Since launching, we’ve heard a few inquiries from people asking “why the name Nori?”
We are starting this company with a long term view. Our mission is to reverse climate change. Establishing a company that can accomplish that requires a name that can morph and adapt to the required tasks to meet that challenge. We are not building this company to last only a few years. We want to be a household name that lasts for decades. As we collectively thought about the name, we read a helpful article that described a naming exercise, and we decided to shoot for what’s known as an experiential name. Experiential names can be the most powerful class of names. They are positioning statements. Of course, the biggest obstacle of generating an experiential name is connecting meaning to the brand. So here are our reasons:
Seaweed removes carbon.
Nori is a Japanese word for a type of seaweed. Growing seaweed removes carbon dioxide. Removing excess carbon dioxide and balancing the total stock of CO2 in the oceans and atmosphere is the only way that we can stop climate change.
Cultivating nori is an example of a low cost / high impact way to spread quickly and iterate as needed.
We were inspired by how easy nori is to cultivate. It is a practice that involves placing rope in the water and using artificial rafts. It has a theoretically limitless scale. It embodies human innovation that can use simple management practices to yield phenomenal results. Moreover, these results are optimized from learning by doing.
Growing seaweed creates a regenerative symbiosis with the environment around it.
We are acutely aware that solving climate change cannot happen in a silo, nor with any one silver bullet application. Furthermore, we are mindful of the externalities that might occur from solutions, and therefore look to options that only create a net positive impact on their environment. The longest lasting and most effective solutions are those which create a symbiosis with the environment around them. Seaweed is at the base of most marine food chains, adding to the overall ocean health.
It’s cute, memorable, and can be said in any language.
The first time people heard the name Nori, they felt good saying it. Moreover they knew how to spell it without looking at it. Because climate change is a global problem, we wanted our name to be understandable in any language.
We like seaweed.
We enjoy eating seaweed, both plain and as part of sushi. Nori is full of fiber, vitamins, and nutrients. We wanted a reason to bring packets of dried seaweed to business meetings. Now we have our excuse.
