In October 2008, KillerStartups.com – a popular blog that reviewed internet startups purchased the Startups.com domain name for a “mid six figure” amount. A year later, in November 2009, CEO Gonzalo Arzuaga announced the launch of a new Q&A service that was targeted solely at businesses. The understanding was that with the demographic of startup-professionals that KillerStartups enjoyed, the Q&A service would soon turn out to be the go-to destination for businesses looking for answers to their questions.
Close to ten months down the line, it appears as if KillerStartups may have missed a trick here. The website whose domain name was purchased for close to $500,000 hardly has a few thousand visitors reaching out everyday. According to Google Adplanner data, Startups.com receives not more than 22,000 unique visitors in a month who contribute close to 120,000 pageviews in that period. That’s a trickle compared to the over 9 million pageviews that KillerStartups apparently receives.
Of course, these numbers are only estimates. But it is safe to assume that Startups may not have grown to the extent KillerStartups would have liked. But it should be pointed out that these are still early days and the website is likely to grow momentum moving forward. But if the third party metrics are anything to go by, Startups.com may not have done justice to the $500K purchase amount.