Business Opportunities Weblog

Do Stupid Names Hurt Startups?

By on September 12, 2007 in Ideas


Wired:

The search for a unique corporate name and identity may be backfiring in the Silicon Valley.

Wakoopa, Frengo, Squidoo or Meebo all might be acceptable if they were exceptions to the rule.

But when every startup in the Valley begins opting for whimsy (and a non-stop barrage of vowels) for their handles instead of, well, making sense, the results can be less than desirable.

“Naming a company is like naming a celebrity,” serial entrepreneur Jared Kopf told the L.A. Times, adding that “made-up words don’t come with psychological baggage.”

While that may be true, naming experts say we’re fast approaching the tipping point for goofy naming schemes as more and more companies opt for names that sound more like the utterances of constipated toddlers than legitimate businesses.

“Now it’s almost like fashion styles, all these vowels and unpronounceable made-up names,” said Steve Manning, managing director of Igor, a naming company in San Francisco.

“You cannot possibly remember one from another.” Trying to be unique is one thing, but if we’re at a point where potential multimillion-dollar investors can confuse Imeem with Imbee, that certainly spells trouble.

Photo by Wakoopa, Frengo, Squidoo.

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Rich Whittle has added 6,226 posts to Business Opportunities Weblog.

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  • Dan West

    There’s a company called TWAT (TW Allison Training) they didn’t think through that name! ha ha

  • Bobbi

    @Dan, I checked out TWATs – twallison training and they are in China. Probably unfamiliar with the slang meaning of twat! I was imagining the receptionist saying, “Good morning TWAT. How can I help you?” “WHAT YOU CALL ME?!”
    That must piss customers off no end.

  • http://www.antal.com Graeme Read

    This is the second time I have heard about this company this week. Are they the same company that was involved in the IPR lawsuit?

  • ronnie hua

    there are so many english schools in china. some have really weird name, but twat is the worst I have heard.

  • titan67

    I know this company they are from GuangZhou. TWAllison Training is their name and owner is teh forenger. Why did they call teh company twat? Isnt this a rude word in English???!!

  • iownu

    TW Allison Corporate Training should be TWCT

  • billy qiu

    I know this company TW Allison but I didnot know that they called them selves TWATS. I know that is a bad word in English.

  • http://www.twallison.com Michael Allison

    Some of the posts here are absolutely hilarious. First off, our company’s name is TW Allison Corporate Training. For all of you acronym officiandos, that would be TWACT. Perhaps some of you are unable to spell or may just be blind, or as is quite obvious regarding some of your posts, you are still like pre-teens on the playground who somehow find it amusing to make jokes about female bodyparts. I feel for those of you in this latter category.

    Secondly, we are not an English school, we are a corporate training provider and we work with some of the largest MNCs who have operations in China.

    Third, @ Graeme Read, we have never been involved in a IPR lawsuit and never will be. That was a rumour being spread by none other than Morry Morgan, the former GM of ClarkMorgan Corporate Training, who I used to be employed with. The only company involved in ripping off others IPR is his company, and if you’d like proof, feel free to contact me and I’ll send it to you.

    Some of you guys really do need to get out more and grow up!

  • grekkos88

    Michael,
    You might be talking too soon about ‘never’ getting sued. Your comment is libelous since you are naming an individual and accusing him/her of committing an offense while presumably there has been no court ruling on the matter. Therefore I recommend that you remove your comments to mitigate your actions and hope the named individual doesn’t find out. You also might want to change your company name to something more appropriate. I don’t recommend ‘TWA’ since that is a bankrupt airline and ‘TWAT’, as you state is ‘pre-teens’.

    best regards,

    SG

  • http://www.antal.com Graeme Read

    Michael,
    I assume you are the ‘Allison’ of TW Allison Training. My suggestion is not to get so emotional on this issue, since your comments only fuel this post, and therefore promote the link between your company and the aforementioned acronym (yes, it is immature).
    Best stay calm, and ride it out and by doing so, avoid, as SG says, any slander in the process.

  • titan67

    @Graeme- Tw Allison teaches emotional intelligence!!!

  • Frank

    The TWATs truly are twats. Michael threatens everyone with law suits yet I know that he has foreign staff working for him that do not have proper work permits and are thus working illegally. Last I checked there were fines in the order of 100,000 for that sort of thing. Maybe a couple of spot checks to see how it feels.

    For a good laugh read the TWAT owners online book Everyone A Leader, http://www.twallison.com/html/News/leader/
    He only got to about the 3rd chapter after 4 years of writing, if it every gets “self published” you will be sure to find it under the comedy section.

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