What To Name Your Startup? When you are so passionate about your venture, why should you name your dream just anything?
By Manya Jha
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Deciding upon a name is among one of the few things that are done when you think of starting up. Any business is started as a going concern; this means that once a name has been finalized upon, it has the probability of being into existence for years to come.
As an entrepreneur you are ready to sacrifice everything that comes on the way of setting up your venture. When you are so passionate about it, why should you name your dream just anything? Choosing a name for your startup is definitely not easy, but is worth spending time for.Name is the first thing that is spelt out whenever you are introducing yourventure.In the earlier days of establishment of any company name is just used as identification. However, over the years members work hard day in and out with the objective to make the name outstand the clutter. The most important question to be asked is - are you starting your business with the vision of making it a brand? If yes, then you must definitely spare some time to choose a name and then test it on different parameters before finalizing upon it.
I have noticed that some of the startups change their name just after a year of operation or so. Which makes me wonder, what makes them do so? According to me it might be confusing for their audience. Also, if not properly communicated the company loses on the reach that they had developed with the previous name.
When you are deciding upon a name for your company, you are not doing it just for yourself but it is going to affect so many future stakeholders of the company. For example, your employees should not be ashamed of mentioning the name of the company they work for. If you have not taken the pain of evaluating the name you give to your company, many a times and it can reflect upon your lack of attention for details and creativity.
On June 09, 2016, my venture which was started as a student venture celebrated its first birthday. During this year several people having various relationship with Morphedo have asked this question to the founders - Morphedo, how did you come up with this name? So let me tell you the story behind this.
We were during our research phase when we came up with a deadline for finalizing upon the name for our startup. We did not want the decision to be taken in haste, and hence, decided that we will at least give ourselves a month for the work. With this, our frequent nomenclature brainstorming sessions started. We defined a basic theme that the name would convey. We were going to enter into an industry (Additive Manufacturing) where it's all about designs, complicated shapes, and easy iterations in the production of those shapes. Hence, it was decided that name would revolve around easy conversion of shape/ form/ designs into real objects.
Via a friend we happened to contact a corporate legal consultant specialized in trademark. We were advised that we follow certain guidelines to refrain from trademark infringement. Keeping all her suggestions in the back of our mind, supplemented by our own research, we came up with a list of 5 words which would convey the theme.The names were then verified from an Intellectual Property consultant and there were no objection in using these names. Just like it is advisable to get your idea validated, it is also important that you get the names in your list validated.
We used simple random sampling methodology to survey 30 people and the respondents rated the names on the following parameters:
- Easy to relate to the domain of the business
- Easy to pronounce
- Easy to retain the name
- Simple and ear friendly
Based on the result, the name Morphedo got the highest ratings on all the parameters. Hence, it was decided as the name for our venture. We derived the name "Morphedo" from the word "Morph" which means smooth transition from one shape to another by using simple steps of computer designing techniques.
Your company is your creation. It only makes sense to work so hard that years down the line you should be proud of every single aspect of it.
