Kevin Fink shares a decade of reflections ​(on digital assets and life in general)…

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Right around 2010, I pulled a hard-stop on a creative (read: financially irresponsible) pursuit and veered head-first into the world of domain names. This is when I met Morgan — what now feels like eons ago when we were young lads living in L.A. 

We both turn 40 this year, and while he is off this week (likely dousing himself under a Yosemite waterfall right now), I am sitting here reflecting. And by that, I mean daydreaming about waterfalls, but…

The last 10+ years have been really fruitful and full of wisdom, with of course the occasional speed bumps and learning curves, just like we all experience throughout our career paths. 

And while I have loved domain investing as well as some of the industry-related jobs I have held (fun fact: I worked with Morgan first!), I have also come to realize that my trajectory in the overarching industry of digital assets has not been particularly intentional. 

Case in point, I started as a “collector” of domains; a hobbyist, someone with too many “ideas.” But this hobby, mostly passive and building year on year, started to generate some recurring income for me, which brought me closer to the career paths I chose within the domain industry. It’s been those opportunities that have allowed me to explore other areas that I never officially set out to discover. I was involved in some sizable sales over the course of a few years’ time, which allowed me to zero-in on what I enjoyed the most out of these experiences. That turned out to be client management, paramount to ensuring something so sensitive as a six or seven-figure transaction could be brought to completion without headache. But I never imagined that a random trip to Mexico would lead me to expand this map even further, into M&A advisory.

My day-to-day is now mostly comprised of helping clients exit their digital businesses. I handle the entire process from evaluation (of the finances and general health of one’s business); to extensively interviewing the seller; the preparation of peripherals and marketing components; the vetting of qualified buyers in order to find the best person or entity to acquire the business; and finally, facilitating due diligence, escrow and asset transfer to completion.

Turns out, I love it. I love learning about my clients, their successes and failures, trials and tribulations and what motivates them to finally seek an exit. It’s an emotional, albeit exciting journey for any seller. I tend to get to know those I work with fairly well, as the sales cycle can take a few months or sometimes even longer. 

Success for all parties means that the seller is content with exiting at the price agreed upon, and that the buyer feels that s/he is well suited to take the business into the future. As an advisor, my role is to ensure everyone is confident with their sense of closure at the end. And I’m always in awe of what was once an errant “idea” — started on a domain name, no less — being woven into a living, breathing entity and livelihood. Knowing that it gets to live on and prosper through a new set of eyes is greatly rewarding. 

Kevin Fink is an M&A Advisor for Dealflow Brokerage. He also enjoys domain investing, when he finds the time, as well as those long-ago creative pursuits he once abandoned.