Choosing a business name

[keelba]

I am trying to put together a new business and I am just about ready to start selling my product. I will be creating my product to start out at home under the Texas Cottage Foods law and selling at Farmer's markets and flea market type events to get started.

The problem is that I need a name. I have chosen a name I really like but a quick search at uspto.gov shows this name was abandoned. Secondly, the equivalent domain name.com is registered but does not have a website and the registration is due in June of this year. Finally, this is a food based business. An Internet search shows no identical business selling this product, however, there are many restaurants, bars, delis, even people using this name.

So what do I do? I understand that by filing for a trademark can take as much as 6 months to get approved. Do I start using the name and file for a trademark in the hopes that I can use it, thinking I may have to completely rebrand down the road if it is rejected? I also don't want to keep wasting time and money filing for trademarks. What about the domain name? Should I just ignore it and go for a .net domain instead, which is not currently registered? Should I attempt to find the owner now and buy it? And what about the fact that others are using this name? Does it matter that they are food related businesses but not selling retail?

I could always try to find another name but picking a name is hard and it seems every time I come up with something I like, I run into similar issues.

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer regarding this issue.

--Kevin

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[bradleymooretx]

I believe the name is only an issue if it's in the same space. But if you are only local right now anyway just check you county clerk's website for their assumed names list. I live in Texas as well, it's what I do. Also, you can offer to buy the domain name outright, or wait, or just pick something else as your domain.

You're putting to much thought into the planning and possibly not enough action into your business. I can guess that because you're worried about minutia. Get after it now and fix the problems later.

 

[applesack]

Tell us something about the scale of the business you are starting? Is this a food manufacturer? Do you plan on distributing in grocery stores? If so, the questions you are asking are important to some degree.... if not, if you are going to be strictly local, name it what you like.

Even if you are planning to be a regional or national manufactured product, @bradleymooretx is probably correct in saying that the name is less important than actually executing your plan. Labels are cheap and even a name change is easy when you are small. Just Incorporate as something generic but inviting (Grassland Food Group) and get selling. Then, as you perfect your brand, you can just DBA your brand name.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

1. Go to Domain Name Search.
2. Type in names that you like until you find one that's available.
3. Choose that name.
4. Brand around that name.
5. Pivot to a different name if you find one that fits your product better.

It's rare to meet an entrepreneur who 'failed' because he chose the wrong name. It's common to find the wantrepreneur that never did anything because it took him months to incorporate, and then years of thinking about actually operating.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[applesack]

It's rare to meet an entrepreneur who 'failed' because he chose the wrong name.

Not so sure about that. In my experience, Brand Name is crazy important. Starbucks or Pete's? Tillamook or Cabot? Youtube or Google video? I always encourage very careful name selection... but, I agree that it is not the first and by far not the most important thing.

With DBA's it is even somewhat easy to A/B test brand names.

 

[Waspy]

Not so sure about that. In my experience, Brand Name is crazy important. Starbucks or Pete's? Tillamook or Cabot? Youtube or Google video? I always encourage very careful name selection... but, I agree that it is not the first and by far not the most important thing.

With DBA's it is even somewhat easy to A/B test brand names.

Starbucks - Meaningless
Tillamook/Cabot - Meaningless (Disclaimer, I haven't a clue wtf these are)
Youtube - Meaningless

Your points actually indicate how LITTLE the company name matters. These massive brands built their name on something which isn't even a word!

So, make something up. And brand it.

For the record, I don't actually recommend this. I think it's played out and no longer carries the weight it once did. But hey, thats just one guys opinion.

 

[Coalission]

Not so sure about that. In my experience, Brand Name is crazy important. Starbucks or Pete's? Tillamook or Cabot? Youtube or Google video? I always encourage very careful name selection... but, I agree that it is not the first and by far not the most important thing.

With DBA's it is even somewhat easy to A/B test brand names.

I think his point was that you can always change it.

