How do I get started?
First, decide whether your TLD is feasible. This comes down to doing market research to gauge demand, and answering these basic questions about your Internet strategy:
- Can you afford to do it?
- Can you afford not to do it?
- How will you be hurt if someone else does it?
- Can you get the permissions we need? (For geographical TLDs.)
Minds + Machines knows that deciding these questions means answering a lot of other questions first. There are internal questions about branding strategy, finances, competition, marketing, legal standing, staffing, and so on. There are also ICANN-specific questions about timing, contention, objections, technical review, and much more.
Seem overwhelming? Actually, with some expertise and a plan it’s quite do-able. That’s where we come in.
Minds + Machines can definitely make it easier on the cost side. Our low-cost Espresso registry platform is used by over 20 current country-code domains in the form of CoCCA, Espresso’s close cousin. It’s the most widely deployed registry platform out there, and it works for a wide variety of business models. And with prices as low as $1.50 per name per year, it’s the least expensive too.
Our consulting services can actually be completely free, but there is no compromise on quality. We are experienced consultants who have worked with many Fortune 500 companies on domain name and Internet strategies, as well as hundreds of smaller companies. We take a comprehensive, systematic approach that provides you with a written business plan, complete pro-forma financials, market and sales estimates, and an expert liaison for all your questions. We’re also very familiar with ICANN procedures and staff members and can resolve specific issues for you — there’s more to this than just reading the application guidebook.
A strength of Minds + Machines is its wide network of partners, from technology providers to specialists in important related areas. For instance, if you need to reach out to a community for your community-based TLD, or if you need to get permissions from governments for your geographically-based TLD, we have experience doing that too. In these cases, your strategy would need to be closely tailored to your particular community or region, and we would reach out to the many specialists we know to assist.
Working with Minds + Machines will make the whole new TLD process simpler, understandable, and less expensive.
Please read through our site (there’s a lot of information here), and if you think we might be of help to you, please contact us and we’ll reach out for a free, no-obligation, hour-long meeting. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you have, and you should be able to decide from talking to us if you think Minds + Machines is the right company for you.
