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At
the moment I am writing this, Larry also has 2025's highest
publicly reported domain sale of the
year to date in Commerce.com at $2.2
million. He has also been named the exclusive
broker for AI.com, an incomparably attractive
asset that could easily set a new high water mark for
a single domain sale. I could rattle off many more of
his sales successes, like Marketing.com at $2.5
million and Nursing.com at $950,000 but
you get the picture. What is especially interesting is how this
mild-mannered guy - a
real world Clark Kent - turns him into Superman
when it comes to closing big sales. How does he do it?
|
Larry
was already stepping up and
standing out at 3-and-a-half years old. |
Well,
judging from this photo, taken when he was a little
over three years old, Larry has had the ability to take off the glasses
and take care of business from the very
beginning. Still, it took some time for him to find the
place he was meant to be so that he could flourish
in the way that he has. Larry
was born in Brooklyn, New York where his dad worked in a
factory but also attended school to become a
chiropractor with the hope of providing a better life
for his family. Unfortunately, that dream was dashed
when his dad suffered an injury at the factory that left
him disabled. The family was down but they weren't out,
having learned from Larry's grandparents that you are
never out of the game unless you quit. The
grandparents had emigrated from Russia and, as a
builder, his grandfather had the skills necessary to
succeed in their new homeland. However, circumstances,
again beyond their control, struck. The Great
Depression descended on America and the family lost
the home their grandfather had built for them. That
old saying, "when the going gets tough, the
tough get going," was true in the Fischer
family's case. It took years but they saved enough
money back up to |
|
repurchase the very same
home they
had lost. "Sadly, I never really knew my
grandfather as he passed away about two months after I
was born," Larry said. He does however have fond memories
of his grandmother. "She was the quintessential
Jewish grandmother," Larry declared. "She
looked and acted as if she'd stepped straight from
central casting. Her main goal was always to make sure
everyone was well-fed, and then she'd feed
you even more!" |
Larry's
uncle had a huge influence on him too. "He was
someone I greatly admired," Larry said.
"Initially an accountant, he had a strong
entrepreneurial spirit and went on to build a
successful company, eventually taking it public on the
American Stock Exchange as its CEO. Tragically,
he passed away from cancer at a relatively young age.
His wife, my Aunt Barbara, is an extraordinary
woman whose love and devotion continue to hold our
family together."
Their
uncle showed Larry and his two brothers that anything
was possible if you worked for it and their mom
made sure they had the tools they needed to chase
their own dreams. "My mom had finished her
education after high school, as was common for women
at that time, but she strongly believed in
education and ensured all her sons had the
opportunity to pursue higher learning. I graduated
from Pace University, a small college located
in downtown Manhattan, known for its strong
accounting program. My two older brothers both
attended Pace, studied accounting, and became CPAs, so
following in their footsteps felt like the natural
choice for me," Larry said.
|
An
education wasn't the only thing Larry gained
while going to college. "I met my wife Mary
at Pace University, and we dated for seven
years before getting married. Her large Irish
family was very different from mine,"
Larry said. "Mary's family has deep Irish roots.
Her father, whom I greatly admired, was
actively involved with Irish organizations in
New York. He worked closely with Mayor Koch
on Irish community issues and served as Chairman of the Line of March for
the
New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Mary is
one of the primary reasons for my success
today; she's a CPA and CFO, and while I'm
always out pursuing the next deal, she keeps the business and family
running smoothly." |
Larry
and wife Mary met as students in New York City.
|
Larry
said he was a shy kid until he got to college. Pace
was the place where he broke out of that shell and
gradually gained the confidence that began opening new
doors doors for him. "I became a DJ for
Pace’s radio station, WPUB, and naturally
gravitated toward Pace’s Pub, where ideas
(and beer) flowed freely," Larry recalled.
"It was there that one of my first big ideas
emerged: creating syndicated radio content for
colleges. I called it The Intercollegiate Radio
Network. I sent letters to roughly 600 radio
stations and received nearly a 60% response rate
from schools interested in the programming.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of money and experience,
I couldn't move forward at the time. However, it
taught me an important lesson: to successfully
bring future ideas to life, I would need a partner
who had expertise in areas where I did not. Years
later, I found that perfect match when I met Ari
Goldberger."
