Domain Name Wire Podcast

Domain investor Joshua Schoen has a portfolio of fewer than 300 domains. But pound for pound, it's one of the best portfolios in the industry, with names like proxy.com, spiral.com, and fluid.com.

This year has been a good one for Joshua, thanks to his highest domain sale ever: cognition.com.

On today's show, Joshua explains how that deal came together. He also discloses his other sales for the year and talks about acquiring circa.com for $250k.

Additionally, he shares why he forwards his most valuable domains to his LinkedIn profile...

I get a lot of feedback about the Domain Name Wire Podcast, and one episode this year got more accolades than usual.

In episode #585, naming expert Phil Davis explained how he built a portfolio of over 20,000 domains, almost exclusively through hand registrations.

Today, he returns to provide more details and an update on his sales this year. Grab a pen and paper; we're talking about keywords and strategy.

Yes, it's two episodes in a row about hand registrations! But even if you participate in expired domain auctions, the same data and suggestions apply.<...

The numbers don't lie: people are hand registering more domains now than ever before. In the third quarter, people registered 13.1 million new .com and .net domains. That was a record for Verisign, beating the previous record set just three months earlier. Sure, some were expired domain backorders, but many weren't. 

Earlier this year, domain investor Josh Reason came on the show to talk about his formula for hand registering 7,500 domains and his early results. Today, Josh returns to provide an update. He shares his results and discusses which keywords have been winners — and which haven't panned out.

For Barbara Povše and her team at Slovenia's .si domain registry, things have always moved at a deliberate pace. That changed last month when Donald Trump triggered a frenzy of domain registrations.

During a speech to the United Nations, Trump announced that his administration would start referring to artificial intelligence as "super intelligence." He followed up with an executive order.

This led to a surge in registrations that doubled the size of the .si namespace in just a few weeks.

On today's show, Barbara takes us behind the scenes of this unexpected b...

For three decades, Rick Schwartz has been building a portfolio of super-valuable domain names, and he sells them from time to time at eye-watering prices.

This year, something changed. Rick decided to put domains like property.com, tryouts.com, and stud.com into the hands of builders.

He organized the Beanstalk Challenge, giving people the opportunity to use his domains as the basis for new businesses. Rick brings the domain, the builders bring their business expertise.

There are now 60 builders developing businesses on Rick's domains. And next month at NamesCon, Rick will hand...

AI changes everything, and that includes domain names and the web presence business. 

As Wall Street tries to figure out the winners and losers, many incumbent large tech companies, including GoDaddy, have seen their share prices fall.

This week, I chat with Vinod Suresh, VP of Product Management at GoDaddy. Vinod explains how AI is impacting businesses through democratization, compression, and delegation. 

Democratization means more people will become builders. Compression refers to how quickly things get done. As for delegation: bring on the agents.

Beyond creating AI products, GoDaddy uses AI in...

Many top level domains applied for this year have a connection to web3: think .crypto and .nft.

But for many years, web3 companies have offered alt-root "domains" matching these top level domains on blockchain-based systems. What happens if one of those alt-root systems wants to integrate with the matching real top level domain? And how can TLDs add web3 functionality within ICANN's rules?

That's the question an ICANN technical study group sought to answer this year.

On today's show, one of the group's members discusses what the group determined. Don Ruiz is general...

Verisign is introducing .web this year, but the idea for the domain dates back more than three decades. Today's guest was there at the beginning.

Chris Ambler, Director of Domains for Registered Agents, Inc., discusses the long and winding history of .web and his role in proposing the domain years ago. 

Nah, he's not bitter at all about not getting the domain.

Even though Chris isn't involved with Verisign's .web, he is participating in this year's round of new top level domain expansion. Registered Agents, Inc. applied for...

The board of auDA, the group that oversees the .au namespace, just voted to make a sweeping change to registration rules for .com.au domains. It could mean a million or more domains lose their eligibility in a namespace of 3.3 million.

On today's show, Erhan Karabardak, a former auDA board member and IP attorney, joins me. He was one of the seven people on the panel that came up with the recommended rule change, and one of three who voted against it.

Erhan explains what happened and what it means for domain registrants.

...

Two-thirds of the year is in the books, and what a year it has been. Technology is changing quickly, and this is impacting the domain business.

