IDNoptions Blog

Interesting and breaking news from Domain Strategies.

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Media Contact

Scott Fasser
scott@domainstrategies.com
425-999-4357

For Immediate Release
April 18, 2008
Domain Strategies Welcomes New Executives as Domain Development Model Picks Up Steam

John Maffei, Scott Fasser and Natalie Grinblatt assume leadership positions with Domain Strategies, Inc.
SEATTLE, Washington. April 15, 2008 – Domain Strategies, a Monster Venture Partners company and a leader in building successful businesses on premium domains like Healthcare.com, Patents.com, Alerts.com and Wifi.com, is pleased to announce the appointment of Scott Fasser to President and Chief Operating Officer of Domain Strategies, and Natalie Grinblatt to EVP Corporate Development of Domain Strategies. The company also procured the domain name Wifi.com and appointed John Maffei to the position of CEO of Wifi.com.
Scott Fasser, former EVP for Corporate Development, was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Domain Strategies, Inc. Scott has over 16 years experience in building successful businesses. Prior to joining Domain Strategies, Fasser led the development of the paid search and SEO programs for RealNetworks through his consulting company, Brand Digital, and is considered an authority in SEM, Website Development & Optimization, Traffic Acquisition, Customer Retention and Developer Relations. Scott received his MBA from the University of Washington and BA from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Fasser’s role of EVP for Corporate Development has been filled by Natalie Grinblatt an executive and co-founder of IDNoptions, LLC. Grinblatt, a key director at some of the world’s leading business schools including the University of Michigan where she helped the school climb from a number 11 ranking to a number 2 ranking; Cornell University where its ranking jumped from number 18 to number 7 and where both she and her team were cited and recognized as outstanding contributors and leaders to the school, and Arizona State University where she served as Assistant Dean of Graduate Management Programs. Upon leaving that post, Grinblatt co-founded IDNoptions which went on to build one of the worlds largest IDN portfolio, IDN consulting, and IDN business development enterprises. Grinblatt emphasizes that, “the synergies between Domain Strategies and IDNoptions are ideal to help escalate both organizations in enabling entrepreneurs around the globe to accelerate development of premium domains into first-class enterprises.” Grinblatt has both her MBA and BA from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.
Domain Strategies also named John Maffei as CEO of Wifi.com. Before joining Wifi.com, John Maffei was President of the ZAM Content Network, an online gaming network with more than 15 million unique visits monthly. Prior to joining ZAM, Mr. Maffei led Microsoft’s efforts to license Xbox 360 video content from major entertainment companies including Warner Bros., Buena Vista Pictures (Disney), Lions Gate, 20th Century Fox and NBC Universal. Throughout his decade-long tenure at Microsoft, Maffei held senior marketing and business development positions within the Windows Media and the Platform Strategy divisions where he negotiated strategic business agreements with influential corporate partners including Sony and Vodafone. He was also the founder and chief executive of RocketPipe, Inc., a developer of broadcast messaging and direct marketing software for content-driven online commerce sites. John received his MBA from the University of Washington and a BA from Colgate.
Rob Monster is Chairman and Founder of Domain Strategies as well as Managing Partner of Monster Venture Partners. “Our ability to build great companies on category-defining domain names is first and foremost predicated on our ability to assemble the best teams. The model for rapid value creation is proven and now we aim to accelerate the pace of development across a much larger set of high potential domain properties in verticals that we believe are ripe for innovation. These hires are critical to that objective. ” said Mr. Monster.

Scott Fasser and John Maffei will be based in the company’s Bellevue offices. Natalie Grinblatt will initially be located in Phoenix, co-located with IDN Options, which Monster Venture Partners backed in early 2008.

About Domain Strategies, Inc,
Domain Strategies (www.domainstrategies.com) is a pioneering leader in the field of internet domain development. The company partners with domain owners, visionary entrepreneurs and smart capital to unlock hidden value in high quality internet domain names. Using a proprietary three step process for domain assessment and development, Domain Strategies unlocks intrinsic domain value by assisting domain owners to build a value added business on top of their domain name foundation. Domain Strategies’ portfolio of domains under management includes more than 5,000 domains controlled by Monster Venture Partners, and more than 600 domains controlled by Internet Real Estate Group, more than 2500 international domains controlled by IDNoptions, as well as selected domains from some of the leading portfolio companies around the world.

Explosive Internet Market in China Captured via IDNoptions Collaboration with Monster Venture Partners

March 31, 2008 7:00 AM EDT

PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

IDNoptions, LLC (www.idnoptions.com), a leader in International Domain Name (IDN) acquisition, announced today an investment and strategic partnership with Monster Venture Partners (MVP), LLC and Domain Strategies, Inc. to expand and develop an industry-leading portfolio of IDNs and to build businesses on those domains.

