Show HN: I'll help you name your next startup/product for $50

by chaosmachine • 15 years ago

98 93 15 years ago

Hey HN. This is a weekend project of mine. It's an idea I had after seeing so many comments here about the lack of available .com names for startups.

As PG once said: "Take a luxury and make it into a commodity"[1]. So, I decided I'd try turning name consulting from something only large corporations could afford to something anyone could. I hope you'll take me up on it :)

If you'd like to see a few examples of my work, just check out the links in the footer. Thanks for your attention.

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

This is a weekend project of mine. It's an idea I had after seeing so many comments here about the lack of available .com names for startups.

If you'd like to see a few examples of my work, just check out the links in the site's footer.

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html

middus2• 15 years ago

Did you take into account how much time it will take you to process a non-trivial order? $20 seems quite low to me when you want to achieve a good hourly rate.

Maybe you should bump it up a bit (> $50). It would still be a commodity price.

edit: By the way, I totally love the design!

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

Thanks, you're right, I've increased the price to $50 for new orders.

jorgem• 15 years ago

I had this same service a few years ago, and even at $99 it is a money loser. And kinda boring after a while -- even if you autopick the names, you still have to review them before giving them to the client.

sagacity2• 15 years ago

Cool!

At this price, I'm sure many will go for it.

One quick question:

Do you check/ensure the .com domain availability of the names you find?

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

I do. Dot com availability is one of the major items on my checklist.

sagacity2• 15 years ago

Double cool!

One suggestion, though: A quick look through your home page did not reveal this. You might want to revise the copy to mention this (prominently).

HTH

kingofspain• 15 years ago

This sounds like a great idea. I find shortish domains all the time and try and squeeze an idea into them, but I have real trouble finding something properly appropriate (for .com anyway). I've signed the forms :)

cnu• 15 years ago

You should also try to do twitter handle availability.

I think I saw a website long time back which checked a username availability across many websites and social networks. Can't remember it. Can someone help me out here.

thehodge• 15 years ago

http://www.usernamecheck.com :)

illdave• 15 years ago

http://knowem.com/ ?

keiferski• 15 years ago

http://www.NameChk.com works well too.

sheats• 15 years ago

Great idea! I was just racking my brain last night for a good name so this is a great service to have available!

jwomers3• 15 years ago

This is super cool. I haven't signed up yet, and obviously haven't seen the quality of the results, but it's a great idea, and definitely something I would pay for for my next project. (Naming is definitely one of my weak points)

AndrewS• 15 years ago

I agree, although I'd love to see some results or examples (and I must admit I'm a little pessimistic). I hope to see some on the website soon :)

jwomers3• 15 years ago

That's true.. When anyone gets some results page from this, would be great to post them here for the rest of us to see.

perlgeek2• 15 years ago

It would help if you showed some project descriptions, and the names you have found for them (of course with consent from the customers), as a kind of portfolio.

jdp23• 15 years ago

Agreed. Eventually you want to get to something like http://www.thenameinspector.com/portfolio/

shazow• 15 years ago

Wish you were around when Jen and I were wrecking our brain coming up with imoveyou.com (from getupandmove.me).

We kept asking ourselves "surely there are people who are good at naming things, WHERE ARE THEY?!"

shrikant• 15 years ago

Was it always $20 as the HN headline says? The website says $50 now...

derrida• 15 years ago

... and he just changed the HN headline to $50!

I did the same double take, thinking the price changed. They changed the price! Sneaky!

Maakuth• 15 years ago

You have to appreciate though, that $50 is still a modest price if the service is as good as it claims. Just look at domain squatter prices, you get pretty much nothing with $50.

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

It was $20 for the first 7 customers, I've bumped it up to a more realistic $50 now.

fezzl• 15 years ago

Have you heard of http://www.pickydomains.com?

RyanONeill1970• 15 years ago

I was so impressed, I bought one!

edw519• 15 years ago

startupgods.com? I dunno, you look like a plumber with a leaky faucet. I'd have a little more confidence if you had a name more like "PerfectNameFinder.com" or something like that.

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

I own PerfectAlias.com as well, but I felt StartupGods.com was more brandable, and would capture the attention of my target audience.

xutopia3• 15 years ago

StartupGods > PerfectAlias. Perhaps it is because my first language isn't English but French. To me alias means second name.

kingsidharth• 15 years ago

IMO, None of them are good for branding. The best one is which has nothing to do with your business. (Example: Apple has nothing to do with computers, Adidas has nothing to do with sports equipments)

It gives you leverage to take business in any direction. For example, if your naming business becomes huge success and you want to start naming more things - like OpenSource Projects or simple apps - the word "Startup" in your name is gonna make you think twice.

I wonder what names you'd give out when you yourself have a bad name, IMO. Any sample names you've created?

adrianwaj2• 15 years ago

I prefer bangnames.com and it's unregistered.

