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Steli contacted the Close.com domain owner twice a year for six years before the guy finally sold it. The owner kept saying no until his startup failed and he wasn't using it anymore. The lesson: persistent check-ins work when timing shifts.
Steli contacted the Close.com domain owner twice a year for six years before the guy finally sold it. The owner kept saying no until his startup failed and he wasn't using it anymore. The lesson: persistent check-ins work when timing shifts.
You need to make sure that once you've had an interaction with somebody, never stop following up if it was a great fit, even if they didn't buy your product. I knew the guy that owned Close.com when we launched January 2013. We were Close.io and I pinged him and said, can I get the domain? He said, no, I'm building a social network. It was like 6 years of me following up twice a year. How's it going? Still nothing is on Close.com. His first startup didn't work. And then he was like, no, I'm an investor in a startup and they're going to use Close.com, but if they They don't. Maybe one day. Many years later, I pinged him, hey, still nothing on Close.com? We really would love to have it. And he went, you know what? Fuck it. It's so many years. Nobody's using it. All right, let's make a deal. Proved to be a pretty great deal for us, but it's another example. It took many years of following up to stay top of mind and finally have the right moment where he was willing to sell. Can you like once a quarter send a quick note? Do it not just once, twice, 3, 4 times. I'm telling you all kinds of incredible things will come your way.
