startup domain acquisition
Amanda Waltz, co-founder of Saw.com, was recently interviewed by Tess Diaz of Domain Sherpa. In the interview, Amanda provides a step-by-step review of the domain acquisition process and explains how brokers assist throughout the process.
At a high level, Amanda explains that the process works as follows:

  1. Create an acquisition shortlist (broker assists in building shortlist based on the client’s needs)
  2. Narrow down shortlist (broker asks the client about goals and target audience to narrow down the list to most effective domains)
  3. Make offers (broker appraises names and negotiates prices on behalf of the client)
  4. Acquire name

To inquire about Saw.com’s acquisition services, contact a Saw.com professional today.

Here is the transcript of the video:

Tess Diaz and Amanda Waltz

Tess Diaz: Today we have a great chat with Amanda Waltz of Saw.com discussing how a domain acquisition works when you’re not sure of what domain you want to acquire. How a broker can assist you in that process with or without a marketing agency. I hope you enjoy the show and learn a lot.

Efty was built by domain investors to increase your inquiries sales and profit. Forget spreadsheets and archived e-mails. Manage your entire investment portfolio in one place using a secure and completely confidential platform. Learn more at Efty.com. That’s E F T Y, efty.com.

Tess: Hey Sherpa network, I’m Tess Diaz, Executive Producer of DomanSherpa.com, and today we are joined by Amanda Waltz of Saw.com. Hi Amanda, how are you doing?

Amanda Waltz: Good how are you?

Tess: I’m pretty well thanks. So, you have been brokering domains for how many years?

Amanda: A lot, I kind of lost track. I think it’s 10 years this year.

Tess: Oh! Congratulations!

Amanda: Yeah, thank you.

Tess: Yeah you have been a real driving force in the brokerage industry, and I am excited to have this conversation with you today. First I know last time you were on we were talking about a couple of dings in the messages and I’m super excited that we have figured out what to do (Amanda laughs) and I think it’s A PSA for humanity (Amanda laughs) we should share it because it’s a pain in the neck this whole work from home is an adjustment for everyone. And on top of that I mean we all use shut down iMessages on your computer. You mute the message you do not disturb, and it still dings! And it’s taken me this long to figure it out so PSA for our whole Sherpa network. What do we do? We went…

Amanda: (laughs) I think it was in the settings on the actual mac, rather than.

Tess: …Yeah, we went up into the…

Amanda: The phone.

Tess: …You’re right into the Apple icon on the computer.

Amanda: Right.

Tess: Then messages.

Amanda: Yes, and then.

Tess: Preferences.

Amanda: Right.

Tess: General, and then play sound effects.

Amanda: Exactly and turned it off.

Tess: And most other things if you quit the application it should stop

Amanda: Absolutely. Usually takes care of it and I thought oh gosh, I’ve done it on my phone and we got that feedback from one of the listeners and there’s nothing worse especially if you’re noise-sensitive I have a couple of people in my family who are driven to who knows what when noises are really that annoying, so I felt for that guy for sure.

Tess: Yeah well I mean I do feel for listeners absolutely but also on the other end I just feel like they’re so many little problems that we are solving constantly.

Amanda: Yes, well you solved it. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: Oh! (Tess laughs)

Amanda: It was you, thank you. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: I like that we sat and tested it and send me another text!

Amanda: It was good teamwork for sure.

Tess: High five! Alright, so I am excited to talk to you today about the process when a client approaches a broker for an acquisition both for folks who are listening to the show to understand what that process looks like or also sometimes people come and listen to this just to discern if they need a broker or what value a broker adds. And I think aside from the negotiation process and saving you time and money in the negotiations. I think what we want to focus on today is that different parts of the entire step-by-step process, so you said you’re working on 3 large acquisitions right now. And you don’t have to share all that.

Amanda: Sure

Tess: But let’s walk through, so many calls you made it have already decided we don’t have to go through the decision-making process right like so let’s say they’re at the point, they know they want you to be their broker and sometimes they know what the domain is sometimes they don’t. How do you start out? And we’re talking just high-end acquisitions, so probably what 6 figures and up let’s say?

