Recently I read an interesting story in a May 5 news article on eName.cn.
In 1997, a student was working at an Internet firm. He was responsible for registering domain names to build websites. But, he only followed the crowd and so missed out the golden opportunity in Pinyin domain names.
At that time in China, most people in the Internet industry thought .com domain names using English words for the global market were of premium quality. The most ambitious companies such as Alibaba and Tencent bought this type of premium domain names.
On the contrary, numerics and Pinyin names were considered inferior and were mostly ignored.
Around 2001 or 2002, Wen Sheng CAI showed up. He saw a new market and bet a lot more companies (bread-and-butter type businesses) would welcome Pinyin names. So, he started scooping up short Pinyin .com with good meanings.
Years later, Chinese companies suddenly realized there’s value in short Pinyin .com domain names. Cai became the domain king in China.
What we can learn from this story is that we need to look outside the box. Do not follow the crowd but do our own research and thinking in domain investment.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
Rightly said and thanks for sharing Kassey!
Kassey Lee says
It’s easier said than done, though I always try to look at investment from a different angle.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
I like your thinking! 🙂
Leo Golan says
Often times we look at some blasting invention or enterprise and think: Oh God, this idea is so freaking simple and obvious, how couldn’t I think about it myself…