On today's show, I discuss my domain results so far this year and dig into some of the changes I'm making to my investing. I also discuss how I'm using the GoDaddy Auctions API to make bidding easier. 

Also: .Net prices, GoValue, Radix, Unstoppable [Domains], D3, and more

Sponsor: Sav.com backorders

.AI is hot, but what do business owners think about them? On this show, I speak with two business owners who switched their businesses to .ai domains. One started with a .so and quickly realized the extension's limitations. The other started on a .com domain that ended up pigeonholing this business.

First, I chat with Felix Ingla of Pedra. He launched his business on a .so domain and immediately ran into problems. He knew he needed to choose a different domain, and considered getPedra.com, which he could have hand registered. But 'get' works best as a...

The deadline to apply for a top level domain with ICANN was last Wednesday, and one company went big. Really big.

Link Freedom Group (LFG), a company associated with the team behind .link, followed through on its plans to apply for around 200 strings. 

On today's show, LFG CEO Vaughn Liley talks about the thought process the company went through when selecting domains, the impact of the recent web3 integration report, and what he expects to happen in the coming months. 

Also: 1,600 applications, GoDaddy Auctions API, Web 3 integration report, ENS 

Last year NamesCon moved to Miami for its first conference under new ownership. There were a lot of cool changes to the conference…as well as some things that could be improved.

Today, I'm joined by Anthony Pomball, managing director of NamesCon and CloudFest Americas, and Christian Dawson, Executive Director of i2Coalition. 

Anthony discusses changes coming to this year's NamesCon, and many of them will be welcomed. 

Christian is leading a revamped content strategy for the event, and he discusses some of the speakers and sessions at Name...

Is the DNS the perfect backbone for a future full of agents? I previously talked to GoDaddy about Agent Name Service and Identity Digital about DNSid. 

Former Tucows CEO Elliot Noss has another vision: Groundmark.

On today's show, Elliot talks about the idea behind Groundmark and how decades of experience in the domain business have influenced his vision of the agentic future.

Also: Wall Street is happy with Tucows, but not GoDaddy

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

Half of 2026 is in the books, so I invited DNJournal publisher Ron Jackson on the show this week to talk about the top sales so far.

We discuss the top 15 sales and how the domains are being used, and Ron provides some perspective on this year versus last year. 

Track the biggest domain sales on DNJournal's YTD chart.

Also: .Web, Verisign earnings, US domain seizure, .io prices, new domain ownership verification idea

Sponsor: Spaceship

The clock is ticking down if you want to apply for a top level domain name. Applications close on August 12. 

On today's show, I talk with someone who has launched a top level domain name to better understand the business.

Colin Campbell founded and launched .Club, which he later sold to GoDaddy. Today, he discusses the cold, hard reality of running a top level domain name. We talk about how long it took .club to turn a profit,  the keys to getting distribution, and why running a TLD is a marathon, not a sprint.

Most people who have a full-time job and invest in domains count on their full-time job for their income. Today's guest is different: domain investing makes much more than his regular job.

So why keep the regular job? Well, it's not so regular, and it's quite rewarding. Stu Maloff has been teaching for over 30 years.

On today's show, he discusses how he got into domains, building his portfolio to over 5,000 names, and pricing domains. He also talks about how he cashed in on the metaverse trend, but not in the way you might think.

We all have our war stories about trying to acquire domains from stubborn sellers. But Rob Schutz of Snagged has a story that might just top them all.

Rob helped a company acquire a name from a domain seller who was, let's just call him, a bit erratic. To get the deal done, Rob had to deliver the money in gold coins, in person, at a neutral location. He even hired an off-duty police officer to be in the room for safety.

And while this story is the zaniest one I've heard about a domain...

On this week's show, Nadya Frost of domain and hosting analytics company ShareShift shares interesting data about the .AI namespace, as well as other trends related to artificial intelligence.

We discuss how AI is changing the technologies people use for building websites and how sites are optimizing for large language models.

ShareShift focuses on the European market, so we also explore how that market differs from the rest of the world.

Also: Polymarket domain, dotDB, NameJet, and more.

Sponsor: Spaceship Sellerhub

Last week, Internet Commerce Association announced changes to its board.

Longtime board member Nat Cohen stepped up to the role of president, and Ryan McKegney is the new vice president.

