

How we got the .com for our startup - jayzalowitz
https://medium.com/@ajt/how-we-got-the-com-for-our-startup-b48fd6c5511

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lolsal
When I saw the HN title for this I thought it was going to be extremely lame.
I'm glad I read it. Here's what I learned:

\- You chose a name and started a company and based your branding off a name
when you knew you didn't have the .com domain.

\- You bullied a guy that had a domain and was working on something. Even
threatened the guy with legal action.

\- The 'how' in the title was never actually revealed beyond the bullying.
This was a self-congratulatory opinion article.

\- I will never, ever recommend SocialRank and will actively recommend against
using your services or doing business with you.

~~~
panda455
Disagree with this. The owner was domain squatter.

Also, if everyone chose the name of their company based on available .com's
there would be no good names anymore. They took a risk and it seemed to work
out.

~~~
3cd6c927
According to the article, the owner of the domain was not taking advantage of
the buyer's trademark...because it didn't exist. So no, by simple definition,
the owner was not a domain squatter.

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xxxmadraxxx
So, in summary: you came up with a company name / domain that someone else was
already using, asked that person to sell you the domain, then when they
refused, threatened to sue them for it, then tried begging, then tried bribery
and finally got them to agree to sell it for less than they wanted to, by
using some "secret" technique, then bragged on the internet about how clever
you'd been?

You sound like exactly the kind of person I'd love to do business with (NOT!)

~~~
xxxmadraxxx
I thought I might get downvoted into oblivion for my original comment on this
thread from the "startup solutions" money-worshipping crew who seem to have
taken over this site of late. But I'm comforted to see that (thus far)
everyone else commenting seems to think you're an arsehole too.

Maybe it's time to start sending the threatening emails out to the current
owner of the "shotmyselfinthefoot.com" domain?

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jawerty
So you hounded this guy until he didn't care enough to protect his property,
_great business tact_...I don't understand why you divulged all of this on the
Internet, if I were you I would make sure no knows that _this_ is how you do
business.

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Suspect
You bullied a domain owner into selling his domain for a project he was
working on. Very foolish to post that.

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toozi
With tactics like his ... especially alluding to legal action ... had I owned
the domain it's unlikely they would have ever had the chance to own it.
Bullying always backfires on them.

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bluehazed
Huh, that seems pretty douchey, not a very nice way to do business.

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astrong
LOL - "The principle of the matter"

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rudexpunx
weird strategy to acquire a domain. I don't like it at all...

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leadgen
You are an SOL my friend

