They wanted to start a manufacturing equipment business like eBay, but for factories, which itself was rather silly given how difficult shipping machines would be. They wanted a preliminary design for a 3 month period, but took 3 months to negotiate the contract, so in the end I worked without any input. I think they were completely clueless about the internet or how difficult such a business would be to run, or even market.

Some businesses really can benefit from a good or memorable domain name.

But that market is much, much smaller than it used to be, and most businesses can live or die no matter what their domain name is.