On today's show, both Nat and Ryan will join me, along with executive director Kamila Sekiewicz.

We discuss the recent ICA meetup in New York and what the organization is working on this year.

Also: Anti-trust claim, Blacknight acquired, and more.

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

Anand Vora, who oversees Namecheap's and Spaceship's domain businesses, joins me on the show this week.

We discuss Anand's history in the domain business, what it's like to move from the registry side to the registrar side, and what's in store for both Namecheap and Spaceship.

Also: Web3 integration technical group, NIXI nixes domain investors

Sponsor: Namecheap .AI auctions

Human rights organization Article19 recently released a report titled Damming a river to catch a fish, examining how governments and other entities are increasingly turning to the DNS layer to censor content.

On today's show, Michaela Nakayama Shapiro of Article19 explains what the organization found and what can be done about it, including recommendations for registries, registrars, ICANN, and governments, as well as guidance for organizations facing censorship threats.

Also: Bali, domain appraisals, .co changes, and more

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

Nordic Domain Days took place in Stockholm, Sweden, last week. It was my first time attending the event, and the trip was very worthwhile. Not only was the content good, but the networking was solid as well, with many people I had never met.

On today's show, you'll hear from five people who were at the conference, including a conversation with the event's founder, LG Forsberg.

Also: Domain renewal data, Whois contact forms, and more

Sponsor: Spaceship

Very few domain name investors ever reach the point where they do it full-time. It's even rarer when they primarily invest in non-.com domains.

One investor who went full-time is Nikul Sanghvi. He was a part-time investor when the pandemic hit, and as his consulting work dried up, he took the plunge.

On today's show, Nikul talks about some of the pros and cons of investing in domains full-time. We also discuss how the market is changing and how Nikul is adapting his strategy to the times.

Nikul has been on the...

Artificial intelligence is having a huge impact on the domain name industry. One area it could help grow the business is if agents use the DNS for identity.

Today, Identity Digital CEO Akram Atallah discusses the company's new DNSid, which it bills as "birth certificates for agents."

We discuss the need for a standard and how Identity Digital's initiative differs from the one GoDaddy is building.

And no discussion with Identity Digital would be complete without a conversation about this year's new top level domain expansion.

Also: Small business warning, .latino...

Top level domain company ShortDot didn't apply for any top level domains in the 2012 round, but it later acquired TLDs and has grown its portfolio to millions of second level registrations.

On today's show, ShortDot CEO Lars Jensen explains why ShortDot was founded and how it has grown its registrations. He also talks about his expectations for the next round, in which ShortDot will likely be among the larger applicants.

Also: DNSSEC, Prosecco, and UDRP

Sponsor: Sav.com backorders

Phil Davis has named 750 companies and brands, such as PODS, since he started his naming agency, Tungsten Branding. The process led him to get into domain investing.

Grab a pencil and paper as Phil explains how he built his portfolio to 22,000 domains, almost solely with hand registrations.

He explains how the processes of naming companies and investing in domains are distinct. Phil also discusses pricing and the concept of "inevitables" for domains. Phil even shares some of the keywords that have worked for him. 

The interview finishes with...

ICANN is opening applications for new top level domain names this week, 14 years after the last round of TLD expansion.

The rules have changed: Fees are higher this time around, and applicants can't coordinate to settle string contentions after applications are revealed.

On today's show, Ray King discusses some of these changes and why he built Early Warning Report to help applicants.

Ray is the founder of domain registrar Porkbun and the TLD company Top Level Design, so he's been on both sides of the top level dom...

Most domain investors know the lifecycle of domain names, but the same can't be said for entrepreneurs, businesses, and individuals who have their eyes on a domain.

Mike Cyger's latest creation solves that problem. Notify.domains is like Google Alerts for Domains. It tracks domain names and notifies users whenever there is a change: the domain expires, it's listed for sale, a nameserver changes, or even the domain's content changes. The platform tracks over 150 attributes for each domain name.

And if a domain is expiring, it explains to users how to ac...

I've been a fan of Instant Domain Search for many years. The domain search tool has been around for over two decades, but it's expanding its ambitions this year.

Under the umbrella of Instant Labs, the company is introducing new search features, an API for its data, and its own domain name registrar.

On today's show, Instant Labs CEO Matt Maiale fills us in on the details, and tells the story of acquiring the domain instant.ai.

