Hey, there.
Dan Martell here, a serial entrepreneur, investor,
and creator of SaaS Academy.
In this video, I'm going to share with you something
I thought I shot a long time ago and it seems like I never did--
how to name your startup.
So some tips and tricks, and be sure to stay the hour,
I'm going to share with you how to get access to my Idea
to Exit mini-course.
If you're thinking of starting a software company,
you're going to want to get access to this training.
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So the other day I was riding in an Uber with my buddy
Kevin and I said, hey, man, you working on a new startup?
And he's like, actually, I am.
I was like, awesome.
What's the name of it?
And he's like, well, I'm toying with a few different names.
I haven't really figured out the one that I'm settled on.
I was like, oh cool, so you're trying to name a startup?
He's like, yeah.
I was like-- and then he goes, so do you have any ideas?
And it was funny, because I realized
I had never shot a video on probably one of the first
and most important steps in building a company, which
is naming your startup.
So I started walking him through the different things
that I was-- that I've always kind of done
for my different companies, from Clarity
to Flowtown to Spheric-- and look,
I'm not saying that I got it right.
I'm just saying there is a process,
and as an investor in over 40 other companies and I've talked
to literally 5,000-plus other tech companies,
I feel like I've got a unique angle and approach.
So I'm going to share with you in this video
some tips and tricks that I shared with Kevin that he
took action on right away and that are not obvious.
That's the key-- I do not want to share things
that are obvious with you.
So here are five strategies for naming your startup.
Number one, align with your customer.
I mean, at the end of the day, you have to ask yourself,
whoever you're serving as a core customer or focus,
is does this name hurt you?
If I was building a security company
and I called my startup WeakSauce.com,
it's like, hey, welcome to the future of firewalls.
And we are WeakSauce.com.
I mean, it would just not work.
And I think sometimes--
I mean, these founders that are going
after mid-market enterprise customers
and they've got these playful, kid-ish Fisher-Price names--
and I get it when you're doing consumer, that makes
sense, or even SMB software.
But it does not make sense when you're trying
to go after the Fortune 2000.
So just think about aligning your name with your customers'
expectations or sentiment.
Number two-- don't be too specific.
One of my friends is sharing with me their--
one of the ideas for their new company, and one of them
was Auto BDR.
Well, BDR stands for Business Development Rep,
which pretty much has the customer
name or the type of customer you serve in the name, which
to a lot of people would be like, well
that makes a lot of sense, because then people
know exactly what we do.
Well yes, but in the early days of technology and startup,
what I've discovered is there is like a 90% chance
that the idea and the customer you focus on when you launch
is not the product or customer segment that
allows you to eventually succeed in business.
So the last thing you want to do is just pigeonhole yourself
into a very specific name that doesn't allow you to explore
the optionality of the product or the markets
that you might be able to serve.
Number three-- outcome-driven.
So what I mean by this is the best names are the ones that
essentially communicate the benefit
or outcome that a customer has using your product, OK?
And this is where I feel like I got lucky with Clarity--
and yes, it was Clarity.fm.
It was my previous company.
But I was-- it was like a late night coding session,
and then all of a sudden I was like,
OK, I really need to buy a domain for this project
I was working on.
And I just found this like Clarity.fm.
I was like, oh, it's broadcasting, it's voice.
Clarity is kind of what the essence of getting advice
from other people over the phone would provide,
so I just called it clarity.
And what has been amazing to see that go on
is that people saying, like, man, I really
get a lot of clarity from that call-- clarity, clarity.
It's like they can't even say like, I got a mentor because he
gives me clarity, or I need to find somebody and help
me get clarity.
Like all of a sudden the name ties back
to your product and solution, it's
like one of the best things you can possibly do.
So just think about what is the outcome or the feeling
or the benefit that the customer will have by using your product
and use that name.
It also allows it to be broad enough
for you to play around with it.
Think about Paypal, right?
It's like, initially, it was PalmPilot Money Transfer,
but then they realized, it's like,
well that's not really going to work.
