Estimated Time
- Reading: ~4 minutes
- Video: ~23 minutes
- Activities: to be completed prior to next week
Top Insights
- You want a name that is beautiful, simple, and clean.
- If someone can't say it to another person on a bad mobile phone connection and they understand - it's not a good name to use.
- Look at how other people are branding and adapt it.
- Zendesk put "zen" in front of a very basic word.
- What you gain is the credibility that the original brand created.
- However, what you stand to lose is that the word is associated with the original, more popular brand.
- They may even sue you. You have to think about that.
- Don't beat any ideas down.
- Let them all come out and go from there.
- People like personal or clever names.
- Come up with a name that you love.
- Remember, you can always change the name later.
Episode Date: May 22, 2014
Intro
- One of the most important things you'll ever do with your startup is naming it and this is incredibly hard.
- Do you want it to be literal or evoke a feeling?
- A name that evokes a feeling, like Yahoo or Google, doesn't mean something until it means something.
- When you use something literal, you get the benefit of people knowing what you're doing.
Tips for Naming
- You don't have to spell it perfectly.
- You can make something unique by misspelling it.
- For example, Flickr couldn't get "e-r" so the left out the "e".
- At a certain point (of success) it's going to come up on search results above the correct spelling.
- Use an acronym that means something.
- Short, memorable, punchy.
- Use a dictionary or thesaurus.
- One of Jason's favorite tools is OneLook
- They have a reverse dictionary page
- This lets you describe a concept and get a list of words and phrases related to that concept
Domain Names
- Fake it until you make it.
- It's OK to have an ugly domain when you start.
"If your product sucks and you put a million dollars into a domain, that may actually be a negative signal like, maybe, you're just a little loopy. Now, if you're rich, fine. If you're Mark Cuban and buy a great domain name, you can afford it, fine. It's just a rounding error." - Jason
- Having .com makes you look legitimate
- Having a .net is not the end of the world
- Personally, Jason thinks a .co is better than a .net domain
- For more guidance on "How to Buy the Right Domain" this blog walks you through the process nicely.
- Add prefixes or suffixes
- Look at how they used to name newspapers
- For example, NY Post, NY Press, NY Times
- Put a word before the name you want for your domain, if the exact word is already taken.
- One tip, buy a few different domains associated with your name.
- Then when you negotiate with someone who owns the domain you want, you can write to them something like:
Dear Mrs. (Domain Holder),
- Try to build a domain structure that can work for you
- Inside.com/bitcoin for "inside bitcoin" content
- thisweekinstartups.com/checklist for our Founder Checklist series
Apps
- Apps have created a new reset on branding
- You should think about filing a trademark on your domain or company so if people on another medium use your name, you are able to recover your brand
- However, if you're not active in those verticals, you really can't have it everywhere
- The more generic your name, the more open you are to other people being able to use it.
- This is not legal advice, just general rules.
- For example, if you use inside.com you can't go to Inside the NBA and ask them to stop using it
- If you get the best domain name, you have a better chance of winning the SEO race.
- Another option, you can buy an app from someone to take over their namespace in the App Store.
- Often you will see people build horrible apps just to grab the space
- They may be open to negotiating
Twitter Handles
- Most of the premium handles have been acquired already
- Twitter has a process for asking them to release unused handles but it probably won't work out for you
- You can put a "go" or "get" before the word on the handle.
- Just add an additional word
- Pairing words is also fine
- It's against the terms of service on Twitter to buy or sell a Twitter handle — yet it happens all the time.
- If you try to buy a Twitter handle, you have to be discreet about it.
- Jason shares the following:
"So the way you do it, I'veheard
- Tip: Once you have decided on a name include update your profile to include it
- For example, Charlie Cuddy [LAUNCH]
Additional Resources
Activity
🔲 Decide on the name for your company🔲 Register the domain name
- It is a good idea to try and buy a domain name to ensure you won't run into any issues down the road
- A website is one of the first places people will go to learn about your company
🔲 Bonus: Put together a landing page
- Basic info to include, your name, what you do, how to contact you, etc.
- We will talk about tools to help with this in the coming sections