10 years of changing the industry

This post was originally published on the iwantmyname blog: https://iwantmyname.com/blog/10-years-of-changing-the-industry

When we started iwantmyname 10 years ago we sat down and defined an impact statement first. It is still up on our about page under the “domain ethics” heading.

We launched into an industry that was focussed on the customer in a value extracting mode, monetizing every aspect of a customer as effectively as possible. We added a product that had a value adding mindset to that industry, we did not see competition but an opportunity to help customers be more effective.

We started with an impact statement and optimized for impact rather than shareholder value or market share. This fundamental difference in focus made it possible to set us apart from the rest of the industry and made us successful enough to build a sustainable business.

We could have stopped there but we were interested in the long term impact and looking back we did have a significant impact on our industry. As an industry we moved towards a more customer centric view and help customers achieve their goals rather than just clip the ticket and hold more tickets in front of them.

With our impact view we also defined the startup community in New Zealand as one of our focus points and helped shape a very successful community here. Further to that we picked other impact areas like clean water in Bali and decided to set aside a part of every domain registration for those secondary impact goals.

After 10 years of focussing on adding value we made it to a point where not only our industry is aware of what we do and follows but also our customers have gained as the industry shifts. I have thought a lot about abundance mentality recently and looking back am happy to report that it actually works.