FullStory.com: Why Scott Voigt Spent $17.5K to Drop 'The' from His Domain

When Scott Voigt launched his digital experience analytics company in late 2014, he secured TheFullStory.com for $2,477 through GoDaddy/Afternic.

It was a solid domain. Descriptive. Brandable. Available.

By mid-2014, TheFullStory had raised $1.2 million and was featured in TechCrunch. The product was working. Customers were signing up. Growth was happening.

Then Scott made a decision: drop "The" from the domain.

He bought FullStory.com for $20,000.

Today, FullStory is valued at $1.8 billion.

The Original Domain

TheFullStory.com worked perfectly fine as a startup domain. It was clear what the company did—they gave businesses "the full story" of how customers interacted with their digital products.

The $2,477 purchase price was reasonable for an early-stage company. And the domain served its purpose through the initial fundraise and early growth.

But as FullStory scaled, the "The" prefix started to feel like friction.

Why Drop "The"?

Removing "The" from a domain name might seem like a minor change. But for a fast-growing B2B SaaS company, it matters:

1. Shorter is Better - FullStory.com is 9 characters. TheFullStory.com is 13. Every character removed makes the domain easier to type, easier to remember, and easier to say.

2. Brand Clarity - Companies don't want to be "The" anything. They want to BE the thing. "FullStory" is cleaner, more confident, more direct than "The Full Story."

3. Marketing Efficiency - In ads, emails, and customer communications, "FullStory.com" feels professional. "TheFullStory.com" feels like a compromise.

4. Category Ownership - FullStory.com positions the company as THE category leader. The exact-match domain reinforces that they own the space.

The $20K Upgrade

For an early-stage company that had raised $1.2 million, spending $20,000 on a domain upgrade was a significant decision.

That's ~1.7% of their entire seed round. It's multiple months of developer salaries. It's a meaningful line item on the P&L.

But Scott and his team made the call: the upgrade was worth it.

FullStory.com cost $20,000—roughly 8x what they'd paid for TheFullStory.com just months earlier. But the strategic value was clear.

The ROI

FullStory has since raised $196 million in funding from investors including:

• Google Ventures
• Permira
• Salesforce Ventures

The company is now valued at $1.8 billion.

More than 3,100 customers in over 60 countries use FullStory to understand customer behavior, boost retention, and increase revenue. The product is live on more sites than its top three closest competitors combined.

The $17,500 premium to upgrade from TheFullStory.com to FullStory.com represents about 0.00097% of the company's current valuation.

Was It Worth It?

Scott Voigt hasn't publicly stated whether the domain upgrade was worth it. But the results speak for themselves.

FullStory.com became the foundation of a brand that:

• Raised nearly $200M
• Scaled to a $1.8B valuation
• Serves 3,100+ enterprise customers
• Dominates the digital experience analytics category

Could they have achieved this with TheFullStory.com? Maybe.

But FullStory.com gave them brand clarity, memorability, and category ownership from day one. It signaled that they weren't a scrappy startup making do with a compromise domain—they were THE company in their space.

The Startup Domain Upgrade Playbook

FullStory's domain journey is instructive for other startups:

Phase 1: Launch with what you can afford - TheFullStory.com for $2,477 was a smart early-stage choice. It was brandable, descriptive, and affordable.

Phase 2: Upgrade when it matters - After raising $1.2M and proving product-market fit, they invested in the exact-match domain. The upgrade came at the right time—when they could afford it and when it would have maximum impact.

Phase 3: Build the brand - With FullStory.com as the foundation, they scaled to $1.8B in valuation. The domain became inseparable from the brand.

The $17.5K Question

Was dropping "The" from the domain worth $17,500?

For a company now valued at $1.8 billion, the answer is obvious: absolutely.

FullStory.com gave them:

• Brand clarity
• Marketing efficiency
• Category ownership
• Professional credibility

TheFullStory.com was good enough to launch. FullStory.com was good enough to scale.

Sometimes the best domain investments aren't the ones you make on day one. They're the ones you make when you're ready to stop compromising and start owning your category.

Scott Voigt spent $2,477 to launch. Then he spent $20,000 to scale.

That $17,500 upgrade became the foundation of a $1.8 billion company.

Not bad for dropping three letters and a dot.