hand register domain names and turn a profit? Or are all of the good domains already taken?

On today's show, domain investor Josh Reason walks through the process he used to register 7,500 domain names last year. He's already turned a profit on the domains, proving there are still opportunities to hand-register domains.

It took some elbow grease, though. Grab a pen and pape...

This week, I sit down to chat with Michael Reidl, CEO of Team Internet Group (London AIM; TIG).

You might not know that company by name, but you've probably heard of some of its brands. The company owns domain registrars including Moniker, traffic monetization businesses such as ParkingCrew, and provides backend registry services for TLDs such as .co and .xyz.

We have a wide-ranging discussi...