Amazon was Cadabra first. Bezos also liked Relentless.com (it still redirects to Amazon.com), Bookmall.com, Browse.com, Awake.com.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GIlman]

Your name matters a lot. But be careful, most people get naming wrong. And i agree with others that you shouldn't let naming your product hold u back - find the best name you can and change it when u come up with something better. Then just redirect traffic from the old url to the new - if u have any to begin with.

That said....here's some things to consider for your name.

Think of your name as your biggest marketing piece ever. It's the most common marketing message people will ever see from you.

There is a huge difference for you starting out, than all the huge cool sounding name out there. That is, no one knows who you are and what you do.

If your name doesn't tell them that, then you must first educate people what you or your produce is and then associate that to your name. On top of that it's very hard for people to remember it.

For the vast majority of businesses or products the best name is one which describes what you do or some value proposition of you company. These names are not sexy usually, but they are very powerful marketing and instantly memorable to people.

You can point to some companies with funky nonsensical names that succeeded. But did they succeed because of their name or inspite of it. Did their name help them or did they spend precious dollars pounding the association between their name and what product it was tied to.

As an example. Consider this fictitious name vs actual names. Which can you tell from the name what they do. Which one serves as a powerful marketing message all by itself.

Cabot vs Tillamook vs "Wisconsin Premium Cheddars"

If your interested. This is a fantastic read on naming, branding, and just marketing in general.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: Al Ries, Jack Trout, Philip Kotler: 9780071373586: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Jon L]

There are some names that really connect with the user and the product, but those are few and far between. Most names are like the following:

Ben and Jerry's (not exactly original or descriptive, but they did ok)
Hewlett Packard
Dell
Microsoft (they wrote software for microcomputers...pretty clever there)
Joe's Crab Shack (kinda sounds like a disease, no?)

pick a name and then go make a product that is so good that your product turns that name into a brand.

 

[applesack]

Your name matters a lot. But be careful, most people get naming wrong. [...]
Think of your name as your biggest marketing piece ever. It's the most common marketing message people will ever see from you.

[...] You can point to some companies with funky nonsensical names that succeeded. But did they succeed because of their name or inspite of it.

[...] This is a fantastic read on naming, branding, and just marketing in general.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: Al Ries, Jack Trout, Philip Kotler: 9780071373586: Amazon.com: Books

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

From my perspective your company name is quite important. It is not the first step in creating an effective sales machine, but it can be the single most important marketing signal you will ever create for your company.

Like I said above, start with a simple and likeable name for the incorporation, then as you perfect your brand, use the brand as a DBA (or a sub-corp).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Argue]

How about using your last name or first name + a popular fruit or food?

For example, keelba's eggplant?

Or how about Argue's orange? That's a start to brainstorming right there. A lot of popular brands use their name + a food. Some just use a name e.g. Drakes, Wendy's, etc.

Joe's Crab Shack (kinda sounds like a disease, no?)

lol

 

[applesack]

Ben and Jerry's (not exactly original or descriptive, but they did ok)

I would say that Ben & Jerry's is a brilliant play on the cartoon that all of my generation grew up on, "Tom and Jerry". I would call that a naming coup.

Maybe @SinisterLex can talk to us about NLP here...

Hewlett Packard
Dell
Microsoft

And there was this one other company that crushed them all. It produced software and hardware and phones and music listening devices... and had a brilliantly simple name and logo. Far and above more memorable than any of the brands just named.

Spend some time on your name. It is an important marketing piece.

 

[applesack]

How about using your last name or first name + a popular fruit or food?

Naming is hard. Don't make it formulaic. Its one of those things that you get all your friends together and have a few drinks and say every possible name you can think of. Then you try to do these things:

1) co-opt an existing meme or idea or name if possible, like the Tom and Jerry becomes Ben & Jerry's above
2) insist that the name makes some kind of immediate sense in the mind of any hearer. This can be simple keywords like, "Atlanta Heating and Cooling" or it can be poetic like, "Rainy Day Rescue" or it can be prosaic like "1 800 HVAC" but remember that all of these will out play "Fred's Construction Co" at first glance.
3) Short as possible, you need it to work for a .com (never build your site on anything but a .com... exception proves the rule, etc)

...but... don't do this first... just do it when you are getting some traction.

