The art of the deal is the name of the game, and today’s podcast guest has made a name for himself across varying industries for nearly 40-plus years, spanning from the industrial to the information age.

From funerals to insurance to flowers to coffee to search marketing and more, Bill McClure is certainly not shy when it comes to assessing and initiating deals — the good, the bad, and ugly.

Domaining in 2021 is shaping up to be a stellar year, in comparison to 2020, as we approach the halfway mark.

Per Rick Schwartz, in 2020, there was $5.27M in domain sales reported on the top 10 list. Only 5 months into 2021, and there is $11.12MM in reported sales.

“It’s another day, another dime, another dollar, another day here in domaining paradise…”

Who proclaims and lives by this moniker?

Well, you’ll have to tune in as today’s podcast guest who truly lives in the sun, sand, and sea in the land of opportunity.

I bet you didn’t know domain registrars have a legal right to lock your domain name or domain portfolio based on a frivolous lawsuit or baseless claim or did you?

Now that I have your attention, today’s podcast dives deep into the details and back story of how one of the most prolific domain investors of our time discovered his multi-million domain portfolio of ultra-premium domains on lockdown by a bad actor filing a lawsuit in India and reporting it to GoDaddy.

GoDaddy, and they’re not the only domain registrar, has long held and enforced the policy that domains can and will be locked when legally challenged.

And what does legally challenged consist of? Well, I’m glad you asked.

What a milestone for every podcast to make it too, now including Kickstart.fm: Episode 100! 🎉

It’s been a great adventure thus far, and I can’t even imagine all the various interviews and stories that await the domain and business worlds.

With that out of the way, today’s milestone interview and the interviewee has roots that find deep origin from the Bluegrass State of Kentucky.

The Bluegrass State is famous for a number of things — breeding horses, tobacco farms, fine bourbon, and, of course, the Kentucky Derby.

While domain professionals hail from all over the globe, none are quite as special as today’s darling of domaining. And who might this darling of domaining be?

It’s not very often you stumble upon a domain hobbyist that has played a critical role in the innovation and automation of domain registration and web hosting services, to say the least.

But today’s guest, Rolf Larsen, not only played a critical role, but is recognized as a long-standing pioneer of Internet access, Domain name registrar and Web Hosting services throughout Europe and Scandinavia, and onto the greater globe.

The struggle is real when it comes to the buying and selling of domain names. Domain investing and development, neither one is for the faint of heart.

Domain investing has become highly competitively over the last 3 or so years — expiring domain auctions, especially with COVID putting tight clamps on gambling, a thriving industry, pushing a large number of the population into alternative investments — stock market and domain name investing.

While increased competition is one thing, there are a number of threats lurking to wipe out a domain investors portfolio and legacy as the domain industry matures.

In a recent podcast, I sat down with Michael Gargiulo, a long-time domain investor and developer, and serial entrepreneur.