Dotkeeper represented the buyer when the desired domain name recently switched owners. The price tag makes it one of the biggest domain deals to take place this far in 2021, globally.
We had a chat with our client Mattias Tyrberg, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of the company Meme Limited, who are now the owners of the attractive domain Meme.com.
Hi Mattias, and congratulations on your new, awesome domain name!
Thank you! I’m pleasantly surprised that it was actually possible to buy the domain name.
Tell us briefly about yourself!
I’m running, and have been running, several companies within various fields since my time at university. Among others, I founded Saplo (a text analysis company) which was later sold to Strossle. Additionally, I own rental properties. I live in Helsingborg with my family.
What was the name selection process like for you, and what made you choose as you did?
We thought about which name would be the ultimate name. For a while we considered Mememarket. But, we realized that meme.com would be the best option and that the name would help us advance. The better your domain name, the smaller the risk of anyone challenging you in that position.
So, I decided to find out what it would cost to buy meme.com and contacted the seller’s agent. I thought it was weird that it was for sale, considering the big NFT boom of late and that many crypto-companies have big budgets.
(NFT stands for Non-fungible token. NFT is a special crypto technology that, among other things, is used in the sale and ownership of digital art. Because each token corresponds to a unique part in a blockchain, a “digital fingerprint” is created. If you are interested to learn more, you can read more about it for example here).
Now, after the purchase, I’ve been told by others in the meme business that they wish they had bought the domain.
“With the meme.com domain name, we’ve gotten a step closer to our vision!”
Please, tell us what the domain name is to be used for?
Meme.com is the home for memes and information related to them. The site is gamified with help of crypto incentives. The idea originates from our company marble.cards.
To understand the business idea behind this, one needs to understand the background.
The definition of a meme is something that achieves large popularity and recognition in a short time through the internet only. And things that go viral, have value. There are different parts of memes. Usually, it’s an image with a text, a gif that’s moving, or something else that’s funny and is being spread through chats, on Twitter, and in other contexts.
If we rewind the tape to around 3.5 years ago, the first NFTs, there are for example CryptoKitties, which were among the first digital objects you could buy through blockchain. In connection to that, digital art became a thing. From this Marble.cards came, which are digital trading cards. But what’s happened within memes is that the art itself in the memes has been coming up for sale. An example is Doge (the dog that says wow) – the owner sold the photo for a few hundred thousand dollars. Those who have the original picture, the original meme, can sell something that gains a large value. It’s internet culture. And, owning internet culture has value.
There is more to it than just the original artwork, it’s possible to create new versions of the original to find new perspectives of it. As an example, there are x versions of the Doge-meme, and there are currencies connected to this – in this case, Dogecoin. The currency is the value of the trend rather than of the digital art. Those who own the currency don’t own the art, but a part of the trend. If we’re using Doge as an example again, how popular is Doge? It’s a bit like looking at trends on Google Trends, and you can buy your way into one of those trends.
So, we thought we’d create a marketplace for this. There are millions of different memes, of which hundreds are very popular, and most of them don’t have their own coin. We want to be the marketplace or the venue – the meeting place – for this! And we call it a meme market, where you can become part of a meme. There, you can buy into it with tokens/coins, talk to others who like the same meme, and together try to create more interest in it. By doing that you spread the message, which potentially increases the value.
It’s also possible for us to publish NFT artwork, and we’re working on getting the artists to come along.
Consider it as fan clubs for all various memes, with the possibility of its members getting different benefits if the meme becomes more popular.
With the meme.com domain name, we’ve gotten a step closer to our vision!
“Dotkeeper has been running the process, negotiated the price, and secured the transaction so that the money and the domain name securely traded owners.”
What’s the motivation behind the domain’s price tag, according to you?
I simply asked myself if the domain would pay off in the long run. In our case, we can get a return on our investment fairly quickly.
I think you need to ask yourself the question: If I buy this, will my total value increase more than it costs? Of course, it’s subjective, but that’s how I’d reason. I think many are underestimating the value of having a really good domain name.
For example. Large sums are being invested in digital art, sums far higher than what we paid for meme.com, but most of the time the domain is forgotten about. I’m thinking; crypto art versus domain, which one do I think will yield the most? The likelihood is that the domain will increase more in value – though crypto-art might be worth more today, it’s only been around for a short while and something else can take its place. But we can see that the value of a good domain only increases over time.
In your opinion, what is the significance of domain names today in general?
That depends on what you’re doing. But having the right domain name is important, even though I’d say that domain names are probably more important for B2C than for B2B. If you’re an international company, you need a .com – otherwise, I think you should consider changing your name.
Why did you contact a domain broker?
I had established contact with the seller’s agent, but I wanted to make sure that the process was secure. Because of my experiences within crypto, I know there’s a lot of fraud. How do I know that the seller of the domain really is who they claim to be? How do I know I won’t just lose the money without getting the domain name? And what do I do if that happens?
I’ve both bought and sold domains on my own before. But now it was such a large sum of money that I needed to know that the transaction would be handled securely. I also wanted to see if I could get a slightly lower price.
Why did you turn to Dotkeeper for help?
They were recommended by a joint acquaintance to Hjalmar (CEO, Dotkeeper) and me.
“…we can see that the value of a good domain only increases over time”
How has Dotkeeper helped you?
Dotkeeper has been running the process, negotiated the price, and secured the transaction so that the money and the domain name securely traded owners.
How did you experience the collaboration with Dotkeeper?
It was great! I appreciate that I got help quickly and that you’ve been flexible and available. And that the transaction was handled securely.
What’s your advice to others who are thinking about buying “that one domain” they really want, but is owned by another party?
I almost always think it’s worth it, but, of course, you need to have the money. The question you need to answer is: What would it mean for my brand if I had this domain? If you’ve got the budget for it and can see that it’ll pay off in the long run, just go for it. Domains have been increasing in value over time, and will likely continue to increase in value, there is a limited supply.
We at Dotkeeper say congratulations to the awesome domain name and wish Mattias and Meme Limited good luck in the future!
Read more about meme.com here!
Are you thinking about buying an already registered domain name? Feel free to contact us at Dotkeeper for a talk.