Entrepreneurs: Fall Out of Love with the Name
by Miki Saxon
I read an article on naming a company or product, but it is the need to REname it that I want to focus on today.
Not when, why or what to rename it, but the founder resistance to doing so.
I work with both foreign and US entrepreneurs and although I’m not any kind of naming expert I’m often asked what I think of the product or company name (often one-in-the-same).
As a good wordsmith, I can spot many of the obvious problems described in the article, especially those that center on meaning, sound, spelling, etc. (I have no knowledge of legal stuff, other than knowing that domain availability is not sufficient.)
The resistance to any suggestion of name change is almost laughable—not just resistance, but umbrage—about the same reaction you would get if you comment unfavorably on a child’s name.
Yes, startups are often compared to babies and references to founders giving birth are common and no where is that more obvious than when discussing the name.
Falling in love with anything in your company, let alone a name, is never a wise move, since responding to your market is a big chunk of your success.
But strange as it seems, founders are more willing to pivot than they are to change a product name.
Go figure.
Flickr image credit: Jack Dorsey
