Nice list.. missing the founders of Domainstate.com and also I think Paul Sloan/ Josh Quitner (writer and former editor) of Business 2.0 should have made this list.. Their coverage of the disruptive technology embodied in the name-biz helped to shine the light on the industry for other ”legitimate web” participants to see – and their stories provided the founding spark for more than one of today’s market participants.
List here: http://logistiklabs.blogspot.com/2007/12/20-most-influential-people-in-domain.html
As a quick aside.. Josh Quittner recently wrote a hard hitting critique of the flimsy business model and dishonest culture at Facebook, only to be publicly dressed down by Time Inc. I am continually struck that the tech-community acts like such a fawning sycophant as it relates to Facebook. They treat this co. like the last girl at the bar on a Friday night. We need more Josh Quittners to tell us to give our heads a shake and to take our collective tongues out of Facebook’s caboose long enough to see what it is we’re taking home…
Hello Frank,
Also left off this list is Scott Day whom influenced guys like me who still have never been to a domain show and rarely (or never) post on any domain forums (except yours
) There are a few of us out here still holding out.
Scott was left off the list I think because he was earlier than most of these folks and is not in the spotlight as much today, it seems.
We were talking to Scott in 1996 and 1997 only because he proactively called us (and other domainers) on the phone. He wanted to speak to the initial players to talk “domaining” in an era when that word did not even exist. As a matter of fact, I did not even own a computer and I was running to a friends house to check for free domains to purchase, partially influenced by Scott’s aggressiveness in buying domains. He helped confirm my suspicions about what a generic domain is capable of. We all thought we saw something in these domains but when a watermelon farmer sees it too and is going crazy buying domains in 1996 it only helped stir up the frenzy among other early domainers, and thus began the foudation of where we are today.
I think I remember him paying a really big price for Recipes,com in 1996 (it was big for that era). Sales like that and the gung-ho spirit Scott had gave the early community hope, excitement, inspiration, and justification for previous domain investments and future acquisitions.
Regards,
Johnny B. Good
***FS*** Well said.. I actually thought he was on there already or I would have mentioned him myself.. Scott’s a great guy.
I would think a couple others to consider for the list would be:
1. Jay Westerdal based on the data he owns and the domain conference he runs
2. Lawrence Ng of Oversee.net
***FS*** Wow.. again.. thought they were on there or would have mentioned myself.. Maybe they should make a top 30 list.
I agree with adding Paul Sloan to the list. He is the single reason I got back into investing in Domain names after reading his Dec. 2005 article in Business 2.0.
Thinking about it – I wish Business 2.0 didn’t go out of business. They were one of the only mainstream publications that actually did accurate and thought-provoking articles on the Domain industry (thanks of course in part to Paul Sloan).
The founders of Domain State nowhere close to the top 20 that’s funny
[...] http://www.sevenmile.com/2007-12/the-20-most-influential-people-in-domains/ [...]