The battle for Sex.com

by

David Kushner is out with a new book titled, “The Players Ball: A Genius, a Con Man, and the Secret History of the Internet’s Rise.”

The book takes a look at the battle for Sex.com between Gary Kremen of Match.com fame and Stephen Michael Cohen.

Fast Company published an excerpt from the book today, it’s a pretty good read and will help you determine if you want to read the book.

From the excerpt:

If there was one thing he learned from the porn business, it was “how to get your eye”–how to grab people’s attention and get them to spend money. Solar installers were failing miserably on both counts. Their presentations were unattractive, and their price points intimidating. “Installers are guys with trucks. They’re guys with ladders,” as Kremen told Mother Jones. “They’re not sophisticated marketers.” Buying solar panels, Kremen thought, should be as easy as buying a car: Why not just create an easy way for the average person to finance going solar?

Read the full story here

Comments

  1. Adriana says

    Thanks for sharing this info.
    I’ll read the book. I am interested in the real story behind one of the most expensive domains of all time.
    sex.com was, is and will be a great domain for ever!

  2. Josh says

    Ill check it out, thanks!

    On a side note I swear I watched a documentary on the early days of domain name registration and the sex.com story played into it as a side bar… cannot remember the name of it but was a great watch.

  3. steve says

    A feature film based on another Sex.com story/article/publication was in pre-production years ago, with Johnny Depp attached. Financing fell apart — believe it was right after the financial meltdown in 2008.
    This could be a better documentary than a feature film Sex sells and it also could provide a glimpse into the high stakes of premium domains and the various high profile domainers – fortunes won, lost.
    Netflix?

    • Raymond Hackney says

      A Netflix documentary would be cool. Can produce it a lot cheaper than paying an A-List actor/actress to be in a feature film.

  6. Andrew says

    I second the props for Kieren’s book. This is now the third book I know of about Sex.com, and Kieren’s was so good that I don’t see a need for more.