Don’t mess up Escrow.com — Dear Freelancer.com

Escrow.com has a bright future ahead of it, as long as fresh ownership makes the right moves.

Dear Freelancer.com,

Congratulations on your buyout of Escrow.com. It is a great firm that just regarding everyone in the domain name industry uses, and uses often.

When you bought Escrow.com for $7.5 million, I knew you didn’t have a goal of merely milking the cash cow. As your CEO Matt Barrie told me on the Reglike Podcast, you want more. You want to grow the firm. That makes sense.

But I implore you, please…don’t mess up Escrow.com.

I was surprised to learn yesterday that Brandon Abbey left Escrow.com. I don’t know any more regarding the circumstances than what you told DomainInvesting.com. I’m sure you have your reasons, and it’s up to you what you do with your business.

Keep in mind that Escrow services are kind of like a bank. Trust is critical. Escrow services need to “know their client”, and domain name investors were comfortable having Brandon at the helm. They knew that, push come to shove, they could count on Brandon to get a transaction done. They also knew Brandon would run a safe, licensed service.

Also, remember that Escrow.com was built on the backs of domain name investors. Escrow.com supports the community and domainers support Escrow.com. There is a mutual trust.

There are certainly some features and improvements to be made, such as a better user interface (especially for end user domain buyers and sellers).

Ahead of completing your product roadmap, still, I highly recommend getting feedback from domain name investors. Hold some focus groups or one-on-one conversations. Don’t dismiss the feedback of your long-time employees, either.

I’ve watched this industry for a long time, and there are examples of fresh ownership teams shooting themselves in the foot by not understanding their clients. Let’s make sure Escrow.com isn’t another example of this.