Dolly.com: The $100K Domain Held for Dolly Parton
Dolly.com has become synonymous with easy, accessible moving—think "Uber for bulky items." But before it was a household name, founder Chad Wittman had to hunt down a domain that was being held for a country music legend.
Finding the Perfect Name
Chad explained that, coming from a background with SEO-heavy, utilitarian brands, he wanted something different—something catchy, memorable, and easy to communicate, even in a crowded bar.
The inspiration struck during brunch in Chicago as Chad and his co-founders brainstormed. "I pictured, what I learned later, is technically a 'hand truck,'" Chad recalled. "But my co-founder immediately said, 'Dolly,' and it just clicked. We knew that was the name."
Once the name was decided, they quickly snatched up every variation: GetDolly.com, DollyMove.com, and DollyApp.com. Though Dolly.com was taken, they initially launched under GetDolly.com, with plans to acquire the shorter domain down the line.
The Domain Hunt Begins
In 2014, Dolly was scaling fast. With the gig economy blossoming and on-demand services booming, Dolly's popularity grew, prompting Chad to think bigger about branding.
Dolly.com wasn't listed for sale, nor was it associated with any active website. After some sleuthing, it became clear this was a "digital ghost"—a domain with an owner, but no accessible information. Their initial budget? About $10,000, and the outlook wasn't optimistic.
After raising a Series A round led by Maveron, a Seattle-based VC firm, Chad was connected with a domain broker based in Eastern Europe who took on the challenge of tracking down the owner.
A Risky Transaction
The negotiation process was fraught with uncertainty. The broker initially quoted $200,000, far beyond what Chad and his team had anticipated. After some back-and-forth, they agreed on a price closer to $100,000.
"At one point, the broker said, 'Wire $50,000 to this bank account,' and we were just trusting this random guy on Skype," Chad shared, highlighting the nerve-wracking nature of the transaction.
The Dolly Parton Connection
The story behind the domain's original owner added an interesting twist. The previous owner had purchased Dolly.com in the late 90s, hoping to sell it to Dolly Parton. He had held onto the domain for years, believing that the country music legend would eventually buy it to build a media empire.
However, as time passed, the owner's dreams of a Dolly Parton-backed website faded, and he eventually sold the domain to Chad's team.
The Big Switch
Once they had secured Dolly.com, it was time to migrate from GetDolly.com. This was a big move, especially considering the SEO they'd built up on the original site. Chad admitted it came with an inevitable drop in search rankings—a painful pill for any SEO-conscious founder.
But ultimately, the credibility that came with Dolly.com, especially in B2B channels, made the purchase worthwhile. Working with major partners like IKEA and Lowe's, having that clean, single-word domain made a difference.
"It probably paid itself back more in B2B deals than just pure consumer traffic," he noted.
Chad learned an important timing lesson: "There's this weird game theory where the bigger your business gets, the higher the domain price. We tried to buy it before we announced our Series A. Once people see you've raised, that price tag tends to balloon."
For Chad, bringing Dolly.com to life was the perfect mix of creativity, grit, and at least a little bit of luck.