Just in case someone wants one of your names but doesn't know of your site, it would be a great idea to have some quick info (link and price) under the 'get info' section of domain registrars like godaddy (since thats where the majority of people will be looking).
Pre-branded domain names for startups
161–170 of 212 posts
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#162They should make sure to grab the twitter user name too, that's an important part of branding. I noticed that some of the twitter user names for the brands are free - how long will that last?
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#163while I am sure that someone out there can use the service, taking the time to come up with your own name and design should not be given up lightly. I do take issue with the "branding" implication that these domains purportedly have. Before starting my own company I spent years in an ad agency, and I can tell you that unless there is an unusual amount of serendipity involved you probably won't find a name and image t…
I agree in some ways - but sometimes names can delay launches. I can see a small start up using this site to 'just get out there' - and worry about branding later. Depending on what you are doing you can change your name/brand later. Since /most/ start-ups fail, why not get to market quicker, with less cost, and less time/brain power wasted.
Everything in balance. You definitely should not delay the launch of a product because you can't think of a name. But getting to market and changing your name/brand later defeats the whole purpose of branding. In fact it's the opposite of branding. For the latest example just think about Netflix and what they did by naming their DVD mailing service qwixster. That name change is arguably a colossally bad move. I'm not saying your design has to be perfect, you can always update the image like Howard Johnson did for their motel chain. I tend to think that small businesses make a huge mistake when they gloss over the branding/marketing work. I am not advocating the necessity of bringing in a huge ad agency and market research just to get a logo. Just put in a little effort, use the same ingenuity you use when you started your company and come up with a brand identity that ties into what you do. At the very least you can go to logo tournament and get a custom built logo starting at 250. It's the same amount as this service plus you have are reasonably high degree of customization. Your name and your logo will be the most visible part of your company. You want it to instantly signify all the best traits and qualities you have, even if it is just subliminally. Some of the best brands out there who do this well, can just with their logo conjure up a long list of attributes/adjectives in a potential consumer's mind. A super simple one is Rolex… It's just their name with a crown over it. Even if you did not know that they were a watchmaker, by looking at their logo you would assume that whatever they do it's of high quality befitting of royalty or at least made the connection with royalty in your mind. I just think there are many more options that for the same amount of money and minimal effort you can put together something that is closely related and much more beneficial than an off the rack name and logo solution.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#164Genius
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's exactly the problem with this service: nothing really fits any of your current projects. If none of them fit now, what are the chances they'll have something that fits in a week? A month? Looking at the list of domains on offer, half of them are 'empty vessel' nonsense words which could quite easily be generated with the same amount of personal effort using something like Wordoid[1]. The other half are nothing…
Plenty of excruciatingly successful companies have run start to finish with dumber, emptier names than you'll find here. I'm surprised "TransVerify", for instance, is even available. If you think you're going to get less than $250 worth of value from this site, don't use it. But count me in with the people saying that that a lot of these are steals. Just in terms of opportunity costs saved in spending weeks bouncing…
> I'm surprised "TransVerify", for instance, is even available.
But it's not: Stylate owns it. ;)
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Plenty of excruciatingly successful companies have run start to finish with dumber, emptier names than you'll find here. I'm surprised "TransVerify", for instance, is even available. If you think you're going to get less than $250 worth of value from this site, don't use it. But count me in with the people saying that that a lot of these are steals. Just in terms of opportunity costs saved in spending weeks bouncing…
> I'm surprised "TransVerify", for instance, is even available. But it's not: Stylate owns it. ;)
"Can buy right now for $250" means available as far as I'm concerned, but as I nerd, I understand that the semantics may matter a lot to other nerds.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#167This would presumably make a great party game for YC meetups. You deal out a card with the logo on it and then everyone in the circle has to describe what they think the company or product is.
I'm trying to figure out what "TweetBump" is. The obvious answer is: It's Twitter, plus Bump. You wander around a party bumping phones with folks, and every time you do that both of you automatically Tweet "I bumped into [X] at [Awesome Location Y]".
(No obvious business model, though. ;)
(And I'm not a Bump user, so I wouldn't exactly be surprised to learn that the app has already supported this for years. ;)
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a reasonable argument to make against domain squatting is that those who do it as a business… are just charging you a fee solely because they thought of it first. It feels very much like a pure wealth transfer from me to a more entrenched player. It's somewhat analogous to say most software patents, in that their sole purpose seems to be enacting a social cost. You're not going to do anything with that patent…
Why are we entertaining the idea that there's an argument to be had about domain squatting? I wish we had enacted policies against squatting back in the '90s. But Internet governance did very much the opposite thing. This argument ended a long time ago. Why piss in the wind about it? In the post-domain-squatting world, this is a great offering.
"I wish we had enacted policies against squatting back in the '90s."
What would your suggestion be as far as a policy that could have stopped domain squatting?
I can't think of a scenario that you could have that would allow someone to purchase a name but then not allow them to sell the name. So what you would end up with is names that are registered but have not found their way (through the free market) to the best possible use.
People tend to think that if the name they wanted wasn't owned by a squatter who was trying to sell it it would be available when they decided they wanted to use it. It would just be sitting there and not in the hands of someone else for a non squatting purpose.
As recently as 2001 I remember attorneys asking if they could use the domain law.com because "I type it in and nothing comes up". As if nobody thought of using that in the prior years or something (and this happened with many names actually).
I'd really like to know your thoughts on this.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everybody "domainsquats". People joke with each other about how many names they have in their registrar account. These particular people chose an extraordinarily reasonable price point just for the name , and added design services on top. They could charge 4x as much and probably close just as much business, because $1000 is a rounding error for a serious 2-person startup. I don't see why you're bagging on them.
I think a reasonable argument to make against domain squatting is that those who do it as a business… are just charging you a fee solely because they thought of it first. It feels very much like a pure wealth transfer from me to a more entrenched player. It's somewhat analogous to say most software patents, in that their sole purpose seems to be enacting a social cost. You're not going to do anything with that patent…
"are just charging you a fee solely because they thought of it first."
For some domains, true. In other cases considering that back in the day there were an infinite number of domains that you could register (and by the way they cost $70.00 after they were initially free) and $35 per year (until ICANN and competition dropped the price) I wouldn't say it was simply "thinking of it first".
As somebody who spent much time programming algorithms to figure out which domains to, um, SQUAT on, I would hardly say I own names just because "I merely thought of it". It seems like that way now because now value has been established and it's obvious.
Do you think it was obvious back then? It wasn't. I was there.
Re: Pre-branded domain names for startups
#170Curious, how many domain names did you sell since posting on HN? (If you dont mind answering)