GoDaddy CEO on the economic backdrop for entrepreneurs

Welcome back. The cryptocurrency craze sparking a frenzy for coin-related domain names. Just last year, GoDaddy, the world's largest domain name registrar, saw more than 6 times as many new domain name registrations with currency-related words than in 2016. The average sale price for domains including the word coin has jumped by nearly 600% over the last 6 years. Joining us right now is the CEO of GoDaddy, Scott Wagner. Scott, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

Great to be here.

Thanks for having me.

So your business is apparently at the epicenter of the domain name registrations. What have you seen in terms of crypto?

Well, what we do is we're over 20% of the world's domain names, and domain names are really online real estate. And so obviously, as crypto has taken off and really gone mass, people are coming on to GoDaddy and finding an anchor to build up whatever their crypto idea is.

And you've seen that accelerate in the last couple of years?

Obviously, as crypto has accelerated, it's proved to be a nice little uptick for us too.

That's fabulous.

I would think aside from just crypto, you know, since you guys went public a few years ago, stocks performed great, but also There's been a huge growth in startups throughout the country. We run a venture capital fund, and just the number of businesses we're seeing now has exploded, and they all need a website. So that plays right into your hands.

Yeah, well said. Thanks. That's exactly right.

The one thing I said at a 52-week high and has doubled and revenues doubled.

Yeah, since going public, our stock's gone from $20 to over $70. The revenue has grown consistently at double-digit rates, cash flow faster, both on growing around the world and adding more products on top of a domain name. It's been a nice It's a nice formula.

It seems like GoDaddy is going through a little bit of a brand reinvention, I should say, at least marketing-wise. So first, you have a new logo, I think. And who is the new— who's going to be the new Danica? Who's going to be the new public face?

You're covering a lot of ground. So a brand first. Yeah, brands and experience, an all-up experience. And what we really do that's distinctive is we work with customers to get their idea not only started but really thriving online. And that whole experience is really turning into the brand of the company, not only with our products but with our award-winning best-in-care customer support. As you go to Danica, you know, we've been fortunate to have a relationship with Danica for a long time, and she's really epitomized the entrepreneurial spirit of our customers. We were thrilled to usher her into the next wave of entrepreneurial life, and we're thinking about how to communicate that with, with some new faces.

Any names you want to float?

Not yet.

Well, we will stay tuned for that.

But, but what about— because again, you have seen a shift. I would argue that with Danica's ads initially, they played on her sexuality. It was about her sexuality, and that has certainly changed. Maybe, maybe you were leading the charge with that in terms of the way the messaging shifted, or maybe you were lucky, because I think that women's approach to those kinds of ads, has it really changed?

Without a doubt. I think over the last 5 years you've seen us shift how we're communicating the company and Danica in general towards just honoring the spirit of what she's doing. And if you again look at our company, we're enabling ideas. More than 60% of small businesses are women. And with us at GoDaddy, with over 80% brand awareness now, it's about building up that awareness into affinity intent that, you know, really is about having a great experience for our customers and then communicating it in the same way.

And you say, you say the next sort of leg of growth is international?

That's one part. So international, we have 18 million customers today. 7 million are outside the United States. 5 years ago, that number was a little under 2. So we've got really nice velocity all around the world. And it's about building up products beyond domain names. For example, an easy website builder and connecting that to social media. And we've got services not only to build a simple website, but more importantly, connect it to every place you need to be on social media.

Will you do more ads with Jean-Claude Van Damme? Because I found him to be fascinating but so bizarre at the same time.

I'll tell you, I promised—

Grossing. Just weird. Again, hanging from, you know, hanging from the ceiling doing this face.

I promised our marketing team, you know, not, not to talk about specifics. But honestly, I can say I'm pretty sure Jean-Claude Van Damme won't, won't be showing up in some of the future commercials.

I think you make a great point in terms of being like a proxy for small business and entrepreneurs because It really is. So what can you tell us about the backdrop for entrepreneurs and startups?

I think you're seeing a really healthy environment for ideas, both certainly with the economic environment. I mean, not only here in the United States but around the world, you've got just really nice economic growth. And then what you're seeing through what we do and others is a way to get people's ideas simply started, right? The friction of starting, which is obviously the big point for entrepreneurs, is kind of what we're trying to make easier. And, you know, that, that creates a nice velocity for startups and ideas.

Great. Scott, great to have you on the show.

Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Scott Wagner, CEO of GoDaddy.