Amanda: Correct. Yup, and that’s what the three of these are right now there are very different. They all came to us by way of referral so I would say honestly 90% of our acquisition business comes from other happy customers who have utilized our services in the past, whether it was myself on my own or one of our other team members and their other companies and they did a good job for that particular client and I’ve had calls are people have said to me oh I was with so-and-so at dinner the other night we started talking about their great brand and they mentioned that it all came from a domain name. And we want to know if you can do that same thing for us. I mean that like the most amazing call or email to get when somebody specifically says like we found our domain before we found before we named our company.

Tess: Mhm, yeah.

Amanda: You and I both know that it certainly does not always work that way and there’s sometimes that 11th-hour phone call from a company saying oh my gosh I can’t believe our digital agency didn’t get this, but they recommended you and can you help us get this now. So, I would say that no two acquisitions are the same I couldn’t even begin to describe how different all of them are especially even the three that I’m working with right now. The only thing that’s similar and exactly the same is that they all came from another customer who was happy with our services in the past. So back to your question about how we begin. Usually, well not usually, I won’t do it without having a telephone conversation with the potential client just to make sure that we’re on the same page that they understand that Like I just said to you before, no two are exactly the same. Some acquisitions can take a week, some can take a month, some can take a year, and it really needs to depend on a good working relationship. You know, do they understand the expectations? Do I understand their expectations? Are the expectations aligned? Does it make sense for us to work together?

Tess: Absolutely.

Amanda: Yeah, so I don’t necessarily have a full-on questionnaire, but I do have three main questions that I walk through with them and it’s (pause) I think it goes back almost to consultative sales training in that, do you understand what your prospect needs? Do they understand what it is that you have to deliver? Do they understand (pause) time? Do they have the budget for what they’re looking for? And do you have, if you have those matches, how’s your rapport, does this person seem like somebody that you want to work with and for. and then a lot of the other details I would say get ironed out as you go through the process. You might identify their product, service, platform, whatever it is that that they’re looking to bring to market. Every founder has a vision. They may be at the very early stages of what that vision looks like, they could also be (pause) already started. They may have a seed round; they may have it be all personally funded. And that goes, that also plays into budget timeframes and what their threshold is. I don’t necessarily even love it when somebody comes to me and says I know exactly what the domain is that I want and I know I have a budget for it because it doesn’t always work out that that is what the domain ends up being at the end when the brand is rolled out. So, having somebody as a founder or as the chief legal or marketing or whomever within the organization having them have the flexibility and understand that just because they have a seven-figure budget doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to get their top choice of a domain name.

Tess: Very true so it sounds like most people come to you without knowing exactly what domain they want. Do they present a shortlist to you or how do you move from saying I don’t know what I want, to the next stage?
Amanda: Yeah, oftentimes, they will say we like brand names like this, we have a vision for our company, we know how we’re gonna market our product or service. Whether it’s direct to consumer, or business to business, or business to consumer, through some sort of change, they already have that business plan pretty strategically mapped out at that point. And then in a series of questions, we can typically figure out what resonates with them. Is their target audience female? Is their target audience male? And try and guide them in that direction like this particular word is a little bit more masculine than this, is that the direction that you’re thinking. And oftentimes in that conversation, they’ll say, “Oh yeah, you know what? You’re right. Like that’s the avenue that we should be going.” Sometimes they already know that. Sometimes (pause) they don’t know that. It really depends. I’m seeing a lot more companies that are willing to think a little bit more outside the box as far as, let’s say we have a client that’s looking in (pause) a particular industry. A furniture industry for example, and they understand that their target market may be starting out at the United States but perhaps they want to expand globally, and they understand that as a very large percentage of the United States is now Spanish-speaking. Maybe we should start to look in (pause) Spanish language domains. They can make that transition very easily and quickly looking at data points and having our team suggest data points to them that backs up their theory.
Tess: Okay, and what (pause) about like a branding agency? Are they usually, is it a broker or branding agency? Is it in conjunction? What do you see there?

