Naming and Domains – Rev.com’s CEO Jason Chicola with Shaan Puri on the My First Million Podcast

Shaan Puri
Jason Chicola

Excerpt from the ‘Getting a Billion People Working From Home‘ episode of the My First Million podcast with Shaan Puri. The entire episode (linked to above) is great but I wanted to focus on what Jason Chicola shares about naming his company and acquiring the domain.   He demonstrates some hard-earned wisdom in his approach.

Chicola spent $400k to acquire Rev.com (a huge part of their assets at the time).

  • Started off with a funky (animal + keyword) $12 Godaddy domain to make clear and specific their initial product offering. Knew it was temporary. “Spend no time at the beginning thinking about a name because the odds that your business is going to work are not super high”.
  • Only later when the business was working and they’d found a good product/market fit did he prioritize naming the company.
  • “It’s really a two part problem. One is picking a name that you love, and then figuring out can you get the domain name”.
  • Hired two domain brokers to research his name list.
  • Used Mechanical Turk to evaluate names…”What three words does this name evoke?”

One Domain Can Change Everything | NameCorp

Excellent summary of all the advantages to owning and building on a great domain name.
Read the full article: One Domain Can Change Everything

A Domain Name Is An  Asset.

Say that with me again, so you understand the difference between buying a service and an asset. A domain name is an asset.

  • A domain name is not a toy.
  • A domain name is not just a thing for the Interweb.
  • A domain name is not something everybody will automatically remember.

A domain name is a highly valuable piece of intellectual property that you need to focus on getting right.

  • A domain name is something your staff has to spell every day
  • A domain name is the face of your company email
  • A domain name is your home on the web.

Try To Get It Right The First Time!

Change Your Name
“If you have a US startup called X and you don’t have x.com, you should probably change your name.

The reason is not just that people can’t find you. For companies with mobile apps, especially, having the right domain name is not as critical as it used to be for getting users. The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness.
–Paul Graham 8, 2015

What I Learned Spending $1.5 Million on Sumo.com
“This is crazy for me. I used to be so against buying expensive domain names!”
– Noah Kagan Feb 16, 2017

How (and Why) We Purchased the Snappa.com Domain for $40,000
Since Snappa.com was taken, we registered Snappa.io. I mean, all the hip new startups were using .io right?

Brutal Honesty: The Developer CEO & Our Journey
So, in the end, we went with a terrible domain name – “teamworkpm.net”. Could it be worse?
Captain Hindsight says we should have called it GetTeamwork.com
The upgrade to Teamwork.com cost them $675k

How to Name Your Startup
“The domain name doesn’t matter.”
My current startup is named Buffer, but the domain name is bufferapp.com
–Written by Joel Gascoigne Jan 17, 2014
We acquired Buffer.com: Here is how and why we did it

(At a cost of what’s estimated to be $600k)
– Rodolphe DutelMar 10, 2015

More Brandable Domain Names – There’s a Domain For That!

Links to Buy It Now Prices at DAN.com
More great names here!
(Where a Twitter handle is mentioned, I’m happy to transfer it to you for free at the conclusion of a domain sale.)
Contact form, or email me…


Links to Buy It Now Prices at DAN.com

lucidcare.com
LucidCare.com @LucidCare

amusy
VR companion app? Vlovr.com

iLiky.com
iLiky.com

amusy
Amusy.com

eroticly.com
Eroticly.com

MarketTesters.com
MarketTesters.com @MarketTesters

weplant
What do we do? WePlant.com

iArty.com
iArty.com

gaymr
Refunds? Refundy.com @Refundy

BotMine.com
BotMine.com @BotMine

iMobl.com
iMobl.com

gaymr
Gay games? Gaymr.com

RSSES.com
RSSES.com

divup
Split the check! DivUp.com Now with DivApp.com!

netaphysical
Internet of things, you mean Netaphysical.com! @Netaphysical

denvr
Startup, app, blog, product, tv show? Denvr.com

appyending
Edgy game or…? AppyEnding.com @AppyEnding

indeepkimchi
In Deep Kimchi! InDeepKimchi.com

oaves
Because everyone loves Oaves!

smellbots
Does your hardware ‘smell’? Smellbots.com

agetests
Does your app or startup test for aging? AgingTests.com @AgingTests

bikedeliveries
Like Uber for deliveries, on bikes. BikeDeliveries.com Cool! @BikeDeliveries

imaky
Kids and making? iMaky.com!

sktrs
Skateboard brand! skrts.com!

Phoak
Pho social? Phoak music? Phoak.com!

wedesigned
Crowd-sourced design? WeDesigned.com

hobbying
World-class hobbyist destination domain Hobbying.com

appycamper
Camping app? appycamper.com @appycamper

CarComing.com
CarComing.com @CarComing

rsser
Clone your drive, your dog? clonu.com

Most of my domains are priced low to mid 4 figures.
Need a domain to run a market test? I’ll point the DNS to your test if you’ll share the data.
Are these domains an appropriate quality/price point, but not in your vertical? I can find you a domain.
Lots more elsewhere in the blog or email me!

iLiky.com WePlant.com CarComing.com Amusy.com Eroticly.com Boardly.com Refundy.com BotMine.com iMobl.com Gaymr.com RSSES.com DivUp.com Netaphysical.com Denvr.com AppyEnding.com Oaves.com SmellBots.com BikeDeliveries.com AgingTests.com iMaky.com   Phoak.com MarketTesters.com Rsser.com iArty.com WeDesigned.com Hobbying.com appycamper.com Swiply.com sktrs.com InDeepKimchi.com Klozr.com clonu.com clokt.com Vlovr.com LucidCare.com

 

How To Name Your Company | Startup Podcast

Are you following the excellent new  Alex Blumberg podcast series, Startup? Alex is documenting the evolution of his new podcasting company and in this episode we hear all about naming your company. If you’re new to naming this is a great introduction. Alex and Matt eventually settle on a name, Gimlet,   suggested to them by the folks at Lexicon Branding who agreed to help despite there being no budget. Alex alludes to the normally hefty fee for these naming services but doesn’t mention a number. I would suggest that it would normally cost $50-75k at least, to hire someone like Lexicon. [For reference, see my 2010 post, Naming Names at 75k a Pop] Interesting to me that they meet at the NY Athletic club… members only… no jeans etc. I think that a lot of what you’re buying from a high-end branding firm is the feeling that you’ve entered an exclusive club where an elite force of genius wordists conspire to generate a magic spell that will launch your company into the zeitgeist. At the end of the day, if having spent $100k you feel like you got a great name and everyone is more or less happy with it. Maybe it was worth it.

But if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you were forwarded here by typing a name you’re researching into your browser bar. The takeaway is that both you, and I, someone who has been naming/domaining since 2008, agree that that name is valuable. How valuable? My under-the-radar techniques for researching and acquiring great names for good prices means that most of mine are for sale in the lower to mid 4 figure range. Less than you’d probably pay for a day in the office of a high-end naming firm.

Or you can keep looking!
Click arrow to play audio. South Park Naming Your Startup

 

Leah Busque – How RunMyErrand Became TaskRabbit

Leah Busque

From the always excellent Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series at Stanford, this excerpt from a recent talk by Leah Busque describes how RunMyErrand.com became Taskrabbit.com.

We came up with hundreds and hundreds of names, so many names, it was such a grueling exercise. We had naming parties at our house, an we brought our friends over, and we had pizza and beer, and we’re like,   ‘Come up with names!’.

Click arrow to play audio. Leah Busque – Naming TaskRabbit