It
was good that it would still be a few years before
that fortuitous connection with Ari was made because
it gave Larry time to build a formidable skill set
of his own that would make their eventual pairing such a powerful
combination. After getting his degree in accounting,
Larry hoped to land a place with one of the Big Eight
accounting firms. That happened when he got an offer
from Coopers and Lybrand (now PwC). "Working
at Coopers and Lybrand significantly built my
confidence," Larry said. "I learned to engage
directly with senior executives, who often had
much more experience, and ask meaningful questions
about their businesses so I could quickly gain a
thorough understanding of them."
|
"I
worked at Coopers and Lybrand for exactly two
years, three months, one hour, and four minutes before
realizing that I never wanted to work for anyone
else again! I found employment under someone else too
confining. When I left Coopers, I transitioned
into headhunting, which was my first real
experience with sales. I was handed a directory
and told to observe how other recruiters in the office
operated. In my first year, I made just $12,000 and
questioned my decision. However, with persistence and
effort, I became very successful over the next few
years and eventually founded my own recruiting
business."
"During
those years, The most important lesson I learned - and one that guides me to this day
- is to
treat people the way you'd want to be treated yourself.
This principle remains deeply ingrained in how I
approach both business and life," Larry said. I
know how true that is because in countless
interactions in all kinds of situations, I've never
seen Larry treat another person with anything but the
utmost respect - which in turn has made him one of the
most universally revered people in the industry. |
Larry
can tell you TO THE MINUTE
how long he worked at Coopers
& Lybrand
before leaving the corporate carousel. |
In
the years immediately before he discovered the domain
business, Larry dove into a variety of enterprises
including some joint ventures with local newspapers
to provide voice-based personal services, increasing
reader engagement and generating additional revenue
for print media. He also established and managed 900-number
phone services for Purdue University Athletics and
created interactive polling programs that
generated revenue for New York's St. Patrick's Day
Parade.
|
As
for his "Aha!" moment with
domains -
that idea literally fell from the sky and hit him on the
head! "In 1995, an article about domain names in
The Wall Street Journal piqued my
interest," Larry recalled. "I cut it
out of the paper, put it on a shelf and forgot about it. Two years later, that shelf literally fell on
my head, and I picked up and re-read the article. I was
hooked and fully immersed myself in the
world of domaining, where I found a small community of tech-savvy entrepreneurs registering
domains from their basements. This was a tight-knit group, and I soon realized that domain
names were more than just online addresses—they were
digital assets that could be bought,
sold, and even monetized." |
Image
from Bigstock |
"After trying a handful of entrepreneurial ventures that didn’t quite work out, I
found my true
calling. My wife, Mary, was always supportive, believing in me when others didn’t and helping to
support the family financially during the tough times.
In the early days, I bought domain names for $100 each—with no way to monetize them and no
real marketplace to sell them. To put it bluntly, there was
no revenue coming in. Understandably, my wife put her foot
down - if I couldn’t turn this into something that generated
cash flow, it was over. Then came my
miracle—I sold Portuguese.com for $3,000.
That single sale
kept me in domaining," Larry declared.
While
it wasn't a lot of money, that sale turned out to be invaluable
because it kept Larry in the game. Soon after,
he learned just how lucky he was to stay on the field
for the next call. It came from a company interested
in buying Return.com. By the time the call
ended, Larry had an offer for $125,000. There
is a reason they say "don't count your chickens
before they hatch" though. The next day, the
company's CEO called back and said "Unfortunately,
we can't proceed with the original offer."
"My heart sank," Larry said "but before
I could even process the disappointment, he asked
"Would it be OK if we paid you $100,000
cash and closed quickly?" "Just like that I
was back on top and officially on a roll. That sale was
the proof I needed and things began to move quickly from
there."
|
Another
one of Larry's domains played the key role in a series
of events that would lead to his fruitful partnership
with Ari Goldberger. "I had started
registering domain names in 1997, and one of the very
first domains I registered was AndyWarhol.com,"
Larry began. "I had a deep appreciation for pop
art, particularly artists like Andy Warhol and Keith
Haring, though owning an actual piece of their artwork
was beyond my reach. To me, registering AndyWarhol.com
felt like my opportunity to own a personal Warhol
piece."
"The
website today remains the same fan site I initially
created all those years ago but one day I received a
letter from the Warhol Foundation demanding
the domain name. When I mentioned this to John Kimbell
at Mail.com, he suggested I speak with their
in-house lawyer, Ari Goldberger. Ari handled the
situation effectively, allowing me to retain the
domain to this day."
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Larry
Fischer and Ari Goldberger
A match made in domain heaven. |
"Ari
was ahead of his time in the field of internet law. He notably won the very first case defending a
domainer against a large company trying to claim a
domain. That landmark case involved Esqwire.com,
Ari’s own law brand. We quickly discovered we had a
lot in common, sharing strong entrepreneurial
instincts and a passion for domain names," Larry
said. "Together, we co-founded SmartName.com, an early
domain name monetization platform. SmartName.com was
two guys working out of their basements with an outsourced engineer with
no idea that they would change the domain world."
