showcase Quotes about domains from end users

[Hashim]

I've recently started collecting these as they can sometimes be useful for outbounding when a buyer needs an extra push. Here are the ones I've collected so far.

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"The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness. Unless you're so big that your reputation precedes you, a marginal domain suggests you're a marginal company."

Paul Graham, renowned VC, programmer, writer, and co-founder of Y Combinator

[I slightly disagree with Paul Graham here, as even when this was written in 2015 many startups did fine with .io domains, and with the rise of .ai and the new TLDs that has only improved. However, he's right about the fact that .com is still king and likely always will be]

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Mark Zuckerberg: "When we were first meeting with Peter [Thiel], we didn’t have Facebook.com. We were TheFacebook."

Jessica Livingston: "What would you do now different?"

Mark Zuckerberg: "I’d get the right domain name. The moral is that we could get the domain. We ended up paying tens of thousands for the domain [after]".

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“A good domain name can save you 90% of your advertising expenses.”

Hong Feng Hao, CEO of JiuXian.com

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When asked what the best money decision she had ever made was:

"You might think it was going on The Apprentice, but it was actually paying £23,000 to buy the internet domain names fullofbeans.co.uk and fullofbeans.com. People might think I'm crazy, but when you have a vision, you know it's worth it."

Khadija Kalifa, Apprentice UK 2018 semifinalist and CEO of FullOfBeans

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Please contribute your own end user quotes that you come across in articles, blog posts, emails, etc. but only post quotes that can be verified with at least one reputable link or screenshot - the more reputable the end user the better!

 

[Eric Lyon]

The most consistent quote from end users for me, hasn't changed in 2-decades. Ironically I just heard it again yesterday from a 46 year old that's starting up a new landscaping business.

I also heard it from a bank branch manager thinking about starting an accounting business as a side-gig 2-weeks ago.

Can you guess what it was?

Drum roll..........

The most common quote I have heard for 2 decades and still hear almost weekly from end users is: "What's a domain name?"

Yep, still, in 2025, people in there 20's through 50's looking to start a new business venture are still not sure what a domain name is or all the costs associated with building and hosting a brand on one.

Interesting to think about, really...

 

[Nathan K]

Domain names teach us a deep truth of existence: the perfect one is always taken, the decent one is overpriced, and the one you can actually afford requires… creative spelling.

Choosing a domain name is a spiritual journey: you begin full of hope, confront the void of availability, bargain with absurd alternatives, and eventually accept enlightenment.

A domain name is proof that even in the vast infinity of the internet, someone has already taken your best idea.

The domain marketplace is the modern agora: philosophers now debate whether $2,500 is reasonable for a four-letter word.

Searching for domain names is digital archaeology: we sift through the rubble of abandoned blogs to find meaning.

Domain names prove free will exists—you’re free to choose any name you want, as long as 483 million others didn’t want it first

The journey to the perfect domain is like the hero’s quest: long, painful, and ending with you settling for something with an extra vowel.

Domain names remind us that perfection is an illusion and .xyz is always an option.

- ChatGPT

 

[Nathan K]

One could start a religion searching for universal truth within the collective consciousness that is ChatGPT.

 

[Jannes]

Do you mean quotes from those who get it?

They may be inspirational to us, but do they move the needle when doing outbound? I understand the idea of an extra push or encouragement, just asking as a strictly inbound guy.

 

[Hashim]

One could start a religion searching for universal truth within the collective consciousness that is ChatGPT.

Only if you've swallowed the Kool Aid and have no idea what an LLM is and how it works.

Do you mean quotes from those who get it?

They may be inspirational to us, but do they move the needle when doing outbound? I understand the idea of an extra push or encouragement, just asking as a strictly inbound guy.

I have to admit I haven't had a chance to try since I started collecting the quotes, but whether it's outbound or just seeing them quoted on a website, I'd be surprised if they have absolutely no positive effect on the behaviour of a potential end user. Plus they're nteresting on their own and help to remind domainers why we do what we do.

 

[Vertibox]

The most common quote I have heard for 2 decades and still hear almost weekly from end users is: "What's a domain name?"

Maybe the industry should start calling domain names, web names, outside the domain name world?

Also, ICANN and/or registries could be active in bringing better recognition of what domain names are, to business and to the public. Godaddy, as terrible and skirting criminality as they are, are probably the only name/registrar that the public and many businesses could name and can quote as "a place to go for a web name or getting a website".
Yes, their size allows them to market/advertise themselves to the public, but they can't be the only operation who are capable of this and for them to be the only name "out there" (for non domain name investors and non "domain name people").

Technical terms/jargon is a common issue with many industries, whose internal jargon is known to them and them only.
If an industry never/rarely touches the public directly, then its not an issue, but otherwise, it's a major barrier to all the companies involved.

 

[Future Sensors]

The most common quote I have heard for 2 decades and still hear almost weekly from end users is: "What's a domain name?"

Let me guess... another masterpiece courtesy of GoDaddy?

 

[Vertibox]

the collective consciousness that is ChatGPT.

CrapGPT is not conscious.

 

[Eric Lyon]

Let me guess... another masterpiece courtesy of GoDaddy?

Show attachment 288641

I don't think Godaddy has/had any influence in people not knowing what a domain name is. Though, it can probably be more confusing to someone not in the industry calling them different things and not being consistent about it (e.g. domain name, url, digital real estate, digital canvas, root, before the dot, etc..)