sorry, maybe the "simply" was misplaced. The issue is that pretty much every "real" word (as in, not made up) is taken by now. Even for other names that I didn't like as much, the situation was quite similar (most domains taken or expensive).
The question is therefore about common alternatives used by startups to have a "close enough" domain compared to their name.
“Try the simplest thing that might work” is advice that is often provided on Hacker News. At one time and maybe still, it was said to be advice YC often provided to founders.
Make up a name, buy the .com domain and get back to finding users.
Nobody cares what the name is, e.g. Kubernetes, if it solves one of their problems (and if it doesn’t solve any of their problems they won’t care either).
Sure great names are great. But a bad name fast is good enough.
Maybe even better because a domain using an ordinary word might get you sued for trademark infringement (sued even if you are acting legally because anyone can sue anyone).
And maybe better because keyword search will be more relevant, e.g. Java is a great name but the top result might be Coffee or an Island.
YAGNI…and if you are lucky enough that that changes you will have enough money that a great domain is rounding error. Right now domain name is a fifteen minute task.
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I could simply find another name for my app/company
That is the simplest thing that might work.
sorry, maybe the "simply" was misplaced. The issue is that pretty much every "real" word (as in, not made up) is taken by now. Even for other names that I didn't like as much, the situation was quite similar (most domains taken or expensive). The question is therefore about common alternatives used by startups to have a "close enough" domain compared to their name.
Two things:
“Try the simplest thing that might work” is advice that is often provided on Hacker News. At one time and maybe still, it was said to be advice YC often provided to founders.
Make up a name, buy the .com domain and get back to finding users.
Nobody cares what the name is, e.g. Kubernetes, if it solves one of their problems (and if it doesn’t solve any of their problems they won’t care either).
Sure great names are great. But a bad name fast is good enough.
Maybe even better because a domain using an ordinary word might get you sued for trademark infringement (sued even if you are acting legally because anyone can sue anyone).
And maybe better because keyword search will be more relevant, e.g. Java is a great name but the top result might be Coffee or an Island.
YAGNI…and if you are lucky enough that that changes you will have enough money that a great domain is rounding error. Right now domain name is a fifteen minute task.
that's a good point. Sometimes you get hung in technicalities and forget what are the priorities (move fast and cheaply). Thanks for your thoughts!