Venture’s Deceptive Cover Story for Domain Squatting

Executive Summary

• The venture is a domain squatting company that pretends to be so much more.
• What we cover is how Venture provides false information to customers about what they do.

Introduction

I found a company named venture when I typed in tents.com into Google.

The venture is offering the domain for either $12,000 per month. They state that the owner originally wanted $12,000 per month. However, now because of the “holidays,” they are offering it for $4,800. Interestingly, I noticed that Venture was offering this same domain for $3,000 per month. 

Domain squatting is an old strategy where a company buys up domains for minimal amounts of money and resells them for very high margins. We will cover Venture that is nothing more than a domain squatting company that pretends it is something else.

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Venture’s Ludicrous Explanation for What They Do

Venture has created a digital lease model for digital real estate, a Brand as a Service platform, allowing you, with little capital, to access great domains as great brands and set you up for success. Transparent and easy to start up with minimal risk. – Venture

No, they did not.

Venture offers a domain at a massive markup. That is called domain squatting.

The terms transparency and minimal risk mean nothing. They provide an equal amount of transparency and minimal risk as any other domain squatter.

Venture continues:

Commercial leases allow brick and mortar businesses to have prime real estate without the huge money upfront to buy. Now leases are the accepted way to start a business. In this digital age, where software is transforming industries through innovative technology, your startup needs a great brand to be your digital real estate, but great domains can cost millions of dollars, just like prime real estate. – Venture

This paragraph makes no sense. Buying a domain, or what Venture calls a “lease,” might be what companies do when they start, but how is this an observation? Yes, companies like to have websites.

The second part of the paragraph discusses things that aren’t related to buying a domain. It is also not clear that many domains cost millions of dollars. And there can’t be much less value add than a domain squatter paying a domain registrar $15 per year to register a domain and then asking thousands of dollars per month when the domain is sold.

Venture moves beyond merely deceiving their potential customers that they are domain squatting. Still, they use language, which promotes the idea that simply being a domain is somehow the first step in raising large amounts of money. Notice there is not an estimate of likelihood included in this timeline. It simply assumes that as time passes, these things occur. It is improbable for a company to obtain Angel Investment funding, much less a series of financing rounds or an IPO or acquisition. 

Domain Names are Critical?

Venture seems to presume that the company’s name must match its domain name.

The name of your startup is critically important to its success—six letters or under, generally easy to spell and certainly unique. Great entrepreneurs tackle and solve challenging issues like naming their company well, and if you can’t name your company well, you’re simply not worth investing in. I know it’s a harsh statement, but it is true. Better you hear it now while you still have a chance to hit a homerun. – Jason Calacanis

Hmmmm…is Jason Calacanis aware that sometimes investors recommending changing names? Is Jason Calacanis aware that sometimes startups change their names?

Jason continues..

If you go into a VC or angel meeting with a crappy name, they will look at it the same way they look at you unshaven with a stain on your shirt and a deck full of misspellings: that you lack focus and attention to detail. A stunning domain name paired with a world-class logo makes you look like a killer. That is what you want when you’re in a meeting asking people to give you money: credibility. Under no circumstance should you settle for an OK or bad name, except if it’s just a placeholder and you’re NOT showing it to investors.” – Jason Calacanis

Really, VCs are more concerned with the company’s name than the business model or the founders’ experience?

Social Proof

Venture has some interesting recommendations on their website.

I remember back in the early 00’s when talking to friends about potential domain names that’s been taken for years but never really used; parked domains with ridiculous prices making it impossible to acquire them. Whatsmyip.com was one of those dream names.

Thanks Venture for making it possible for me to acquire my dream domain! – Richard Andersson

This is quite ludicrous. This is exactly what Venture does. It is sporadic to find a company that claims it does something far better than something else. That is the exact thing the company does.

I’m very happy with Venture’s service. It’s a gift from God! Wasn’t sure how to showcase my products, but now I have one of the best domains for my product category. Having a category defining domain name really does give us the edge. For me, it makes sense to get the exclusive right to a top-notch domain rather than registering a sub-par one. FunnyTshirts.com is so easy to remember and doesn’t need an explanation.” – Marcus Savage

Paying a domain squatting firm is a “give from God?”

What is even more ridiculous is that FunnyTshirts.com is the supposedly fantastic domain that Marcus is referring to.

As both an entrepreneur and investor who appreciates the true value of a good domain when launching a new business, I have spent more than 20 years waiting for someone to elegantly create a domain leasing platform like this. I can’t remember how many times I have tried to convince an individual domain owner to lease their domain, but it was almost always too complicated to set up a low stress long term lease for both sides. Venture.com has executed this domain leasing service with perfection and solved one of the greatest problems between entrepreneurs and domain owners. Finally, visionary cash sensitive startup entrepreneurs can give their new business a world class brand from day 1 to maximize their chance of success. And finally, long term domain investors can safely and simply realize the true value of their domain investments. – Steven Vachani

What? Domain registration is easy. You go out to a domain registrar (unless some sleazy company is squatting on it, and you buy the domain).

Let us Review How Domain Registration Works.

You go-to a domain registrar, type in your desired domain, and then if available, you buy the domain yearly. That is it. Here is the topic that Steve Vachani does not want to discuss. Why does an “owner” own a domain if they are not running a business or non-profit, etc., from the domain? The answer is because they are a domain squatter. That is, they want to be paid for doing nothing more than figuring out likely domains that people will want and then locking up the domains through a domain registrar. The government could easily stop this practice by making domain squatting illegal. Domain squatting adds no value to the economy. It substantially reduces value, as people that do nothing (domain squatters) lock-up domains that could be used by people and companies that actually intend to do something with them.

Conclusion

Domain squatters are scammers. We could not care less about domain squatters, but the site is interesting from the perspective fo “fake value to add.” This website from Venture is highly deceptive, and it illustrates (again) that companies will pretend they add value when, in fact, they do nothing.

The Venture website receives a 0 out of 10 for accuracy.