I first interviewed Kate Buckley years ago when she was making a name for herself brokering premium domains. Since then she's quietly built something much bigger. The domain brokerage is still there, but Kate has expanded into naming, brand strategy, and growth consulting. She rebranded to Defining.com, and honestly the name tells you everything you need to know about where she's headed. She's one of the few people in this industry who can walk into a room, help a company find the right name, broker the domain, and then help them figure out what to do with it. Most people in our space do one of those things. Kate does all of them. She is one of my favorite people in this industry!
When we talked the first time, we got into her early deals, her philosophy on domains, and why she believed so strongly that the right name could change the trajectory of a business. A lot has changed since then. The domain market looks different, branding has become a bigger conversation, and Kate has been right in the middle of all of it. I wanted to catch up with her and find out what's shifted in how she thinks about this stuff, what the landscape looks like from where she's sitting, and what she's building next with Defining.com.
Mike: In our 2018 interview, you alluded to the power of a great domain. Has that belief strengthened or evolved over time?
Kate: If anything, it’s strengthened. Another way of describing it is alchemistic—a great domain has the power to change or transform a company in an impressive way. I often think of gestalt theory when I’m describing the power of great domains: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what a great domain does for a company: it’s both a force multiplier and a moat. The right domain doesn’t just describe a company, it propels the company forward. It clarifies the story internally, aligns the team, and signals authority externally. It removes friction in a way that’s impossible to ignore. Domains are far more than marketing assets, they’re foundational assets—ones with immense power to fuel your dreams.
Mike: The rebrand to Defining.com feels deliberate and bold. What problem does this new identity solve that Buckley Media Group did not?
Kate: As we grew, our clients weren’t just hiring a boutique brokerage, they were relying on us as strategic partners at the highest level of brand and capital allocation. Defining.com conveys that in a very unique way. Defining is a verb. It’s what we actually do. We help companies define their category, their positioning, and often their future, through the right name, branding and positioning, and the right digital real estate. It also reflects our belief in the credibility, authority, and long term brand equity that a one word dotcom provides. Moreover, it signals that we’re building a brand at a global level.
Mike: You now describe Defining.com as synergizing brokerage, corporate domain services, and branding. Why was it important to unify those under one roof?
Kate: Because from the client’s perspective, those things were never separate. A domain isn’t just a transaction. It’s tied to naming, legal, brand architecture, investor perception, M&A strategy—all of it. Historically, companies have had to stitch that together themselves: an agency here, a lawyer there, a broker somewhere else. We unified it because strategy breaks when it’s fragmented. When one team understands the whole chessboard, the outcomes are simply better.
Mike: What does a modern CEO misunderstand most about domain strategy in 2026?
Kate: Many CEOs still treat it like a cost center. Whereas it’s one of the only assets you can buy once that appreciates, compounds trust, and reduces customer acquisition costs forever. A CEO will spend millions optimizing performance marketing, but hesitate on the one decision that permanently lowers the need for it. The irony is that the most sophisticated companies already understand this. The rest usually learn after they miss out on the name they wanted. Happily, more and more founders and CXOs understand this. We’re seeing a greater sophistication of how premium domains are being evaluated internally by end users, as well as a deeper understanding of what the right domain name brings to the table.
Mike: How has the buyer profile for ultra-premium domains changed since we last spoke?
Kate: Buyers are more sophisticated and more strategic. Ten years ago, many purchases were reactive, “We finally have budget, let’s upgrade.” Today they’re far more proactive—often tied to fundraising, repositioning or rebranding, launching a new product or service, or preparing for acquisition. There’s also less ego, though that will always be a factor, and more math. Teams are modeling brand equity, conversion lift, and defensibility. It’s become a boardroom conversation, not merely a marketing one. As more companies quantify the downstream value of owning category authority, and education is always a big part of what we do, there’s a shift in viewing premium domains as balance-sheet assets rather than marketing expenses.
Mike: Are you seeing more strategic buyers, more PE-backed buyers, or more founder-led buyers today?
Kate: All three, though we are seeing the growing influence of PE and late stage Venture Capital in naming and rebranding decisions. PE-backed buyers have become especially disciplined. They view domains the way they view any asset: if it strengthens the moat and increases exit value, it’s worth doing. Founder-led companies still tend to move fastest, though. Founders understand instinctively that identity matters, and they’re less constrained by corporate bureaucracy. Some of the best deals we’ve done happened because a founder simply said, “This is who we are now, and we need to own the name,” and didn’t overcomplicate it.
Mike: What separates a company that “buys a domain” from one that truly leverages it as an asset?
Kate: Great question. I’d have to say intent. Some companies just change the domain name and move on. The smart and strategic ones rebuild around it, using it to simplify their messaging, consolidate sub-brands if applicable, tighten positioning, and signal maturity and category-dominance to the market. A great domain is a platform that can and should color all downstream decisions, email, subdomains, branding, marketing, positioning, and more. If you treat it like a cosmetic upgrade, you miss most of the value.
Mike: Has AI altered the naming and branding process in a meaningful way, or is human intuition still the differentiator?
Kate: AI is fantastic at generating options, but it’s not great at judgment. It can give you thousands of names, but it can’t tell you which one will still feel right in 20 years, or which one carries emotional weight, or which one signals authority without trying too hard. Naming at the highest level is still deeply human. It’s cultural and intuitive and shaped by taste and experience. AI speeds up the search, but it doesn’t replace taste. And taste is still the moat.
Mike: How do you balance data-driven naming trends with instinct and narrative?
Kate: The best names don’t sound trendy—they sound timeless. Data tells you what has worked, and helps chart our course. Instinct tells you what will last. Narrative ties it all together. Experience matters as well. Doing this for as long as we have, we’ve developed the gut-level instinct to know what will work and why, and what probably will not.
Mike: In a world obsessed with short-term growth metrics, how do you convince founders to think in decades?
Kate: I remind them that brands outlive tactics. You can’t performance-market your way into legacy. The companies we all admire made decisions early that looked expensive at the time and obvious in hindsight. A great domain is one of those decisions. It’s not about next quarter. It’s about whether you want to look inevitable ten years from now. Are you building for next quarter, or are you building a legacy? It’s about vision, ambition and strategy. How do you want the world to remember you?