"At
that time, Ari was managing a Yahoo advertising
feed for his major client, Anything.com. The
idea emerged to offer this feed to other prominent
domainers, leading to the creation of SmartName.
Ari managed the relationship with Yahoo and handled
the technical aspects, while I oversaw affiliate
relations. Smartname grew rapidly, focusing
exclusively on top-tier domainers who owned the
highest-quality domains," Larry said.
"SmartName.com
revolutionized the industry by helping domain investors turn their portfolios
into steady revenue streams. The platform’s success helped create real opportunities for many early
domainers, with some clients even experiencing life-changing
moments. One of SmartName’s
first clients, for example, was going through a divorce, facing bankruptcy and the foreclosure of
his home. Even with all this going on, he refused to sell his domain
names, they were like
children to him. After using SmartName, his domains began generating enough income to turn
his life around. This belief and attachment to domain names and their potential was a common
thread among early domainers," Larry added.
Ari
Goldberger and Larry Fischer at the their
SmartName.com booth
during the 2006 TRAFFIC East conference in Hollywood,
Florida.
"Those
were some of the best years of my life—I
truly enjoyed the conversations and connections I made
during that time," Larry said. "Witnessing friends making money
from their domains for the first time was
incredibly rewarding and exciting. I built strong
friendships with these affiliates, and I'm proud to
say I still stay in touch with most of them today.
"
"Ari
also introduced me to the elusive owner of the
Anything.com portfolio—a true genius and, in many
ways, patient zero of the domaining world. If there
was ever a pioneer in this industry, it was him.
At the time, and to this day, Anything.com is one of
the greatest generic domain name portfolios. I quickly
began working with Anything.com, exclusively helping
to buy and sell their domain names, a role I still
play today. It felt like I had stepped into the role
of Tom Hagen—the fictional consigliore from The
Godfather—dedicated to one major client. And
honestly? It felt great!," Larry said.
"Over
time, I started to work with many of the domainers I
knew from our Smartname days - visionary people who
were holding most of the best .com’s in the
world." That led to Larry launching GetYourDomain.com
as his personal brokerage base. Asked to share some of
the nuts and bolts that have helped him operate so
successfully, Larry said, "When selling a
specific domain name for my client, the approach
usually involves leveraging direct connections and
extensive outreach. However, if another broker
whom I trust maintains strong relationships with a
specific entity, I will collaborate with them
to facilitate the transaction. Similar to real estate
brokerage, my primary goal is always ensuring the
highest quality of service and best possible outcome
for my client.
I only represent domain names that I am confident
I can sell, typically accepting around 5%
of those presented to me. I handle each domain as
carefully and thoughtfully as if it were my own,"
Larry added.
Larry
Fischer speaking at the 2009 TRAFFIC Silicon Valley
conference in Santa Clara, California.
Like
many domain investors and brokers, Larry works from
home - something most of us love about the business -
but it also means you are technically "always
in the office." For many, mobile devices mean
you are still in the office even when you are
somewhere else. So, work-life balance, especially when
you have a family, can be an issue. I asked Larry how
he handles that. "If you'd asked me this question
years ago, I probably would've told you I was always
working," Larry said. "I'd wake up and
immediately head downstairs to my desk in the basement,
and I was reachable by phone well past midnight."
|
"The
funny thing is, the week we sold SmartName, I
was actually on a family vacation at the Grand
Canyon. There was no cell service, and the only
available phone was in our hotel room. To review
contracts, I'd have to wait as a 300-page document slowly
came through on old-fashioned, rolled fax paper!"
Larry laughed at the memory.
"Unfortunately,
it took me a long time to truly appreciate the
importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
I love to travel and spend my free time
exploring places I've never visited before. I've
traveled to over 40 countries with my family,
with highlights including an African safari and
a tour through China. One of my favorite
destinations is Ireland, where Mary has some
wonderful family.
"
"I
get the greatest pleasure and satisfaction from seeing
how my two sons, Jeffrey and John have
turned out. Both of my sons graduated from Ivy League
schools—something I never could have imagined,
considering the way I grew up.
For much of that, I truly have to give credit to
Mary—I honestly don't know how she manages to
do everything she does in a single day.
It’s been a true
|
The
Fischer family visiting the Great Wall of
China.
