For example, we did not know we would develop FuneralHomes.com until two years ago, which is two years after we initially started building the directory software. We did not know what we would call Lifememory until a year into the project, we did not know what we would call ASSISTA until two years into the project, and we did not develop Flowchart.com because we owned the domain - we went and acquired it because we had a concept in mind.
I believe choosing a business to develop simply because you happen to own a strong generic domain is the wrong way to go about it. While it may work, developing because of domain ownership will rarely match your skills, passion, and personal interest. Developing because of domain ownership will limit you from finding what’s best out there, both in terms of business development and finding what’s best out there for you. In the long term, can your business survive with lack of passion? with lack of personal interest in the subject, what kind of message will your business project to the world? And do you really want to limit the pool of opportunities because you happen to own a strong domain?
Few days ago while in meetings in San Fransisco I had a similar discussion with a business associate. Their group happen to own some category killer domains and while discussing development they showed strong interest in developing a number of their domains. My take on it was we first need to do market research to learn the industry, then we need internal research within our organization to see if it matches our skill-set, our business plan, what we do, what we want to do. The question I presented back to their group was “are you in it to develop your domains or are you in it to make money?”. When we think in terms of making money with a business, when we think ROI, we should look objectively rather then let limited resources in our hands dictate what we should do, dictate our direction.
Source: Posted on TheConceptualist by Sahar Sahid -- Reprinted with permission -- April 26, 2008