Startups - What's in a name?
Posted on July 21, 2014 by Emer O'Donnell
Have you ever wondered how a startup goes about selecting a name for their business? Often it seems they choose a name that reflects what the product does. Seems to make sense – yes? Yet when you are an early stage startup trying to find product/market fit that can be tricky. What if you pivot to a new industry or application of your product?
We often see the names of startup businesses changing as the product and market evolves. Often what works at the start is no longer applicable as you move to finding product/market fit.
And sometimes the name you originally chose means something to your audience that you never intended…
We recently worked with a company producing an app who had selected a name they believed reflected what the product did, and had a link to their target audience. Yet a colleague of mine commented the other day that she thought when first came across them they were producing a toiletry product!
Just goes to show – as well as testing your proposition with customers, it might also be worth testing the name!
