The website [1] is very strange. What does U.S. stand for? If I were to stumble on this I'd assume it was a fishing / scam website trying to impersonate the government. Bad vibes all around.
B) I'm also a little confused. Surely that domain cost(s) $$$ -- why not go with a cute "us" branding rather than "U.S."? Unless you're looking to sell in other countries where maybe U.S. expertise is a selling point, this definitely comes across like you're pretending to be part of the government.
EDIT: For comparison, we.ai costs $500,000/y (!!!)
EDIT2: It looks like you're positioning yourself as a defense/govt contractor, thus the branding? That's certainly cool, but IMHO, if I were you and owned that domain, I'd offer it to Palantir for $$$$$ and just go with your second choice. They're currently starting in on a whole genocide/global war thing, so they have cash to burn!
Hi thanks! The domain actually used to be a redirect link to U.S. Automotive Industries (a trade publication). I reached out to them and got a deal, so it was a lot for me but not, like, we.ai expensive lol.
The name was always a corporate placeholder and I liked the idea of US Steel or General Electric type names. Some startups have done similar things, and many people actually like the name a ton. But I know it's controversial and so any products I made have their own names and branding that's pretty separate (see: Abbey).
Over the past few months I've gone the gov contracting route and the name actually made some sense, so I've used it raw. Still, the plan is to get a DBA in the near future and switch it up. Thanks for the advice!
Ok that’s actually kinda hilarious — hopefully some blogger picks up that tidbit. I bet there aren’t many people using “ai” for “automotive industry” anymore!
It's one guy running his little AI startup fresh out of college. Claims to be a former national security analyst but makes no such claim on his LinkedIn.
Thanks, I'm always on the lookout for people with suspicious or over-exaggerated credentials cough-Lex Friedman-cough. Is the national security paper public? Is it something about Ufimstev?
Hi, it is unfortunately not public and cannot be made so to my understanding. It was frustrating to talk about in job interviews for that reason and therefore was not on the LinkedIn.
