Hey ya'll,
As you may know, I'm almost a month into my new SaaS Software Startup (you can read about the project or participate on this thread!)
I was able to make it a month deep into the project before picking a final name for my company. But, at a certain point I had to move forward and select a name.
I don't want ANYONE to "get stuck" on picking a name for their Company.
Two reasons:
1) Your Execution and Process matters *much more* than the Event of picking a Company Name.
2) Picking a Company Name doesn't need to take weeks (Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, says he and the founders of multi-billion payment company Stripe 'came up with name in 20 minutes.')
So, it's much more important to build a good company than to pick a name.
But, it's undeniable - a BAD NAME can sink your company.
A BAD NAME can hurt your ability to scale and grow.
A BAD NAME can get you into copyright troubles or other legal issues.
A BAD NAME can confuse or mislead your customers.
A BAD NAME can impact your company for years or decades.
So, this thread is about TACTICS and TOOLS for picking a New Company Name.
It's from a "Software Company" point of view, but I believe it's applicable to almost any entrepreneur.
Hope you enjoy!
--------------- Don't Name Your Company for What It Does --------------
Feel free to disagree with ALL of the following.
But here's what I think I've learned in my research:
- The STRONGEST names are completely made-up: 'Kodak', etc.
- VERY STRONG names are made of two existing words: 'FaceBook', 'Pinterest', etc.
- STRONG names are using unrelated marks together: 'Apple Computers,' etc.
- WEAK names use words connected to their industry: "Fast Cleaning," etc
- The WEAKEST names use un-trademarkable terms in related industries: 'Texas Computer Repair Guy #2, Inc'
Surprisingly, this means that naming your company after what it does is actually a BAD thing in most cases.
This blew my mind when I realized it, but it seems confirmed almost everywhere I look:
Strong Global Brands named after nonsense:
"Jimmy Johns" <- how would you know that's a sandwich shop?
"Uber" <- how would you know that's a transportation company?
"Mac" <- did this make anyone think of computing before Steve Jobs? Nope.
Then driving down the road today I see...
Weak Local Brands named after what they do:
"Texas Limo Company" <- Boring, unmemorable name. Anyone expect this brand to do super-well because of how great its name is?
"Speedy Sprinkler Repair" <--- I wonder how many identically-named competitors exist in the US... do you think that helps or hurts this business when it tries to scale up?
"Panda Tutoring" <--- Basically similar problems to the above-two.
You don't have to take my word for it.
Start looking around the world outside you.
Huge, global, fast-scaling brands have ONE type of names.
Small, local, unscaleable brands have ANOTHER type of names.
Try to notice the differences between them, and think for yourself.
----------- My Key Criteria for Naming Your Company -----------
To help make my search quicker I made the following list of top criteria.
Remember, it's largely about avoiding a BAD name.
You have to DISCARD a lot of options that you might like at first.
Keep brainstorming, then apply these criteria to your ideas.
If you can't tell, this is a pretty HARD list to satisfy!
But, if you can discard any name that breaks these rules, you will almost certainly avoid a BAD name that will hurt your company's growth in the future.
This is why I take a "brainstorm" approach over a period of 1-2 weeks. Push yourself to come up with 2 good Company name ideas each morning and each evening. In a week, you'll have almost 30 name ideas! Then you can narrow down using the criteria above.
---------------- Other Incredibly Useful Resources for Naming Your Company -----------
Favorite In-Depth Article: '16 Tips for Picking the Perfect Startup Name'
I read at least 10 articles on naming new companies, and this was my favorite. If you don't get a ton of ideas from this article, you aren't reading closely enough. Take written notes!
Favorite Tools (make a bookmark folder of these - you might want them all open at once):
Hope this helps other folks who are coming up with Company Names and want to avoid common mistakes and Bad Names, but also want to move forward on building their companies without getting stuck on naming for weeks on end!
If you have any questions, just ask!
As you may know, I'm almost a month into my new SaaS Software Startup (you can read about the project or participate on this thread!)
I was able to make it a month deep into the project before picking a final name for my company. But, at a certain point I had to move forward and select a name.
I don't want ANYONE to "get stuck" on picking a name for their Company.
Two reasons:
1) Your Execution and Process matters *much more* than the Event of picking a Company Name.
2) Picking a Company Name doesn't need to take weeks (Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, says he and the founders of multi-billion payment company Stripe 'came up with name in 20 minutes.')
So, it's much more important to build a good company than to pick a name.
But, it's undeniable - a BAD NAME can sink your company.
A BAD NAME can hurt your ability to scale and grow.
A BAD NAME can get you into copyright troubles or other legal issues.
A BAD NAME can confuse or mislead your customers.
A BAD NAME can impact your company for years or decades.
So, this thread is about TACTICS and TOOLS for picking a New Company Name.
It's from a "Software Company" point of view, but I believe it's applicable to almost any entrepreneur.
Hope you enjoy!
--------------- Don't Name Your Company for What It Does --------------
Feel free to disagree with ALL of the following.
But here's what I think I've learned in my research:
- The STRONGEST names are completely made-up: 'Kodak', etc.
- VERY STRONG names are made of two existing words: 'FaceBook', 'Pinterest', etc.
- STRONG names are using unrelated marks together: 'Apple Computers,' etc.
- WEAK names use words connected to their industry: "Fast Cleaning," etc
- The WEAKEST names use un-trademarkable terms in related industries: 'Texas Computer Repair Guy #2, Inc'
Surprisingly, this means that naming your company after what it does is actually a BAD thing in most cases.
