Six places to check a SaaS name before you commit

Most founders check one thing — is the .com free — and treat the answer as the answer. It is the least conclusive of the six checks that matter, and it is not the one that ends up costing money. ## 1. The trademark register Run this first, not last. A live mark in your class is the only finding on this list that can force a rename after launch, and it is the one people skip because the search interfaces are unpleasant. Search the exact wordmark, and look at whether anything live sits in a software class. ## 2. The app stores Both of them, separately. The App Store and Google Play routinely disagree, and a shipped app under your name is a problem whether or not you plan to ship one — it means someone is already trading under it. ## 3. Domains, across more than the .com A taken .com is not fatal; plenty of good companies run on .io, .ai or .dev. What matters is the pattern. If every extension is taken, you are looking at a name someone is actively holding, and you will be negotiating rather than registering. ## 4. Social handles Only where the answer means something. Some platforms return the same response for a taken handle and one that has never existed, which makes a check there worthless. Where a 404 genuinely distinguishes the two, it is a fast signal. ## 5. Web search presence A free domain means little if page one already belongs to somebody. Search the exact phrase and ask whether you would be fighting for your own name. ## 6. How it reads out loud The unglamorous one. Say it on a call, spell it for someone, type it from memory. A name that needs spelling every time is a tax you pay forever. ## The order matters Check the things that can force a rename before the things that are merely inconvenient. Trademark and app stores first, domains and handles second, aesthetics last — because a beautiful name with a live mark on it is not a candidate, and finding that out in week one is free.