(L to R): Sons Jeffrey and John, Mary and
Larry. |
|
family business, with Jeff
and John growing up in the world of domain names with
Jeffrey often accompanying me to conferences and
auctions." |
"I
remember one time when Jeff—who grew up around the
domain industry—got involved in a live auction at a
domain conference in Las Vegas. My friend,
domain industry pioneer Mike
Berkens, handed
Jeff a paddle and said, “Let’s win a domain and win
he did! That would have been exciting enough but
at this auction every winning bidder was
presented with a Hawaiian lei by a Playboy
Centerfold Playmate. A photo of Jeff receiving his lei
became legendary among his high school friends,
adding a fun chapter to the family’s history in the
domain business," Larry smiled.
Above:
Jeffrey Fischer won his first domain auction
with
industry legend Mike Berkens at his side.
Below:
After receiving the lei that went to winning bidders,
Jeffrey also
took home a photo that
gave his high school friends something to talk
about!
|
"I’ve
had many other fun moments throughout my career
that continue to make me smile," Larry added.
"One unforgettable
experience happened at a domain conference in New
York City, where Jeffrey and I were
hanging out with a friend and fellow domainer. The
friend brought his daughter along, a young woman who
was just another attendee at the conference. What we
didn’t know at the time was that this friend’s
daughter would go on to become a superstar—one of the biggest names in
contemporary music today (Editor's
note: Larry is referring to veteran domain
investor Rob Grant and his stunningly
talented daughter, Lana Del Rey. As a musician
himself, Rob would go on to record a hit record of his
own, a classical piano album that went to #1
on the Billboard chart). Larry noted, "It
was one of those casual moments that |
|
|
would
later take on monumental significance. In this
case, a domain conference encounter would
later become a quirky footnote in the history
of a globally recognized artist." |
|
There
is another superstar that Larry says has inspired
him throughout his life - The Boss - Bruce
Springsteen, who he has seen perform live more
than 100 times! (Now, I am starting to wonder when
he had time to get all of that work done)!
Larry told
us, "The first concert I ever attended was Bruce
Springsteen. I was sitting in the pub at school on a
Friday when one of my friends asked if I had any plans
for the weekend. I said no — and he told me he was
heading to Buffalo right then to catch the
Springsteen show that night. Being a typical teenager,
I said, “I’m in!”
At the time
though, I had no idea who
Bruce even was. But seeing him up on that stage was
unlike anything I’d ever experienced. It was
breathtaking. Mystifying. For those few hours,
everything else disappeared. You block out the world
— it’s just you and the music. From that moment
on, going to his shows became like a drug — the
kind that could cure anything," Larry
marveled. |
While
at his most recent Springsteen concert, Larry
captured this selfie with Bruce himself as The
Boss
headed back to the dressing room following a
Boston
show that Larry attended with Andrew
Miller. |
In
a related story, Larry told us, "Years later,
after the sale of SmartName, I was fortunate enough to
be able to send my younger son to a private school in Brooklyn.
At the beginning of the school year, there was a
parents' event, and my wife and I volunteered to help
out. I was assigned to the bar area. A few minutes
later, another volunteer — a woman — joined me
behind the bar. As we started chatting, she mentioned
that she had just moved from New Jersey and her
kids were also new to the school. She said her
husband traveled a lot for work. Naturally, I
asked what he did. With a smile, she said, “He’s
in a band. His name is Jon Bon Jovi."
Without missing a beat, I replied, “I know he’s a
big rock star — I’m sure I’ve heard his songs on
the radio, but I probably couldn’t pick one out.
However, if you were Bruce Springsteen’s wife…
different story! She got a big kick out of that, and
it helped break the ice. I had been nervous about
putting my kid into a private school, but that moment
made it all feel a little more comfortable."
Looking
back over the past three decades, Larry added, "I deeply value the people
I've met and the friendships I've built throughout my
career in domaining. I feel truly blessed to be
in the position I am today, both professionally and
personally.
"
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While
Larry has had an extraordinarily long and successful
run, he is convinced there are many
more good years to come in this business.
"I anticipate always being actively involved in
the domaining community, as I believe there is
still significant growth ahead," Larry
affirmed. "Over the years, I've been
approached about starting domain parking
companies, leading brokerage services,
engaging with GTLDs, and exploring other
industry opportunities. I'm always open to new
possibilities, knowing much more can be
accomplished in this dynamic industry!"
It's true. |
Image
from Bigstock |
|
While
this business is always changing it is also
constantly creating new opportunities for
visionary entrepreneurs. Your personal journey could
play out in any number of ways but one thing
you can be sure of - if you make the
effort,
you'll meet some very
interesting people along the way and could even wind
up with a life changing story of your own. |
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