Once you have monotheistic power, you'll be better at naming The Name.

jwomers3• 15 years ago

I much prefer Startupgods.com, it's interesting and memorable.

huhtenberg2• 15 years ago

It is still off. It should really be StartupNamingGods.com or LetMeNameYourStartup.com or something else that indicates it is about naming. StartupGods is more like a cocky alias for YC :)

wlievens• 15 years ago

I'm not sure. I would associate PerfectNameFinder.com somehow with "shady dating site" and that's no good.

rararational• 15 years ago

I think he was making a joke about it :)

someguy777• 15 years ago

lol... you do know people pay branding companies $10,000 per name to do this right?

AdamTReineke• 15 years ago

Hence his comment about making a luxury a commodity. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2257574

ZoFreX• 15 years ago

So what happens if I pay, say I don't like the name you come up with, and then buy the domain and launch with it anyway?

minus1• 15 years ago

I presume you get a free name and an unpleasant nagging feeling from your conscience. It's probably not worth the effort to try to prevent this in the beginning.

dagw• 15 years ago

I suppose they could take $10 of the $50 you paid them and register the name before sending it to you, and if you like it they'll transfer it to you. If you don't they'll give you your money back and try to sell the name to someone else. But, yea I guess the hassle of doing this probably isn't worth it in the beginning.

goombastic3• 15 years ago

How about an India price? I'll do it for 20$. As a starter, here is a free name for anyone to register:

nameonic.com: rhymes with mnemonic and is a great name for a names company.

Let's see how long the name lasts.

UPDATE: The name was just registered. Thanks Guys. wow that was fast. 32 minutes standing.

barefoot• 15 years ago

Confusingly similar (cringe) to "namesonic", a company that already exists and has been around since 2001. Interestingly, they claim a trademark on the word but I couldn't locate any filings in the US.

There Was a trademark on "nameonics" in the early 1980's, however:

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=7...

Charuru• 15 years ago

You have two vowels next to each other. Not good

goombastic3• 15 years ago

What's with the downvotes?! :)

subbu• 15 years ago

Looks like the negative feedback about the name didn't stop someone from registering it. Any other good names?

goombastic3• 15 years ago

Lots. Just ask. Having registered serial sites with clever names, this is a hobby.

redstar504• 15 years ago

I think startupgods.com is a cool name for this business. Nice layout also. If I had a new business in mind I wouldn't hesitate to try your service. The money back guarantee makes me feel comfortable, but I am just curious on the amount of refunds you will be processing - I guess it depends on how creative you are at naming. Please report back with results.

PanMan• 15 years ago

Maybe I'm cynical, but because you emphasis the "money back" part, it feels more like a scam. I was sort-of half expecting an auto-name-generator: "$randomstring.com is still available!" If only 10% don't ask their money back, you make a profit. I once heard about a "baby gender predictor", with money back guarantee, which just always emailed you "Congrats, it will be a boy!". About 50% right :).

shou4577• 15 years ago

Maybe a bit off-topic, but this scam has always intrigued me. You can, in fact, do better than just "Money back guarantee!" You can do as much as, say, "We'll give you your money back, plus an extra 50% of the fee!" So your "customers" pay $50, and if you are wrong you give them back $75. You still make $12.50 on average per customer by guessing randomly, so long as you scam sufficiently many people.

waterside81• 15 years ago

This is precisely how sports handicapping services work. Every week, 50% of your customers are happy and return, the other 50% are unhappy and might not return.

Tyrant505• 15 years ago

I will too!

sjaakkkkk• 15 years ago

ok, anyone actually got a good name? Would like to do this if it ain't a scam and i can verify someone got their money back when not satisfied..

mise• 15 years ago

I spent $900 naming on a non-profit startup. Fk.

xutopia3• 15 years ago

Alright I'm testing you out. 50$ for a great name is an awesome price point imo. It's just enough that I find it expensive but small enough that I'd pay for it. With a money back guarantee I'm glad to test the waters.

xutopia3• 15 years ago

I'm replying to myself to give you some feedback. After the checkout process it would be nice to be given a time frame that I can expect an answer by.

chaosmachine6• 15 years ago

You should have received an email within a few minutes of your order with timeframe information, can you let me know if you got it?

jmacd• 15 years ago

Tried to order. Not working. Got an error and now I get "state not valid" when I try to place the order again.

jorkos• 15 years ago

point me to a few happy customers and i'd be happy to try it

Jun8• 15 years ago

This is a very cool idea, but I would lose the whole Zeus thing, it gives an air of adolescence to the site. Also,

* Saying you'll find the perfect name is a bit of a stretch, what does "perfect" mean in this context? Is google a perfect name?

* When you say results are guaranteed, you mean the customer will like it. However, in most cases, the founders liking the name has little bearing on how good the name resonates with customers, that's what's important (read pg's discussion about their initial agony when their cool name for their startup was taken, their original choice sounds horrible) . I think you should provide a methodology, even a simplistic one, to help people decide which one is better.