Amanda: I think it depends on the client, I think it also depends on the relationship, The customers that I have, personally, I’ve worked with them time and time again in different areas of their lives so if they started out in a large Fortune 500 or 100 and they were marketing or their company was purchased by one of those Fortune 500 companies and so I’ve sort of gone the life cycle with them. Sometimes they engage in agency very early on. Sometimes they engage in m&a firms very early on. (pause) And I’ll work with them as their (pause) as they’re developing the concept and as they’re working with their internal team to talk about shares and whatnot some of these founders bring me in at that stage.

Tess: Okay.

Amanda: We talk about options and all of that at that stage. I have worked with agencies, digital agencies, there’s a couple in New York that I like to work with a lot. (pause) And it’s developed over time because in the beginning when I was first introduced to them, they didn’t want to work with us.

Tess: Not you personally but I think a lot of branding agencies really miss the boat on the domain aspect.

Amanda: Completely.

Tess: Yeah.

Amanda: Or they’ve got it, like they think they’ve totally got it, they are, there’s one in particular that I work with a lot now that in the beginning, they were like, “Yeah we know that .com is not available. We’ll just do a .io.” And I was like, “Oh gosh, yes you certainly could go in that direction. However, I don’t suggest it, and here’s why. Your client and my client have brought us together today. So that we can try and work through this really quickly and make sure that we have alternatives in the .com should we not be able to get the first choice we’re not going to immediately pivot to a .io. Like that’s why we’re all here today to talk about this.”

Tess: You’re a great collaborator, yeah. So, whether you’re working with the branding agency or not you’re definitely contributing on that end, you’re here, and I’ve definitely done the same and seen the same over it Media Options doing brokerage there. So, you kind of present this shortlist and as you work together on ideas and what their concepts are or what they want to connote. What if they had any budget in the world they would want just to help say okay if this is what you would get if every domain in the world was available that helps us know which direction to take. And then how do you start pricing that out or knowing what their actual options are what’s on the market.

Amanda: Yeah so I work with a lot of different other brokers and also with owners, portfolio owners, to be able to know what they have available. And usually, I’ll go to some of the larger owners and say okay I have a client that has a budget of 200 to 600 for the right domain. They’ll go to 600 for the pie in the sky like their absolute ultimate and this is the type of service that they’re looking to roll out. What do you have that you think could fit into this? And then, I just keep good records of what they’ve given to me and then sometimes I’ll go back and say, “Oh you know, most of the time they want to know, okay they send me a list of 30 what do I think that my client is going to like off of that”. And I’ll pick out usually 3 or 4 and say, “This is what I’m putting on my shortlist.” This is what I’m recommending that they continue to look at, and the rest I don’t really think are going to be a fit for them, but is it okay for me to keep them on a list and check back with you and next month and I will most likely have a different client who will have similar requests would that be okay? And nine times out of ten the seller will say yes because ultimately that’s what they want to have happen. They want their domain, their investment asset to turn into a household brand. And have the company that is using it, use it in a way that if they were going to use it themselves they would have done so.

Tess: That’s neat to see that side of it.

Amanda: Yeah.

Tess: And there’s no MLS in the domain industry or anything like that, so relationships and record keeping are very important. Sounds like you do a great job at that and those…

Amanda: There’s (laughs)…

Tess: …Private portfolio owners are important.

Amanda: Yeah there have definitely been times, I mean I see this all the time, it’s, I say to buyers this is a very fluid list, like what you see today does not mean that it is going to be available tomorrow. There’s a list that I’m working with right now with a company and we’ve been working on it for about 6 weeks and they zeroed in on something last week that I said to them, “This is out of your budget at this point but I want to put it here in case your board decides that you can stretch for that and it just happens to be a Media Options domain.” And lo and behold it’s not available anymore.

Tess: Oh?

