A VC in Vacationland

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Entrepreneurs anguish over naming their company.  Rightly so.  A good, basic name that describes the product can be a real help in attracting customers.  My daughter-in-law, for example, named her reusable drink sticker company clinQs, as in clinking glasses together. The name is easy to remember, relates to the product and the guy to the right ought to have one on his glass to prevent someone else making off with his expensive Cabernet at the party. 

There are three things to remember in naming your company:

Keep it simple: Long names are a hassle to remember and to type into the computer. Try and keep the letter count at five if possible.  Go for memorable, rather than some weird combo of letters.

Keep it relevant:Your name should relate to either to the product or to the audience. Or go with the flow.  Youthful sites are all about adding "ster" such as hipster.comto their names, just like biotechs search in Greek or Latin dictionaries for a root word that has something to do with their product.

Keep it inoffensive–check the spelling to make sure you are not insulting the Chinese, Muslims or some other ethnic group.

Dotomator is an interesting site found by one of my entrepreneurs.  You can play around with all sorts of names and domain registrations (.com, .org) options to see if your bright ideas are already taken.  You can also use their random name generator to give you interesting name options.  The site lets you know if any name is taken and can connect you with a service to negotiate a sale price from the owner, if the name you have chosen is a "must have".  And remember that other entrepreneurs have already registered millions of possible web site/company names, hoping to make money off you by selling you the rights.

Need some examples of bad names?  Here is a list that has been circulating on the web:

These are not made up. Check them out yourself!

1. 'Who represents' is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is: www.whorepresents.com

2. 'Experts Exchange' is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at:

http://www.expertsexchange.com/

3. Looking for a great pen? Look no further than ‘Pen Island'. It can be found at:  http://www.penisland.net/

4. Need a therapist? Try 'Therapist Finder' at: www.therapistfinder.com

5. Then there's the 'Italian Power Generator' company. Check it out at: http://www.powergenitalia.com/

6.'IP computer' software, there's always: www.ipanywhere.com

7. And the designers at 'Speed of Art' await you at their wacky Web site: http://www.speedofart.com/