Naming the thing.
A good SaaS name is easy to say, easy to spell, and doesn't box you in. Generate 20 candidates, kill everything you can't say comfortably on a phone call, check domains and trademarks for the survivors, and give yourself a one-week deadline, the name matters less than shipping under it.
What makes a good name for a SaaS product?
Three tests. The phone test: you can say it once, without spelling it, and someone can find it. The growth test: it doesn't describe today's only feature ("InvoiceBot" hurts when you add scheduling). The wince test: you'll say this name hundreds of times, in intros, on podcasts, in support emails. If saying it makes you wince now, it won't age better.
Notice what good names have in common: Slack, Stripe, Notion, Figma. Short, pronounceable, evocative rather than descriptive: they describe a feeling near the product, not the feature list.
How do I come up with name ideas?
- 1Real words adjacent to your problem: what your customer feels before (Chaos? Scramble?) and after (Slate, Anchor, Current). Mine both lists.
- 2Tools and objects from your customer's craft: a photography CRM could be Contact, Darkroom, Fixer. Craft words carry warmth that made-up words don't.
- 3Compounds and cut-offs: two short words joined (Mailchimp, Facebook) or a word with a clean cut (Stripe from stripe, Tumblr from tumbler, though be careful dropping letters; every dropped vowel is a support email).
- 4Generate at least 20 before judging any. The first five are always taken, literal, or both.
How do I do a domain search properly?
- 1Check the exact .com at any registrar first, not because you must have it, but because who owns it tells you if the name is in active use.
- 2If the .com is parked or for sale, check the price before falling in love. Anything under a few hundred dollars is cheap for a name you'll keep for years; five figures is a decision, not a default.
- 3Modifier domains are fine and normal now: getname.com, nameapp.com, namehq.com, or a good TLD like .app or .co. Stencil lives at hellostencil.com; nobody has ever minded.
- 4Search the name on the trademark register for your country (USPTO in the US) in your product category, and search it on Google plus the app stores. You're looking for active software businesses with the same name in the same space, that's a real conflict; a dormant blog is not. When in doubt, a one-hour trademark consult is cheap insurance.
- 5Grab the social handles you'll actually use, even if just to reserve them.
When should I stop looking and just pick?
One week. Naming expands to fill any container you give it because it feels like progress and risks nothing. A decent name shipped this month beats a perfect name shipped never, and traction retroactively makes names sound good. Nobody thought Google was a good name until it was Google.
You can also rename later; early-stage renames are survivable and happen constantly. The audience that would notice is exactly the audience you don't have yet.
Quick answers.
Do I need the .com?
No. It's still the default people type, so get it if it's cheap, but getname.com or name.app costs you nothing in practice. Product quality names the name, not the other way around.
Should I buy an expensive domain before launching?
Almost never before revenue. Launch on the modifier domain; if the business works, buying the .com later is a good problem with a known price.
How similar to a competitor's name is too similar?
If a customer could plausibly confuse you (same space, similar sound or spelling), it's too close, legally and practically. Pick something that's unmistakably yours; being confused with a competitor only ever markets them.
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