Luxembourg and Cologne
I can't believe that I'm doing this again. Yep, I'm sitting in the airline lounge while I await QF6 to Singapore and then onward to Melbourne. The lounge is packed and yet there isn't a sound as everyone stares completely wrapped at the TV while Spain and Russia battle it out in the Euro Cup.
Since leaving Paris I headed off to Luxembourg for a couple of days with the guys from EuroDNS and Domain Invest. Freddy, Marcus and Xavier are fantastic guys who combined have an incredible expertise in domains. It was only a few years ago that EuroDNS was a tiny little registrar and it now is a thriving business with multiple successful business units. I spent a wonderful afternoon at Freddy's house overlooking a valley that the Moselle river ran through the middle. It was a relaxing day with great food and company. Katherine (Freddy's wife) was a wonderful host and spoilt us all rotten with her very tasty strawberry cake.
Incredibly the grand duke of Luxembourg decided to have his birthday while I was there so we headed into the city for dinner. After stopping at a bar I had a pleasant surprise when I found out that the girl behind the bar was Australian. I said to Marcus and Freddy that Australia was conquering the world one bar at a time :-) After all, if you control the alcohol you control the world!
The next day I headed off to Cologne to catch up with my friends at both NameDrive and Sedo. NameDrive was a fantastic place and had the chaotic frenzied feel of a start-up that's really going places.
Greg (CEO) related a story that when they first started no one had chairs as he said that they needed to "earn their seats" by getting results. Fantastic story and I couldn't help noticing that they all now have chairs so they must be doing something right. I really enjoyed my time with the team at NameDrive and have earned a new respect from me for their focus and efforts in what they are doing.
Sedo was a sharp contrast to NameDrive but nevertheless just as impressive in a different way. Since I'd last been to Cologne Sedo has more than doubled in size and have put in place an excellent account management team supported by top notch managers. Although it was a lot more corporate than NameDrive I couldn't help wonder whether a better organization for both companies could be formed by merging them together. It's probably just a pipe dream though. All I know is that I genuinely wish both Sedo and NameDrive every success.
So here I am......sitting in the Frankfurt lounge, answering emails and hoping that Russia will win the soccer so that they can play Germany on Sunday night.
Source: Posted on WhizzBangsBlog by Michael Gilmour -- Reprinted with permission -- June 27, 2008
Since leaving Paris I headed off to Luxembourg for a couple of days with the guys from EuroDNS and Domain Invest. Freddy, Marcus and Xavier are fantastic guys who combined have an incredible expertise in domains. It was only a few years ago that EuroDNS was a tiny little registrar and it now is a thriving business with multiple successful business units. I spent a wonderful afternoon at Freddy's house overlooking a valley that the Moselle river ran through the middle. It was a relaxing day with great food and company. Katherine (Freddy's wife) was a wonderful host and spoilt us all rotten with her very tasty strawberry cake.
Incredibly the grand duke of Luxembourg decided to have his birthday while I was there so we headed into the city for dinner. After stopping at a bar I had a pleasant surprise when I found out that the girl behind the bar was Australian. I said to Marcus and Freddy that Australia was conquering the world one bar at a time :-) After all, if you control the alcohol you control the world!
The next day I headed off to Cologne to catch up with my friends at both NameDrive and Sedo. NameDrive was a fantastic place and had the chaotic frenzied feel of a start-up that's really going places.Greg (CEO) related a story that when they first started no one had chairs as he said that they needed to "earn their seats" by getting results. Fantastic story and I couldn't help noticing that they all now have chairs so they must be doing something right. I really enjoyed my time with the team at NameDrive and have earned a new respect from me for their focus and efforts in what they are doing.
Sedo was a sharp contrast to NameDrive but nevertheless just as impressive in a different way. Since I'd last been to Cologne Sedo has more than doubled in size and have put in place an excellent account management team supported by top notch managers. Although it was a lot more corporate than NameDrive I couldn't help wonder whether a better organization for both companies could be formed by merging them together. It's probably just a pipe dream though. All I know is that I genuinely wish both Sedo and NameDrive every success.So here I am......sitting in the Frankfurt lounge, answering emails and hoping that Russia will win the soccer so that they can play Germany on Sunday night.
Source: Posted on WhizzBangsBlog by Michael Gilmour -- Reprinted with permission -- June 27, 2008