Of how Microryza rebranded as Experiment.com for $54,000 — The story

Story is typical of startups and explains the benefits of using a great domain name.

Startups go through the name game all the time. Picking a name and acquiring the matching domain name is often no easy feat.

But rarely is the story chronicled so well as this post on Priceonomics.com regarding Experiment.com.

The story does a great job of outlining what I think is a typical adventure for startups:

1. Pick a bad name since it’s available for registration (or cheap).
2. Realize the bad name is holding you back.
3. Go out and buy a better domain.

In this case the firm had a lot of trouble with Microryza since it got most of its traffic from word-of-mouth. It brainstormed for a while and came back with some alternative domains.

Then it hired a domain broker who tried to help them buy cofactor.com. They couldn’t agree on a price. Next, they went following Ryza.com and bought it for $7,500.

Still, they felt like they were settling. So they reached out to the owner of Experiment.com. Rather than acting like they were broke college kids, they told the domain owner exactly why they wanted the domain name.

As it turns out, their mission was appealing to the domain owner and he agreed to negotiate. They ended up buying the great domain for only $54,000.

I really appreciate these closing lines regarding the benefits of a good domain name:

Scientists emailed them to congratulate them on the rebrand and confess that they felt better regarding the firm with the easier to pronounce name. The founders discovered that journalists appear to take them more seriously as well.

This is a story worth bookmarking. I’m going to share it with people who come to me frustrated regarding finding the right domain name. I’ll also send it to people who want to buy my domain names but don’t think they ought to have to pay much for them.

(Hat tip: Jorge)