Anyway... that's my opinion.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jon L]

And there was this one other company that crushed them all. It produced software and hardware and phones and music listening devices... and had a brilliantly simple name and logo. Far and above more memorable than any of the brands just named.

Uh...not exactly. HP dominated for decades. So did Microsoft. And Dell. For quite a while, Microsoft crushed Apple.

Apple didn't succeed because they had a cool name. They built an AMAZING product. And oh yeah, their brand was cool. And, Apple, with all its coolness, will one day fade into the distance.

I'm not saying that branding isn't important. Its something you can easily get wrapped around the wheel on while making you feel like you're making progress. Spend 10 or 20 hours on it, and then get on doing the other 95% of the things you'll need to do to get this product launched.

 

[fhs8]

Brand and product names mean very little. As long as it doesn't sound weird then it should be good. Most important is a domain name without a dash or an unusual tld.

Examples of why brand names don't mean much:
Target - A shooting range or a place that sells bows and arrows.
McDonald's - ?
Sam's Club - Senior citizen activities club.
Google - ?
Zillow - ?
Yahoo - ?
Kayak - Offers kayaks for rent.
Amazon - Rainforest conservation group.
Facebook - Bookstore.
Uber - ?
Johnson & Johnson - Law firm.
Apple - Sells fruits.

I can list 100's more examples.

 

[applesack]

Well, I am going to disagree about the name thing. But, you know what I think if you are interested.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[GIlman]

iPencil, iPhone, iPad etc. because these big monolithic companies are just the shell of what they sell now.

You forget apple use to be Apple Computers, their name evolved to a more generic form later.

and HP was a calculator company that grew into a computer company.

Alienware Computers. great name. evokes something out of this wold. HP shitty name for computers means nothing. and they name their individual models nonsense to. FK508BG.

Look at apple.

MacBook Pro 13" with TouchBar. Now that's a product name that says it all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AllenCrawley]

Brand and product names mean very little

Oh my.

 

[samuraijack]

this link has great info on choosing a name

How to Name a Product: A Step-By-Step Walkthrough

I wouldn't get TOO carried away though....

as @Fox (OP of the $15,000 a month web design thread) can tell you, he chose his company name by spelling his router backwards (or something like that).

The link I provided above also goes into detail about how doing that ^ can be good also.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Roli]

I am trying to put together a new business and I am just about ready to start selling my product. I will be creating my product to start out at home under the Texas Cottage Foods law and selling at Farmer's markets and flea market type events to get started.

The problem is that I need a name. I have chosen a name I really like but a quick search at uspto.gov shows this name was abandoned. Secondly, the equivalent domain name.com is registered but does not have a website and the registration is due in June of this year. Finally, this is a food based business. An Internet search shows no identical business selling this product, however, there are many restaurants, bars, delis, even people using this name.

So what do I do? I understand that by filing for a trademark can take as much as 6 months to get approved. Do I start using the name and file for a trademark in the hopes that I can use it, thinking I may have to completely rebrand down the road if it is rejected? I also don't want to keep wasting time and money filing for trademarks. What about the domain name? Should I just ignore it and go for a .net domain instead, which is not currently registered? Should I attempt to find the owner now and buy it? And what about the fact that others are using this name? Does it matter that they are food related businesses but not selling retail?

I could always try to find another name but picking a name is hard and it seems every time I come up with something I like, I run into similar issues.

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer regarding this issue.

--Kevin

What's the name? Seeing as so many people are using it, there's no need to be cloak and dagger about it here, nobody will steal it; and even if they do; they just join all the others who have the name.

