An Alternative to Buying Domain Names for Your Ideas / Projects

My feeds lately have been filled with folks bemoaning how many domain names they own and - driven by a combination of FOMO and a scrap of belief they'll need it again down the road - how much they spend to renew them each year.

I played that game for quite a few years, but let me quickly propose an alternative I've adopted that has worked out really well.

Step 1: Idea
So you have that brilliant idea for a new app. Instead of worrying about the name and domain name, just start building the app with a generic name.

Step 2: Ship On Your Personal Domain
But instead of worrying about a domain name or even a fancy name at all, just ship it on your personal domain as a subdirectory or subdomain (e.g., greggblanchard.com/ideaname). Your personal domain could be a separate brand - 23labs.com/ideaname - and still work just fine.

Step 3 - Option A: If it Fizzles
Most of these projects fizzle, right? If it does, you'll not only not be paying for an useless domain name (and feel the pressure to use it), all that traffic that keeps filtering it will do two things. First, it will be building your brand (and/or email list to help launch future projects). Second, it will also make it easier to direct future visitors to other projects because it's not some random business but one of the many things you've built.

Step 3 - Option B: If It Works
If it works? Great. Take what you've learned, do a bit of due diligence, find the right business-name/available-domain combo, move it over, and celebrate reaching this milestone with your early users. Many makers stumble upon a better name after they launch anyway, so this buys you some time to nail it down.

Now, if you just like buying domain names and you'd rather spend $1,000/yr on your collection than anything else? Well, I can't help you there? ;)