4 ms·

Hey guys, I launched Lean Domain Search on HackerNews earlier this year [1] and a lot of folks have found it extremely helpful for finding names for their star

by matt1 14y ago

Hey guys, I launched Lean Domain Search on HackerNews earlier this year [1] and a lot of folks have found it extremely helpful for finding names for their startups. This new tool is geared towards helping offline businesses find a professional business name that also has an available exact-match .com domain name (that way they don't have to pay thousands to procure it after they settle on a name). The tool is behind a paywall, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the concept, the landing page, and the pricing page. Thanks! [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470977 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470977

larrys 14y ago
"but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the concept" Here is what I would do. This is a product that (as your site says) is priced for people (agencies etc.) that specialize in this type of thing. Not the people who are probably reading HN. So by asking HN for comments (note the guy who says "crap" below in his comment) you are doing yourself a disservice. I would post this site on a linkedin group which relates to what you do and get comments that way. Or, dig up some addresses of people in the business and take the time and expense to mail them a postal letter announcing this and inviting their feedback in exchange for possibly some swag or a Starbucks giftcard. Send out 100 postal letters +- to start and see what happens. Not sales letters but "I'd like to know what you think" letters. If you do this let me know how you make out with this approach.
namella 14y ago
Your price point is far too high for the service it performs (and the competing tools). Bustaname.com is free, and if you know how to use it, it does the same thing. Namestation.com charges $10/mo and has 18 name generators. All of which are very powerful. I like that you're trying to monetize, and maybe you have the traffic to get a nice bit of side income, but I don't see how the service stands apart from the competition.
- kaizendc 14y ago
  You may be able to get away with that high price point if you let people try your service for free first. That way you can really prove your USP. Most entrepreneurs start multiple businesses, so they may likely pay large sums of money for your service in the future if they were given a chance to try it once for free.
  - matt1 14y ago
    There are two search tools on the site, the Website Name Generator and the Business Name Generator. The Website Name Generator, which will suite most of you, is free. The Business Name Generator works similarly to the Website Name Generator, so my hope is that if you see how good the free tool is, you might consider paying for the premium one (if you're looking to name an offline business).
- matt1 14y ago
  Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. This tool is much better at generating professional company names than the other services out there. For example, Bustaname asks you to type in a list of words and then it will test the availability of all those word combinations. You have to be creative in order to benefit from it and even if you are, you might miss out on a lot of good domain names because you don't think of them. I hand-picked over 4,000 business names that are used throughout multiple industries in order to generate the list that this business name generator uses to help you come up with a business name for your industry. If you want to name an actual business, no other tool comes close to being this good (imho). You're paying for the quality of the results and the speed compared to other methods of coming up with company names.

by matt1 14y ago

larrys 14y ago

"but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the concept" Here is what I would do. This is a product that (as your site says) is priced for people (agencies etc.) that specialize in this type of thing. Not the people who are probably reading HN. So by asking HN for comments (note the guy who says "crap" below in his comment) you are doing yourself a disservice. I would post this site on a linkedin group which relates to what you do and get comments that way. Or, dig up some addresses of people in the business and take the time and expense to mail them a postal letter announcing this and inviting their feedback in exchange for possibly some swag or a Starbucks giftcard. Send out 100 postal letters +- to start and see what happens. Not sales letters but "I'd like to know what you think" letters. If you do this let me know how you make out with this approach.

namella 14y ago

Your price point is far too high for the service it performs (and the competing tools). Bustaname.com is free, and if you know how to use it, it does the same thing. Namestation.com charges $10/mo and has 18 name generators. All of which are very powerful. I like that you're trying to monetize, and maybe you have the traffic to get a nice bit of side income, but I don't see how the service stands apart from the competition.

kaizendc 14y ago
You may be able to get away with that high price point if you let people try your service for free first. That way you can really prove your USP. Most entrepreneurs start multiple businesses, so they may likely pay large sums of money for your service in the future if they were given a chance to try it once for free.
- matt1 14y ago
  There are two search tools on the site, the Website Name Generator and the Business Name Generator. The Website Name Generator, which will suite most of you, is free. The Business Name Generator works similarly to the Website Name Generator, so my hope is that if you see how good the free tool is, you might consider paying for the premium one (if you're looking to name an offline business).
matt1 14y ago
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. This tool is much better at generating professional company names than the other services out there. For example, Bustaname asks you to type in a list of words and then it will test the availability of all those word combinations. You have to be creative in order to benefit from it and even if you are, you might miss out on a lot of good domain names because you don't think of them. I hand-picked over 4,000 business names that are used throughout multiple industries in order to generate the list that this business name generator uses to help you come up with a business name for your industry. If you want to name an actual business, no other tool comes close to being this good (imho). You're paying for the quality of the results and the speed compared to other methods of coming up with company names.