I'll start with something that might piss off a few domain investors: most end users don't care about your premium domain.
There it is.
Before you close the tab or start typing an angry comment, just hear me out for a second. Tell me you haven't watched domainers convince themselves that every startup founder is losing sleep over upgrading from their hyphenated mess to a clean .com.
They're not losing sleep. They're barely thinking about it.
The Reality Nobody Wants to Admit
Here's what actually happens: a founder picks a name. Maybe it's not perfect. It likely is not. Maybe it's a .io or a .co. Maybe they just slap "App" or "HQ" or "Get" in front because the .com they wanted was parked. Then they move on and start building.
They build. They market. They raise money. They hire people. They get customers.
And the domain? It just becomes part of the furniture.
I've talked to enough business owners to know the drill. They're worried about runway, payroll, that bug that's destroying their conversion rate, whether their marketing spend is working. The domain sitting in your portfolio—the one you're sureis perfect for them—isn't even a blip on their radar.
We're Selling What They're Not Buying
Domainers see domains differently. We notice clean, memorable names. We get SEO, authority, type-in traffic. It's literally our job to see potential in letter combinations.
But founders aren't domain investors. They're trying to build something that matters. To them, the domain is like... I don't know, their office chair. Functional. Replaceable in theory. But also—they already have one, it works fine, and getting a new one sounds like a hassle.
Most of them made peace with their current name months or years ago. Their team uses it. Their customers know it. Their social handles all match. Switching to your "better" domain isn't an upgrade to them—it's a project. And a disruptive one.
Outbound Reality
If you've done outbound, you know exactly how this goes. You craft the perfect pitch. You explain the benefits. You price it fairly. You make everything easy.
Then... crickets.
Or the polite brush-off: "Thanks, but we're good."
I've talked to domainers who've sent hundreds—sometimes thousands—of these emails. The conversion rates are absolutely brutal. Not because their domains suck or their emails are poorly written, but because the people receiving them just aren't in the market.
When They Actually Do Care
Look, I'm not saying end users never care. They do—sometimes. Usually in three scenarios:
They're brand new and haven't committed to a name yet.
They're already mid-rebrand and actively exploring options.
Their current domain is causing actual, measurable problems—customer confusion, lost traffic, someone else owns the .com and is eating their lunch.
Those are narrow windows. And most businesses aren't sitting there refreshing their inbox hoping your cold email arrives at the exact right moment.
The ones who are actively shopping for premium domains? Usually they're either sitting on a pile of investor cash or they're established enough that brand perception actually matters to their bottom line. Both are pretty rare.
The Six-Figure Mirage
This is where domainers always push back. "But what about those massive sales we hear about?"
Yeah, they happen. We've all seen the headlines. The startup that dropped $200K on the exact-match domain. The insane seven-figure deals.
Those are real. But they make headlines because they're outliers. For every Voice.com selling for $30 million, there are literally thousands of "Voice"-something domains collecting dust while actual businesses thrive on VoiceHQ.io or GetVoice.co or whatever.
What I've Learned from Talking to Founders
After interviewing hundreds of founders for SullysBlog, one pattern won't stop showing up: the ones who are actually succeeding almost never mention their domain as a critical factor.
It's always the product. The team. The timing. Sometimes dumb luck. Ask them specifically about their domain and you get something like, "Oh yeah, we might upgrade someday."
That someday? It doesn't come. The name grows on them. The hassle and cost of switching starts to feel not worth it. The domain they picked in a hurry becomes their identity.
Stop Trying to Convince People Who Don't Want Convincing
This isn't me saying give up on end users entirely. It's just—be realistic about who they are and what they care about.
The best domain sales I've seen happen naturally. Someone needs a better name right now, you have it, the price isn't insane, boom—done. The worst ones? When a domainer is trying to manufacture a problem that the prospect doesn't even believe exists.
Maybe Focus on the Ones Who Are Actually Looking
Instead of blasting everyone with a remotely relevant business, maybe narrow it down. The ones who are just starting and still figuring out their name. The ones in the middle of a rebrand. The ones scaling fast enough that brand perception is starting to matter.
And be honest with yourself about what you're holding. That "perfect" startup domain? It's only perfect if they think so. Most won't.
The Bottom Line
End users care way less about domains than we want them to. That's not a flaw in them—it's just different priorities.
They're building companies. We're collecting names. Sometimes those worlds overlap and everyone wins. But pretending every founder is a buyer just waiting to be convinced? That's not a strategy. That's wishful thinking.
The sooner we stop chasing people who don't care, the sooner we find the ones who actually do. Those buyers are out there. They're just way rarer than your outbound email list wants you to believe.