If most of your users are going to find you by putting the company/brand name in google, perhaps good SEO might be enough? I've come across quite a few companies with a .ly domain (can't say how they're doing though).
As a user I probably wouldn't take a .info domain very seriously but .net would be ok.
If you want people to remember your domain name and type it into the browser than you really need the .com extension. You have to market the hell out of .net or any other type of domain for people to remember it. They might remember your domain name but forget the extension and will likely try .com. If you don't own it because somebody else does you are sending traffic you worked for to them. Most people will shrug it off and forget about your site or worse become engaged in their site leaving your long forgotten. Try to come up with a different name or a multi-word domain to get that .com. The domains are out there, you just have to be creative.
The trend seems to be build the brand around a less ideal domain and then buy the .com when you can afford to. Facebook (thefacebook.com), Dropbox (getdropbox.com), Delicious (del.icio.us), and Groupon (getyourgroupon.com) did this.
Seems like it depends on your audience in some instances. If you have users that don't easily remember one of these more obscure domain extensions, they'll type in .com and be surprised if they don't get you (even if you told them exactly what your address is). Some of them won't have the wherewithal to drop your name into Google either, so it'd be helpful to have the .com.
I once had an email address during college that ended in .at and I'd put it in presentations for classes. People swore I had a typo in my email address. .me, .in., .at, etc. still seem to be a niche sort of thing.
Thanks all for your comments. I have been able to put my goals in perspective because of your replies.
My understanding after this post is that for a web startup, it's absolutely necessary to get a .com. My app, however, is a mobile app first and a web-app second. I'm thinking it's probably OK to go with a non .com address for now. If the app takes off, I'll consider getting a .com. Right now I should spend my time in getting the app off ground. That should be my focus right now.
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 17.6 ms ] threadOne of the current YC batch decided to change their name from .me to a .com. You can find their reasoning at: http://blog.imoveyou.com/announcing-our-new-name-getupandmov...
If most of your users are going to find you by putting the company/brand name in google, perhaps good SEO might be enough? I've come across quite a few companies with a .ly domain (can't say how they're doing though).
As a user I probably wouldn't take a .info domain very seriously but .net would be ok.
my 2cents
I definitely would stick with one of the long-time three-letter ones: .org, .com or .net. Nothings says spammer like .biz or .info.
But... when it comes down to it, better to have a 'creative' .com than a .net where the .com is taken.
I once had an email address during college that ended in .at and I'd put it in presentations for classes. People swore I had a typo in my email address. .me, .in., .at, etc. still seem to be a niche sort of thing.
My understanding after this post is that for a web startup, it's absolutely necessary to get a .com. My app, however, is a mobile app first and a web-app second. I'm thinking it's probably OK to go with a non .com address for now. If the app takes off, I'll consider getting a .com. Right now I should spend my time in getting the app off ground. That should be my focus right now.