Essay

How do you come up with a product name / domain?

Indie Hackers community · Indie Hackers Free Beginner

This is the bootstrapped answer to naming: no agency, no branding budget, just a working process founders actually used. The thread walks through going literal, blending words, and accepting an alternative extension (.app, .co, .xyz) when the .com is taken or expensive, plus the honest reminder that if people want your product a .xyz will not stop them. Treat it as a starting point for naming yourself in an afternoon rather than a verdict on what your brand must be.

  • Start literal (what does the tool do) and combine niche words, checking the domain as you go, so naming and availability are one step.
  • An alternative extension is a legitimate move when the .com is unavailable or overpriced, with a few TLDs to avoid because of spam reputation.
  • Pick a good-enough name fast and get back to building; you can revisit branding after the idea is validated.
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The question it answers

  1. How much should I actually spend on naming and domains as a bootstrapped founder?

Read with it

  1. Most naming advice skips the actual numbers, so we picked the piece that puts them on the table: a standard domain runs roughly... Kinsta Article How Much Does a Domain Name Cost? Key Factors That Decide What You Pay Kinsta
  2. Most registrars hook you with a cheap first year and quietly triple the renewal, which is exactly the trap a bootstrapped... Cloudflare Tool Cloudflare Registrar Cloudflare
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