Welcome! I’m Antony Van Couvering, and Names@Work is my consulting company.
I’m the principal here, but for many projects I call in people from my network — designers, information architects, online community experts, lawyers, policy specialists — whom I consider to be the best in their fields. My current focus is on the new round of top-level domains proposed by ICANN.
Need help with your new ICANN top-level domain? Read on…
If you’ve got a great idea for a new top-level domain, I can probably help. I’ve started TLDs before, and I’ve seen the other side as a registrar, as a consultant to intellectual property holders, and as a registrant. I have lots of experience in the domain name field. Clients and colleagues vouch for me. My rates are simple and fair. If you hire me, you’ll get someone who’s creative and engaged.
Starting a TLD is a big job. This partial list gives you a sense of the effort:
- Put together a winning business plan
- Identify new revenue opportunities (there are many)
- Raise money from knowledgeable investors
- Complete the ICANN application
- Publish policies that work for your TLD
- Find and engage a reliable registry operator
- Find and engage a reliable auction provider
- Plan and publicize the Sunrise Period to trademark holders
- Engage your community and get public support
- Secure political backing when required
- Deal with competition and contention
Starting a top-level domain requires technical, financial, marketing, policy, and community expertise (at least), as well as a solid understanding of ICANN and the domain name industry. Without these, you run the risk of passing up revenue opportunities or making a critical mistake. Experience can help. I’ve been through TLD launches in various roles: as a registrar, as a consultant to domain holders, and as the one launching the new domain. Usually, if I don’t know the answer to something, I know who does.
Great idea, but little money? In a few cases, I have taken equity in lieu of a portion of my fees. So far, that arrangement has worked out well for my clients and for me.
I also work in non-domain areas, particularly search and social media. I classify what I do as marketing (the Wall Street Journal called it “innovative marketing”), but marketing is always a reflection of how the marketer thinks about him- or herself. So another way I describe my work is that I help my clients transform themselves into Web companies, at least for the part of their business that uses the Web.
Send me a note. I’ll get back to you right away and we can see if there’s a good fit. If I’m not the right person, I can often recommend someone who is.
Everything you submit is treated as strictly confidential.