Amanda: So, I mean it’s fine. I think it actually shows legitimacy to what the domain industry has to offer it. If I say to a potential buyer, “This is a really great option for you, but it’s also going to be a really great option for many other companies because it is so generic and it’s such a positive connotation for any industry. You should really think long and hard about this one and the fact that it was under agreement shows that (pause)…”

Tess: That legitimacy.

Amanda: Exactly, exactly.

Tess: Oh interesting. So you kind of curate a list for your client based on their needs for, and then present it back to them with a price range and then what’s the process usually or what are some interesting or typical situations that you think someone listening to the show should know for the process of working with their board, deciding which domains to pursue, how many domains do you pursue, just one at a time?

Amanda: Yeah it’s interesting. I found very recently a lot of these clients (pause) will want to take it to their trademark counsel. So, whether that includes a GC that isn’t a bit, an already established company will typically have multiple layers; they all have their general council, they’ll have their outside trademark counsel they may even have another layer. And to make sure that both sides understand what’s happening so the domain sellers that I haven’t let’s say I have a shortlist of 5, I’ll then go back to those sellers and say okay guys your name is on a shortlist of 5 here’s what’s happening they like them all they’re doing internal focus groups but they are also checking trademark.

Tess: Okay.

Amanda: And even though a domain is a generic term if a customer wants to use it in a particular vertical market (pause) I do think that they should absolutely go through that process of making sure in that vertical market whether it happens to be food service, or the furniture market, or financial services, whatever it is, you want to make darn sure before you start negotiating that you’ve already crossed your t’s and dotted your I’s and made sure that somebody who knows what they’re talking about legally has signed off and said yes you can use that with a fair amount of not being bothered by anybody else in that vertical market.

Tess: This was the part I think that is the most challenging for folks who are not familiar with the domain acquisition process and I think something that the brokers add tremendous value at this point because I don’t know about you, how many times would you say that you have to tell the client, hey this is the time? I think the timing of when to involve counsel is vital. Because if you involve them too soon you’re especially if you’re a smaller startup who doesn’t have someone in-house you’re consuming a lot of billable hours but you don’t want to involve them too late where you delay a potential sale or throw off a seller and, you don’t want to, it’s almost like doing the home inspection at the wrong time of the purchase process.

Amanda: Right, right, yeah that’s a good analogy.

Tess: You get different offers, you know, an all-cash offer over here…

Amanda: Right.

Tess: And a quick close there. So, this is the moment once you have a shortlist to present back is when you say alright take this to your counsel.

Amanda: Yeah most of the time, I mean there’s one client that I’m working with right now that still has a very, and we have a shortlist of about 10 domains. But their trademark counsel has literally looked through about 150 names at the onset. And I said to my client, “This is surprising to me that you’re going through this process with this entire list because it’s pretty gigantic.” But she felt really confident; you know this isn’t her first rodeo, she’s done this a couple of other times, that this is how she wanted to proceed because this is how she had done so previously. So, I mean there’s also that trust, right, it’s that fine line that you walk. This may not be the quickest process but this is the process that my client is telling me that they followed and it’s tried and true for them and they’re not gonna deviate from it so if you have that type of personality where you need things to happen like boom boom boom and all of a sudden your client’s bringing you in a different direction as a broker I think sometimes you just need to sit back and trust like hey this is going to work out it worked out previously and it may not work out for me personally as the broker right now because I would like them to make a different decision in a different timeline but really at the end of the day if you’re good at your job and if you can sit back and know how to follow the cues of your client those are the clients that I think continue to refer you because you’re not putting that tremendous amount of pressure on them and you’re being honest and transparent and voicing your opinion like hey I would really hate to see you spend $800 an hour going through all of these domains but if that’s if your choice and that’s when your team is telling you that they want you to do when you you’ve done in the past who am I to say, you know?

Tess: Yeah.

Amanda: Who am I to continue to insert myself when it’s really not my lane. I’m not ready to negotiate yet because they haven’t made a choice.

Tess: Yeah, so I think that is very consultative like you said and then they do what they need to do so they come back from the trademark attorneys with a shorter list of at least what they would be allowed to pursue.

Amanda: Right.

