DomainX Conference Experience / Review

September 7, 2014 Yuva Engineers Uncategorized 0

Conference Name : DomainX

Dates: 7th September 2014

Location: Marriott Hotel, Hyderabad, India.

My Objective(s) for attending this conference: To meet fellow domainers in India and to feel first hand, what is going on with others in the industry. Get motivated again to spare time for domaining.

Other attendees on my Table and In General: I was expecting around 750-800 people to attend, But the actual number may be 350-400. Most of the attendees are young people; average age might be 30 year or less. 95% are male. Attendees on my table are not domainers, in fact I am the only one on my table who owns domains for flipping. Others own one domain at most for their business purpose. But the beauty is that, by the end of conference, every single one of them is planning to buys doimains for domaining.

Sessions:

  1. Vineet Goenka(Chief Guest – BJP IT Cell Convener) inaugurated the event.
  2. Ron Jackson(DNjournal) and Michael Castello(Key Note Speaker): This session was conducted live via skype. Ron Jackson interviewed Michael. Michael is a Pioneer in domain industry and needs no introduction. He shared his experiences and his perspectives on emerging trends. ( He sold Whisky.com for 3.1 Million USD This year).  Ron Jackson is another inspiring domainer. He runs DNJournal.com. I personally  identify with him as I myself run an engineering Journal (www.yuvaengineers.com) . Michael while sharing his experiences mentioned below points:  1. Internet is level playing field. If someone in USA can do, same can be done from India aswell.  2. While selecting domains, one should always see, if the name generates emotions are not.  3. As parking revenues are falling, one should try to build websites.  Ron mentioned that there will be learning curve and how he did mistakes initially, which can be avoided by reading a lot.
  3. Deepak Daftari: Deepak, an Indian entrepreneur and domainer shared his experiences and views. He successfully runs esikhsa.com. key takeaway from his speech is that cash flows are important for a domainer and to build good portfolios. He also stressed on closing deals, he got $3 Mill offer for his .mobi portfolio which he rejected is now worth nothing.  (Best session of the day. I met him personally and exchanged visiting cards. I am going to mail some of my domain names to him, just to get his perspective if they are good or not. )
  4. Ron Jackson and Adam Dicker: This is another live session  via skype. Adam Dicker stressed the need to have different revenue streams. He mentioned that he makes over 50K from each of his 12 businesses. He also stressed that as parking revenues are falling, its important to pursue other methods of monetization.
  5. Pavan Duggal: Pavan duggal is a leading lawyer related to domain industry in India. Walked us through UDRP and INDRP and steps how to avoid TM issues. Very enthusiastic presentation and very interesting session.
  6. Legal Session: Harini Narayanswamy, Pawand Duggal, Rodny Raider & Ankur Raheja.: In this session as panel member of UDRP, Harini Narayanswamy enlightened us the process and decision making of UDRP issues. She is very kind and approachable. (I was planning to develop IITForums.com and IIMForums.com for quite some time.  IIT and IIM are premium institutions in India. I was having a doubt if it would be TM issue if I develop those sites. I asked her during tea break, she said, she sees no issues. These  kind of sites would be considered like fan sites)
  7. Karthik Teneja – Google : He spoke about “the digital future” and what google is doing in that area.
  8. Edmon Chung (.asia): He spoke about how .asia is doing and why it is important and emerging player.
  9. Ritvik vikas Mishra (Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India): He spoke about the various initiatives that Govet of India is taking to spraed the digital revolution to many more people. He also invited to suggest any ideas that can be placed before govt.

10.Sai and Mahender (Duckeggs and domainpros): Domainers from Hyderabad who are running a domain fund aswell as holding huge portfolios. If anyone is planning to sell your names, you can contact them, as they are planning to spend $2 Mill to acquire domains and they are interested in generic names.

11.  Organizers and Final Session: Manmeet Singh, Anshul goyal, Ankur Raheja, Sibtain Zaheer & Nishank Yadav: We should thank the organizers for conducting such an event in India for the first time. The best thing is that, they have not charged anything. I got to say hi to manmeet.  I could not wish others, as they were busy organizing. During the last session, (Though I am skeptical about .biz  extension) anshul said that he is making decent 5fig sales. (he owns 20K plus .biz names). I would like to extend my appreciation  to all the organizers.

Other Things:

  1. Food was good. High Tea was also served.
  2. Redbull gave away free drinks
  3. Godaddy gave special code to buy membership.
  4. Pens and few goodies were given in the kit.
  5. Prizes were given to some of the people who filled feedback forms.
  6. Entertainment sessions ( Bollywood style dances and Standup comedy by deepu) could have been avoided.  They were nothing but distraction to the overall event. Particularly stand comedy, which was done in hindi and over 50% people there do not understand hindi.

Over all Experience: Very Good. A++. I am definitely looking for their future events.

Would Love to see in Future events: Live Auctions and Domain name Appraisal stall.

Session highlights: Deepak Daftari, Ron Jackson, Harini Narayanswamy and Pavan Duggal