What New gTLD Will Be The Best For Startups?

With new gTLDs hitting the market over the next 12-18 months I see a great opportunity for startups, not all startups but some startups. I still think that well-funded startups with good marketing budgets shouldn’t be afraid to spend six-figures on a solid .COM. That being said, a startup that is building an app really doesn’t need a website very badly, just look at the website for Vine:

vine-co

Vine.com, on the other hand is a completely different website and while I’m sure there is some leakage it definitely isn’t having any impact on Vine at all given that it’s been breaking records left and right.

At the same time if you look at TLDs like .IO you can see tons of startups building on these as their primary domain and seeing very strong traction. The list of funded startups using .IO is growing like crazy, I’ve talked to dozens of them and none of said they see any major loss to the .COM. Many of them want the .COM but don’t have the budget for it.

Once again, let me re-iterate what I said above. If a startup has the marketing budget for a .COM and they are running a business where their website is the core of their business then I think a .COM is incredibly valuable.

However let’s look at all the brand-new bootstrapped startups with budgets under $5,000. These companies really can’t afford their top choice .COM, it’s not going to happen, so they have to go with something else to get started. Right now I see startups gravitating towards .ME, .CO and .IO with a sprinkling of some other TLDs and ccTLDs like .IT and .ES.

With new gTLDs there are more options for bootstrapped startups to build their brand on. So my question to you is, what new gTLD will be the best for startups?

Comment and let your voice be heard! 

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton