Trenton Hughes posted a domain name question that drew more than 50 replies in the last two days. Trenton is launching a business called UnFounded Ventures, and he asked for feedback about which domain name he should use. The two domain name options, which he appears to already own, are UnFounded.CO and UnFoundedVentures.com:
I could use your help… Finally about to officially launch UnFounded Ventures!
Which domain should we use? https://t.co/wobPkxpgSA
Appreciate your help!
— Trenton Hughes (@trentjhughes) April 8, 2024
My personal opinion is that he should go with the brand matching UnFoundedVentures.com domain name for the business website. There are several reasons for why I would choose this option.
– The two word .com matches his brand name. People who are looking to find the website for UnFounded Ventures without searching Google will likely type that one into their browser.
– .CO can be confusing to visitors and it would almost certainly lead to misdirected emails to the .com domain name.
– This doesn’t seem to be the type of business that will pivot into something else where the “Ventures” becomes too limiting. As a result, there’s no real need to be known simply as UnFounded and proceed with UnFounded.CO
– The word “unfounded” alone has a negative meaning. It means something that has no basis in fact. I think the business needs to be called UnFounded Ventures rather than UnFounded.
Personally, I would probably buy UnFounded.com for $25k via GoDaddy / Afternic and then have the option to use any of those names with the added protection. I think owning and using a one word .com signals strength.
What would you do if you were in Trenton’s position?
I agree with your analysis.
I would suggest both.
I would use the two word .com as my brand, but I would use the .CO for emailing, potential link in bio or and other purposes.
I agree on the using one for forwarding and possibly some marketing, but emailing could be dicey.
plus… when Colombia comes out with the dot coca domain the the dot co will be worth about as much as the dot xyz.
I will go with unfoundedventures .com. I won’t touch the .co .Also if he wants the one word unfounded ,just pay up and get unfounded .com and be done with .
If he is looking at cost,better to use a lease to own and acquire the one word .
If he goes with the .co and someone comes along and buys the .com for a different “venture,” he would instantly have a dripping loss of people looking for him. 🤷
but .ai is ok?? example.ai is amazing, but not example.co ?
if you buy example . ai then all of a sudden it doesnt matter if someone buys or already owns example .com
this is why domain conferences are the same 30 people in a small conference room every 3 years or so while people who dress in cosplay draw tens of thousands. domainers are viewed less than porn site owners because of their hypocrisy. bitcoin . co is selling for $2M and will get it while bitcoin .ai is trash.
Sorry someone hurt your feelings so bad in the past. Hope you feel better.
thats coming from a guy whose best domain is relevant domains .com
id take a three word .net over that anyday.
My laugh for the day. The reason why domain conference “are the same 30 people” (which is in any case not true) is . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . because they’re some of the smartest, wealthiest domain people in the business.
Comparing cosplayers to the top domain investors?
Beyond hilarious.
Nobody cares about .ai dude except my wife’s boyfriend who is is such a loser he has to date my ugly fat wife
The hardest litmus test I used for myself and clients is this: if you handed someone a white businesscard with the one word on it like UNFOUNDED or any other company name and not a lick of anything else including the domain extension, and ask them to visit you online, what would they type in?
There’s your answer.
For finance consideration of startup, go with .com because it can save some marketing fees, though the second word might limit the expansion of the company in the future.
For simplicity and flexibility, go with .co, though extra expense for marketing and public education about the fancy extension might be needed.
I haven’t seen an authoritative analysis about how having a brand-matching domain name affect the growth of a company, but some of the top 100 companies in the world do not use brand-matching domain names. If both brand matching and simplicity are important to them, I would suggest picking up the .com and redirecting it to UnFounded.Ventures, which they fortunately have acquired, too.
The domain name is not very important for this type of business.
Having said that “unfounded” sounds quite strange, it means “having no foundation or basis in fact” so it is a negative term on its own. I would go with the .com as the ventures softens it.