prasanth m's List: Web2.0 Startup Naming

For a long time, I didn't like my name. I spent more than 30 years spelling both my first and last name in school and on the phone. It didn't help that I had a little trouble with my S's when I was a kid.

Next Post »

7 Tips for Naming Your Web 2.0 Startup
by Michael Zhang on October 12, 2006

name startup

One of the first important things to consider when building a startup is the name. With Internet companies being so cheap and easy to start, it seems like a new one is born every few seconds. Here are 7tips for choosing the right name for yours:

I’m someone who frantically scours the web for interesting new online trends, concepts, startups and projects at any given time of any day. It’s something I simply can’t turn off, I just have a passion for finding new stuff and find out if it resonates with me from a user and business perspective. That also means I come across a mountain of poorly executed websites and applications, or startups that have business models that you just know will never bring in a dime of revenue.

When you’re creating a startup, there are far more important things to get right before the company name. But once you’re comfortable with the big stuff, spend time with the name.

New Internet companies are being baptized daily with handles that sound like a blend of toddlerspeak, scat singing and what the aliens will greet us with when they land.

A Web site or company can either immediate attract or repel an audience, even if the viewer has never actually seen anything more than its name. News.com editor Michael Kanellos offers some tips for what’s good and what’s not so good when deciding on a name for your start-up company. Check out the story: “How not to name your company.”

One of the first things people do when they’re starting a new business is pick a name. It’s a pretty important step, because it ends up defining a lot about the business.

What’s in a company name? Plenty. It’s your first opportunity to brand yourself. Get it right and you’ll stand out as clever, useful, and memorable to potential users and investors — even if your product isn’t any good. But get it wrong and you’ll flame out before your product even gets out of beta.

Lots of founders spend far too much time trying to come up with the perfect name. Often the quality of the name is inversely proportional to the time spent thinking of it. Of course lots of folks don’t agree with me.

I'd like to provide some guidelines about naming a company or product because I meet with many companies who are in this process. Generally, the primary concern of most people seems to be whether a domain name is available. However, there are other considerations to keep in mind.

The time to start thinking about the ideal name for your new business is at the same time you start putting your business plan on paper.

If you've got more than one product or service, you have a problem. You need to decide if there's going to be an architecture to the way you name things. General Motors has a division, Chevrolet. Chevrolet makes cars, and each car has a name (Corvette, Impala). They have an architecture in place that makes some things clear very quickly.

What's in a business name? Plenty. Not only must your name reflect your brand and be memorable, there are also a host of legal issues to consider. Here's how to choose a name that'll best suit your business.

When choosing a name for your new company, keep these tips in mind to help you find one that will work now--and in the future.

Think you have a clever name for your business? Good! But you also need to make sure that name isn't being used by someone else--and that you protect it once you're sure it's yours to keep.

Before you undertake a serious decision like changing your business name, consider these four factors.

Understand the elements of a great name before you commit to one.

Create the perfect name for your company with these six steps.

Why a good business plan can help you name your company

One of the issues that I find many startups struggling with (including my own) is coming up with a suitable name for the company.