How to Name Your Startup
And Why It Matters
There are two schools of thought when it comes to naming your company.
The first says that the name of your company is a subjective choice. Gary Vaynerchuk says “a name is made.” What matters is that you build and execute well. Then your name earns a reputation and becomes a brand.
The other school says that your name is of the utmost importance because words carry weight and have influence. As a writer, I tend to agree. I could still succeed with an arbitrary name but why not give my company every advantage available, including semantics?
My intuition says a better name means a lower customer acquisition cost and higher customer retention down the road.
Taking the time to find the right name now saves me money later. That’s incentive enough.
Should I Use My Own Name?
I had a dilemma when I set out to create my new business. Should I market my own name and personal brand or should I create an independent entity that could eventually function without me?
The business I’m building is a lifestyle business, meaning it uses my unique skill set and knowledge as its core competency. Some people using this model use their own name as the business name.
The identity of a company dictates its future decisions.
To me the bottom line is empathy for my future employees. I want them to be in positions to make the best decisions. A business is operated by a team. It is easier to make decisions, recruit, and retain quality people for your organization if the name represents all of them as a collective, not just the person or few at the top.
The Startup Vision Company
I created Startup Vision as a Medium collection over a year ago. I had to use the word Startup in the name because it was a highly searched word on this platform. “Startup” collections had more followers and article submissions. Vision came easily because I already loved the word, and it captured the purpose of the collection. Eventually, the collection became a company.
But the naming process can sometimes be difficult. I have enough side projects that I developed a process for naming things. One of these projects is a tool that helps you find your life’s purpose and carry it out. I used the following process to name my idea.
The Process of Finding a Name
Step 1 — Describe
To find a name, first you must find an identity. This includes words that describes the company, product, project, or even idea. Begin with these two questions that help describe the yet nameless thing.
What does it do?
It helps you search your soul with introspection.
It helps you find your life’s purpose.
It helps you create a plan based on that purpose.
It helps you create and take an oath based on that plan.
It helps you track your progress daily using your lock screen.
Who is it for?
People who use intellectual tools to improve their lives.
People who need help finding their life’s purpose.
Step 2 — Brainstorm
Next, create a list of words that capture the identity. Don’t do this all at once. Keep the list easily accessible and add every new idea that comes to mind over the course of a few weeks. Here is my brainstorm:
vital, inspire, purpose, oath, achieve, metric, life, story, within, mission, accomplish, prophecy, circle, meaning, blue print, success, self, matrix, lab, laboratory, milestone, achieve, utopia, mind, confidante, persistence, fate, dictate, meter, gauge, birthday, wish, elixir, influence, introspective, soul search, goal, complete, lock screen, ego, unsheathe.
Step 3—Mutate
Once you have a list of words, narrow it down to the ones you love. Of course, there is a high likelihood they are already taken. So now is the time to get creative. My brother explains it really well:
“Google” is a homophone of “googol.” “Yahoo” is an exclamation. “Bing” is an onomatopoeia. “Wikipedia” and “Pinterest” are portmanteaus. “Twitter” and “LinkedIn” are metaphors. Site names are also sometimes words modified in unusual ways. You can add a prefix (“metacafe”) or a suffix (“spotify”). You can omit a letter (“flickr”) or add a letter (“fiverr”). You can form compound words (“lifehacker”). You can use numbers (“4chan”). You can use proper names (“Craigslist”). And so on. -Farbod Farnia
Become an artist, take the ones you love and morph them into something original.
Step 4 — Investigate
Investigating is crucial.
You are not just looking to make sure a domain is available, you want to know if anyone else dominates the search engines when your name is searched verbatim.
From my brainstorm list, I chose my favorites, mutated, and investigated them. Here are my final four:
4. unsheathe became unsheathe.me
3. fate and dictate became fatedictate.com
2. life and meter became lifemeter.io
1. oath became oathify.com
Step 5—Consider Future Impact
Using my example, how do Lifemeter and Oathify differ in the future?
I think the difference would be in the utility. Lifemeter would become a goal tracking app that covered several aspects of life. Oathify would focus on creating a specific plan and executing it without distraction.
In my mind’s eye, Lifemeter was a prism and Oathify was a laser.
Step 6 — Choose
With further investigation I found many goal tracking and lifestyle improvement apps similar to the idea of a Lifemeter. Oathify seemed unique both in identity and in purpose. So I chose Oathify.
This process has worked so well that I have continued to use it for naming my other projects. I hope it helps you name yours as well.
This post is part of a series that helps new entrepreneurs conceive of and create a company. At the end of each post you can find part of The Founder Checklist, which I’m currently putting together.
The Founder Checklist
Identity
6-Steps to Naming Your Startup
Step 1 — Describe
What does it do? Who does it serve?
Step 2 — Brainstorm
List 20 to 50 words that relate to the description of your company. Give yourself a few weeks to brainstorm so you cover all the bases.
Step 3—Mutate
Choose your favorite candidates and morph them into something unique.
Step 4 —Investigate
You are not just looking to make sure a domain is available, you want to know if anyone else dominates the search engines when your name is searched verbatim.
Step 5 — Compare
Envision the future of the company with the final candidates. How are those futures different? Which future gives the company a better chance of success?
Step 6 — Choose
For updates on The Founder Checklist, please subscribe to my mailing list.
Thanks for reading.
