We have analyzed The Fastest Growing Companies in the World (by Growjo), so you don’t have to! Here’s what we found.

7,201 out of 10,000 startups use .com extension for their domains.

Since internet users are more likely to remember a .com domain name than any other domain extension, 72,02% of startups from the Growjo list have secured domain names with this global extension.

5,290 out of 10,000 analyzed startups have exact brand match .com domain name.

The exact brand match domain makes a strong brand that will be found amongst other websites on the internet. 52,9% of startups from this list have acquired the ideal brand match domain name. These startups will likely receive more direct traffic since their domains are easy to remember.

When the exact brand match domain name is already taken, business owners tend to acquire modified domain names and that’s what 14,33% of startups did. Although they have secured a .com extension for their business, 1433 startups from the list have modified their domains (they added words such as “Hello”, “WeAre”, “Inc”., etc.). This is not the smartest decision considering that the vast majority of people will most likely forget the added word when looking for their brand online.

The problem with not having the .com of your name is that it signals weakness. Unless you’re so big that your reputation precedes you, a marginal domain suggests you’re a marginal company.

Paul Graham

478 out of 7,201 .com users have dash included in their domain name.

Although .com is a top-level domain, having a dash in the domain name can make a search for these startups a little harder. 6.64% of analyzed startups have chosen this solution for their domain. Dash might make domain names hard to remember. That can lead to missed emails, lost customers who might end up with their competitors, or lose trust in a brand.

2,820 out of 10,000 analyzed startups use other top-level domains.

28.2% of fast-growing startups have chosen other top-level domains. Among those are .ai, .net, .org, .io, .tv, and country coded top-level domains such as .uk, .de and .jp (for example). If you opt for these domain name extensions you should consider the rules included in the registration. When it comes to country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), keep in mind that these extensions correspond to a country, territory, or other geographic location. What does that mean for your business? It means those domain extensions may be removed if that country ceases to exist (after 21 years, the Internet website domain “.yu” — representing the former Yugoslavia — has become obsolete and been discontinued, Netherlands Antilles (now deleted — with the 2010 political dissolution of this region as an overseas territory, the ccTLD was closed down in 2015), when Zaire was renamed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zaire’s top-level domain “.zr”. has changed to “.cd”, the breakup of the Soviet Union resulting in the code “SU” has been replaced with codes for the independent states, such as “RU”, “BY”, and “UA”, etc.) As you can see, if an ongoing conflict happening in a certain country it may impacts the ability of your ccTLD organization/manager to perform its work this may impact your domain name.

We hope this will be of use to you in the process of getting your perfect domain name. If you have any questions, need any help, or just want to chat with someone about the process of acquiring your best domain name, book a free consultation using the form below. In the meantime, you can also read our analysis for 1587 funded startups and their domain name choices. We are always happy to hear your feedback.