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Early in my business career, I worked on my family farm. My grandmother was the “Queen of Raspberries” in Ontario, and after graduating from college, I ran vegetable stands, buying berries from my mother for $15 per flat (12 pints) and selling them for $25. The sheer effort required to prep the land, grow the plants, harvest, and transport the berries for that $25 made me appreciate the value of labor-intensive work.
Fast forward a few years to the mid-90s, when we offered customers domain names—and they paid us $299 in return.
That was insane. I’d offer a name, and they’d give me $299. Just like that.
At the time, we paid $70 to Verisign, but we pocketed the rest. We sent out fax spams (legal then) and had unlimited demand. One evening, while dining at a fancy restaurant, I calculated how much I had made selling domain names just during that meal. That was the moment I fell in love with domains. Compared to selling berries, selling domain names felt effortless.
Founding CIRA and .CLUB
One of my next ventures was co-founding CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which launched .CA, Canada’s national domain extension. Back then, 99% of Canadian websites used .COM, but we believed Canada deserved its own identity online. Today, .CA is arguably just as prominent as .COM, if not more so.
Fourteen years later, we won the rights to the .CLUB domain extension. That was a game-changer. Our company raised $12 million, spent $180,000 on an application fee, and another $200,000 on legal and consulting fees just to apply. Then came an auction, which we won. Over the years, we amassed nearly one million registrations at around $10 per year before eventually selling to GoDaddy Registry.
Owning a gTLD (generic top-level domain) gives you the right to sell everything left of the dot—and if you’re smart, you can command premium prices for names like cruise.club or night.club.
The Next Round of gTLDs in 2026
People always ask, How do you get the rights to a domain extension?
It’s not easy. ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) regulates the space, and the application fee is rising to $250,000 just for the right to bid in the May 2026 round. Many applications get blocked for security or political reasons.
In 2012, Donuts Inc. applied for hundreds of gTLDs. The next round will be even more competitive, with more auctions. It’s unclear whether losing bidders will get any money back. Speculators hoping to get rich quick may find themselves chasing fool’s gold.
7 Keys to Success in Launching a gTLD
1) It All Starts with a Great Name
Many companies tried acquiring cheap extensions to resell, but most registrars weren’t interested. .CLUB wasn’t the most expensive name, but it was strategic. For context:
- .SHOP sold for $41.5 million
- .WEB sold for $135 million
Back in 2012, securing a generic name like .CLUB, .SHOP, or .WEB was possible. In 2026, it will be much harder. The real opportunity will be in niche names targeting specific communities.
2) Usage is Everything
Once you win your extension, you need users. At .CLUB, our mantra was:
“Usage is everything.”
We got 50 Cent, Demi Lovato, and Virat Kohli (India’s cricket star) to use .CLUB domains. That made a huge difference.
3) Distribution is Key
Like any product, you need distributors. In domains, that means registrars like GoDaddy (the industry king) and other local leaders worldwide. Domains aren’t just an American business—they’re global.
4) Think Internationally
.CLUB was registered in more U.S. domains than any other country, but after that, our biggest markets were:
- China
- Japan
- Russia
- Turkey
This is a global business. Get ready to rack up air miles flying to key markets.
5) Placement Matters
Selling on registrars is one thing, but placement on their search results is another.
- Meet with registrars (yes, in person) to discuss search rankings.
- Many registrars, like PorkBun and NameCheap, have automated search tools where higher bids get better placement.
- Premium placement = more registrations.
6) Prepare for Financial Losses (at First)
Most gTLDs lose money for years before breaking even. Here’s how .CLUB performed:
- Year 1: -$3.5M
- Year 2: -$2.5M
- Year 3: -$1.5M
- Year 4: -$1M
- Year 5: -$500K
- Year 6: +$1M profit
- Year 7: +$2M profit
We finally sold to GoDaddy Registry after reaching massive scale.
7) Be Patient—It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint
ICANN is a bureaucratic beast. Stuart Lawley, the founder of .XXX, once told me at a late-night bar:
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
If you want the pot of gold, be ready to:
- Pay a lot for your domain extension.
- Fight like hell to win it at auction.
- Spend years traveling to establish global distribution.
A Final Thought…
I actually bought my family’s farm in Canada. Sometimes, I wonder if I should go back to growing raspberries and selling them at the market. Compared to running a gTLD, that almost seems… easy.