Friday check before you commit to a name: search it on X. 30 seconds. See who already posts under it and what shows up in Latest. If it's a spam account or an old brand's complaints, that's what people find when they look you up. Do you check X, or just the domain?

Weekend build question: starting a side project? Do you pick a real name before you open the editor, or ship under a placeholder and name it once it works? Placeholders are fast, but they end up in the repo, the first demo and every link you share. Which do you do?

Founder question for Friday: after a rename, where does the old name hang on longest? My guess is the boring stuff. Stripe statement descriptor, email signature, invoice footer. Customers see those before they ever see the new logo. Where did yours linger?

Founder question: who gets the final say on your startup's name? A team vote feels fair but tends to land on the safest option. One decider moves faster but can miss what everyone else hated. I run the checks, ask three people, then make the call myself. How do you decide?

Founder question: do you name the product before or after your first 10 customer calls? Naming early gives you something to point at. Naming late means you've heard the words customers actually use. I'm keeping a working name until call 10. Which way do you go?

Founder tradeoff I keep coming back to: how generous should a free tier be? On NamoLux, Name Sprint with live domain checks stays free. The paid gate is Founder Signal. Fewer paying users early, but more people actually finish a shortlist. Would you gate earlier?

Founder question: who do you test a new name on first? Friends are polite. Customers are honest but hard to reach. I now say it to someone outside my industry and ask what they think we sell. If they guess wrong, it goes back on the list. Who's your test audience?

Founder question: how long do you let a name shortlist sit before you commit? Some pick in an hour. Some sit on it for weeks and lose momentum. I'm leaning towards a 48-hour rule: shortlist, run the checks, sleep on it twice, then decide. Too fast, or about right?

Naming tip for US founders: search your finalist in the App Store and Google Play before you buy the domain. If the top result is a similar app with thousands of reviews, you'll be fighting it for every install. What came up when you searched yours?

Founder question: what will customers shorten your startup's name to? People clip anything over two syllables. If the short version is awkward, or already someone else's brand, that's the name you'll actually be called. Say it fast three times. What did yours become?

Naming tradeoff: share your shortlist in public early, or keep it quiet until the domain is bought? Sharing gets honest feedback fast. Staying quiet means nobody grabs the .com first. I lean towards buying the domain for the top pick first, then asking. Which way do you go?

Founder question: the .com is taken, the .co is free. Do you launch anyway, rename, or try to buy the .com? Curious where people draw the line, especially before any revenue.

Founder question: when you shortlist a name, what do you check first? Domain, social handle, or the company register? I used to start with the domain. Now it's the register, because a clash there means renaming later, not just buying a different .com. What's your order?

Founder question: would your startup's name still fit if you shipped a second product next year? "InvoiceBot" is perfect until you add payroll. Then you're renaming or explaining. Narrow names win day one. Broad ones age better. Which way did you go?

Naming tradeoff I keep hitting: A descriptive name explains itself on day one. An invented one is easier to own: domain, handles, company register. For a first product I lean descriptive. For the company, invented. Which did you pick, and would you again?

Founder question: two finalists, both pass the checks, both liked by the team. What breaks the tie? The cheaper .com, the easier spelling, or the one early users repeat back without being prompted? I trust the last one more every time.

Founder question: before you lock a name, have you Googled it with "scam" or "reviews" after it? If page one is complaints about a company with a similar name, your customers will find that too. Takes 30 seconds. What did yours turn up?

Looking back at the first things I ever built is crazy. 😂 The designs were terrible, the code was a mess, and I honestly had no clue what I was doing. But at the time, it was enough to make me think, "Maybe I can actually do this." So I kept building. I experimented with different projects, made mistakes, listened to criticism from experienced developers and took it all on board. Slowly, I started understanding systems, architecture, tech stacks and how to build things properly. Fast-forward to today: 🌐 NamoLux.com 🌍 GeoJig.com 💻 Pithmark.com 🚀 andrewbarrett.dev 2 years and 2 days of building, learning and improving every single day. I'm still learning, and I've got a long way to go. But looking back, the biggest lesson is this: I didn't start because I knew how to do it. I started because I believed I could figure it out. Sometimes that's all you need. And I'm only getting started. 🚀

Tradeoff I'm working through on NamoLux: how loud to flag a brand clash. Mark every overlap red and founders bin good names over a tiny shop in another industry. Mark it yellow and someone launches next to a rival. Red for same industry, yellow otherwise. Would you trust that?

Founder question: have you typed your new name into Google and watched it reply "Did you mean…"? A fresh coined word often gets autocorrected to an older, bigger brand, so early searchers land on them. Did you keep the spelling or change it?