David Fairley

David Fairley is a distinguished digital entrepreneur, pioneer in online business brokerage, and elite Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) specialist whose career is defined by building, scaling, and successfully monetizing high-value internet assets. Armed with a Bachelor of Commerce with a Major in Marketing from the University of British Columbia (UBC)—supplemented by formative international exposure across Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, and Central America—Mr. Fairley has spent over two decades at the forefront of digital commerce and corporate transactions.

Mr. Fairley’s career commenced with the creation of a pioneering import and distribution enterprise centered around hammocks, which he rapidly transitioned into a dominant digital presence culminating in the launch of Hammocks.com. This venture achieved a major milestone when it was successfully acquired by billion-dollar e-commerce giant Hayneedle.com, marking his first high-profile corporate exit. Over the subsequent six years, Mr. Fairley leveraged this transactional playbook to personally develop, strategically acquire, and divest a diverse portfolio of premier digital properties—including Strollers.com, Drums.com, and Unicorns.com—alongside more than 60 specialized website businesses across multiple verticals.

Recognizing a critical void in the marketplace during the rapid proliferation of e-commerce, Mr. Fairley identified that traditional Main Street business brokers lacked the technical and financial acumen required to value and sell internet-based enterprises. To bridge this gap, he founded one of the world’s first specialized online business brokerages, dedicated exclusively to the M&A advisory, valuation, and divestiture of profitable digital companies.

Since 2002, Mr. Fairley has focused entirely on facilitating high-stakes M&A transactions, serving as a trusted advisor to founders, institutional investors, and strategic buyers seeking to execute buy-side or sell-side mandates. His deep mastery of digital due diligence, complex deal structuring, intangible asset valuation, and buyer-seller negotiations has established him as a recognized authority in internet business divestitures. Beyond transactional advisory, he is regularly retained as a high-level corporate consultant, advising firms on maximizing exit valuations or identifying strategic website acquisitions to accelerate market growth.

A sought-after thought leader in digital M&A and asset liquidation, Mr. Fairley has shared his expertise as a panelist and speaker at prominent domain and e-commerce industry conferences. His transactional milestones have been highlighted in DN Journal, and he has been featured as a subject-matter expert across leading industry platforms, including Domain Sherpa and The New York Times, for his specialized command of web-based asset valuation and corporate exits.