Why I started building Namler

Like many tools, Namler all began with a simple pain point – a problem I had myself, for which I wasn’t able to get what I needed with existing solutions 🧐

Going back as far as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for the web. I found it amazing (and still do) when you think of all the crazy ways in which it is transforming our little planet.

From such breakthroughs as providing unlimited knowledge to all corners of Earth (thanks Google), to revolutionizing business, communication and transportation (with tools like WhatsApp, Dropbox and Maps) the Internet has transformed every industry across the business spectrum and it’s only getting more interesting…

 “What is a common theme to all these businesses, and any new ones coming online?”

I didn’t know at first I was going to release this. But the more I worked on Namler, the more I found it was completely solving my issues and I came to realise I was getting right at the heart of a problem which affects us all at some time, and it could help many.

What is a problem that is so widespread that it seems almost laughable that we haven’t fully solved it yet? A problem which compounds — getting harder (and harder) as more businesses come online… The problem is naming. Business naming, product naming and brand naming , which can affect every business, new or old, and gets to the very heart of how our internet hangs together (using the system called DNS). What we need, is a household name for naming.

 The first time I experienced “the problem”

The first time I experienced this pain myself it was the year 2003, and I was working on a side project. I was buying my very first domain name and I had such high hopes for this little domain. Even way back then, to find a good domain name was an incredibly difficult and a fraught process, mostly due to all the squatters. You often had to search all night long to get just an OK name, only to discover later there was already a trademark covering it.

Back in 2003, do you know what happened during my very first domain purchase? Right as I was buying, naivety kicked in big-time…and I only purchased the .CO.UK domain thinking I’d start here, and purchase the other one soon. But on realising my error, when I came back to get the .COM it was already gone! I was like 😲

Classic mistake, and one which I hope you are able to avoid.

The frustration of naming can be unreal

Because for many of us, what we are building is our life’s work. Take my first mistake, for example, it was only really a night’s work lost… however many entrepreneurs stand-fast by their name choice even if they can’t get the dot-com, and don’t change or move on (instead appending something to the name, like “my” or “app”). Fast forward on a few years and I would soon find out with every subsequent project — this is an extremely common problem!

It’s a problem familiar to almost everyone naming a project with anything involving the internet (which let’s face it, everything does these days). It turns out naming is super-hard, and though there are some good tools for it out there, it is a problem affecting masses of people which lies largely unsolved.

 What I decided to do about it

On my bazillionth time experiencing this problem, it was clear I had to do something about it. For my own sanity if nothing else. With some estimates showing there are 540,000 new business owners each month who are launching their start-up ventures, and an ever decreasing number of available names in the dot-com space, this problem is only getting worse. And now there are more than 1,000 top-level domains like .SHOP, .WORK, and .NEWS we definitely need better tools for naming and name discovery that ties everything together (and keeps you safe from people watching your searches).

 But there are 101 “business name generators” out there… what makes this better?

Yes, there are, and I thought long before working on this. The thing is, on surveying the market and finding a healthy amount of competition, what I found was quite enlightening. While there are tons of great tools, people are continuously searching for better ones, and entrepreneurs everywhere are still struggling with this. So what is lacking from all of these tools?

 Let’s build something transformational

There needed to be a new approach. Not just another so called “business name generator” or cookie cutter domain name generator like you see everywhere.

What you need is an all-in-one workspace, with everything from instant domain searching, to company search, social media scanning, whois checking, and everything you need built-in, all with cutting-edge realtime sync — making finding potentially valuable names of the future is easy. We need a tool that doesn’t aim to replace branding experts, but compliment and help them turbo-charge their efforts. We need a naming tool for the people.

 Namler named itself too!

Not only did Namler name itself – but take one of my other latest creations for example – Warning.AI – Namler found this name in 10 seconds flat and I bought the domain in 1 minute more. All the while, knowing no one could see my research with Namlers built in privacy (some bad big registrars are known to watch your searches and buy up domains to sell at a premium). Do you know how long it would have taken me to find the name otherwise? Forever, or more likely never!

 The best is yet to come

I have taken my 15 years experience building little “things” online and bashed at my keyboard till my fingers bleed. I’ve pulled all-nighters and I’m still going… the UX isn’t great yet and there’s lots to be done. But I’m going to keep evolving this into the defacto place for name brainstorming and domain discovery so you guys can prosper with the best domain names and assets for your projects.

And I’d really love it if you’d come along for the ride — so give it a go and see how many great domains you can find in minutes!

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What makes us unique?

Brainstorming excellence

Allows you to find, save, track and check all your favorite names all in one place.

Cloud-sync engine

Lets you collaborate and brainstorm in a highly efficient manner, between your own devices and your team.

Private name clouds

Your names are stored safely in your own private name cloud so you can access and brainstorm them from any device, anywhere!

Instant delivery

Don’t wait days or weeks to get names from name experts! Receive them in seconds, and if you don’t like them, one click gets you more!

In depth background analysis

Conducting background checks for you all in house, Namler instantly tells you if a name is trademarked, has similar company names and social URLs.

Empower your team

Gives your creative team a tool they can really work with. Collaborate with colleagues or friends, and share by email and your social channels (if desired).