Sandeep Ramchandani
VP & Business Head — Radix
Twitter | LinkedIn
FAST FACTS
Location: Mumbai, India
Number of years in the domain industry: 13 years
Favourite extension: .online
Domain name you wished you owned: liquor.store
Now watching: Narcos
Best city for conferences: Las Vegas, NV
Q&A
Can you tell us about your last time at NamesCon and what you got out of it?
Namescon 2016 was fantastic. I spent most of my day meeting with our top partners, charting out plans for 2016. As someone who lives outside of North America, NamesCon offers me the best opportunity to get quality face to face time with our existing partners. Personally, the highlight was getting an opportunity to play a DJ set at the coveted, Hakkasan Club, which has been home to some of the world’s greatest DJs. Since then I’ve been signed on to do a monthly gig with one of the top nightclubs back home in Mumbai.
What are your thoughts on the new TLDs?
Im encouraged by the shift I’m seeing where many industry players who wrote off new domains early-on, now recognize their role in the industry. Registrars have marketed nTLDs aggressively in 2016, the number of premium names and average values are rising, and the number of new domains sightings has become more frequent. We are also seeing increased adoption by credible and popular figures. As usage and awareness grows, nTLDs will play a big role in moving the industry forward.
What are you most looking forward to at the upcoming NamesCon?
Every NamesCon so far has been bigger than the one before, I’m certain that this year will be no different. I’m really excited about the unique and.fun activity we’re going to be running on the trade-show floor this time. Hopefully, it will be the most hilarious, discussed, photographed and shared fun activity at NamesCon. I will also be taking time out from meetings to attend some of the sessions. There are so many good ones I’ve scheduled to attend on the namescon.tech app. Lastly, I’m looking forward to participate the keynote panel discussion where we will try to predict the future of this rather unpredictable and volatile business.
What industry trends or topics do you think will be at the forefront of panel and keynote discussions this year?
Three years into the launch of New Domains, we’re at the ideal point to stake a step back and review the success and failure of the program, and evaluate the overall value added to both consumers and internet users world-wide. 2016 in particular has been a year of rapid changes, and I look forward to hearing industry veterans analyze the hits and misses.
Who would you like to hear speak at NamesCon? Why?
Elliott Noss, CEO Tucows. Elliott has always been one of the most respected and opinionated veterans of the domain industry. Given his recent focus on growing Ting (Tucows’ Telecom Business), its been a while since I’ve seen him publicly comment or actively participate in a discussion regarding domains. As one of the industry’s pioneers, he would offer a unique, high-level insight on the likely risks and opportunities for the domain business, and how all players can come together to achieve the common goal of growing the industry in a socially responsible way.
How would you describe what you do in a single sentence to a stranger?
Our company is playing a large role in expanding the global internet addressing system to make it more open, descriptive and interesting.
If you had fifteen extra minutes each day, what would you do with them?
Make funny faces and noises to my four month old daughter in an effort to make her giggle.
Latest and greatest accomplishment in your career?
I feel extremely fortunate to find myself in a position where at a relative early age I’ve been put in charge of a company with an investment of over $50 million, with the tools resources (kickass team) and assets (fantastic TLDs) to make a real difference to the future of internet addressing. I really appreciate the confidence faith and support our founders, Bhavin and Divyank, have provided thus far.
Name 3 things you can’t travel without.
Headphones, smartphone, and quality company.
Where is your favourite place to escape?
Tomorrowland, Boom Belgium. Once a year over 200k people from all over the world come together as one. Just been there once, hopefully I can make it again this year.
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