Tess: And then, but that’s not necessarily, I mean, I assume, first they would narrow down like hey we don’t like these couple we’re not going pay the attorney…

Amanda: Right.

Tess:… To close.

Amanda: Yup, exactly, get them off the list and then go to go back to the sellers and just say like, “Hey, you know, what I made this recommendation two weeks ago, you had two that were still left on the list they don’t like any of them anymore. I’m really sorry, stinks.” I thought it would be great for them but it’s not gonna work out.

Tess: Okay, okay so, it’s not me it’s you! (laughs)

Amanda: (laughs) Right it’s a great domain just not for this client.

Tess: I mean yeah so then you have the shortlist and how do you decide what to pursue which to, make, do you make offers on all of them but…

Amanda: Yeah, that to me would be like I think that could get pretty ugly pretty quickly. Maybe it works for some and they just put out like blanket offers and see what comes back. I have a pretty good sense…

Tess: In my opinion, I don’t know why I asked if you do that because I wanted you to be more, no, I think in my opinion and experience that’s a sign of not a great broker that I mean you should be able to prioritize your list and make offers that are actually meaningful because you’ll never keep clients coming back…

Amanda: Oh no that would burn like the biggest like grenades going off at that point. No I mean I think I have a pretty good sense of knowing either I’ve sold domains for (pause) this particular group or Jeff or Brooke or Rob, whomever so I know or just looking at the charts like I know that so-and-so sold a very similar domain for $400,000 so then I’ll take that information to my client and a year ago a very similar domain from this particular ownership group sold at this price point. I think based on my conversations with them you could get this domain in a similar range and here is where I think you should start your offer.

Tess: Okay, alright.

Amanda: If you go through those five and say okay this is where, this is how I think it should go and then some clients, I’ve had a client that did a focus group and took all, it wasn’t five, it was three out to a focus group and talked about their product, their service and then essentially said like these are our names choose one and the one that we thought was going to come out right on top did not. Based upon the focus group and the audience and it was their exact market demographic and it went in a different way.

Tess: Huh.

Amanda: So sometimes even the sharpest marketing executives that think that they know what’s going to resonate with their audience does not.

Amanda: Interesting yeah and that’s a great tool to use otherwise I think a lot of times too there’s this like homework back and forth where the trademark attorneys give the shortlist then you kind of try to price out the shortlist of expectations of ranges then send it back to the founder who has someone else there consulting with whether it’s other folks on their board whether it’s their mentors, a focus group, a branding agency, whatever. But then they seek some support to prioritize that list based on the prices versus desire and then they give it back to you with a 1234?

Tess: Yeah and usually at that point (pause) I will say like okay (pause) give me your (pause) absolute drop-dead budget on each of these and (pause) then I’m gonna come back to you and make even a further recommendation as far as strategy goes. And usually, if it’s another broker that’s representing that particular asset I feel like I have a good enough relationship to be able to figure out like okay, If our top budget is $400,000 does the broker really think that this is attainable in that price range and if they say no then adios like that one needs to go because you’re just wasting time at that point. If the seller is really not going to accept what the top budget is even though we’ve all already talked about it before, things are so fluid they change very quickly. You just wanna make sure that you are creating the best buying environment at this point for your customer.

Amanda: Yeah, yeah.

Tess: And then, if you have the good buying signals and the other broker or the owner of the domain is like yeah you know what? If it was an all-cash offer and they could close really quickly, I would let it go for that price. Or absolutely not, like I get inquiries on this name all day long, every day, and I just don’t need the cash right now. And that’s cool too. You just know like okay this isn’t gonna happen or I think there’s a very good chance this is going to happen.

Amanda: Okay, alright so what further in the process then do we need to know? Next, it’s just you start making the offers and you have to decide which ones you wanna wait on or further negotiate verses which you just want to move…

Tess: Yeah

Amanda: …To the next domain on the list?