Personally I would want to make something unique; however it's difficult to comment without knowing what the name you want to choose is. I sympathise though

 

[keelba]

The name we like is Twisted Pickles. It really is the best name we could come up with that sums up what our brand is about.

 

[OldFaithful]

Twisted Pickles

Sounds good to me. Catchy. Unique. I can only guess what the product might taste like.

Now that's done. What's your next step?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[applesack]

The name we like is Twisted Pickles. It really is the best name we could come up with that sums up what our brand is about.

Its a great name. Memorable, has some kind of meaning... like... I personally hope these include alcohol, but in any case they sound "exciting". I doubt you will have Trade Mark issues unless you become a brand that needs to depend on "Twisted" as the mark instead of just "Twisted Pickles".

Its a very good name.

 

[G-Man]

Oh my.

Best to let it go.

The name we like is Twisted Pickles.

Really like that name. The "twisted" thing exists in the food space already, but it's in alcohol infused products. I think something like that will stick out in the pickle POG. I don't know though. Have you spent some time walking stores?

EDIT: It looks like there's a deli in CA with that name. I'm not sure if that makes a difference or not, though. Would be best to consult an attorney maybe?

BTW, have you found a way to market test the product? I know I'm asking a ton of questions, but I love food products.

 

[keelba]

There seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions regarding naming. A number of years ago I created a restaurant selling primarily teriyaki bowls. I wanted a name that was different but somewhat described the business. I thought of something that was odd but didn't think that mattered. After all, if a business can be named "Piggly Wiggly", "Jack-In-The-Box", or "GoDaddy" and still succeed then names don't matter. So I came up with Ameri-Yaki Grill. In hindsight I think the name hurt me. People didn't take to it the way I wanted. By no means do I think it killed my business but could have made things a little bit tougher.

So now I've come up with a name I like. It seems a number of people here like it as well. I have also thrown it around to a number of people who all agree they like the name. My brother and I are still in the beginning phase of this business. We have tested our product on a few people and plan on in the very near future testing on many more. So far we have gotten rave reviews. I don't need all of the lights in front of me to turn green before I step on the gas but I would like to at least have an overall long distance strategy or direction. You've got to have some sort of name even when just starting out. Wouldn't it be better if you could get the name right the first time? We want to start selling locally at farmer's markets, flea markets, etc., to get feedback and perfect our product while at the same time trying to get into some local artisan shops. Once we've reached that plateau we can hone in on the next level. Someday we would like to be selling nationally.

So I've come up with a name that I like and others like, which brings us back full circle to my original post in this thread:
1) The name is currently abandoned according to USPTO. What does that mean to me? Can I use it and claim it as my own?
2) A quick Google search shows other businesses (and even a person) using that name. This is a pickle product business and those are delis, restaurants, etc. Still food related. Does that matter?
3) What about the domain name? If everything else lines up but I can't get the .com domain name what can I or should I do? Is a .net domain just as good? Should I try to purchase that name? The current .com domain is registered but unused.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[InspireHD]

A neat tool for domain names that I found is namemesh.com

You pick a couple words and it tries to throw every combination it can. It'll use a thesaurus to change up words. It tries to make some fun spellings. Or find some generic. And it'll only show domain names that are available unless you change the setting.

 

[applesack]

1) The name is currently abandoned according to USPTO. What does that mean to me? Can I use it and claim it as my own?

I hate attorneys, but the one's I use have done some crazy magic from time to time. This is a q for a patent / trade mark attorney.

So... the small business incubator / club here in ABQ has this rockstar attorney that works for Boeing or something, and Boeing has to "give back" to the state for some reason... and part of the way they do this is to pay this genius to do free stuff for the ABQid members. Did I mention he is a rockstar? Yeah. Anyway... maybe there is something similar near you.

But! For now, just use the name! No one will care, and you can come up with another winner as you go.

3) What about the domain name? If everything else lines up but I can't get the .com domain name what can I or should I do? Is a .net domain just as good? Should I try to purchase that name? The current .com domain is registered but unused.

