domains Startup Names Are Still Getting Less Silly

Glad to hear it. I never understood the appeal of naming companies things like Whootfart.

"Part of the reason simple, positive words are cropping up more is that startups are less concerned about getting a dot-com domain with their exact brand name, Foden said. They’ll take an alternative suffix (Cured is Cured.health, for example) or add a word to the domain name (Elate, for instance, is goelate.com)."

This paragraph shows that there is an increasing demand in new gTLDs in the startup side. The Cured case is an example of using a new gTLD (.health) that directly shows the business nature.

Brian L. said:

Glad to hear it. I never understood the appeal of naming companies things like Whootfart.

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No monies till you get VCs.

henrypcyeung said:

"Part of the reason simple, positive words are cropping up more is that startups are less concerned about getting a dot-com domain with their exact brand name, Foden said. They’ll take an alternative suffix (Cured is Cured.health, for example) or add a word to the domain name (Elate, for instance, is goelate.com)."

This paragraph shows that there is an increasing demand in new gTLDs in the startup side. The Cured case is an example of using a new gTLD (.health) that directly shows the business nature.

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It then goes on to say.....

" There is at least one big downside however; these names are typically already being used by other startups. The Crunchbase dataset lists multiple companies called Mighty, for instance, along with several called Magic, Opus, Wise and Proper, which are also names of recently funded startups on our list."

They start implementing a strong keyword on domain with emotional business relationship

NickB said:

It then goes on to say.....

" There is at least one big downside however; these names are typically already being used by other startups. The Crunchbase dataset lists multiple companies called Mighty, for instance, along with several called Magic, Opus, Wise and Proper, which are also names of recently funded startups on our list."

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It further shows the importance of new gTLDs because startups can use different new gTLDs to overcome the same brand name issues.

This is why I've always been attracted to new G's

Its a fresh opportunity to start from the beginning of quality brand names. .Solutions, .Direct and many others offer this opportunity. It seems like a few startups are starting to notice, still not too many though

henrypcyeung said:

It further shows the importance of new gTLDs because startups can use different new gTLDs to overcome the same brand name issues.

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How does it overcome the issue when they are called the same name? - I think this was where the appeal of weird and wonderful brandables came from, they where unique and have very little chance of being confused with another company/brand, though it creates other issues like the radio test etc.....

When there are several startups with the same name in different tlds, there's only one big winner: google. They will all end up pumping VC money into adwords to come out on top.

Imagine calling your company "Magic" and not owning .com or at least .net. How the hell are people going to find you? Google? I don't think so. Wikipedia beats you right off the bat. And then there's two billion other results...

It is a good trend. I do think the big big thing here is that the startups will register a non .com... HOWEVER, once they succeed, they will end up buying the .com anyway. So I look at it as a win win anyway... get a company name people will actually remember, and then when you succeed, you can invest in the .com.

It's been a hoot watching the domain business go the route of the fashion industry as far as trend chasing goes. The nonsensical name trend has been a good one and now a single word that pertains to the core business is becoming the trend (saves lots of money on branding a made up word). The next step will back to the EMD's. As the saying goes, 'everything old is new again'. But, I could be wrong.

NickB said:

How does it overcome the issue when they are called the same name? - I think this was where the appeal of weird and wonderful brandables came from, they where unique and have very little chance of being confused with another company/brand, though it creates other issues like the radio test etc.....

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I talked about new gTLDs for startups with same brand names.

They have same brand name which means they are in different industries, otherwise there is trademark problem. There are specific new gTLDs for different industries, and they open up more options for startups to have their domains which have only their brand names on the left of dot (it is what I meant of overcoming "same brand name" issue). Take Cured as an example. It is doing health business, so uses .health. If there is another company called Cured that does medical media business, it can use .media. If there is another Cured company doing technology business, it can use .tech or .technology.

Juice!
This is great news I hope this is true.
Since there is a chance that you can trademark your domain+extension the simple generic or business model names could be the super new trend with new Gs.

A great project requires a great domain name

Mytz.com said:

A great project requires a great domain name

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"Great" depends on the eye of the buyer.

NickB said:

How does it overcome the issue when they are called the same name?

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Keyword-specific extensions. But.. if we erase new gTLDs from the equation, don't you think the same question could be asked using solely the king extension? And if so, why is it any different? Even in ccTLDs.

Think of it this way; Orange.com is taken.

But someone owning "orange shoes", "orange tires", "your #1 orange", "orange express" and so on and so forth..

Now (no gTLDs), just dot-com and everyone vies for their name in the .com. That's where I say we get REAL confusion, especially when it comes to search results. You have to work it hard, because part of your name is SHARED with countless other domains using the SAME extension.

Bring in new gTLDs. We solve the ccTLD vs/or .com problem, no need to worry about either. We have .shoes, .tires, .one and .express and so on and so forth. Yep, this makes it doubly hard for investors (over 1k of extensions), not saying it ain't so, but for an end-user/shop owner, is it not heaven? We take .com out of the equation, and replace it with the other half of the actual business name in its corresponding extension. It practically makes the domain name redundant.

When we have keyword-specific extensions that fit the entity name, there is absolutely no confusion- how can there possibly be any? Obviously, we can, and do, have perfect fits in the king.. but you have to admit how convoluted many business names have become over the quarter-century just because folks have been almost forced to base their domain on it.

Am I off here??

NickB said:

I think this was where the appeal of weird and wonderful brandables came from, they where unique and have very little chance of being confused with another company/brand, though it creates other issues like the radio test etc.....

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Right on, on both points.

a major benefit of the silly, yet unique names is that you can "design" or "limit" (or whatever) the search results when somebody searches for your brand i.e. your website, brand, and content wont get lost amongst many other irrelevant things

I enjoyed the article and analysis of the " changing of the guard " with new startup names and their more appropriate, IMO, connotations and meanings.

Wonder if some of the now well established startups will consider name changes over the next few years.

It is a difficult line to walk, being a startup and wanting to establish as soon as possible a marketplace identity and, having a name appropriate and memorable for your business.