Tess: Yeah I mean at this point you’ve got a pretty short list typically. Usually, three to five domains I would say, and I usually have them stack ranked at this point. Like if this then that, like if you can’t get this what’s your plan B? And (pause) usually at this point you figure out pretty quickly who’s a motivated seller and if you start making offers and things are going back-and-forth pretty quickly, this is when your buyer really needs to make a decision. And at this stage, this is usually the only time that I get (pause) more, I don’t want to say aggressive, I actually don’t like that word. But, this is when I get more serious and say okay this domain does get a lot of interest it could lend itself to many other industries if you really want this one like let’s not mess around. I don’t want you to think that you’re going to get this and then, in the end, have $30,000 stand in your way because you didn’t make a decision quickly enough.

Tess: Yeah I think Amanda you are not ever aggressive. I literally went to thesaurus.com for this because I was like (Amanda laughs) on the tip of my tongue. I think you are assertive, and I think the best word is emphatic. I think when to underline or highlight something and that’s really important to know just like you were saying earlier to know when to let things go and when to say, “Hey, pay attention. This is important.”

Amanda: I’m going to use that with my husband and my kids (Tess laughs) when they tell me that I’m at that point where they’re like back off and I’m going to say no I’m sorry, but I am really assertive (Tess laughs) and not aggressive. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: And then you take out your awesome glasses.

Amanda: (laughs) Oh, the glasses, yeah, I actually, you’ll laugh at this, they hid them somewhere on me because when I came into my office today and they knew that I was getting back on this call, they hid them. I think they’re afraid that I was going to wear them. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: So mean. (Amanda laughs) Amanda has these super edgy, (Amanda laughs) really cool, Velma glasses as her children call them. And they would rather her be blind. She’s seeing four of me right now (Amanda laughs) in sacrifice for her high school and middle schoolers. Because all the teenagers are watching Domain Sherpa!

Amanda: I know, that’s what I said! My daughter said, she goes, I don’t know mom maybe somebody else’s kids are gonna be like watching it with them. (Tess laughs) Oh, okay. (Amanda laughs) You never know.

Tess: Hilarious, well, yeah, so where were we? (Tess and Amanda laugh)

Amanda: I don’t know I can’t see you. (Tess and Amanda laugh)

Tess: Oh!

Amanda: I think we were at almost like go time like we’re in the thick of it with the negotiations and this is where I think sometimes the founders of the company, they’re not (pause) losing sleep over this because they know that they have a plan B and a plan C if all else fails but this is where I think they start to get a little bit more assertive too and, hey I want an answer back. Hey, we need to name this company, Amanda, like let’s go.

Tess: Cause you’re so close, yeah.

Amanda, Right, exactly, yup!

Tess: And I am sure they have a queue of things waiting for once they have the name defined.

Amanda: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah I mean they’ve got creative waiting, they’ve got legal waiting because they have these documents that need a name of the entity there are all of these things that are not my specialty but I think, what I hear from a lot of clients is that the reason that they work with a broker whether it’s us or another broker is because we take that tedious aspect of the research, the negotiation, off of their plate so they can focus on all these other pieces that need to come together before launch.

Tess: Yeah makes sense. So, I think that was a good start to finish off the process. Are there any interesting stories or gotchas or anything you want to share any little anecdotes? Or tips you think we missed? or you think we covered it?

Amanda: I’m sure there’s something that somebody will say that we missed. That’s really our process. You know, I guess one key take away that we probably did miss is if there isn’t a budget for the particular (pause) service or platform. If all the stars don’t align, right? So, let’s say they have (pause) champagne taste but beer money for this particular project or service. We’ll still find them something. I mean we will absolutely find them something. We never say never no. I’ve worked with clients that have bought very small budget domains to start out and then we’ve upgraded them later. I have worked with clients that are self-funded that know how important a domain name is to them and have their budget built way ahead of time. But (pause) I think that our team personally and I think there are lots of other teams out there that do this too just because they don’t have a six-figure budget, or even a five-figure budget, my referrals are like gold to me and you never know who’s on the other line. Like you really don’t. You can do tons of research on LinkedIn, you can do all of that but you really don’t know always who is going to be the next, whoever your favorite famous founder is, you don’t know that the person that you’re talking to on the phone isn’t going to be that next person that, who knows, like comes up with a vaccine for COVID. You have no idea.

