There are so many diffferent opinions out there on naming, and more than one reason why certain companies choose the name they do. Sometimes it comes down to budget, sometimes it’s a certain meaning to the founder that no one else understands, and sometimes it’s about following the herd and following a similar naming convention.
Martin Zwilling wrote an article on Entrepreneur that looks at 8 naming mistakes that investors hate to see. Mr. Zwilling is a start up mentor and angel investor so he is looking at naming through the prism of investing in many small, unknown, start ups.
Zwilling discusses things that we have always advised companies on, such as make sure the name has no international meaning that may be negative. You may not be planning on selling in Latin America for example, but make sure your company name does not have a meaning in Spanish that embarrasses you. He also talks about making sure you can get the social media handles for your name. I think this can be especially different if you are following the other rules that Zwilling has laid out. You are not going to get a Twitter handle with very common first word/very common second word.
He also delves into an area that is very popular with start ups and brandable domain investors alike. The “Made Up Pronounceable”
Zwilling writes:
2. Tricky spellings send customers to competitors.
Today, everyone expects to find you online, and competitors quickly learn to route all misspellings of your business name to their sites. Use conventional spelling, or phonetically consistent spellings, rather than the cute variation that implies a double ententre and amuses all your friends.
3. Nonsense phrases and non-words are tough to brand.
These may be easy to trademark, but there are few plans strong enough, or companies with enough money, to make Google and Xerox recognized brands. Most startups don’t have the resources, and should be more humble in starting with a name that customers will recognize.
Number 8 on the list will ruffle a few feathers on the pro new gtld side, Mr. Zwilling recommends to avoid the new extensions.
8. Skip the new wave of domain name suffixes.
Even though the standard .com or country suffix can now be replaced by virtually any word, including .bank, .sport, or .coke, I don’t recommend it yet for startups. While these may sound attractive in defining your company name, they still don’t have full recognition by most customer segments. At best, they should be reserved as alternates, with website redirects to forestall competitors.
In all cases, I recommend that you spend some time building a short list of three to five names that satisfy your objectives, but avoid the shortcomings above, and try them out on potential customers, peers and advisors. Feedback from friends and family is the least valuable, since they have the same biases that you do.
Read the full article on Entrepreneur
One does not need a MBA degree(My Big A**) or PHd to make a good living in this country, all it takes is common sense , working hard/smart and a little bit of creativity.
Thanks to my creativity and to 99cent GD coupons, all my hand reg domains are in demand now!..
Life is a brand,your name is a brand and everyone is a salesman/woman. You are your own walking advertiser.
When reading advice articles on naming it is always best to see how the writer names his own company first. Mr. Zwilling’s company is named the very memorable, catchy and unique “Startup Professionals”. 🙂 LOL Never ever take naming advice from a guy that barely understands basic naming principles.
MY English professor told me long time ago …
be careful of anyone who writes or speaks well as s/he always manipulates and plays with words. a Good example is politician.
The deceiving words flowing thru the mouth.
Certainly nothing wrong with the name startup professionals it’s certainly better than 99% of the crap listed on brand bucket.
Sadly the quality of names on BB have decreased with time.
There is still some really good ones but you have to find them and they are often CHEAP!
You’re right there could be worse but any naming company from Igor, Tungsten, ZinZin etc…would look at the name Startup Professionals and say absolutely Not. It is not memorable or unique or any other colorful word I can’t think of at the moment. It is just way to generic. I would much rather take naming advice from a guy that calls his company ZinZin then from a guy who calls his company Startup Professionals.
I’ve been following Zwilling for years. Smart guy who publishes some great advice which is often carried by Forbes, WSJ etc.
I think one problem which may be involved is, “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” The bigger a venture is, the stupider it tends to get as decisions require the discussion and approval of more and more people. That can squelch not only creativity and ingenuity, but common sense as well.
BHP Billiton’s recent spin-off, South32, is an excellent example of that. Went public, stock went…south.
Attention defenders of the failed gtlds – face it, the new gtld idea was a really really (really) dumb one and naming professions such as Zwilling have realized that. So have end users and domainers throughout world. Attacking Mr. Zwilling and the name of his company will not help you sell your .worthless gtld .crap inventory. You should have done your homework better and saved the $185K. You didn’t. You lose. Stop trying to defend a bad idea.
I totally disagree with Mr Zwilling on new gTLDs for start-ups. In fact, it is a blessing for them because they won’t have to pat through their nose for scarce .coms
He does say “I don’t recommend it yet” – Not “I don’t recommend it permanently”. The tipping point might be round the corner. When all TLDs are launched the next step for any registry is raising awareness, and with power players such as Google and Amazon, the press playing along to the drum of Vox Populi, The HungerGames.movie etc. Mr Zwilling might edit his doc shortly
Wishful thinking, Christopher. The gtlds are dead.
I totally agree with what he said in regards to ‘branding’ names. You have to put more effort into marketing these types of names, and there are so many out there that make no sense. They are made up words that need so much attention, that startups don’t need. That’s why the new GTLD’s are good. They tell people EXACTLY what your company is about. That’s just common sense. If you’re lucky enough to get the .com you want, then great! But if not, then look at a new GTLD. He talked about customers not having ‘full recognition by customer segments’? That makes no sense. People aren’t stupid. They are going to understand what your business is with a .bank, .sport, etc.
Valuable tips!