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Before naming your startup, read this.

thenextweb.com

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Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#2

Post by tzaman »

Interesting article, although I don't fully agree - naming a startup is like naming a baby - it has to "feel" right. Which is usually not the case with various generators out there.

Whenever I was involved in naming libraries/websites/products it was usually the "A-HA!" moment one of the involved people had at any random point in process of coming up with a name.

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#3

Post by rollypolly »

I've come across "wysija.com" while looking at wordpress plugins recently. I immediately thought that was the worse name anyone could pick.

It literally looks like random letters. It's unpronounceable and hard to memorize.

They have a pseudo-explanation of the name at the bottom of their landing page. But I don't buy it. It reads more like an excuse.

But I ended up trying their product because I liked their video.

So I think the lesson is: If you put enough work into your product, you can overcome a poor name.

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#4

Post by justincormack »

Names that exactly describe your product can be a problem if you pivot. If you pivot a bit, then International Business Machines is not too bad, but Wire and Plastic Products was less useful for a media empire. Polaroid was ok for a pivot as it is both specific about polarization, but also just a nice word.

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#5

Post by neilk »

This is all stuff to consider, but without actual numbers, this amounts to his sincere advice that you should use his services.

Does anyone have a story of a project or business that was greatly helped or greatly hurt by their name, in quantifiable terms? Let's exclude obviously terrible names like "wyslja.com", or businesses where the whole point is SEO, like "sex.com".

I want to hear stories we can use as experimental data, like, "we used to be called GetHobbyHorse.com, and our sales went up by 30% once we bought HobbyHorse.com." Or, a name change that had zero effect, or even made things worse.

EDIT: I made a Google Docs Poll: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGF2bkV...

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#6

Post by keiferski »

neilk wrote: post #5

This is all stuff to consider, but without actual numbers, this amounts to his sincere advice that you should use his services. Does anyone have a story of a project or business that was greatly helped or greatly hurt by their name, in quantifiable terms? Let's exclude obviously terrible names like "wyslja.com", or businesses where the whole point is SEO, like "sex.com". I want to hear stories we can use as experimen…

(self-plug: I run a naming company)

- Mint's name definitely helped them, and Wesabe's name definitely hurt them. In short, Mint's name is simple and straightforward, which helped users trust them with financial information. Wesabe's was neither. http://nomvilla.com/blog/how-mint-beat-wesabe/

- Under Armour's founder thinks that the name helped win over athletes (getting big tough guys to wear leotard-lookalikes) http://nomvilla.com/blog/how-under-armours-name-won-over-ear...

- FeeFighters' business increased 25x after they changed their name from Transparent Financial Services http://nomvilla.com/blog/feefighters-new-name/

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#7

Post by pabloIMO »

tzaman wrote: post #2

Interesting article, although I don't fully agree - naming a startup is like naming a baby - it has to "feel" right. Which is usually not the case with various generators out there. Whenever I was involved in naming libraries/websites/products it was usually the "A-HA!" moment one of the involved people had at any random point in process of coming up with a name.

I totally agree. I've named quite a few small projects over the last couple of years and every name I've been happy with has come to my in an "A-HA" moment. Everything just clicked about the name, and it was available.

Any time I've settled for a name that I didn't really like (usually out of lazyness), I end up feeling like something is missing from the project. A little bit of the love I had for it is lost.

That's why I'm building http://domiy.com , a tool which helps teams of people brainstorm name ideas. I believe that the best names arise when a number of people are trying to come up with a name over an extended period of time. You have to give the "A-HA" moments time to occur.

Re: Before naming your startup, read this.

#10

Post by jsomethings »

kstenerud wrote: post #9

Some contradictions: MarketHear.com: bad because it fails the "bar exam" CardPool.com: how does this pass the "bar exam" again? Xort.com: bad - you settled on some domain because it's short and easy to pronounce Etsy.com: good because it's short

Every startup name will have pros and cons to varying degrees. None will individually be perfect. The Strong & Weak examples are to spell out the extremes of many positive and negative criteria so that you have a base level to compare against.
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