Basecamp CEO Jason Fried bought the domain Hey.com from its previous owner, for an undisclosed amount. They are rolling out a new email-focused product sometime in April, and it’s going to be called “Hey.”
Hey back at ya!
In an article shared yesterday, Jason Fried talks about how it all happened. From “cold-emailing” the Hey.com registrant, to agreeing on the price and getting the domain in return.
And somewhere in this exchange, Mr. Fried dropped a red herring: Dane, the Hey.com owner, wasn’t a squatter:
“Things were beginning to heat up, but there was no deal yet. I completely understood – he owned this domain for a long time, and he wasn’t a squatter. Dane used hey.com for his business. It was part of his identity. It was a valuable asset. He needed time to think it through.”
So because Hey.com was already a live brand, according to Jason Fried, the domain was not in the hands of a “cybersquatter.”
Facepalm. Dot com.
That, is a fallacy, as we all know, because the simple act of holding onto a domain for profit and monetization isn’t the definition of cybersquatting.
The truth is that even if the domain were parked with PPC ads showing comedy links, or dating links, or porno links even – that would be a legitimate business use. If Hey.com displayed a contact form with an asking price, that would also be a legitimate business use – because domain investing is a legitimate business.
Don’t believe us? Ask Media Options, or thousands of other domain investors worldwide.
But hey, I bet you didn’t know that.
Story kudos: Jamie Zoch.
Hey, domain investing is a business. Photo by @rw.studios on Unsplash
