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Startup Naming and Domain

A startup name chosen on purpose: a written brief and scorecard, a longlist screened for trademark, domain and handle conflicts, tested on real customers, then the domains, marks and accounts secured and kept safe.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Startup Naming and Domain, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

200

Starter tasks

🚀 Founding & Startups

Startup Naming and Domain

Choosing a startup name, checking trademarks, domains and social handles, and testing how it sounds to customers.

  1. Naming brief for the startup
  2. Naming decision rules and a hard deadline
  3. Name criteria scorecard
  4. Honest audit of the working name
  5. Inventory of domains and handles already held
  6. Longlist of two hundred name candidates
  7. Longlist screened to a shortlist of fifteen
  8. Trademark knockout search on the shortlist
  9. Domain availability and price sweep
  10. Social handle and app store name check
  11. Company registry and trading name check
  12. Running file of name ideas
  13. Domain portfolio register and renewal calendar
  14. Registrar and DNS account lockdown
  15. Trademark watch on your name
  16. Lookalike domain and impersonation watch
  17. Social handle upkeep and dormant account care
  18. Email authentication on the company domain
  19. Brand name style guide
  20. Yearly name and domain portfolio review
  21. Name types from descriptive to invented
  22. Trademark basics for founders
  23. How domains, registrars and registries work
  24. Case studies of how startups chose their names
  25. Language and cultural checks in target markets
  26. Sound, spelling and memorability skills
  27. Choosing between .com and other extensions
  28. Buying a taken domain from its owner
  29. Radio and spelling test with strangers
  30. Preference test with target customers
  31. Final name decision memo
  32. Trademark filing plan with an attorney
  33. Product, plan and feature naming system
  34. Migrating from the working name to the final name
  35. Co-founder naming workshop
  36. Name lock before the first public mention
  37. Domain and email cutover weekend
  38. Trademark application tracked to registration
  39. Name reveal to team, investors and early users
  40. Naming solo without a sounding board
  41. Breaking a co-founder naming deadlock
  42. Naming B2B software for enterprise buyers
  43. Naming a consumer app for the app stores
  44. Naming on a bootstrapper's budget
  45. Responding to a trademark objection or demand letter
  46. Hiring a naming agency or freelance namer
  47. Full clearance search before major brand spend
  48. International trademark protection plan
  49. Defensive domain registrations
  50. Dispute options against a cybersquatter

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Naming brief for the startup

Naming goes in circles when nobody has written down what the name has to do. A one-page brief covering the customer, the category, the feeling the brand should give, the markets you will sell in and the hard constraints turns a matter of taste into a set of tests every candidate can be held against.

First tasks

  • Write one sentence describing who the customer is and what they buy from you
  • List the three qualities the name should make people feel
  • Note hard constraints on length, language and words to avoid
  • Send the brief to every co-founder and collect their edits

Naming decision rules and a hard deadline

Weeks disappear into naming because there is no agreed way to finish. Deciding up front who has the final say, how ties are broken, what budget is available for domains and filings, and the date by which a name will be chosen stops the search from quietly eating a month of building time.

First tasks

  • Agree who makes the final naming call and write it down
  • Set a spending ceiling for domains, searches and trademark filings
  • Pick a naming decision date and add it to every founder's calendar
  • Write the tie-break rule into the naming brief

Name criteria scorecard

Without a scorecard the last name anyone mentioned tends to win. Turning the brief into six to eight weighted criteria, such as easy to spell when heard, distinctive in the category, domain obtainable and no clear trademark conflict, lets every candidate be scored the same way by every founder.

First tasks

  • Turn the naming brief into six to eight one-sentence criteria
  • Mark which criteria are knockouts and weight the rest
  • Build a scoring sheet with one row per candidate name
  • Score three well-known company names to test the sheet

Make it yours.

Install Startup Naming and Domain, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.