Dave Slutzkin, CEO of Flippa.com
Flippa, the Australia-based domain and web site marketplace, has achieved a remarkable growth in revenue and sales during the past 18 months.
According to company projections, Flippa will surpass $100,000,000 in sales within the first quarter of 2013; a feat that will further solidify its position as a trading venue in the domain aftermarket.
Dave Slutzkin, founding CEO of Flippa, is currently on a business trip in the US; we were offered the opportunity to pick his brain about the past, the present and the future of Flippa.com.
DomainGang: Dave, as an Aussie entrepreneur, what are your idols with regards to your professional path in life?
“I’m not really one for “idols”, but there are aspects of some people I really respect.
In sport, we have a footballer down in Australia named Lenny Hayes – his work ethic and meticulous preparation are legendary.
In music, Kanye West is an unlikely combination of a smart marketing brain with truly interesting pop music.
In politics, it’s maybe only in hindsight that the genius of the disruptive campaigning strategies of 2008-era Barack Obama can be appreciated.
In business, I’ve had the good luck to work with lots of smart people, not least of which are my current directors Leni Mayo and Mark Harbottle. I learn from these guys every day.”
Do you believe that Americans are oblivious to what’s going on “Down Under” in technology, b2b relations and entrepreneurship?
“Probably, but that’s not really surprising. We’re a relatively tiny country of 22 million, the US is much larger.
I’m actually in San Francisco at the moment, and California alone has almost twice the population of Australia! So it’s not really surprising that you don’t hear much about Aussies at this end of the world; though I went to a Golden State basketball game recently and Andrew Bogut was pretty prominent.
But that said, I don’t think that all Americans are in the same boat.
I’ve had a lot of meetings with savvy business people in the Bay Area who seem to know more about Australian business that I do! These guys realise that Australians are well-educated, resourceful and culturally very compatible with the US, so there are huge opportunities Down Under.”
Have you considered exporting famous Australians, such as Kylie Minogue, Nicole Kidman or Paul Hogan by using them to promote Flippa and its services in a campaign?
“No, I hadn’t. I’m sure they’re all pretty busy! And anyway, we don’t see Flippa as being particularly “Australian”.
Websites are bought and sold all over the world and we don’t like to limit ourselves geographically.”
A while back, Flippa started policing its marketplace for trademark violations, and that’s great. Was that after the 4th, 5th or 12th time that we wrote about it at DomainGang?
“Fair question! We come from a basic economic standpoint that an open market is good for everyone, so we don’t like to implement restrictions unless absolutely necessary.
After all, the risk assessment in the end has to be made by each individual buyer and if we attempt to do that for them we’re likely to get it wrong frequently.
In the case of trademark violations, we had complex legal advice which said that we shouldn’t allow particular things, and as always, you have to do what the lawyers say!”
How did you come up with the name “Flippa” and is there a hidden swastika in the logo, or are we looking for stuff that isn’t there?
“Swastika? You should head back to your optometrist, time for a checkup. But this is a good time to note that we had the logo designed on 99designs, a sister company of ours. As for the name, it came from our President, Mark Harbottle. He’s the branding guru!”
Regarding the future, what types of relationships is Flippa seeking from the other domain marketplace companies? Any concrete plans you could share?
“Nothing I can disclose publicly at this point, but you get points for trying to pry it out of me! Stay tuned, though – we’ve been talking to some interesting people.”
What would be your favorite top domain names; those you’d “kill” to own?
“Isn’t it all about owning TLDs these days?
I’d like to own .ed, as there are lots of good domain hacks for that one – of course, it’ll never be allowed; .thing also appeals to me for similar reasons.”
Thank you, Dave for this interview, and our best wishes for lots of success in the future.
Dave, I’m sure you’ll get a chance to grab a hair-cut in SF!
Uzoma – That’s the hair style Down Under, wild.
Yeah, it’s an Australian surfer thing — the whole Flippa team takes that relaxed Aussie attitude to dressing. Check out this pic — that’s a high percentage of jeans and hoodies!
I will personally see to it that Dave has some new shots taken 😉 Thanks for the great article Domain Gang!
I wonder if he knew at the time of the auction that is running on Flippa for the website: Flippta.com !!
See it