Our mission at Carrot just got bigger. See why in the video above then listen to why we’re betting $600k in our brand in the podcast below.
Whew! It’s been 5 years since we started Carrot. 5 years! And a lot has happened in those 60 some odd months.
Over that time we’ve helped thousands of real estate investors and agents stand out online, cut through the clutter, and win more leads and deals. In fact, well over 2,000,000 online leads and counting.
Over 3,000 Carrot Bud dolls have been sent out to raving Carrot fans, 1,000+ Carrot t-shirts (the comfiest ever!), 250,000+ CarrotCast downloads, thousands of “doses of awesomeness” have been sent in from Carrot members about their successes since working with us.
But a BIG piece of fully owning Carrot, the brand, has escaped us until now.
Our $600k Bet To Acquire Carrot.com And Go All In On Our Mission
Um, yes… you read that right. That’s no typo.
$600,000 for a domain name. Believe me, if you would have told me 3 years ago we’d be investing that much money into a domain I would have said you’re off your rocker. But today, I feel it’s one of the best investments we could have made to further our future and our mission to impact far more entrepreneurs.
You’ve heard me talk about how important it is today to build a brand and we’ve done a pretty darn good job of it over the years. But one thing that kept bugging us was the brand confusion in the market about our real company name.
Are we Carrot?
Are we OnCarrot?
Are we InvestorCarrot?
Well, we’ve always been Carrot. InvestorCarrot is a product, and AgentCarrot is a product. But a hefty percentage of people still called us OnCarrot as our business name rather than that just being our domain name. So much so that it became a running joke that would make us cringe internally every time we saw it.
The Need To Own Our Brand Became More Important
Many people feel that a brand is simply your company colors and a logo.
But, that’s just the start. We all know companies that have an amazing logo, but you cringe when you hear their name because of the way they run their business. They have a brand, just not the one they want.
A brand is everything that paints the picture of what your company represents to the marketplace.
Our Core Values are the foundation of our brand.
The Carrot orange is a recognizable sign of our brand.
Our logo was a fun expression of our brand.
The dolls, t-shirts, and way we do business here all feed into building the Carrot brand that tens of thousands of grown to know and love.
But what about your domain name?
Your domain name can also signal how serious you are about your brand, or whether you’re just “dabbling” in your brand.
For us, our domain name was fine. It would have continued to do what it needed to do. But it didn’t further cement our brand. It actually distracted from it and made it harder for people to find us.
We’re Turning The Page To The Next Chapter At Carrot
As we’re making a big bet on our mission, on our brand, on helping tens of thousands more small businesses to stand out online and finally get results… we’re also making a big bet on YOU.
This is only our first big bet.
Throughout the next 24 months, we’re investing heavily into other areas.
We’re making big investments into…
- Building our engineering and product teams to innovate our product faster than ever before
- Transforming our Customer Success team to take your customer experience to an even higher level
- Doubling down on our content efforts to get the most up to date and useful content possible
… and more.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate International Carrot Day (April 4th) than this. And we’re grateful that you’re a part of the journey.
Celebrate International Carrot Day With Us + Win Prizes!
In celebration of our doubling down on our brand and mission, for International Carrot Day we’re doing 2 challenges today and giving away hundreds of dollars in prizes including orange Bose Speakers!
Just click the link below to enter one of our 2 challenges and celebrate with us!
Congratulations to carrot for successfully upgrading the brand!
Thanks!!!
Worst investment ever lol
Gordon! Man if you would have said I was investing that much into a domain 3 years ago I would have agreed with you.
My mindset honestly was too small and my vision wasn’t as big as it is today.
I worked the numbers every which way… and YES, it’s a crazy amount for a domain name. 100% agree. oncarrot.com cost us $10/yr. We could have paid for that domain name for 60,000 years. Shoot, by then Elon Musk will have the entire universe colonized and people will probably be cyborgs by then.
I explain it in the podcast, but at the end of the day… our vision has grown so much larger this past 18 months. I want to OWN all that is our brand. I want to own all that is Carrot. I want to own the color orange for those in the markets that we operate in. I want to own the word carrot in peoples minds in the markets we work in. And any bits and pieces that confuse the brand or prevent us owning our brand fully… we needed to remove.
You see, when we started Carrot, my only aim was to just create something that was useful, solved the problem better than anyone else in our market, and was fun. Up to now I feel we’ve done that.
But the past 2 years it grew far larger. We’ve seen the impact we’re having on so many people in this niche of a niche and we’re going to keep investing heavily into the real estate investor market and agent markets. But there are so many small businesses that are struggling to get results online. Heck, we have lots of customers who use Carrot for their investing company but then they’ve moved their construction business, or HVAC business, or tons of other types of businesses over to Carrot and they see MUCH better results after moving to us. They’re like “Why aren’t you doing this for other types of businesses???”.
So, here we were… a HUGE vision, a semi fragmented brand, a bit of craziness (yes, I’m definitely slightly off my rocker for investing that much in a domain), but sound number crunching in the process of the purchase. I never would have made this purchase if our vision was small. Yes it would have been the worst investment ever. But, I don’t like Lambos or Ferraris and I’d much rather have an asset like a valuable domain name that will retain it’s value vs. a sports car that makes me feel cool for a short time but will lose half of it’s value within 5 years.
As we grow this business and go into other markets… an email or introduction from “Trevor, he owns Carrot… Carrot.com” carry’s a lot more weight in the tech world than “Meet Trevor, with oncarrot.com”. One introduction because of the weight that comes w/ a top tier domain name could pay for that domain 5x over.
Worse case scenario, this domain would sell for no less than $300k on the open market. Likely much higher and possibly more than we bought it for. So lets say the worst case scenario hit, I was able to use the domain to grow our business for a bit… then troubles hit, we took a dive and I needed to liquidate… with a digital company like ours… we don’t really have any assets. Some real estate maybe… but other than that… no real assets except our software and userbase. So adding a valuable domain name to the mix strengthens our assets on the balance sheet. If I had to sell it for $300k… I’d lose $300k… and the way my mind works… I like the domain… I want the domain… and if $300k ruins me financially in 10 years… I did something wrong.
But ya man, I agree… terrible investment… for most people to make. For our time right now in this business and the future we have planned… one of the best investments we could have possibly made.
Long live the Carrot!
Oh, also, it just bugged me when saying my email address… I always had to repeat it. That’s worth $600k alone ;-)
Awesome job! Way to go!
Thanks Tyler!
Carrot has always been a cornerstone of our business….keep up the great work! Carrot ON!
Jennifer you rock! Thank you!
Awesome way to kill it on the branding man!! A lot to pay for sure, but I totally agree with you on the email thing! Besides your 300k asset, you also just saved yourself 300k in taxes this year (fed+state+etc+etc+whatever new tax kate brown cooks up for us next) lol. From a balance sheet perspective, you should be ahead. Not a bad purchase at all.
Congratulations to the Carrot Team, Trevor!!!
Great story and win-win for everyone involved, including seller’s family who lost a husband and father. Carrot today, carrot tomorrow, carrot 🥕 forever.
Please factor-in the substantial publicity stemming from your purchase. US$600,000 is domain name news, and that publicity brings your operation in front of a whole different industry of creative entrepreneurs. What’s “investorcarrot” ?? Some will check it out and find opportunity. (PS – I’d never hears of your firm prior to this domain purchase)