According to the New York Times, in 2005, David Choe was invited to paint murals on the walls of Facebook’s first offices in Palo Alto, Calif., by Sean Parker, then Facebook’s president. As pay, Mr. Parker offered Mr. Choe a choice between cash in the “thousands of dollars,” according to several people who know Mr. Choe, or stock then worth about the same.

Mr. Choe, who has said that at the time that he thought the idea of Facebook was “ridiculous and pointless,” nevertheless chose the stock.

Many “advisers” to the company at that time, which is how Mr. Choe would have been classified, would have received about 0.1 to 0.25 percent of the company, according to a former Facebook employee. That may sound like a paltry amount, but a stake that size is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, based on a market value of $100 billion. Mr. Choe’s payment is valued at roughly $200 million, according to a number of people who know Mr. Choe and Facebook executives.

The interview below is from Domain Sherpa…In this show, I shares how I turned 90 admittedly marginal hand-registered .com domain names and one .info domain into $56,000 per month. (The interviewee has seen the Google Adsense report to verify this impressive figure.) You will be surprised to learn that in addition to search engine optimization, a clever television ad campaign drove the results.

Enjoy the show and let me know what you think….

@AndrewHazen

As some of you may know, I have been OBSESSED with bobbleheads for nearly 15 years and have quite the personal collection!!  I am also involved with FadToys.com, which ranks on page one of Google for a search on bobbleheads and more recently AllBobbleheads.com, which makes custom bobbleheads.

I of course have tested our custom bobbleheads….what do you think?

I must say, custom bobbleheads ALWAYS make people smile from ear to ear and that to me is priceless!  Whether it’s a gift for graduation, wedding, retirement, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.; custom bobbleheads are extraordinary unique gifts that people enjoy for countless years.

Today we did our first Groupon offer of a custom bobblehead doll for only $69 (a $130 value) and thus far the results have been outstanding!!

So now that you know I bobble, do you?

@AndrewHazen

This week will bring the long-awaited opening up of a new realm of Domains Names and Web addresses in which just about any word—such as dot-furniture (.furniture), dot-hotel (.hotel) or dot-FloridaVacations (.FloridaVacations) —can serve as a domain name. And of course to entrepreneurs and domainers, that means OPPORTUNITY is knocking!

Beginning this Thursday, the organization that oversees the Internet (ICANN) will start accepting applications to manage new top-level domains (TLDs) —the names that appear at the end of website addresses, like dot-com and dot-net.  The application fee itself is $185,000 per name!

Masahable did a nice post on 9 Things You Need to Know About ICANN’s New Top Level Domains…

From what I’ve heard thus far, surprisingly (to me) only a few Fortune 500 companies are applying for its TLD (ex. .Cannon); most seem to think that any squatter who wrongfully infringes their trademarks and copywrights will quickly use a battle to gain control.  However entrepreneurs and domain investors are PUMPED and raring to go, and spend SIGNIFICANT money, when it comes to applying for new generic TLDs such as .Vacation, .Hotel or .News

I will certainly keep you posted as the applications come in and news develops…stay tuned!

@AndrewHazen

As some of you may know, in addition to investing and collecting domain names, I also invest and collect bobbleheads….I just learned this week that a federal judge has ruled against a company that has been using legendary Bob Marley image in making and selling toys and apparel, including Bob Marley bobbleheads.  I have a few in my collection; it’s next to the blue dancing bear….

Leo Valencia, owner of Avela, has been ordered to pay Marley’s family $300,000 in damages after the family complained that they didn’t want to see Bob Marley’s image portrayed on bobbleheads and plush toys.

The judge is expected to award more damages after determining if there was more profit lost because of unfair competition.

Being a domainer and Marley-fan, I checked the domains and see that BobMarley.com seems somewhat legit and WhoIs shows registration to bob marley music inc.; however, BobMarley.net and BobMarley.org are parked and .net has on its first line that the domain is for sale…..so sad!!  Here is some more detail on the story

@AndrewHazen

First and foremost, a Happy, Healthy & Successful New Year to you and your loved ones; may 2011 be an epic year for you!!

As some of you may know, my 9 year old son @SpencerHazen is extremely computer savvy and quite the animator!  Some of his recent animations include:

Grateful Dead New Year’s Eve Bobble Concert

Behind the Scenes of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal

Michael Jackson Bobblehead Concert

Super Spencer Bro

I am SO PROUD of Spencer for following his passion and also following through on his projects from start to finish! Today was the icing on the cake when he told me that he wanted to acquire a domain name that wasn’t available!!

Technically, Spencer’s been in the domain space since 2001 when we registered SpencerHazen.com (he was 4 days old) but today at the tender age of 9, he asked me to purchase a domain for him that was already registered by someone else but not being used…

I did a little due diligence and saw that the ‘asking price’ for the domain name was $1,000 and while the ad sense revenue is so-so on SpencerHazen.com it certainly hasn’t earned $1k yet (GRIN).  So as a domainer/parent, I contacted the owner of the domain name and offered $200 for the domain name; a price I found to be fair and reasonable…

Needless to say that in less than two hours we received an accepting response from the domain owner, I sent the $200 into SEDO’s escrow and now we are in the process of transferring the domain name.

I have an extremely, extraordinary positive outlook on the future of domaining…think about it, if a 9 year old is looking to buy/acquire domains then it’s inevitable that the demand for domain names WILL continue to increase.

Have a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year!!

@AndrewHazen

Back in May, 2010 I announced that we were working closely with The Trump Organization and their exquisite las vegas condotel - Trump Towers Las Vegas.

I am extremely pleased to report that less than six months since TrumpVegasCondos.com went live, we are already ranks as follows in Google:

#17 vegas condo
#19 vegas condos
#11 vegas condo hotel
#21 las vegas condominiums
#14 las vegas penthouses
#27 vegas luxury condos
#30 las vegas luxury condo

And of course the site ranks well for branded terms such as: #2 & #7 for trump condos…
Needless to say traffic and leads are increasing each and every month!!

Stay tuned for more Trump related projects (GRIN)

@AndrewHazen

In an attempt to keep some momentum here with me posting good domains available for hand registration, here is my short Fun Friday list….as always, I recommend hand registering with Moniker for under $10….have a great weekend everyone and Happy New Year!

KidCityGuide.com – a city guide focused on kid (and kid-friendly) destinations

KidCraftKits.com -eCommerce site selling kids crafts

FilmingStore.com – eCommerce site selling video/camera/filming products

NewYorkOral.com – brand name for an oral surgeon

OrganizeKits.com & OrganizeKit.com – eCommerce or information site about organization and products that help you organize

BabyAvatar.com – have an avatar created of your baby

As always, please let me know if you register on of these and what happens with it; it’s hearing what you do with them that keeps me going!  I received nice feedback on my last post and know that at least two domains I suggested were registered….good luck and keep the internet ideas coming!

PS – because of the Jewish Holidays, please note that I have JewishRecipes.com and KosherWineShop.com

@AndrewHazen