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Humpday edition.
The past few Fun House editions have been relatively dense and (especially the three-part series on contrarianism) directionally pessimistic on the state of the startup industrial complex and society in general. Today, I'm going to switch gears and keep things light, and somewhat comical. Let's talk about top-level domains (TLDs), and the hot takes I have on the archetypes of startups based on their choice of TLD. Because let's be honest - a company's TLD is like the digital equivalent of choosing a hair style in high school - it's a subtle yet deeply revealing signal about identity and aspirations. But first, a brief history on TLDs:
The internet, originally developed in the late 1960s as a research project called ARAPNET, evolved over decades into a global network of interconnected computers. By the early 1990s, the invention of the world wide web and graphical browsers like Mosaic made it accessible to the general public. With this boom in usage came the need for a system to organize and navigate websites - this is where domain names and TLDs come into play. A TLD is a suffix at the end of a web address (like .com or .org) that helps categorize websites by purpose, geography, or organizational type. The first batch of TLDs, established in 1985, included .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu and .mil - all assigned specific uses, mostly ties to the US government's original internet structure.
As the internet grew more commercial and global, the TLD system expanded dramatically. The 2000s saw the introduction of country-code TLDs (.us, .uk, etc), and later, ICANN (the nonprofit that oversees domain names) opened the floodgates to hundreds of new generic TLDs like .club, .app, .xyz and .fun. These newer domains were often bought for branding, novelty, or to signify affiliation with certain tech trends or subcultures. While .com remains the default for most users, the rise of alternative TLDs has allowed startups, artists, and online communities to signal identity, status or humor through the very ending of their URLs. Today, TLDs are part infrastructure, part branding, and part internet personality.
*To founders reading this that may use one of these TLDs and don't like your assigned archetype - suck it up and don't take everything personally.
TLD | Stereotype | Examples |
.com | The dad of the internet. Still wears New Balances and thinks he invented email. Too big to fail, too boring to try anything new. | |
.fun | Consumer crypto startup chasing the attention economy. Their team is panicking over retention metrics. | |
.io | Tech bro in a Patagonia vest pitching an AI-powered spreadsheet tool. Still thinks a cool landing page = product-market fit. | |
.club | 100% chance of being a failed NFT project or a Discord group with 11 members and an inflated sense of cultural relevance. | |
.xyz | The artsy kid who dropped out of school and now makes generative music on-chain. Website is unreadable, but “it’s a statement.” | |
.ai | Liquid gold right not. Built a chatbot to schedule your meetings and thinks it’s going to end capitalism. Raised $40M pre-revenue. Shoutout Anguilla ccTLD - they are rolling in money right now. Passive income stream | |
.app | “It’s like Uber for your thoughts.” App crashes on launch. Still has a waitlist. | |
.tech | Developer evangelist energy. Probably a tutorial site with dark mode, 2 blog posts, and an outdated roadmap. | |
.world | Feels like a Tumblr revival but with more crypto. Thinks a homepage video with ambient synth music = “immersive.” | |
.fyi | The unsung hero. Quietly useful. Low-key genius. Always keeps the receipts. | |
.live | Livestreamed a DJ set once, still includes “curator” in their bio. Obsessed with OBS scenes. | |
.space | NFT gallery with no actual NFTs. Loves to “reimagine digital presence.” Or legit building rockets. | |
.network | Tries to sound serious but is just a Notion doc with links to all their friends' newsletters. | |
.wtf | “We’re breaking the internet.” In reality: a buggy site with neon gradients and zero UX. Built during a manic episode. | |
.net | The startup operating in the quiet cool of the internet. Indie hacker vibes, doesn't care about commercial clout. Low key runs everything. |
Let's dig a bit deeper into one top-level domain in particular, .ai, the goldmine of digital real estate it has become, and an epic anecdote about it's original owner. Since the public launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, registrations of .ai domain names have skyrocketed - surging from 144,000 registrations in 2022 to 534,000 in 2024, as tech giants, startups and developers rush to claim their piece of the future. The beneficiary of this - the small Caribbean island of Anguilla. Why?
Anguilla was the original recipient of the .ai country-code TLD. This means that every time an .ai domain is registered or renewed, a fee of $140 for two years flows directly to Anguilla's government. Talk about a great passive income stream. The British territory made an estimated $105.5 million from .ai domain registrations in 2024 alone, according to the government's website. This figure significantly exceeded the initial budget of $64 million, and marks a substantial increase from the $86 million earned in 2023. Domain income now represents over 20% of Anguilla's annual government income and is expected to grow in the coming years, as they diversify their economy away from tourism.
Anguilla is not the first developing state to benefit from a favorable country code (Tuvalu, a small island nation in the South Pacific, was given the .tv TLD), though it is capitalizing on this virtual endowment better than others by implementing a successful pricing model which encourages new registrations but also guarantees a steady stream of income from renewals, since 90% of domains are renewed after the two year period. Its government is using this financial windfall to pay down debt and prioritize capex spend in infrastructure projects such as the development of a new airport and renewable energy capabilities. As it turns out, fiscal prudence is a lot easier when you make north of $100 million per year doing absolutely nothing.
Okay, that's all for today. Shoutout Anguilla for its budget surplus. Oh, and happy BITCOIN ALL-TIME HIGH day to those who celebrate!
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