Harry Hurst: One Word Domains Are the Holy Grail

Entrepreneur Harry Hurst co-founded Pipe in August 2019 and since then, his company has had a monumental rise in popularity.

According to Crunchbase, Pipe has now raised $316 million in funding including a $250 million venture round closed in March 2021. Pipe offers a global trading platform that allows companies to charge monthly but get paid for the year, transforming recurring revenue into upfront capital.

Pipe notably has incredible branding. From the concise brand name to the @Pipe Twitter handle and the incredible Pipe.com domain name.

Earlier this year, Hurst shared some wisdom on startup branding, focusing on domain names in particular.

In a seven-part tweet, Hurst offers advice on startup naming:

“I always tell my friends and founders I invest in to think of their brand as a long term investment into ambiguity and optionality. The freedom to build anything and let your product/s define the meaning of your brand name over time.”

Hurst offers the example of Stripe, the popular payment processor, which could easily have called itself StripePay. By investing in a brand that didn’t define the product, Hurst says that Stripe has been able to offer services in addition to payment processing, breaking free of the limitations of a name like StripePay.

Domain names are intrinsically related to brand names, and so Hurst focused on domains in his next tweet, telling his audience:

“One-word dictionary domains are the holy grail imo (but I’m biased). They’re not cheap, but they stamp authority, allow you to build trust with your customers faster (all else being equal) and typically convert better from paid digital through to checkout/sale.”

Pipe has operated on Pipe.com since very close to the company’s creation, meaning that Hurst and the Pipe team put time and resources into acquiring the Pipe.com domain name as a priority. It isn’t known whether Pipe.com was acquired outright or whether the company used a lease-to-own setup.

In an earlier tweet, Hurst again eulogized domain names by saying:

“One of the best investments you can make early on is a solid .com domain name. They’re not cheap, but they’re an asset that pays unquantifiable dividends down the line.”