3 ms·

DUDU.com Sold for $1 Million

20 points by tnd 15y ago

blankenship 15y ago
The company currently uses GoDudu.com for its website, so this is a much needed upgrade. "Much needed"? If that domain doesn't bring them $1mil in profit, questionable. (Although godudu.com does have a certain English-speaking ring to it.)
spking 15y ago
It makes sense that it was a non-U.S. buyer. I don't think anyone here would invest $1 Million in a name that could so easily be confused with something...fecal.
- sambeau 15y ago
  In Kiswahili in East Africa dudu means bug (as in insect).
simias 15y ago
I haven't much to say on the domain sale per se, but I'm curious about this social network. It advertises "Your friends, photos, games, music - free and without language barriers". I wonder how that works (the "without language barrier" thing) but both the website and the app store page are pretty terse. Has any of you heard about this dudu thing before? Is it the new color.com?
- tlack 15y ago
  I wonder if this is the future must-have feature for social networks. I notice that Facebook now detects if I view comments in Spanish and will automatically translate them for me if I click a link. Pretty cool feature.
- idiopathic 15y ago
  If I had to guess, it would related to Du.ae, the UAE's second telecoms company - they have a duopoly.
smackfu 15y ago
And that's why you don't start a company without owning the domain name.
- qeorge 15y ago
  Not always. Dropbox did the same thing, and I thought it was smart. Couple of factors: 1) Time-value of money. Say they could have gotten it for $30k before they started vs $1 million later. $30k when you're starting up can be "worth" more than $1MM when you're already killing it. 2) If you get big (like Dropbox) you own the namespace anyway. So even though the current owner has leverage over you (they have the only domain you want), you have leverage over them (you're the only potential buyer). 3) High chance the startup won't work out anyway or you'll want to pivot. Keep the cost of rolling the dice low. The alternative is to give your product a less than ideal name. I think that's often a bad trade off which will be more painful to change later than acquiring the domain.
  - larrys 15y ago
    "you have leverage over them (you're the only potential buyer)." An excellent point which many people in the domain business fail to understand. The name becomes a bastard name and can't even pass to another buyer without potentially giving the "only potential buyer" a basis to file a UDRP once the ownership change takes place.
- danvideo 15y ago
  I don't know why this is considered a good thing - a congratulatory post that the domain owner could get a million dollars for a site name? It's an example of excessive domain name costs, which - exactly as smackfu is saying - hampers startup's flexibility with names.
  - tnd 15y ago
    "It's an example of excessive domain name costs, which - exactly as smackfu is saying - hampers startup's flexibility with names." Excessive land costs hamper me from buying a beautiful home in my desired neighborhood.

20 points by tnd 15y ago

The company currently uses GoDudu.com for its website, so this is a much needed upgrade. "Much needed"? If that domain doesn't bring them $1mil in profit, questionable. (Although godudu.com does have a certain English-speaking ring to it.)

spking 15y ago

It makes sense that it was a non-U.S. buyer. I don't think anyone here would invest $1 Million in a name that could so easily be confused with something...fecal.

sambeau 15y ago
In Kiswahili in East Africa dudu means bug (as in insect).

simias 15y ago

I haven't much to say on the domain sale per se, but I'm curious about this social network. It advertises "Your friends, photos, games, music - free and without language barriers". I wonder how that works (the "without language barrier" thing) but both the website and the app store page are pretty terse. Has any of you heard about this dudu thing before? Is it the new color.com?

tlack 15y ago
I wonder if this is the future must-have feature for social networks. I notice that Facebook now detects if I view comments in Spanish and will automatically translate them for me if I click a link. Pretty cool feature.
idiopathic 15y ago
If I had to guess, it would related to Du.ae, the UAE's second telecoms company - they have a duopoly.

smackfu 15y ago

And that's why you don't start a company without owning the domain name.

qeorge 15y ago
Not always. Dropbox did the same thing, and I thought it was smart. Couple of factors: 1) Time-value of money. Say they could have gotten it for $30k before they started vs $1 million later. $30k when you're starting up can be "worth" more than $1MM when you're already killing it. 2) If you get big (like Dropbox) you own the namespace anyway. So even though the current owner has leverage over you (they have the only domain you want), you have leverage over them (you're the only potential buyer). 3) High chance the startup won't work out anyway or you'll want to pivot. Keep the cost of rolling the dice low. The alternative is to give your product a less than ideal name. I think that's often a bad trade off which will be more painful to change later than acquiring the domain.
- larrys 15y ago
  "you have leverage over them (you're the only potential buyer)." An excellent point which many people in the domain business fail to understand. The name becomes a bastard name and can't even pass to another buyer without potentially giving the "only potential buyer" a basis to file a UDRP once the ownership change takes place.
danvideo 15y ago
I don't know why this is considered a good thing - a congratulatory post that the domain owner could get a million dollars for a site name? It's an example of excessive domain name costs, which - exactly as smackfu is saying - hampers startup's flexibility with names.
- tnd 15y ago
  "It's an example of excessive domain name costs, which - exactly as smackfu is saying - hampers startup's flexibility with names." Excessive land costs hamper me from buying a beautiful home in my desired neighborhood.