Marketing Expert in Residence, First Round Capital
EARLY ADVICE
The Core Truth
Great Names Do the Marketing Work For You
"A good name with a really great company with great company strategy, great marketing is going to be great over time. And a good name is just going to help you, but I don't think a bad name is going to kill a good company."
Great names are suggestive or evocative, not literal
When you reveal what the company does, the name suddenly makes perfect sense
Empty vessel names (Yahoo, Google) work, but require far more marketing dollars over time
The name's job is to do some of your marketing work—the rest is brand execution
Examples That Work
Names That Sell Themselves
Seesaw
Ed tech for elementary school. The name suggests something that goes back and forth between teacher, parents, and students. Nostalgic. Memorable. Once you know what it is, you think: "Oh, of course."
Maven
Cohort-based learning platform. Maven is a Yiddish word meaning "one who understands because they've acquired skills over time." Perfect for instructors teaching others their expertise.
Chrome
Browser name evokes the polished chrome area around the browsing window. As a designer, you immediately grasp the connection—it makes the product visible.
Volvo
Not about the logo or colors—it's about the company's purpose (protect humans in cars) and decisions (gave away the 3-point seatbelt for free). The name means safety because the company acts like safety.
The Brand Framework
4-Part Brand Strategy You Can Build in Weeks
1. Purpose: Why you exist, beyond profit. "We exist to blank." Should feel natural to say at a conference. Takes 10-year frame.
2. Positioning: How you're different from competitors. Malleable on 18-month frame for early companies.
3. Personality: How you show up in tone, copy, and culture. Not just visual—it's how you sound.
4. Visual Identity: Logo, fonts, colors. Important, but secondary to the above three.
Good purpose examplesGoogle: "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible."
Stripe: "Increase the GDP of the internet."
LogicLoop: "Make operations data work harder than operations people."
Process
How to Name a Company
Start with criteria: What is your product? What is the name trying to achieve? Get clear on both.
Brainstorm names that are suggestive, not literal. Evoke emotion, nostalgia, or meaning.
Test each name: When you tell people what the company does, do they go "Oh, that makes sense"?
Check trademark and domain availability. This adds time, but naming itself takes 3-4 weeks.
Don't overthink naming relative to brand strategy. A good name with great execution beats a perfect name with no strategy.
Time investment3 weeks for naming + a few more weeks for full brand strategy = massive time savings on website copy, positioning, hiring, and all future company decisions.
Contrarian Takes
Naming & Branding Myths
✗A great name has to describe what you doINSTEAD →✓ The best names are suggestive. When you reveal the company, people say "Oh, that makes sense"—not before.
✗You need the perfect name before you launchINSTEAD →✓ A decent name + great execution beats a perfect name + no strategy. Execution is what builds meaning over time.
✗Your brand guide should cover logo, fonts, and colorsINSTEAD →✓ Your brand guide should include purpose, personality, tone of voice, and 10 lines of potential ad copy. Visual comes second.
✗Empty vessel names (Google, Yahoo) don't work anymoreINSTEAD →✓ They still work—they just require more consistent marketing spend and time to build meaning. A calculated tradeoff.