Ask HN: Startup naming | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Startup naming

5 pointsdakoller4 comments

Hi,

my cofounder and I are about to start a startup: we have a good impression, how our MVP might look like and we also have a quite clear & partly validated view, who might buy it for the first service. (which is a service for individual consumers btw.)

The issue is: we don't have a proper name for the startup yet and ask for advice on how to go on there. (we found that even other companies use e.g. interesting URLs ;-)

We have a good naming for the first service, which will grow out of the MVP, but we feel that putting the name of this first service on top of the whole company might limit us later. (as future planned services would not quite fit under this name) Customers for these other service (likely) wouldn't search for us under the name of our first service. (but this is an untested assumption) We expect only a little or no overlap between the customer segments of our services.

So we see the following options: - start the first service as a standalone service (with own url etc.), coin it like "XYZ - a service from ABC company", and (maybe) connect the web presences of the different services later.

- come up with the current company naming proposals (even if they are not the best names), establish a company web presence and put all the services below it (like XYZ-Service.ABC-company.com) and (perhaps) rename the company later.

What is your advice? Are there other good/bad examples, where a company markets its products in a standalone manner? Do you specifically have any hints, on how to deal marketing-wise with domain name changes?

Kind regards,

Daniel

1. It sounds like you are talking about two different companies/start-ups. If they are not truly linked, than treat them as two different companies.

2. To use "endorsement branding" like "XYZ - a service from ABC company" is for many reasons not viable for a start-up. Take the user/buyer perspective: Why are they telling me this if the two services are not related? What brand should I remember?

3. If you use a generic describing name on your company that is to narrow to be an umbrella for all related services, then you have a real problem. The company "BestNewYorkTaxis" will have a problem expanding into Boston...

4. Always check that your new business name is not confusingly similar to an existing trademark. You can do that comprehensive trademark search for free at our site http://www.markify.com/

Benoit

It's not that you can't expand with #3, it's just more difficult.

A friend of mine runs onlyattech.net. It was initially launched for Georgia Tech students, and then when it came to expand, they became the "Only At network" and got onlyatuga.net and onlyatuf.net

Of course, in the taxi example who's to say that BestBostonTaxis isn't already taken? You'll end up spending a lot to keep your branding and moving into a new network.

I think there becomes confusion when a company looks at each service as a separate company. It is true while having one encompassing brand name is best practice, having distinct names for product lines and services is imperative. Each one of these products or product lines over time will become its own brand. Apple, Google and 37 Signals are major brands in the tech world to model yourself after.

Additionally, don't fall in the trap of naming your company a weird alteration trying to define your service. Building a brand is about creating a name people identify with a service. The goal is to make it easy for people to remember.

As a startup you can effectively build only one brand (and even this is quite hard), so even if you chose a second name for the company, don't put too much stress on it. You'll be selling the service's brand all the time.

You don't want to water down the message by introducing clutter (i.e. two brands). And also, people won't care.

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