When people first think about applying for a new generic top-level domain (gTLD), they often imagine a mountain of paperwork. Hundreds of pages of technical specifications, financial disclosures, operational policies, and compliance statements, all written in dense, bureaucratic language. In the 2012 round, many organizations spent months working on draft applications, often with large teams of lawyers, consultants, and technical experts involved.
That image is enough to deter many potential applicants from even exploring the opportunity. And yet, the application itself should not be the hard part. At Pitch, we’ve re-engineered the process of drafting and submitting a gTLD application to make it as straightforward as possible. With the right system, what once took months can now be done in days. More importantly, the application becomes a formality — leaving applicants free to focus on strategy, not paperwork.
In this post, we’ll explore how we help clients go from drafting to submission with clarity and speed, and why this shift matters for the next ICANN application round.
To appreciate why innovation here matters, it’s important to understand just how demanding the gTLD application is. The Applicant Guidebook (AGB) — ICANN’s rulebook for applying for a new generic top-level domain — runs to hundreds of pages. Depending on the proposition, applicants must answer around 200 questions, covering areas such as:
And this is just the starting point. For Brand TLDs, community TLDs, or geographic TLDs, the questions multiply in complexity. Applicants must tailor their responses to unique requirements: for example, a city TLD needs letters of support from government authorities, while a Brand TLD must comply with Specification 13 rules.
No wonder so many organizations dreaded the drafting phase in 2012. It wasn’t just about writing answers — it was about staying on top of a sprawling, error-prone process.
At Pitch, we decided to change this narrative. Instead of treating application drafting as a one-off consulting exercise, we built a system that mirrors ICANN’s own submission platform (TAMS). This means applicants work in an environment that feels familiar, structured, and above all, efficient.
Here’s how we’ve streamlined drafting:
1. Adaptive Question Flow: not every applicant needs to answer every question. Our system applies logic that filters out irrelevant sections. A Brand TLD applicant, for example, won’t be bombarded with the same questions as a community-based applicant. This saves time and reduces confusion.
2. Pre-Structured Templates: we provide ready-made structures for common answers, aligned with ICANN’s requirements. Instead of starting from a blank page, applicants can refine and customize robust, legally sound templates.
3. Collaborative Environment: drafting often involves multiple stakeholders — legal teams, technical providers, finance departments. Our platform supports role-based access, real-time editing, and version control, eliminating the risk of conflicting drafts or lost updates.
4. Built-In Validation. Errors that could delay or derail an application — missing attachments, formatting issues, inconsistent answers — are flagged automatically. By the time the draft is complete, it’s already ICANN-ready.
This approach reduces what used to take weeks into a matter of hours. More importantly, it frees applicants to focus their discussions not on how to format an answer, but on what they want their gTLD to achieve.
Once the draft is finalized, the next step is submission. In the past, this was another source of stress. Uploading responses into ICANN’s system was often cumbersome, with errors in formatting or metadata leading to rejections or delays.
Our system transforms submission into a near-automatic process. Because the drafting environment mirrors ICANN’s own, everything from formatting to metadata is aligned. Submission is not a separate phase, but simply the final click in a well-managed workflow.
For our clients, this means peace of mind. They don’t need to worry about whether their answers meet ICANN’s technical requirements. They can focus instead on the strategic milestones ahead: evaluation, potential objections, and ultimately, delegation of their TLD.
It might be tempting to see drafting and submission as mere administrative hurdles. But in practice, the way you approach these steps has significant implications:
One of our clients recently went through a dry run of the application process using our system. In the 2012 round, they had spent nearly four months pulling together a comparable application. With our platform, the drafting was done in just over two days. By the end of the week, the application was validated and ready for submission.
The client told us that the biggest difference wasn’t just the time saved. It was the shift in mindset. Instead of being bogged down in paperwork, their team spent most of their time discussing how they wanted to use the TLD — what it meant for their brand, their customers, and their future. That’s exactly the outcome we want for every applicant.
The next ICANN application window will open soon. Interest is already building, but so are concerns about the complexity of the process. Many potential applicants are asking: “Is this worth it? Can we handle it?”. Our answer is simple: yes — if you approach it the right way. Drafting and submission don’t need to be a barrier. With the right tools, they can be a tick-box exercise. The real challenge — and the real opportunity — lies in how you use your gTLD once you have it.
For too long, the gTLD application process has been seen as an obstacle course. At Pitch, we’re changing that perception. By combining innovative systems with deep legal and technical expertise, we make drafting and submission smooth, efficient, and reliable. In doing so, we shift the focus where it belongs: away from bureaucracy, and toward strategy. Because in the end, your gTLD application should not be the story. The story is what you build with it.
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