Bruce Jaffe

General Partner, J4 Ventures · 1 appearance on the record.

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investorexecutiveoperator@BruceJaffe ↗LinkedIn ↗j4.ventures ↗

He previously spent over a decade at Microsoft leading corporate development and M&A before serving as CEO of domain registry Donuts Inc. until its acquisition by Abry Partners in 2018. Today, he backs early-stage technology startups as a venture capitalist and angel investor while serving on corporate boards.

12statements → 9claims → 4claims resolved → 100%fully supported → 3.75/5average certainty → 1.42/5average debate potential →

4 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 5 not checkable as stated how the 9 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 7 assertions · 1 insight · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 9 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 5 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Bruce argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Google maintains search ranking neutrality between new and legacy domain extensions.

“Google will say that, that new TLD and legacy TLDs they are in different. I'm sorry, top level domain. I hate it when I do that. So whether, so, so Google will say that there is no, a different, you know, bias one way or the other.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 5:36 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Bruce Jaffe on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said12 Episodes1

Everything Bruce Jaffe said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Supported

Google maintains search ranking neutrality between new and legacy domain extensions.

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 5:36 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Keyword-specific domain extensions like .coffee will likely improve SEO rankings.

“Clearly if somebody is searching for something around coffee and dot coffee is, Is the domain extension, then that's most likely going to be better, not worse.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 5:54 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Domain sales will increasingly be bundled with hosting and email services.

“And I think this is where the world is going to, are going to bundle it in with another set of services, and so the markup is actually embedded in, I'm just going to get my hosting, or I'm going to get my email, or I'm going to get whatever new service, and th…”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 8:59 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Supported

Donuts holds the world's largest new domain portfolio with 240 extensions.

“We are the world's largest portfolio of new, top-level domains, so think of that as domains such as .coffee.life.today.news, et cetera. We have about 240 of them”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 1:32 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Disclosure

Donuts has raised approximately $150 million to acquire domain registries.

“Well, we have raised in total about a hundred and fifty million.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 2:40 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Insight

Donuts' domain registry model possesses virtually unlimited digital inventory.

“Really, the amazing thing about the business is we really have unlimited inventory.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 4:10 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Donuts generates an average of $20 per year per registered domain.

“You can use a 20 dollar figure as a good average for what we make per year per domain.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 8:36 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Donuts' domain renewal rates reach 80% to 90% after year one.

“So the first year you're hoping that a you know, it's a 60, 70% probability that the domain will get renewed. And then after that, it ticks up into the eighties and nineties over the course of time.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 11:36 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Supported

Donuts manages approximately three million active domain registrations.

“We have on the, for these domains we've sold, we have about three million of them out there.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 13:22 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Supported

Donuts achieved 59,000% four-year growth, topping the Deloitte Fast 500.

“We recently won or worth what I would say, well, we were on the top of the list of the Deloitte fast 500. And so we had a 59,000 percent growth rate over the course of the prior four years.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 13:57 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Disclosure

Donuts operates as a wholesale domain registry for retail registrars.

“We are a wholesaler and we will sell to a retailer such as HostGator or Squarespace or Goaty.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 3:11 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Donuts operates its massive domain registry with just over 100 employees.

“We're a little over a hundred people.”

Bruce Jaffe Apr 23, 2018 ▶ 17:48 1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
1003 With $150m Raised, He's Sold 3m "Weird" Domain Names	Apr 23, 2018	10m

Bruce Jaffe

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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