Tess: Yeah you’re right there are some really unusual ideas and out of the box thinkers. Do you think the domain industry is made up of a lot of quirky personalities because people need to be out of the box thinkers to get involved in the domain industry. It’s not something you can take a class on, get a degree in, it’s a newer asset. I love how Drew Rosener always says, he’s like there’s no other asset has appreciated over the last twenty years like as much as domains have. And yet so few people know about them or intimately understand them, which you would think there would be some motivation but anyway. I feel like startups and founders, more in that arena than in the fortune 100 or 500 companies, who are just developing a new product or service. I feel like those folks are a little more creative and quirkier too! In a different way. Does that affect your engagement with them? (pause) or your approach?

Amanda: Yeah I mean I think you approach every situation a little bit differently. You learn how to engage with different customers in different ways. Yeah, I 100% agree with where I think you’re going with this. Some of the fortune 500’s, the executives, or the marketing folks, or the legal folks there, have a very one-sided view of how this gets done and if you’re working with a founder and let’s say their investor, who maybe have done this a couple of times before already. They have a very different and unique way of approaching this and are more willing to listen to the way that I’m suggesting that we approach this than (pause) some of the others. I’ve worked with companies that will come to me and say I know exactly how much we need to pay for this domain we’ve already carved out a budget and that’s all we have.

Tess: Okay.

Amanda: You would think that they would have a lot more money to spend on something like this based on their earnings cost. I guess we’ll say that. Just a little bit more rigid in their approach to domain acquisition.

Tess: Okay, interesting, yeah, yeah, very cool, so with these three acquisitions I wish you well.

Amanda: Thanks.

Tess: I hope that some of them we could hear about on a future Sherpa.

Amanda: I hope so too. Cause they’re so exciting.

Tess: that’s really cool, yeah. If not, I’m sure we’ll have something else to talk about. But more than that, I hope you find your glasses. (Tess laughs

Amanda: Me too, for sure. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: Thank you for taking the time.

Amanda: Thank you.

Tess: I know yesterday was a rainy day in Boston. Did you have hail did you say?

Amanda: we did! We had hail. It didn’t last long, but the wind that came with it, well, Internet with two homeschoolers and my husband that run Zoom calls all day long, it makes the bandwidth here a little spotty when the wind starts to blow like that for whatever reason.

Tess: I bet well I think the wind and hail was just the collective crying of all of Boston over Gronk. (Tess and Amanda laugh)

Amanda: I agree. I’m still not over it! I can’t remember if I was talking to you about it. I actually said to my husband, a few weeks ago, could this really ever happen? He’s like you’re dreaming and my son, who is such a Pats fan is like, mom he plays, he’s a personality for the WWE, that’s never going to happen. And literally yesterday, school was canceled for the rest of the year and Gronk follows Tom. (Amanda laughs)

Tess: Unbelievable. Yeah, I actually think it’s going to be, I mean talk about great negotiations I think, I mean there’s that legacy, you know, heartbreak. But also, I mean, Tampa’s going to sell out, they’re gonna do…

Amanda: I know. It’s going to be, the only silver lining in this is that my parents live in Tampa.

Tess: Aww.

Amanda: And so, I can have a reason to cheat a little bit, right?

Tess: Aw, that’s cute, I like that it’s cheating to you. I would never even consider, even if my parents did live in Tampa, but no judgment. (Amanda laughs). I mean the Pats getting 4th round draft pick. I mean they’re smart, they got to rebuild.

Amanda: I hope they use it wisely.

Tess: Yeah, well I think they use everything else wisely so.

Amanda: I’m still heartbroken but I will get over it.

Tess: We all are. So, on that sad note, (Amanda and Tess laugh) keep watching the birds in Boston and we will see you next time?

Amanda: Okay! Sounds great, thank you so much.

Tess: Thanks, Amanda!

Amanda: Bye!

Tess: Bye.