Wove.com: The $25K Domain Jay Edlin Bought Before He Had a Company
In 2021, Jay Edlin had a company name picked out—Wove—but he didn't own the domain. Wove.com was sitting unused on another company's books, acquired through a corporate acquisition years earlier.
Jay did what most people would consider a long shot: he sent a cold email through their Contact Us page asking to buy it.
He didn't expect a response. But weeks later, the company's General Counsel replied with an offer: $25,000.
Jay bought it immediately. By most estimates, he paid 4-10x below fair market value.
The Cold Email
Jay had done his research. Wove.com was owned by a company that had acquired another business called Wove in 2019. Post-acquisition, they didn't need the domain or trademark anymore. It was just sitting there, unused and unlisted.
For Jay, this was the perfect scenario. The domain wasn't listed on a marketplace with brokers taking 10-15% cuts. There was no bidding war. Just a company holding an asset they didn't need.
So he reached out cold via the Contact Us form on their website. No broker. No introduction. Just a straightforward inquiry: "Would you be interested in selling Wove.com?"
Most cold emails like this go unanswered. Jay knew the odds were low. But it cost him nothing to try.
The Unexpected Response
A few weeks went by with no response. Jay assumed his email had been ignored or deleted.
Then he got a reply—from the company's General Counsel.
They were interested. More than that, they seemed excited about a direct sale. No broker meant they'd keep 100% of the sale price instead of losing 10-15% to intermediaries. It was a win-win: Jay would get a better price, and they'd maximize their return.
The General Counsel offered to sell the domain for $25,000.
Jay knew immediately this was a good deal. Wove.com was a short, brandable, four-letter .com domain with no negative associations. Domains like that typically sell for six figures, not $25K.
Structuring the Purchase
Jay faced a problem: he didn't have $25,000 sitting in cash, and he didn't even have a company yet—just an idea and a name.
But he understood the value of the asset and knew he needed to move quickly before the company changed its mind or found another buyer.
So Jay structured the purchase strategically:
- Created an LLC: He opened a limited liability company to hold the domain as a business asset
- Secured financing: He took out a line of credit against his brokerage account to fund the $25K purchase
- Closed the deal: He moved fast to complete the transaction before the opportunity disappeared
The entire process showed foresight: Jay was buying infrastructure for a company that didn't exist yet, betting that the domain would be essential when he launched.
It was.
The Credibility Factor
When Jay eventually launched Wove—an AI-powered rate management platform for freight forwarders—the domain gave him instant credibility.
In B2B especially, where Wove operates, trust is everything. Freight forwarders handling millions of dollars in logistics aren't going to trust their operations to a startup with a makeshift domain like usewove.com or wovehq.io.
Wove.com signals:
- Legitimacy: A premium .com says you're serious and established
- Professionalism: The exact-match domain makes the brand memorable
- Authority: You own the category name in the .com namespace
Jay admits he "had no clue what he was doing" when he bought the domain in 2021. But he instinctively understood that for a B2B SaaS company, having the right domain matters—maybe not as much as for consumer brands like Loom or Whop, but enough to make a difference in conversion rates and customer trust.
The Financial Win
Beyond the credibility benefits, Jay's purchase proved to be a savvy financial investment.
By nearly every domain appraisal estimate, Wove.com is worth 4-10x what Jay paid for it. That's a conservative estimate—some domain investors would argue it's worth even more.
Jay paid $25,000 for an asset that's likely worth $100,000-250,000 or more. And that's before considering the business value: the increased conversion rates, customer trust, and brand equity that came with owning the perfect domain for his company.
He's since paid off the line of credit he used to finance the purchase. The domain is now a fully-owned asset that continues to appreciate in value.
Jay admits he wasn't entirely sure what he was doing when he made the purchase in 2021. But he understood that if you're going to build a B2B company, owning the exact-match .com domain matters. The cold email worked. The timing was right. And the $25,000 investment became the foundation for a credible, professional brand in a competitive freight logistics space.
You can follow Jay Edlin on Twitter at @Jay_Edlin for more insights on building Wove and navigating the freight logistics space.