If you ever wonder if you should buy:
1) an available domain
2) that is .com
3) that isn't longer than three words, that doesn't use plurals, that doesn't contain a stop word

the answer is yes.

There are a few other stipulations, and this doesn't mean buy every .com that ever comes into your head (a lot of people do), but for $12, there is little to lose and a lot to gain from an unmolested .com

If you absolutely need to buy a domain outside of the .com, these are the only exceptions:

.io if your users can use github
.{anything else} if you expect that none (or extremely few) of your customers will actually say / type / mime or otherwise communicate the domain name to another person. Everyone will always put a .com at the end of your domain regardless of what it is.

The tld does not matter for SEO, link creation, or any other thing that I can think of... only and especially for the human element.

This is why the only place you ever see alt domain tld's in money-making use is spam. They never expect a human to repeat the domain name in any way to another human.

 

[Limitless4Life]

Nick Kelly from BoldandDetermined, a very successful blog artist, states a good name is either 3 or 5 syllables

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[applesack]

Nick Kelly from BoldandDetermined, a very successful blog artist, states a good name is either 3 or 5 syllables

Interesting, to me this sounds legit... can you link his article?

Here are my 7 rules of domain name creation:
1) .com
2) three or fewer common English words
3) all words must be positive when spoken alone: "high" is perceived as happy, "narrow" is perceived as scary (study, "emotion and sentiment analysis")
4) the total phrase must make immediate sense to the reader / hearer, even if the immediate sense is not relevant: "Ben & Jerry's" sounds like "Tom and Jerry" which is good, funny, and comforting... AND memorable
5) Avoid plural words: baseballpowerhouse = good, baseballspowerhouse = bad
6) Avoid stop words
7) the run-together, lowercase phrase should read correctly: google -> "google" got it. huffingtonpost -> "Huffington Post" got it. hubspot -> is that "hub spot" or "hubs pot"? expertsexchange -> is that "expert sex change" or "experts exchange"?
Remember, 75% of people on the Internet are not native English speakers.


Extras:
* Meaning is crazy subjective... so... "Chevron" is better than "Bob'sOilCo" because it has better feel, memorability, readability and play
* If you have the money, $2000 (or less if you're lucky) is the "right" price for domain names right now (2017)... buy it.
* The exception proves the rule... so if you are trying to make an exception to the above... it better prove the rule!

 

[Limitless4Life]

Interesting, to me this sounds legit... can you link his article?

Here are my 7 rules of domain name creation:
1) .com
2) three or fewer common English words
3) all words must be positive when spoken alone: "high" is perceived as happy, "narrow" is perceived as scary (study, "emotion and sentiment analysis")
4) the total phrase must make immediate sense to the reader / hearer, even if the immediate sense is not relevant: "Ben & Jerry's" sounds like "Tom and Jerry" which is good, funny, and comforting... AND memorable
5) Avoid plural words: baseballpowerhouse = good, baseballspowerhouse = bad
6) Avoid stop words
7) the run-together, lowercase phrase should read correctly: google -> "google" got it. huffingtonpost -> "Huffington Post" got it. hubspot -> is that "hub spot" or "hubs pot"? expertsexchange -> is that "expert sex change" or "experts exchange"?
Remember, 75% of people on the Internet are not native English speakers.


Extras:
* Meaning is crazy subjective... so... "Chevron" is better than "Bob'sOilCo" because it has better feel, memorability, readability and play
* If you have the money, $2000 (or less if you're lucky) is the "right" price for domain names right now (2017)... buy it.
* The exception proves the rule... so if you are trying to make an exception to the above... it better prove the rule!

He actually mentions it in his book I would recommend to anyone on here, New World Ronin. New World Ronin: Strategies for Artists, Entrepreneurs, Rebels, Warriors and Outcasts: Victor Pride: 9780996467087: Amazon.com: Books