Ask HN: Importance of trademarking early on

Last week I put my first splash page up online with a notification signup form for people interested in when I launch my startup... Immediately a friend (who happens to be a patent lawyer), criticized me about not having trademarked my name/logo saying that someone could theoretically go trademark my name now and steal my brand. I believe this is highly unlikely, but it got me thinking at least about trademarking. Does anyone with experience in this area have advice? Should I throw my money at getting a trademark or is it really not that big of a deal right now?