Your Portfolio Never Dies: Estate Planning for Domain Investors. | NamesCon Global 2020 in Austin, Texas
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Estate Planning for Domain Investors Takes Center Stage Day Three of NamesCon Global 2020

February 3, 2020 by Alvin Brown No Comments
Written by: Alvin Brown

Day one of NamesCon was all about settling into the conference and venue layout, meeting new people, and finding your lane of expertise and interest amongst the many information-packed sessions.

With Day one jitters behind us, Day two of NamesCon was about going deeper in old and newly found relationships, empowering everyone to do what it is they do well as presentd by Aman Bhutani — CEO of GoDaddy, and of course, awards and the much anticipated live domain auction.

As for Day three of NamesCon, it too would move the bar of excellence higher, especially pertaining to generational domain investing and prudent estate planning for domain portfolios.

But more on that in a moment.

First things first, Day three of NamesCon kicked off with a packed Keynote Hall eagerly waiting to hear from James Booth about his winding domain investing journey as a domain broker — “Phenomenal Keynote: Fireside Discussion with James Booth of Phenom.com”.

Moderated by Bill Sweetman, James shares how he was down on his luck traveling from country to country, yet used transferrable skills from a wealth management background to establish himself as a domain buyer broker for his brother, Andy Booth.

James shared a number thoughts, keeping attendees captivated and laughing at each turn in his journey:

  • The Chinese domain market
  • His secret weapon for buying and selling Do.com
  • The backstory of brokering IJ.com for $500K
  • His next rebrand from Phenom.com to DomainBooth.com
  • How he defines domain investing success

Unfortunately, I was only able to capture half of the keynote due to forgetting to enable airplane mode and a received phone call ending video recording. 😔 But hey, at least you got to hear and see half of it. 😉

 

Kicking off the 11 o’clock hour, it was a tough decision choosing between “Threats and Opportunities: New TLDs 5 Years In” moderated by Andrew Allemann with four other panelists — Matt Overman, Christa Taylor, Christina Beavis, and Karn Jajoo, and “On the Other Hand: Sales from the Buyer’s Perspective” moderated by Bill Sweetman with four other panelists.

While TLDs are in important, it’s critically important to understand the buyer’s perspective when buying and selling domain names.

The panel was certainly a “Who’s Who” panel consisting of Jeff Gabriel, Kate Buckley, Alan Shiflett, Dave Evanson, and Carla Westerdale.

On the Other Hand: Sales from the Buyer’s Perspective - NamesCon Global 2020 in Austin, Texas

Out of all panelists, Carla Westerdale shared interesting perspectives towards corporate buying and selling domains as the Domain Manager at Kaiser Permanente.

Carla states it’s important for both the buyer and seller to set clear and realistic expectations and timelines, while putting great emphasis on domain sellers and brokers building and sustaining a genuine relationship before, during, and after purchase.

Kicking off the noon hour, one of the most insightful, informative sessions in all of NamesCon Global 2020 was the session moderated by Derek A. Newman: “Your Portfolio Never Dies: Estate Planning for Domain Investors.”

Joining Derek on stage were four panelists: Ari Goldberger, Michael Robertson, Michael Gargiulo, and Munish Dayal.

Other than to invite you to watch and listen for yourselves, I simply don’t where to begin with this session because it touched on so much invaluable content.

 

While no man or woman is exempt from dying, as the industry ages, domain investors MUST have a well-though out continuity plan in place in the event of death or sudden incapacitation.

From the pros and cons of owning a domain portfolio as an individual to LLC and corporations owning a domain portfolio, this session is a great starting point for giving serious thought to and preparing one’s estate or continuity plan to protect and preserve a domain portfolio for future generations.

In addition to the video above, take a listen to a podcast I delivered a few months ago: 6 Aspects of Digital Estate Planning.

As for the remainder of my Day three at NamesCon 2020, I had planned on attending the following sessions as well as the closing remarks by Soeren von Varchmin:

However, I opted out of all the afternoon sessions to grab lunch with Morgan Linton and record an interview about the following:

  • How and why attending NamesCon is a solid investment for the entire domain investing ecosystem
  • Morgan shares a few domain sales as well as why he’s currently investing in ccTLDs
  • 3 critical lessons that forever changed his domain investing strategy

 

 

From interviewing Morgan, I had a few other meetings with first-time NamesCon attendees and a few industry professionals to reconnect with.

While the sessions are good to attend, I can’t stress the importance of time well spent missing sessions in favor of relational connectedness with fellow NamesCon attendees.

I’m certain each session’s content was good in its own right, but making lasting memories at a personal and professional level are hard to come by in this industry.

Just the people alone you meet when attending NamesCon is well worth the price of admission.

Outside of the closing remarks, which I regretfully missed, Afilias Lounge hosted the annual Women in Domaining — 10th Anniversary.

All in all, Day three was a great, informative day! As there were many dinners to attend throughout the evening, I finished Day three of NamesCon attending dinner with a group of fellow domain investors at the Iron Cactus off of 6th street.

Stay tuned for the Day four finale and recap of NamesCon Global 2020.

Thanks and that’s all for now!

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Written by Alvin Brown
He's an experienced and passionate serial entrepreneur, founder and publisher of Kickstart Commerce. Alvin possesses a great love for startups dominating their market using profitable digital strategies for greater commerce.