* If you don't have a portfolio yet, which I assume since you say this was a weekend project, do analysis on 5-10 company names (if YC the better), and explain why they are good using your methodology. This will give you credibility. Show that you are the expert in this field. Right now, it looks like another name guessing site.

hucker• 15 years ago

Will you be publishing any names you come up with, so potential customers can see for themselves if they like your "style" or not?

kgtm• 15 years ago

Thank you for this post, as it inspired me to charge myself $50 and come up with a name for a venture of mine. Just bought instarchive.com, neat!

jsatok• 15 years ago

Just signed up for a project of mine, excited to see what you come up with.

Ygor• 15 years ago

Did you read the naming philosophy section? This bit is interesting:

"Think about this scenario: You're at a party and someone asks you where you work. If you say "I work for shoes.com," it's pretty obvious that you work for a website that sells shoes.

But, if you say "I work for shoe.ly," then you have to go on to explain it to them: "It's a website that sells shoes." If you owned the .com, everyone would already know that."

Mankhool• 15 years ago

Why not just crowdsource names on HN?

tomotomo• 15 years ago

There's a site for that: http://www.needanym.com/

listrophy• 15 years ago

http://www.namingthingsishard.com

dbro• 15 years ago

You could do more to get the potential customer comfortable with your product. 7 days and $50 is a lot to request of people, when there is competition for this service. It looks like one of those competing tools was created by you, http://impossibility.org . And for full disclosure, I am working on a domain name suggestion tool too: http://domainjig.com

During testing, I learned that many different opinions exist about what makes a good domain name. So while you may have settled the matter in your own head, you should take care to set expectations for your customers. A quick list of domains you think are good (perhaps also domains you think are not good) would help people see if they agree with your priorities.

For instance, I've heard differing opinions about the importance of these characteristics:

.com only vs other Top Level Domains

fewer characters vs simpler concepts

distribution mechanisms: SEO, ads, word of mouth

misspellings, or non-obvious spellings

similar style to recent successful startups

country-specific registrar risk

combine TLD letters into the word

non-english languages

adjective + noun

rhyming / puns

describes the product and/or a tone

As an example, this article describes priorities baked-in to the domain name suggestion tool at domainjig.com : http://domainjig.com/ideas/great-domain-names.html

btw, I like the eyebrow raise on mouseover.

jules• 15 years ago

You should give some example names you came up with. This is like going to a designer without a portfolio.

thesis• 15 years ago

Just submitted our order. Should be interesting to see the results.

paradox95• 15 years ago

Seems to me like a good way to farm start up ideas. Willing to sign an NDA before I give you my idea?

acabal• 15 years ago

I'd like to use this--I have a site I soft-launched recently that I'd like to rebrand--but without examples of names you've come up with in the past, it's a hard sell for me.

I know I can get my money back, but I really would rather not do that... I'd rather only make the buy if I can be reasonably sure I'll be happy, instead of having to make you work and then ask for my money back if it turns out we have separate styles.

reason• 15 years ago

I'll do it for $40, and have a few who can attest to the awesomene-ness of the domains I suggest.

Email is in profile.

roel_v• 15 years ago

I don't see your email in your profile?

huhtenberg2• 15 years ago

> Finding a good name is hard. Finding an available domain name is even harder. Fortunately, we do both. Really well.

and then you probably meant to say...

> Here are the examples of the names we created:

followed by a list of really good names.

mindcrime• 15 years ago

Sounds cool. I have a company name already, but I may need (a|some) product name(s) later... when I get to that point, I may give you a shot. I mean, it's $50, with a money-back guarantee, what's the harm?

kevruger• 15 years ago

Wow, ok $100 now? Must be getting some pretty serious orders to jump from $20 to $50 and now to $100? Good for you. I'm with the rest of them though, I'd like to see some results/examples!

VladimirGolovin• 15 years ago

Do you check candidate names for possible trademark conflicts? (I understand that you are not a lawyer, but at least some preliminary checking would be nice.)

tomeric• 15 years ago

We were John's first customer. It was mostly an impulse buy because it was so cheap.

We have a restaurant guide in The Netherlands with a dutch name (eet.nu, translates to eat.now) with a big community of reviewers. We want to expand, so a international name is required.

If we brainstorm about names, it takes up a lot of time and we're never completely satisfied with the results. Naming stuff is hard, and it's even harder if English is not your first language.

After 4-5 hours of waiting, John gave us a list of 14 names (we got 7 bonus names!), and we picked the name HungryJury.com. Registered the .com and twitter account a few minutes ago.

We're pretty satisfied with the service and will probably use it again in the future!

anthonys• 15 years ago

I was about to give this one a try but it seems the price has gone up to $100 now!!

I hope thats as a result of demand because $50 was at a level that I didn't think twice, but $100 has made me reconsider. Hopefully for your sake I am the minority then!

Show HN: I'll help you name your next startup/product for $50

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