Also: Registrar tricked, defense contractor RDNH, and new top level dom...

Most domain transactions go smoothly. When they don't, people turn to attorney John Berryhill for help.

On today's show, John shares stories about some of the things he's seen happen: a UDRP filed during a long-term payment plan, a bankruptcy impacting a previous domain sale, and habitually late payers on LTOs.

Thankfully, John also suggests a fairly simple way to protect yourself.

Sponsor: Spaceship

One of the fastest-innovating companies in the domain space is Atom. Some might say it releases new features too fast, making it difficult to keep up.

But some of the features and tweaks it has made this year are examples of why you need to try new things. 

On today's show, Atom CEO Darpan Munjal discusses some things the company has tried this year and the results so far. He also shares what percentage of the company's domain sales revenue is now .ai (it's shocking!), how big a deal payment plans hav...

Is it possible to hand register domain names and turn a profit? Or are all of the good domains already taken?

On today's show, domain investor Josh Reason walks through the process he used to register 7,500 domain names last year. He's already turned a profit on the domains, proving there are still opportunities to hand-register domains.

It took some elbow grease, though. Grab a pen and paper to take notes as Josh explains the exact steps he took to identify domain names with high resale potential.

I fol...

This week, I sit down to chat with Michael Reidl, CEO of Team Internet Group (London AIM; TIG).

You might not know that company by name, but you've probably heard of some of its brands. The company owns domain registrars including Moniker, traffic monetization businesses such as ParkingCrew, and provides backend registry services for TLDs such as .co and .xyz.

We have a wide-ranging discussion about the domain name business, including how monetization is changing. Michael also shares what he sees on the horizon as the top level domain name application wi...

It's back! Two of our most popular guests on the Domain Name Wire podcast are domain investors Mark Levine and Logan Flatt. 

On today's show, Mark and Logan provide details about their domain investing results in 2025. You'll learn where they are acquiring domains, what type they are buying, how they're pricing them and how they're selling them. 

Grab a pencil and paper, because you'll want to take notes.

Also: Escrow.com data, ICANN85, Dominion, and new TLD tool

Sponsor: Namecheap

A year ago Nova Registry, the company behind .link, announced that it planned to apply for 200 top level domain names in the round that opens this year.

Today, Vaughn Liley, general manager of Nova Registry, comes on the show to give an update about the company's plans. We have a wide ranging conversation about running top level domains, how the 2026 round will be different from last time, the policy behind web3 integration, and much more.

Also: GoDaddy and Escrow earnings, premium domains

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

By now, you've surely heard about the record-shattering $70 million sale of ai.com.

After the sale was announced, there were many erroneous news reports claiming that the seller had purchased the domain decades ago for $100. This isn't true, and anyone who pays attention to the domain business knows this. About five years ago, Saw.com brokered the sale of the domain, and this was widely reported in the press.

On today's show, Saw.com founder Jeff Gabriel provides details on the previous sale of the valuable domain name and how the artificial intelligence market has...

This month's Super Bowl featured a lot of great commercials, including one that the entire domain name industry can get behind. Squarespace's commercial featured actress Emma Stone, who searches and finds out that EmmaStone.com is taken. The ad tells people to get their domain before it's gone.

While EmmaStone.com was taken, Stone acquired the domain late last year. 

On today's show, the domain broker who helped make that happen, Brian Harbin of Grit Brokerage, tells the story of how the deal came together.

We also talk...

About one year after retiring from GoDaddy, Bob Mountain is back in the domain industry as the Chief Commercial and Revenue Officer for D3 Global.

On today's show, Bob explains why he believes in D3's mission of marrying the DNS with blockchain technology. He discusses how this can benefit both domain investors and registrars.

Also: Verisign's plans, Emma Stone, Bed Bath & Beyond, .ai price increase and more 

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

After a year of strong growth at its domain name registrar, Unstoppable Domains is looking forward to building on the momentum in 2026.

On today's show, Unstoppable CEO Matthew Gould explains the company's strategy, and why he Unstoppable Domains will continue to attract domain investors.

Matthew also discussed the Unstoppable's plans to apply for new top level domain names with ICANN this year.

Also: Mtn is back, Monaco rolls the dice, .AI hits new heights. 

Sponsor:  Sav.com backorders