Phase Phase

A naming story · Defispot.com

The 10,000x brand valuation.

How Defispot.com, registered for $10 in 2019, sold for $100,000 USD three years later.

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Naming is branding

A name is the first thing people learn about a brand, and the hardest thing to change later. Choose well, and the name itself becomes an asset.

  • RegisteredDefispot.com, March 29, 2019.
  • What it cost$10 USD for the .com.
  • What it sold for$100,000 USD, in March 2022.

The return

From $10 to $100,000.

Brand valuation

10,000x

$10 for the .com in 2019. $100,000 USD when it sold in 2022.

The story

Three years, eight moments.

Step through it: pick a date, use the buttons, or the arrow keys.

March 29, 2019

$10 for the .com.

On March 29, 2019, I registered Defispot.com for $10. To lock down the brand, I also registered several other extensions.

2019

A home for the blog.

I started working on a website to host the blog, using Squarespace.

April 2019

First posts, then quiet.

We started publishing in April 2019, but quickly went dormant and didn’t start publishing again until 2020.

2020

Back to client work.

We stopped publishing again in 2020 due to other client work.

August 27, 2021

A broker reaches out.

On August 27, 2021, a broker from a domain brokerage service reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in selling the Defispot domain.

2021–2022

The negotiation.

We started negotiating the sale of the .com, first with the broker, then directly with the counterparty.

February 2022

A deal.

We reached a deal in February 2022.

March 2022

Sold.

We closed the deal and sold the brand and domain in March 2022. The sale price was $100,000 USD.

Sold to a venture-backed startup

Brand value

$10

What the .com cost

01 / 08 Tip: use ← and → once a date is selected.

Why it was worth it

What made the name valuable.

Our take, looking back.

01

It says what it is.

DeFi + spot: decentralized finance, and a place to find it. One look and you know the category.

02

We locked down the brand.

Alongside the .com, we registered several other extensions, so no one else could build on the name. They weren’t part of the valuation: the negotiation was only ever about the .com.

03

We got there early.

Registered in March 2019, a year before DeFi’s breakout summer of 2020 put the category on the map.

Naming is branding

Your name is part of your brand’s value.

A name shows up before your logo, your site or your pitch. It’s in every search, every referral and every email address, so it carries your brand from day one, and it can end up worth far more than it cost.

Naming is part of our branding work. We help brands find a name that’s memorable, says what they do and has a domain to match, and when the right domain is already taken, we can help you acquire it.

Domain acquisition Branding

What we look for in a name

  • Easy to say and spellIf people can’t spell it, they can’t find it.
  • Says what you doA head start on every first impression.
  • The .com is gettableOr a strong alternative you can own outright.
  • Room to growA name that still fits in five years.
  • Hard to copyDistinctive enough to own in search.

Your move

Looking for a name worth building on?

Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you find the name, and the domain, to match.

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