Ask HN: What would you give up for The Killer Domain?

[beepbeepbeep]

Let's say you're trying to build a well known consumer brand. Most of your traffic is expected to be word of mouth. You've found the best domain you can imagine. Something as good as Mint.com.

You've talked to the owner, and he claims to have had offers of hundreds of thousands.

I know what Aaron Patzer did in that situation. What would you do and why?

Let's assume you're 6 months old and have raised $1M angel round.

[rodericksilva]

Google didn't need search.com. 37Signals didn't need basecamp.com. If mint.com were mintybooks.com you would have found it anyway.

The owners of schoolbinder.com wanted a ridiculous amount. We went with myschoolbinder.com. People are finding us. Were making money.

I wouldn't spend much on it. Find another catchy name.

[nopassrecover]

Well noone will beat Yahoo's effectively $5.7 billion domain purchase of broadcast.com.

It's just a matter of if the number of running days you sacrifice by spending this money and the lost other opportunities you could spend the money on (e.g. PR, design, a new dev) are outweighed by the likelihood of the new domain bringing you income.

[portman]

I would give up equity, possibly as much as $100,000 worth. But I would not pay very much cash ($15k tops).

Most importantly, I wouldn't spend more than 1-2 days on the negotiation, because "The Killer Domain" is one of the less important issues that a 6 month old consumer startup faces.

[byoung2]

I know someone who bought a very good domain for $45,000 (not quite mint.com, but close) in 2008 and the type-in traffic alone brings millions of unique visitors and is enough for him to earn $500-1000 per day in advertising.

[joshuarr]

I'd spend the money on hookers and blow. Seriously, a rose by any other name...

[RtodaAV]

Domain is a Domain. You don't need a amazing domain to be successful.