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Best strategy when company/product domain is taken

2 points by frabia ↗ HN
I want to launch a saas company, and found a name I really like. Unfortunately, the usual domains (.com, .co, .io, .dev, .app) are already registered, though they are all available to be purchased from the respective owners (unfortunately though the cheaper one among these domains is 5k).

Now, I could simply find another name for my app/company, but pretty much any other name I look up, I find myself in a similar situation about the available domains and prices. Therefore I was thinking to go ahead with my name, maybe by having a less-optimal domain to start, and then one day eventually buy one of the “proper” ones from the list above.

I wanted to ask what’s my best option, whether to settle for a more unknown domain, or to add a prefix (eg. “get[myname].com”) or suffix (?) to my chosen name. What are the most common choices? Is there something I should keep in mind? Thanks!

6 comments

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zenosmosis
I've been there. Nearly purchased a domain for thousands because I really liked the name.

Probably the best advice I can give is don't make any impulse decisions if you find something even just a little outside of your price range (unless, of course, you are determined to use such a name, and you consider yourself staying determined through the thick and thin).

I wrote down a list of domain names that I wanted, whether they were available or not, and what their price points were if they could be auctioned.

And decided to not buy any of them immediately.

What you may consider is starting w/ an umbrella name which would theoretically, encompass your SAAS and more, and either making a subdomain off of that, or using it as the "powered by" (or whatever) for your SAAS when you do find a proper name.

frabia
thanks for the answer! Yes exactly. Aside to whether the name is good or not, I think it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on a domain, especially since I'm still in the process of validating the idea. That is why I was thinking to get a "temporary" domain that is good enough, then eventually if my idea takes off and I get funding, then I can decide to purchase a proper one.
brudgers
I could simply find another name for my app/company

That is the simplest thing that might work.

frabia
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.
brudgers
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.

frabia
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!