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Product Name Issue
Our platform is about to be launched but the domain name the we really want is priced at $2,000. It's too high for a budget right now. We have 2 options. Which would you do?
Delay launch until we can afford the domain name. Who knows how long that will take.
Launch with a mediocre name. Then purchase the domain name from revenue generated from paying subscribers. Then do a quick name change and announce to the entire community. Who knows if that will disrupt engagement.
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You could check if the name is available with another TLD (ending) and use this first. I think https://www.namecheap.com/ is the best tool for this.
Also you could try to find a nice abbreviation for your product name which is available with .com or what you want.
Or try inserting a - if that makes sense (e.g. I bought app-finder.org since appfinder.org was gone)
I'd launch without ever buying the name you want. The name change could cause more confusion and wasted resources than any benefit from having a cooler name.
IMO domain names don't matter as much as people think, as long as they are reasonably short. Product names, in general, probably don't matter as much as people think. I remember when Google launched, and people couldn't stop talking about what a silly, nonsensical name it was. Part of the genius, of course, was that the strange name got everyone talking about Google, but when those people used the site and saw that it was like magic, they didn't care what it was called.
I recently launched a small company and the domain we wanted (limeleaf.com) was also crazy expensive. We grabbed limeleaf.io for $12 and haven't looked back. 🙂
The exception to all of this is if your product/domain name needs to be very descriptive, but I think that's also rare.
Launching with a catchy name now and doing a rebrand later sounds like a startup plot twist worth a tech thriller movie! Who knows, your community might enjoy the suspense!
Spotely