This blew my mind when I realized it, but it seems confirmed almost everywhere I look:
Strong Global Brands named after nonsense:
"Jimmy Johns" <- how would you know that's a sandwich shop?
"Uber" <- how would you know that's a transportation company?
"Mac" <- did this make anyone think of computing before Steve Jobs? Nope.
Then driving down the road today I see...
Weak Local Brands named after what they do:
"Texas Limo Company" <- Boring, unmemorable name. Anyone expect this brand to do super-well because of how great its name is?
"Speedy Sprinkler Repair" <--- I wonder how many identically-named competitors exist in the US... do you think that helps or hurts this business when it tries to scale up?
"Panda Tutoring" <--- Basically similar problems to the above-two.
You don't have to take my word for it.
Start looking around the world outside you.
Huge, global, fast-scaling brands have ONE type of names.
Small, local, unscaleable brands have ANOTHER type of names.
Try to notice the differences between them, and think for yourself.
----------- My Key Criteria for Naming Your Company -----------
To help make my search quicker I made the following list of top criteria.
Remember, it's largely about avoiding a BAD name.
You have to DISCARD a lot of options that you might like at first.
Keep brainstorming, then apply these criteria to your ideas.
- Entire Name is 10 characters or less. Long names are harder to remember, harder to type, and easier to mispell or mis-hear. 10 characters or less is the sweet spot.
- Business Name is difficult to mis-spell or mis-hear. Carefully evaluate the name as if its the first time you heard it, and you're on a crackly cell phone with static. You want a name that would be VERY HARD to mis-hear or mis-spell. Make it so easy that a kindergardner could spell it correctly after hearing the word one time. Think anyone would get the spelling of 'Facebook' wrong?
- EXACT '.com' domain for your Business Name is available. Don't compromise or you'll regret it. '.com' is still the standard. And, you want the EXACT domain for your business name... not "getmycompany" or "my-company" or "my.company" or "mycompanysoft". Get "mycompany.com" or find a new name idea.
- Name is Memorable.This is obviously subjective, but do your best here. Get external feedback if you can. Do your friends and family remember your EXACT Business Name Idea in a week, without prompting? If not, it's not very memorable.
- No competitors (similar names, concepts, or sounds) in Google. This rule is tough to follow, but you MUST. Even if the domain is available, there may be other products, websites, or businesses for related concepts or similar-sounding names. Google is your friend. IMMEDIATELY discard any Business Name Ideas with similar pre-existing companies or products.
- A Company Name you're proud of and excited to say out loud. After everything is said and done, you must be PROUD to say your company name. Try it out loud. "I'm the founder of Oogaloo." Does that get you psyched up? Do you look in the mirror and feel like a tiger? You'll probably be stuck with this name for 5-7 years a minimum... make sure YOU think it's cool. Try giving your favorite name ideas a week, then coming back to see if they still resonate.
- Nothing forced, keep looking for ‘lightbulb’ names. Never 'force' a name to fit a company. If a name doesn't 'click the lightbulb' for you, then discard it - even if it fits all the criteria above.
If you can't tell, this is a pretty HARD list to satisfy!
But, if you can discard any name that breaks these rules, you will almost certainly avoid a BAD name that will hurt your company's growth in the future.
This is why I take a "brainstorm" approach over a period of 1-2 weeks. Push yourself to come up with 2 good Company name ideas each morning and each evening. In a week, you'll have almost 30 name ideas! Then you can narrow down using the criteria above.
---------------- Other Incredibly Useful Resources for Naming Your Company -----------
Favorite In-Depth Article: '16 Tips for Picking the Perfect Startup Name'
I read at least 10 articles on naming new companies, and this was my favorite. If you don't get a ton of ideas from this article, you aren't reading closely enough. Take written notes!
Favorite Tools (make a bookmark folder of these - you might want them all open at once):
- NameMesh.com - Input 2-3 base keywords and it generates hundreds of interesting variations. Of course, many of them are NOT ".com", which is really what you want.
- 123Finder.com - Seeks out available URLs, limited by character length ('no URLs longer than 8 characters). Most are ugly, but can help you envision what's actually available out there in the "URLs less than 10 characters" range.
- Naque's Word Mixer - A personal favorite, if you have some patience. Add 2-5 words and it will randomly mix them up into 2- and 3-syllable nonsense combinations. Easy to find available '.com' domains from the results... if you can find a combo that sounds good and makes sense.
- Naminum.com - Input 1 base keyword and it generates about a hundred variations by adding suffixes or prefixes. Creates some very cool-sounding Company Name ideas based on familiar words; then check if the '.com' of that word is available.
- NameBird - I haven't used as much, but despite this website's cheap appearance, it looks very powerful to me. It can also filter for taken '.com' words, which could save you a TON of time. I should use this more now that I see this.
- Naque's Word Generator - rapidly creates lists of 'nonsense' words that don't exist yet. Most of the results are ugly or ridiculous, but you'll occasionally spot some ideas that you can mix into the other tools in this list.
- Thesaurus.com - Step away from the ultra-common words like "Fast" and find awesome synonyms with an online thesaurus. Then you can mix those words into the tools above and start coming up with crazy Company Name combinations, really quickly!
Hope this helps other folks who are coming up with Company Names and want to avoid common mistakes and Bad Names, but also want to move forward on building their companies without getting stuck on naming for weeks on end!
If you have any questions, just ask!
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