There's not a lot of people who have PalmPilots.
It required you installing encryption software
on both ends.
And they kind of went a little bit further and discovered
email money transfer, right?
So I think that names that allow you
to focus on the outcome and the benefit
the customer's going to derive allows you to really explore
the solution to get them there, and really drives
the mental movie that the customer makes in their head
around your product and their problem.
And that to me is like the ultimate.
When a customer has a problem and they've--
and your name of your business has entered in and labeled--
like when I have this problem, this
is the company solving that, that's
when it becomes super powerful.
Number four-- don't buy the .com.
I have so many entrepreneurs reaching out saying, hey,
I've got this new company, here's what it's called,
and I can buy the .com for like $75,000.
Should I do that?
My answer, especially if you're starting off and cash is tight,
I do not think you should invest more than really $5,000
to, on the high end, maybe $10,000
for a really good domain, which is probably going to be rare.
Because at the end of the day, people
are going to discover your business through links.
It's going to be word-of-mouth, it's
going to be from you marketing, they're
going to click on an ad, they're going to find a blog post,
they're going to read about you, they're
going to see you speak on a stage,
they're going to hear about you in a podcast,
and somebody's going to link up your website.
So what's more important is nail the name,
find a domain that makes sense--
I mean, .coms are still good, like get something or this now.
And there's a bunch of different variations
that you can find online that people are using today.
But to me, it's like nail the outcome or the benefit.
And then just add whatever else you need on the domain
to get it to work.
And look, the truth is is the .ios, the .fms, the .tvs,
the dot whatever, you can go there initially.
And eventually, if you grow enough, you can buy the .com.
But I just don't think it matters anymore.
I think that most of the traffic you're going to get
is going to be linked.
And in those link, the domain is going to be already referenced.
So you don't need to get a very expensive .com
for your startup.
Number five-- have meaning.
If you are going to build this company,
it will consume your life, and it would be awesome
if you could come up with a name that also has a deeper
meaning to you or to the team or to the problem
that you want to solve, the right you want to see solved,
or the right you want to fix in the world, right?
So think about like, is there a meaning behind this name?
Even if it doesn't match or kind of accomplish
the benefit-driven or outcome-driven naming,
I think it's more important that for you,
as long as people can spell it--
I see sometimes people use foreign words
and other languages, and for them it
has incredible meaning around their heritage
and their lineage and all these things,
but it is really hard to spell or it's not obvious
how to even discover it.
Like if I hear the name and I can't phonetically
go to Google and search and hopefully
get it somewhat right that I discover your website,
then it's just going to be a total fail.
So yes, have meaning.
Yes, try to connect a meaning to it.
Maybe take some different names of people
and put them together.
And because I will tell you, like if this succeeds,
that will be your rally cry.
That name will be everywhere.
It's going to drive you.
You're going to wake up, you're going to be--
not being able to sleep thinking about your company
and figuring things out, and you want
a name that has real deep meaning, because it
will consume your life.
So real quick recap on some tips and tricks
for naming your startup.
Number one, align with your customer; number two,
don't be too specific; number three, outcome-driven names;
number four, don't pay for .com; and number five,
ensure that it has meaning.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I
want to share with you an incredible resource called
the Idea to Exit mini-course.
It's essentially a three-video series
where I unpack how to come up with the right software idea,
how to pre-sell it to your customer base,
to fund your development, to then
hire the dev and technical team, to build it,
and then onward to eventually if you want to exit the business.
You can click the link below to get access to that training.
That is a gift to you, just because if you're here
trying to name your startup, you're
probably looking for tips on how to scale and grow.
If you like this video, be sure to smash the Like button,
subscribe to my channel.
If there's anybody you care about the feel
that this video can serve, feel free to share with them
directly.
And as per usual, I want to challenge
you to live a bigger life and a bigger business,
and I'll see you next Monday.
Tips, tricks, and other things that start with T. [LAUGHS]
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