A slow, evolving collection of essays on naming, digital brands, and the discipline of choosing well.
The name is the smallest, most repeated surface a company owns. It appears on the pitch deck, the invoice, the URL bar, the airport lounge, the T-shirt, and — one day — the front page of a newspaper.
A name that carries well is a compounding advantage. A name that doesn't is a small tax paid on every impression, forever.
Premium is not about length or extension. It's about inevitability. A premium brand feels, in retrospect, like the only name the company could have had.
You know one when you see it: short enough to say, distinct enough to remember, broad enough to grow into, and clean enough to defend.
Generic names describe. Memorable names evoke. Description ages quickly; evocation compounds.
The market rewards names people can repeat without prompting. We look for names that a friend could tell a friend at a dinner party.
Every name we consider is measured against the same five criteria: memorability, commercial range, venture-quality shape, legal cleanliness, and natural fit with the extension.
The result is a small collection. We prefer it that way.
Millions of domains are registered every year. Almost all of them are forgettable — which is the point.
A curator's job is to say no on your behalf. What remains after enough no's is worth serious consideration.