The 'sf' combination is very rare in the English language (look up the dictionary), so difficult for people to remember how to spell it and therefore how to find it.
Change it.
Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
11–19 of 19 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#12I like sfalma, google was/is difficult to spell too...
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#13I like sfalma, google was/is difficult to spell too...
it is a phonetic problem, people read s+f as 'sv' so they cannot type it
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#14Keep it... the name says little. Sfalma will give you little google competition which on the long run may be important.
Finally, basecamp uses the url basecamphq.com ... who would imagine that something like this would work.
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#15Try an experiment: tell some people it's called "Sfalma" and tell other people it's called "The Bug Eater" and see which group is more likely to create an account within 2 weeks.
I'd guess that obscure names aren't good, but you never know.
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#16change it. people need to be able to spell it correctly in google. the downside is that you must find another name as unique (in search terms) as this.
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#17I had a similar problem for an HCI project where we used a Greek word as the name and we got reamed in our reviews for the name being "unusable." I'd say change it -- it doesn't evoke any connotations for the user nor is it easily pronounceable.
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#18Depends on your demographics. My mom would hate it, dad would mistype it, I don't know how to pronounce it. It's not related or associated with anything in the daily life, and there is a disconnect between the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning for the layman. Only works for math, history and language buffs. That's a tiny corner.
Re: Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
#19How about bugfollow or errorsniffer? Like either of those?