Steven Epstein, CEO of IDNoptions, states that “the Internet and mobile community are on the brink of an immense eruption in China.” With nearly 1.4 billion people in China, Epstein predicts over 40% of the Internet’s content will be conducted in Chinese by 2011. Epstein’s company enables organizations to establish and expand their brands in Asia. His concept was confirmed by some of the world’s most respected Internet executives and China experts. His portfolio contains the Chinese equivalents of domains such as “greenbusiness.com, airlinereservations.com, and realestateloans.com.” There are over 2300 premium domains in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, and Arabic in the IDNoptions portfolio (www.idnoptions.com/blog/domains).

In October, 2006, browser technology made Internet search for non-native English speakers easy. Epstein asks the question, “If the Internet had been created in China, would you search for news using Chinese characters?” The use of IDNs has been widely implemented by the Chinese government, large Chinese Enterprises and Fortune 100 companies like Procter and Gamble, China (http://www.idnoptions.com/blog) and GE, China.

When Robert Monster, Founder and Chairman of Monster Venture Partners and Domain Strategies approached Epstein with the possibility to build companies with IDNs, Epstein embraced the idea. This was an outstanding opportunity to diversify and grow IDNoptions by globalizing the domain development model pioneered by Domain Strategies for major properties such as Healthcare.com, Patents.com and Alerts.com.

Monster emphasizes that “IDNoptions is in the right place at the right time. The partnership with Domain Strategies will allow these raw domains to evolve quickly into high value properties that can be of immense utility to Chinese Internet users by leveraging Domain Strategies’ proven ability to secure top content as well as deliver this content in local languages.” Concurrent with the financial investment by MVP, Monster has agreed to assume the role of Chairman of IDNoptions.

Patrick Pun, Executive Vice President for Asia-Pacific of MVP, also serves the IDNoptions team as Executive Vice President for Asia-Pacific. Pun says, “The timing is perfect for IDNoptions to build the bridge to link multinational firms and their products and services with the powerful Chinese market. Category-defining domains present a great competitive advantage for those organizations by having rapid access to diverse Chinese markets, in not only Mainland China but Hong Kong, Taiwan, and throughout the world.” Pun is based in Shanghai and will be running the Shanghai operations of IDNoptions.

IDNoptions, LLC

IDNoptions, LLC (www.idnoptions.com). Located in Phoenix, AZ with operations in Phoenix and Shanghai, IDNoptions holds over 2300 of the finest IDNs that it licenses with consultative services, sells, and develops into valuable businesses.

Domain Strategies, Inc.

Domain Strategies (www.domainstrategies.com) is a pioneering leader in the field of Internet domain development. The company partners with domain owners, visionary entrepreneurs and smart capital to unlock hidden value in high quality Internet domain names.

Monster Venture Partners, LLC

Monster Venture Partners (www.monsterventurepartners.com), based in Seattle, is a new breed of early-stage venture capital. MVPs investment philosophy is to engage in a genuine hands-on partnership with founders to jointly create value for all stakeholders.

Source: IDNoptions, LLC

A great picture from Guangzhou.

Way to go Gillette !!!!!

2D barcode for this IDNoptions blog:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/231635.htm

A very good article on the changing patterns of Net use and TV use in China.

Great stats.  Showing that the Net is the new TV.  Variety and personalization are the driving forces.

China Surpasses US in Internet Use - Will Ecommerce Follow?

This is a very interesting article about the rapid change in Internet population in China.

The attraction of the young Chinese to e-Commerce and credit cards is very encouraging.

Alan Moore has a great post this am.

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/11/mobile-advertis.html

Marketers need to engage on mobiles, not market.

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/308749/22990610

The WSJ has a wonderful article explaining the ICANN IDN dot IDN test.

Now that IE7 is released without having to have an OS code check, IDN dot IDN’s are likely to be validated world wide by the first half of 2008.

Similar to the fashion of Japan in 1964, Germany 1972, and South Korea 1988, China is planning a big ‘re-introduction’ of itself to the world stage with the Olympics in 2008.

As China is now the largest population of mobile phone users and the fastest growing Internet and consumer market, a point will be reached in the near future that half the activity and half the content of the Internet will be Chinese.

So do you have a strategy for Chinese users, and do you have a strategy to develop Chinese language content ?

“Build it and they will come” may have worked in English, and for the first wave of Chinese Net users with strong English skills.

The new mantra for China is likely to be : “Build it in Chinese and the Chinese may find it.”

Here at the IDNoptions blog, we will be discussing the many facets of creating a business presence in the International market, specifically Asia and China. Our first articles will be appearing here shortly.