If you read my recent blog post about having an idea, you might find this interesting. fastforward to 2015, when I built another website.
It was an online business directory where businesses could recommend one another, while customers could recommend businesses and refer them to other people. Whether it was a local coffee shop or a scaffolding company, any business was welcome.
I personally visited several local businesses, tried their products, wrote reviews and published them in the hope that the model could eventually become a revenue stream.
I bought the most obvious versions of the domain name and secured the corresponding social media handles. Domain names didn’t cost very much at the time.
One day, an email appeared in my inbox. It looked very formal and came from an organisation that, due to a non-disclosure agreement, I cannot name (I’ve always wanted to say that!).
They had been developing a marketing campaign with exactly the same name and asked whether I would consider selling the domains for what I thought was a very low price. They explained that their budget was limited and hoped I would accept the offer.
My immediate thought was that their first offer was unlikely to be their final one. I had also put a great deal of work into setting everything up.
Within five minutes, I went to GoDaddy and bought the domains containing the same two words in reverse order. It was a name I actually preferred, but the idea had never previously occurred to me.
Hello XXXXX,
Thank you very much for contacting me regarding the domain names xxxxxx.co.uk and xxxxxx.com. (I promise this is merely a redaction and not the actual domain name!).
I have put a great deal of work into the project, including already paying for promotional materials. I would therefore be unable to consider selling the domain names, but I wish you all the best with your venture.
I must have refreshed my inbox a hundred times that week, waiting for the counteroffer that I hoped would arrive.
And it did.
While on holiday in Sitges, I heard the ping.
The organisation confirmed that it would make a considerably higher final offer in full settlement for the two domain names and the rights to the social media handles.
I accepted, signed a contract and entered into a non-disclosure agreement. The cheque arrived in the post a couple of days later. I transferred the domains immediately, sent over the details for the unused social media accounts and ran straight to the bank to pay it in.
It was 2015, although running to the bank with a cheque makes it sound considerably earlier.
The experience reminded me of the lesson I had learned all those years ago about having an idea and doing something with it. I had taken a chance by securing those domains, with no idea how valuable they would become only a few weeks later.
A few months afterwards, while driving along the motorway, I saw the branding and realised just how large the campaign had become.
I was fairly chuffed with myself. Part of me wondered whether I should have negotiated harder, but the more important lesson was clear: ideas can have value but, only if you do something with them.
That experience stayed with me.
Years later, while relaunching Home Flatpack, the idea for London Flatpack arrived. Checking the domains and securing its digital identity was almost instinctive.
The London service already existed as part of Home Flatpack. The right name simply gave it an identity of its own.
Have an idea? Protect it.
And do something with it.
