Typically, entrepreneurs develop an idea and then struggle to come up with a name. Rob Monster is looking at it the opposite way, starting with a good name and then searching for the business concept.

That's at least some of the thinking behind two of the latest projects from the entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist. Monster, who left the CEO post of Mercer Island-based Global Market Insite earlier this year, has created a new Bellevue startup called Domain Strategies and joined the Boston domain name operator Internet Real Estate Group as a partner.

Rob Monster

Between the 5,000 names at Domain Strategies (OrganicSeasonings.com, IdentityLock.com and Anonymize.com, to name a few) and 600 names at Internet Real Estate Group (Software.com, Jeans.com and Chocolate.com), Monster thinks a compelling business or two could be created. Instead of managing those businesses on his own, Monster wants to serve as the matchmaker who links talented entrepreneurs with high-quality names.

"One guy is not going to develop 5,000 businesses, so it really comes down to how you create an efficient marketplace where entrepreneur, capital source and domain owner can come together and create value," said Monster.

Buying and maintaining domain names is nothing new -- with Seattle-based Marchex owning an arsenal of more than 100,000 targeted Web sites (BayAreaHotels.com, NewYorkDoctors.com, SeattleAutoRepairs.com) and Houston-based Internet REIT laying claim to a portfolio of more than 400,000 sites (Bands.com, CreditReports.com, VietnamWar.com.)

While plenty of domain name operators exist, Monster said that few have gone the extra mile of building compelling business concepts around the names. Creating a generic template that works across thousands of sites -- as is the case with the Marchex properties -- misses out on some of the opportunities inherent in individual names, said Monster.

"The challenge is that most domainers have no foggy ideas how to turn a domain into a business," he said. "What I see is a pattern of people building what I would characterize as B and C businesses on A domains."

Currently, Monster is spending time as chairman of Patents.com, an Internet Real Estate Group property, which last week acquired an operating company by the name of PatentMonkey. In addition, he is chairman of Healthcare.com -- a company that was formed last December after the domain name was purchased.

Monster, who compares Internet domain name ownership to brick-and-mortar real estate, said he will continue to gobble up high-end domain names that could be turned into businesses.

"If you have downtown main street property, why are you putting a parking lot on it when you should be putting a skyscraper on it," said Monster, expanding on the real-estate analogy.

To manage the new businesses, Monster said he also will continue to actively look for the best entrepreneurs.

"I believe that for every business idea that correlates with a category-defining domain, there is a corresponding world-class management team and corresponding capital source that can come together to execute against the business opportunity," he said. "It is remarkable how many high-quality domains have yet to be developed."

More on the strategy from DomainNameNews, which has a Q&A with Monster.