Name Your Startup

Who this is for

Founders about to buy a domain, or ones already shipping under a placeholder that's quietly becoming permanent.

What you'll actually decide

The name — worked out from positioning criteria you set first, with live domain availability checked against the shortlist rather than after you've fallen in love with one.

What first-time founders get wrong here

Choosing on cleverness rather than on whether it survives being said out loud once, over a bad phone line, to someone who then has to spell it. Deliberate misspellings and dropped vowels cost you every word-of-mouth referral you'll ever get.

The first 10 questions

This is where the conversation starts. Each answer shapes what gets asked next.

1. 01In plain words, what does your product do? Not the tagline — what a customer would tell a friend.
2. 02Do you already have a name in mind, or names you've rejected? Say so now — we'll test them properly rather than start from nothing.
3. 03When someone hears your name for the first time, what should they feel? Pick two or three words — serious, playful, precise, warm, technical?
4. 04Who says this name out loud most often, and where? A sales call, an app store, an investor meeting, a conference stage?
5. 05Which countries and languages does this name need to work in? Names that are fine in one market can be unfortunate in another.
6. 06What do the names in your industry sound like? Do you want to fit that pattern so you read as credible, or break it so you stand out?
7. 07How much are you willing to spend teaching people what the name means? An abstract name needs marketing budget; a descriptive one comes pre-explained but is harder to protect.
8. 08Does the name need room to grow? A name that describes today's product can trap you if the product expands.
9. 09Which domain endings would you actually accept — .com only, or is .ai, .app or .dev fine for your audience?
10. 10Naming strategy: descriptive (says what you do), suggestive (evokes a quality), abstract (means nothing yet), or founder-name? Let's weigh the trade-offs and pick a lane.

+ 8 more questions across discovery, validation, and the creative brief — each one adapting to what you've already said.

Related marketing project types

• Customer PersonaBuild a sharp, evidence-based profile of the specific person who buys and uses your product — so anyone on your team knows exactly who you're building for.
• Competitive PositioningMap your competitive landscape, find the position that's genuinely yours to own, and build the case for why your approach beats the alternatives for the customers who matter most.
• Competitive MapTurn your Competitive Positioning work into a shareable visual — a 2×2 map so you, your team, and your investors can see exactly where you stand and why your position is defensible.