I’m starting a collection of inane domain names. InaneDomainNames.com will resolve to this page on the blog. If it generates enough interest I’ll move it to it’s own site at some point. Please send me your favorite Inane Domain Names (and why you think they’re inane)!
TaskRabbit.com? Are you kidding me? Task + Rabbit = TaskRabbit! Perfect Tommy, fire up the bong!
Andy Sack, a smart, successful VC, and co-founder of VC fund and incubator Founder’s Co-op, recently ran a few articles on the difficulty of re-branding Revenue Loans. He painted the picture of he and his team of developers burning the midnight oil for weeks trying to come up with a name that the ‘domain squatters’ hadn’t snatched up. In the end they chose Lighter Capital. I must say I was highly underwhelmed and, but for the remark in the comments suggesting a cigarette lighter would make a great logo, had forgotten the name by the time I closed the tab. Why would a VC with millions of dollars at his disposal tie up his time and the time of his development team for upwards of three weeks trying to come up with a very average available domain? Why not invest some cash and get something really cool! Honestly, IMO, Andy didn’t just come up with an average name, but he sent a signal to potential future partners about his priorities.
Just listened to a great interview with the founder of Pachube.com, pronounced “Patch Bay” throughout the interview. [Wow! The very day I post this TechCrunch announces that Pachube has been acquired by LogMeIn for $15MM.]
An article I read today suggest we bow our heads for a handful of startups that fell into the deadpool in 2010. While I am not even suggesting that there is a direct corollary between their names and what happened, it is interesting to note that the domains themselves are probably worthless. Wattzy UserMojo YouCastr Riotvine Sponty Shortbord Rangle.me Geolenz If you can’t find a genius available domain (Hipmunk comes to mind) you can get a pretty good domain for a couple of grand. Your name is social proof number one – resist the urge to build out on a crappy available domain.
This just in. Kevin Rose is launching a subscription email newsletter. Granted, once you’re signed up you’ll probably never have to see it again, but for the purposes of talking about it at least he’s got to have a url. It’s being called Foundation, but the url is foundat.io/n. I think that actually raises the bar! Top that inane domain namers!
25 million in venture capital so far and the best we can do is Blekko.com. Are you kiddin’ me?
I’m overwhelmed. Just watched ThisWeekInVentureCapital and one after another Mark Suster is rolling out these recently funded multimillion dollar companies whose names are, IMO, horrific!
Xobni.com Sendgrid.com Swipely.com Assistly.com Burstly.com Telepart.com? Earlier in the day Jason Calacanis talked about paying @$18k for ThisWeekIn.com (for his network of shows). He gets it! A good name is going to cost you a little dough. If VCs are pouring in cash- stop! Get a new name! Your customers will thank you- they won’t be embarrassed telling their friends about you (and then spelling the url, and then spelling it again).
10/20/10 Deal site Postabon.com relaunched today as SignPost.com. Nice! Are we seeing a pattern emerge- startup-> traction -> Angel round -> more traction ->A round – NEW DOMAIN NAME!
Sorry, even the press articles covering the launch are calling it unvarnished.com, but it’s actually GETunvarnished.com I feel for these guys, that’s one crappy domain name. [Update 10/19/10 There is a god! Unvarnished has just changed its name to Honestly.com. Thank You!]
Kevin Rose just sent out a tweet announcing his investment in a new startup. He links to a NY Times article about said startup. I’m just sayin’, if Kevin Rose is investing in you and the NY Times is writing about you it’s probably too late to change your domain/company name, but give me a break! formspring.me? For another question/answer site? Amazing.
This looks like a great product and I loved Andrew Warner’s Mixergy.com interview with Harry Lin that hipped me to it but, really, Lottay.com? Described as a cross between lottery and latte. More like a cross between can’t spell and can’t remember. I think this was one of the situations where by the time they had some money and momentum to run with the idea, they’d actually become fond of the name.
The Crunchpad fiasco is ongoing, but in the meantime the manufacturer is offering the tablet pc for sale as the Joo Joo. Bad enough they don’t even own the domain name joojoo.com but doubly inane because of the the.
theJooJoo.com
This has been mentioned elsewhere on the blog. Vark itself isn’t all that bad a domain name. The problem here is that the company is called Aardvark.
vark.com. (Wow! Aardvark/vark.com sold to Google for $50 Million! Wonder if they’ll keep the name.)
See also: http://goodurlbadurl.blogspot.com/
