I Built an AI Brand Name Generator — Here's What I Learned

Davis Xie — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 05:47:38 +0000

I Built an AI Brand Name Generator in 48 Hours — And Got My First Paying Customer

One months ago, I had an idea for a brand name. I spent three hours brainstorming.
Every name I liked either had a taken .com or a trademark conflict.

I thought: there has to be a better way.

48 hours later, I had a working product. One week later, I got my first paying
customer.

Here's what happened.

The Build

I built https://www.namingcube.com in 48 hours. No funding, no team, just evenings and weekends with Claude Code.

The stack:

Next.js + Tailwind CSS
OpenRouter API (GPT-level AI)
Verisign RDAP API (real-time .com/.net lookup)
USPTO open data (trademark screening)
Creem (payment — license keys, no account needed)

The idea was dead simple: generate brand names, show you which ones you can actually
own. No signup, no friction.

The funny part: I named the tool "Naming Cube." When I checked if the domain was
available... it was. I bought namingcube.com using the tool I had just built.

That felt like a good sign.

Launching on TAAFT

I posted on TAAFT (There's An AI For That) — the AI tools directory where early
adopters go to find new tools. Within days, the traffic started flowing.

Users tried the tool. Some hit the daily free limit. A few upgraded.

One week after launch, I got my first payment notification from Creem: $9.90.

Someone paid real money for something I built in 48 hours.

What I Learned

Speed beats perfection

The first version was rough. But users got value immediately — 10 seconds to a result,
try again for free. Speed of feedback beats polish at launch.

The product is the marketing

When a user sees their dream name has an available .com domain, they don't need
convincing. The product shows the value directly. My upgrade rate isn't from sales
emails — it's from the results page.

The first payment changes you

$9.90 isn't life-changing money. But it confirmed someone found real value in
something I built. That changes how you think about what you're doing.

48 hours is enough

I kept waiting to add features. Trademark screening wasn't perfect. The AI prompts
could be better. But shipped beats perfect. Always.

What's Next

I'm still building. Still watching the TAAFT stats. Still getting small notifications
that feel bigger than they are.

If you've been putting off that side project because you're not ready — you're not. No
one is. Ship it anyway.

You might be 48 hours away from your first payment.

DEV Community: Davis Xie

I Built an AI Brand Name Generator — Here's What I Learned