Part 1/2: Adventures In Choosing 1000+ Business Names In 2 Years

part 1/2: adventures in choosing 1000+ business names in 2 years

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Podcast by Eddie Eastman
CEO Startup Streams

“We are here to kickstart your ecommerce ambitions by providing you with a range of ecommerce stores in the most popular niches whilst providing you with a fully functioning business complete with products to sell saving you time, money and effort in the process."

Podcast by Eddie Eastman
CEO Startup Streams

“We are here to kickstart your ecommerce ambitions by providing you with a range of ecommerce stores in the most popular niches whilst providing you with a fully functioning business complete with products to sell saving you time, money and effort in the process."

How to choose the best name for your new business?

This is the story and strategy of how we at Startup Streams; came up with over a thousand real world business names - including our own - and what you can do to find the perfect name for your business. We come up with 10x usable business names a day and have a 10x step framework to help us achieve this. Listen now to find out...

 

Podcast transcript 

This is the story and strategy of how we at Startup Streams; came up with over a thousand real world business names - including our own - and what you can do to find the perfect name for your business. We come up with 10x usable business names a day and have a 10x step framework to help us achieve this.

I understand that one of the most important and possibly the most difficult steps in starting a business is choosing a company name. Arguably, it could make or break your business.

Think about these top brands; Apple, Google, Facebook, Coke-Cola, Austin Martin, Virgin… each one resonates with you in a different way. However, these names differ; some names here are short and sweet, others are made-up words… how do you pick an awesome name for your own business which won’t suck? Let's find out...

On this podcast, we will discover, how to pick a name which can grow with your business, how to find out if your name of choice is available to use, make sure your name doesn’t have any unseen negative impacts to it, some business name inspiration and many hints and tips along the way… Let’s go.

 

Pick a name that can grow with your business, not something which gets bound to one meaning. 

Choosing a name that is too narrow can cause problems in the future. Imagine what would have happened if Jack Ma had named Ali Baba as “Buy shoes online” – that wouldn’t have worked out well because of the growth of his multinational business into different sectors. So please avoid titles like 'Pink Dresses', 'Mobile Gadgets'. 'London Jams' and 'Chicken Nuggets'. You don't want to limit your business to specific products or locations, just because your name says so. 

Our business name: As you may know, Startup Streams specialises in creating new businesses for sale. All stores currently include digital products to sell with master resell rights - the majority of products are ebooks. We considered having the word ‘ebook’ in the company name, but knew this would limit us down the line when we intend to expand our current offering.   

Make sure you take the same approach. 

 

Don’t be a vocabulary master – keep it easy to spell and pronounce:

Up to a quarter of your business promotion could be done by word of mouth – so go easy when choosing the right name. Pick out a list of names that are easy to spell and pronounce – make sure it resonates with your business. Don't make it complicated.

Lesson learned: I was involved in the early days with a startup called Olympvs which was set up by my brother. The company sells athletic fit jeans. The name, which is pronounced ‘olympus’ aims to relate to Mt.Olympus in Greece, the home of the greek gods. A quadriga was chosen as the logo icon for the company to solidify the link to the greek gods and the sense of being a “higher-level human” which we wanted our customers to feel when wearing our jeans. Guys buying our jeans have huge thigh muscles and spend most of the day in the gym, playing rugby, rowing or cycling so had impressive physiques they wanted to show off. This name and branding resonates well, as intended, but even though spelling the company name as Olympvs (which is great for SEO purposes), people are still mispronouncing it today. Maybe we should have picked something easier to pronounce and spell? Don’t make the same mistake.

 

Start up your next business in the EASIEST and FASTEST way possible...

Explore 100+ Pre-made businesses for sale:

'premium dog' ebook store for sale
Dog
‘guru’ marketing store for sale
‘fresh start’ keto diet store for sale
‘gym’ fitness store for sale

 

Your business name should have meaning or feeling about it

Ideally, you want your company name to reflect meaningful and positive information about your business. Can people immediately understand your business? Nonsense names like "Google" and "Yahoo" are attractive because they are catchy, but such names cause you to spend more money on branding and awareness. Your mission, purpose and story have a say in your business name. Think hard about what is that one short attractive word that delivers the meaning for your business and doesn't need mass marketing and global brand awareness to be a household name.

Our business name: For us, Startup Streams was an obvious win. I would like to think that it says what we do "on the tin" and can convey that we 1. Are involved with providing services for the startup community and 2. ‘Streams’ relates to revenue streams. Startup revenue streams = Startup Streams. I would also like to think that it expresses that multiple startup businesses are available to purchase from us - which they are.

 

Trademark search your business name

If you are based in the US, you can search USPTO.gov to see if you can get a trademark or service mark for your name, this can be all the help you need at this point. Double check that your name of choice is legally available. Just because the domain name is available, doesn’t mean that someone else has the legal right to it. 

Lesson learned: Early on in running Startup Streams, I wrongly named one of our businesses for sale, which sells digital social greetings cards, as 'InstagramCards.com'. Totally forgetting that Instagram is of course a trademarked name, Instagram's legal team discovered my domain name purchase which was linked to a Shopify store within 24 hours of the store going live. The legal team contaced Shopify who removed the store and shut it down immediately, without even contacting me first to request that I change the name. The business was a write-off. But it was a good job that a customer hadn't bough the store yet. Don’t make the same mistake. 

 

Find resources to generate thoughts

There are several sites online that can help you to generate business ideas: VisualThesaurus.com and Shopify Business Name Generator to name a few. I would however use the suggestions from the websites as inspiration for you to come up with something better, as the results should be taken with a pinch of salt. I personally feel that a business name is too important to be left to a free online app to make one for you, but it can be a good starting point if you are really struggling.  

 

To be continued...

If you are still struggling, we have an extra 5 tips for naming your business. Make sure you listen to the next episode, to not make the same mistake Facebook did when renaming to Meta, and how to find a name which motivates you...

Listen to PART 2