In October I watched 25 startup candidates compete in a sales pitch fest known as: Gone in 60 Seconds (G60). This local very popular competition is based on the assumption you step into an elevator with a Mark Cuban investor type and have 60 seconds to pitch your new business idea.  Not a new concept by any means; the infamous elevator pitch with boxing gloves on.

The competition was intense and enjoyed by an audience of 200.  The winner gratefully accepted the $1000 first prize; other contestants reviewed their performances privately with friends and family afterwards.

Congratulations to G60 brainchild Jeff Amerine of Innovate Arkansas for a job well done supporting Arkansas’ startup community.  Additional kudos go out to Lee Watson of Clarovista for organizing the Conway, AR event and giving both experienced entrepreneurs and college students alike the opportunity of pitching their ideas in front of a live audience.

In researching the G60 contestants, I discovered six had registered their company names with a (dot).com domain.  Six did not bothered to register their .com name although available, and 13 contestants will either have to buy their .com address from someone else, or look for other domain name options.

Contest winner Zack Hill has a great company name – Refurrl – and refurrl.com to go with it.  Much planning has gone into Zack’s startup. Refurrl is Zack’s idea for buying and selling products through social media with your ‘friends’, and is considered one of Arkansas top up-and-coming startups.

For others contestants, gaining publicity hasn’t happened as quickly.

Blake Boeckmann has a turkey decoy that gobbles and moves it’s head left and right.  Blake can’t register boeckmann.com. A German company registered his name in 2009.  boeckmanndecoys.com is available, but so what – hard to say, hard to remember. Soon with some planning, Blake can look to market his turkey decoy and other products globally at: decoy.shop, decoys.online or even decoys.duck .

You will not find Luke Irvin’s startup Depart, at depart.com . However, Luke has the opportunity with some planning to locate information on his flight booking app at:  depart.app or depart.web or depart.data, or depart.fun.  So many names, so little time.

Christian Carichner’s Conway Brewing Company, described as being “right at the cusp of history,” can’t register conwaybrewing.com.  I own that one, and will gladly hand it over to him if he so desires.  conway.beer will be available next year.  A shorter, catchier name for branding and creating  buzz around. That’s .exciting !

Available 24/7/365, your web address is your global elevator pitch. 16 of 25 contestants participating in this G60 edition have work to do in this important area.  Newly introduced Top Level Domains (TLDs) will be on the market soon and offer creative entrepreneurers limitless branding options. Along with preparing for the 60 second break of a lifetime – startups should be preparing and thinking long term on the specific market opportunities provided by new Top Level Domains.