Because most people feel that owning a dot-com domain for their company is non-negotiable. Is this wise—would it be better to leave the desired dot-com domain to the squatter who is sitting on it and simply go with desiredname.io or some variation thereof? Some people, including Paul Graham, who wrote on this exact thing two years ago, still think that startups should prioritize getting a dot-com domain. With the help of CB Insights' database, we determined that 87.4% of this cohort had settled on a dot-com domain. You can see the downward progression of dot-com domains at Y Combinator in a piece at FundersClub.

Source: Forbes May 03, 2017 19:41 UTC