I have named and renamed startups several times. I have picked specific names and I have worked with generic names across three products with over 7 figure revenue and 120M users traffic. I have learned a thing or two about naming startups.
Paul Graham, in his 2015 essay on naming startups, gave advice: find a .com domain and if you can't, change your name. I will evolve this advice with changing times and say:
The Google Test
If you name your startup X, will Google show you as the first result? If not, don't make it complicated, change your startup name.
This isn't about domains or tlds anymore. It's about search. When someone hears about your startup in a podcast or video, they Google it. If you're not the first result, you've created confusion. Confusion kills startups.
Most founders discover this too late. They've already built brand equity. They've told investors their name. They have started marketing. They are speaking with customers. Now they're stuck.
Don't be stuck.
You can use .com, .ai, or .io. The TLD doesn't matter as much now. ChatGPT uses .com. Claude uses .ai. Both work.
But you cannot have any competition for that keyword. Not just in tech. In any industry.
If there's an Atlas moving company and you're Atlas AI, you lose. Even if you have atlas.ai. Search doesn't care about your domain extension.
Keep it short and brandable. Especially if you might pivot. Generic names age better than specific ones. Stripe could have been StripePayments. They made the right choice.
Once you pick a name, move fast. Start SEO immediately. Every day counts. Every day without SEO is lost ground.
Why don't founders change bad names?
The same reasons PG identified: identity and lack of imagination.
You also think "there's no better name."
There's a third reason now: founders think performance marketing will compensate. It won't. Paid ads are expensive and temporary. Brand confusion is permanent.
What to do?
Acknowledge you're bad at naming. Make a list of alternatives. Test them with the Google test.
Almost any word that isn't obviously bad will work if it passes the search test. The bar is: Can people find you when they search for you? That's it.
Google your name right now. If you don't own the first result, you have a problem. Fix it now, not later.
The pain of changing now is small. The cost of years of brand confusion compounds. Every day you wait makes it harder.
Your name signals strength or weakness before anyone meets you. Choose accordingly.
Tip: Once you have a list of names, use Instant Domain Search to find the name. I don't know why people do not know about this platform.
PS: I just moved my current startup from agentsea.com to okara.ai, the traffic bumped 500% and our ARR 30% just because when people searched Okara AI, there was no confusion and we were the first search result. We are working on ranking for keyword Okara as well.