I am surprised by the disdain for profitable business in the techcrunch article:<p><i>I’m not even sure I’ll remember to check in on them. The domain business is a cash cow but isn’t exactly exciting stuff.</i><p>I would have put it the other way around: the business isn't exactly exciting but it's a cash cow. Except I wouldn't say that at all. A profitable online business sounds more exciting to me than 90% of what I've seen on techcrunch.
Congrats. Nice to see the brits doing well.<p>Found a short interview as well: <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2008/03/26/communicatecom-buys-e-commerce-startup-auctomatic-to-relaunch-top-domains/" rel="nofollow">http://venturebeat.com/2008/03/26/communicatecom-buys-e-comm...</a>
Not sure if you are allowed to disclose it, but I was curious what share of the $5 million was cash and what share was stock, and how much (percentage-wise) did the founders themselves end up with?
Congrats :) Slick idea... I remember pg saying he considers EBay ready for a startup competitor, but this seems a better strategy, even though it doesn't solve all problems.
Woot! Congrats, guys.<p>I had a hunch you'd do well. It's a field ripe for the picking. Ebay has a lot of customers, and their interface leaves a little to be desired, and their API really looks pretty decent. Good job.
I like the new business plan – put shopping sites on great domain names. It isn’t exciting but it sounds profitable.<p>Congrats on the buyout! I hope you all made a bundle.
Here's a rather poor writeup of communicate.com's stock: <a href="http://blog.valueinvestingcongress.com/2008/01/04/a-diamond-in-the-rough/" rel="nofollow">http://blog.valueinvestingcongress.com/2008/01/04/a-diamond-...</a>
I suppose this means the Auctomatics aren't aiming for eBay anymore? Acquisition is nice, but repositioning for domain trade isn't that slick of a score for the hackers.