
Jason Calacanis on how to name your startup (and land the perfect domain) - duck
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=38d0a9f3a3cc16864784086bf&id=2bad10a121
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ElbertF
_X is lame but Y is great because I did it._ Jason seems to feel the need to
constantly compliment himself and plug at least one of his domains/projects in
every section, very annoying.

I can't say I learned much from this e-mail either, basically he's saying that
good domain names are short and expensive but if you have a lot of money
that's not a problem.

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jasonmcalacanis
I think the 22k people who subscribe to the newsletter might disagree.

Just because I'm highly successful and I share the techniques I used to get
there doesn't mean I'm trying to compliment myself... I'm trying to show folks
how it is done so they can do better themselves.

I don't get paid for doing these emails... I do them because I love helping
other entrepreneurs.

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ElbertF
We know you're successful, we can see that and you don't really need to
reiterate it. I do appreciate the tips you share but I'd enjoy them a lot more
if I didn't feel you were advertising yourself.

I understand why you do it though, you're a salesperson and you are your own
brand. Sharing tips gets you exposure. I'm sure it benefits a lot of people
but mostly you (which is fine). I don't dislike you Jason, it's just an
observation. I generally shy away when I feel I'm being sold something.

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cothinkit
Product first, rebrand later. A great name can only get you so far.

Though if you have cash to burn, his method doesn't seem so off. Then again
"five to ten dimes" could also get you (a) another employee or two (b) decent
marketing (c) cover your overhead costs (d) rent and living expenses for a
while (e) some mix of (a)-(d).

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cubicle67
this'd be the guy who runs a site with a name I can't pronounce and need to
use google to figure out how to spell it because it's so unmemorable (as in,
it's not a real word so the spelling could be anything - is it malahoo, malaho
marlywho mlahoo mlaho? buggered if I know [or care])

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waterlesscloud
Mahalo is a real word, just not an English one.

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cubicle67
fair enough, I guess what I mean is it's a word outside my vocabulary. It has
no meaning to me, it's just a collection of letters and as such difficult to
recall.

For those who don't know, it's a Hawaiian expression of thanks

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mikesabat
I work in mobile marketing where a lot of customers ask if the keyword they
choose matters. The short answer is that it does not matter. Make it easy to
understand and hard to mess up. [http://mikesabat.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/do-
keywords-matter...](http://mikesabat.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/do-keywords-
matter/)

Obviously you have to give some thought to the name of the business and
domain, but if the product and concept are great the business can handle a bad
name for a while. I don't think the opposite is true.

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liamk
Over all the advice seems well thought out. However, I wonder how many
bootstrapped startups spend more than 1K on a domain name. I realize that's
not much for many, but for a student it's rather large.

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sabj
Yeah - I think the advice is great if you happen to have a few tens of
thousands of dollars, though at that point it isn't especially profound. For a
startup with little to no capital, 5-10k is a lot of money.

Certainly I wish that I had some better names available to me for some
projects of mine, but if I were to focus on the project first, I think the
rest would follow. I look forward to the day when I can be incredibly
frustrated at having to overpay to buy a better domain name - once I've
already had some minimal success.

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jasonmcalacanis
The proper link is: [http://launch.is/blog/2010/12/3/how-to-name-your-startup-
and...](http://launch.is/blog/2010/12/3/how-to-name-your-startup-and-land-the-
perfect-domain.html)

thanks for posting.

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dodecaphonic
How to name your startup: be a regular guest on a well-to-do podcast that,
while not being able to trademark its own name, has established quite a
reputation. Create a friendly relationship with the host, put forth bad
impressions when it's time to tip the hat and make everyone think you care.
Then, on your spare time, create a podcast network with the very same name but
to a word and claim you offered the domain to the guy you supposedly
respected, since, well, it's not like he can claim to own that specific
sequence of words, right? Success will then follow.

