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It's not a 'waste' when you can resell the domain, in fact it sounds like he could even turn a profit: > Arzuage says he doesn’t want to sell the domain, even

It's not a 'waste' when you can resell the domain, in fact it sounds like he could even turn a profit: > Arzuage says he doesn’t want to sell the domain, even though he has already had offers in the high six figures should he change his mind.

Androsynth 14y ago
If he was just trying to make money by flipping the domain name, than it might be a savvy business move. But his goal was to start a successful business and make more than a few hundred thousand dollars. He could have named his company: randomstartupdeals.com, or something not as succinct as startups.com but much cheaper. Then he could have used that $500k to extend the life of his business (possibly through another pivot or two).
- wilfra 14y ago
  The domain was purchased in 2008. The startup that failed was launched only a year ago. So the $500k spent on this domain could not have been used for the daily deals venture because it didn't even exist yet. However you are correct if a startup gets $X funding and spends $Y on a domain and then runs out of funding, if having $Y in cash at the end would have given them enough runway to significantly change their odds of success, spending that money on the domain might not have been the best idea. It doesn't appear that is what happened in this case, though.
wilfra 14y ago
Exactly what I came to post. Where is the part where he wasted money on the domain? If he had bought startup-deals.com for $500k that would be a waste. What he has now is a prime piece of very valuable real estate that is currently occupied by a company that is going out of business. I'm sure lots of startups that get shut down wish they had an asset like this left over at the end instead of just a whole bunch of code and some email addresses.
literalusername 14y ago
The waste was his opportunity cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost
mibbitier 14y ago
There's always a bigger fool than you.... until there isn't.

Androsynth 14y ago

If he was just trying to make money by flipping the domain name, than it might be a savvy business move. But his goal was to start a successful business and make more than a few hundred thousand dollars. He could have named his company: randomstartupdeals.com, or something not as succinct as startups.com but much cheaper. Then he could have used that $500k to extend the life of his business (possibly through another pivot or two).

wilfra 14y ago
The domain was purchased in 2008. The startup that failed was launched only a year ago. So the $500k spent on this domain could not have been used for the daily deals venture because it didn't even exist yet. However you are correct if a startup gets $X funding and spends $Y on a domain and then runs out of funding, if having $Y in cash at the end would have given them enough runway to significantly change their odds of success, spending that money on the domain might not have been the best idea. It doesn't appear that is what happened in this case, though.

wilfra 14y ago

Exactly what I came to post. Where is the part where he wasted money on the domain? If he had bought startup-deals.com for $500k that would be a waste. What he has now is a prime piece of very valuable real estate that is currently occupied by a company that is going out of business. I'm sure lots of startups that get shut down wish they had an asset like this left over at the end instead of just a whole bunch of code and some email addresses.

literalusername 14y ago

The waste was his opportunity cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

mibbitier 14y ago

There's always a bigger fool than you.... until there isn't.