Loom.com: The $150K Domain Deal That Required Two Buyouts

In 2017, the video messaging company known as Opentest decided to rebrand with a name that captured their mission perfectly: Loom. The name symbolized "weaving" conversations together and had the potential to become a verb—"send me a loom." There was just one problem: most domains and social handles were already taken.

Building on @useloom

Despite the domain challenges, the team pressed forward, registering @useloom across social platforms. From 2017 through most of 2018, they built their brand on this handle, growing their user base and refining their product.

But as Loom's popularity grew, so did a serious problem. Another company also named Loom offered a different product in a different space. Both companies provided customer support. Both had active user bases.

The confusion was constant:

• Support tickets meant for video messaging Loom landed in the other Loom's inbox
• Customers complained about features that existed in the wrong product
• Sales calls started with "Wait, which Loom are you?"
• Brand recognition was being diluted across two different companies

Operating as "@useloom" was becoming a liability. Every confused customer was a lost opportunity. Every misdirected support ticket was wasted time. The brand collision wasn't just annoying—it was actively hurting the business.

The Quest for Loom.com

With fresh funding from their Series A round, Loom's leadership decided it was time to establish themselves as the definitive "Loom" in the market. They needed Loom.com.

The domain was owned by a public SaaS company that had acquired it through a previous acquisition and left it sitting idle. It wasn't being used, but it also wasn't cheap.

The First Negotiation

Loom opened negotiations with an offer of $50,000. The team knew this was a lowball—the domain's market value was estimated at over $400,000. But they figured it was worth a shot for an unused asset.

After some back-and-forth, the SaaS company surprised them by agreeing to sell for $75,000. It seemed like a done deal. A steal, even.

Then another startup entered the picture.

The Competing Offer

Just as Loom was preparing to close the deal, another startup expressed interest in Loom.com. And they weren't messing around—they were prepared to offer up to $500,000 for the domain.

For the SaaS company holding the domain, this was a windfall. Why sell for $75,000 when someone else will pay nearly 7x more?

For Loom, it was a nightmare scenario. They'd just raised their Series A. They'd spent months negotiating. They'd gotten an incredible deal at $75,000. And now a competitor with deeper pockets was about to snatch it away.

Losing the domain meant:

• Continuing as "@useloom" indefinitely
• Never solving the brand confusion problem
• Always being the "other Loom" in customer conversations
• Potentially years of explaining which Loom you meant

After all their growth, after building a product thousands of people loved, they were about to be outbid for the domain that matched their name. It was crushing.

The Creative Solution

Rather than get into a bidding war they couldn't win, Loom's team made a bold move: they reached out directly to the competing startup's CEO.

The pitch was simple but effective. Loom offered to pay the competing startup $75,000 upfront to cover their rebranding costs if they would withdraw from the negotiation. Essentially, Loom was willing to pay both parties to make the deal happen.

The competing CEO agreed. For $75,000, they'd walk away and rebrand to something else. That money would cover new domains, new marketing materials, and whatever else they needed to pivot.

The Final Deal

In the end, Loom paid:

• $75,000 to the SaaS company for the domain
• $75,000 to the competing startup to withdraw
• Total: $150,000

It was still a fraction of the domain's $400,000 appraised value, and far less than the $500,000 the other startup was prepared to pay. More importantly, it solved the brand confusion problem once and for all.

The Aftermath

With Loom.com secured, the company could finally consolidate their brand identity. No more @useloom. No more customer confusion. Just Loom.

The transition was immediate and transformative. Support tickets went to the right place. Sales conversations started with clarity. The brand finally had room to breathe and grow without competing with another Loom.

Within three years, Loom became one of the fastest-growing video messaging platforms in the world. By 2021, they'd built a product used by millions of people and thousands of companies.

That year, Atlassian acquired Loom for $975 million.

The $150,000 spent on the domain in 2018 represented 0.015% of that acquisition price. But without Loom.com, would they have been able to build the same brand recognition? Would the name "Loom" have become a verb without owning the .com?

The domain wasn't just a URL. It was the foundation that allowed everything else to scale.

Loom's team found a way to satisfy all parties through creative negotiation: the domain owner got their money, the competing startup got funded to rebrand, and Loom got the domain they needed to build what would become a $975 million company.