New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

Fifteen years ago when I was getting ready to name my first company, I was really at a loss on how to go about the process.  Back then there was no such thing as Google and startup blogs and I had nowhere to turn for help for being creative and since I am not nearly as gifted on the creative side, I developed a step-by-step process on how to go about coming up with a name.  I've updated it somewhat over the years as follows:

Resources: Sit down with the following items and/or open up the necessary websites:

• Dictionary
  
• Thesaurus
  
• Bible
  
• Book of quotes
  
• Domain registration website
  
• Plenty of input from others in your brainstorming sessions
  

Process:

1. Coming up with all the key words:
   • First, write down all the words associated with your business (include the name of the industry, market, competitors, products or services you provide, what people use them for, etc.)  This should include key words from your company vision, strategy and mission statements. These words need to be consistent with what you do as a company.  Add any associated or related words such as synonyms.  The idea is get as many industry, market and product or service related words as possible.  It is too early at this stage to limit the list, so you want to put down all the words you can think of.  Obviously anything that is too vague or offensive should not be added to the list.
   • Second, write down words associated with how you intend to perform your business.  These words need to be consistent with how you deliver your product or service.  Make sure to include any words that you want the reputation of your company to be associated with, e.g. if you want to become the Wal-Mart of lawn care, words like Value, Low Price, would be important. This should include key words from your company values.
   • Third, write down any verses, phrases, quotes, etc. associated with any word already on your list (use variations on spelling too.) The less trendy, the better for an enduring business.  There were lots of businesses in the late 1990’s with “2000” in their name which immediately became outdated after the year 2000.
   • Finally, write down any final name part such as "partners", "group", "company" etc. that help finish off the name.
2. Testing the word combinations: Next, start placing the words together in different combinations and pairings in any order.  Start sorting and resorting and pairing different words and phrases to see what jumps out at you.
3. Narrow the list down to your top 10 – 20 name pairings and start searching for web domain availability.  Most of the domain name registration sites will help you think of creative ways of registering your name if the common form of it is already registered.  Since a good domain name that is easy to remember is important, you now need to trade off the name you love and the domain name availability.

Keep in mind that you can also provide a lot more definition of what you do and how you do it with your USP (unique selling proposition), which can be updated frequently and is usually written directly below your company name and logo.

Example:

When we were helping Nolan (one of our interns) name his new company -- SureHire USA -- the process went something like this:

Key word list:

Resourceful
Presto
Pronto
Snappy
Swift
Ready
Rapid
Accomplished
Adept
Ideal
Superb
Splendid
Amazing
Classical
Able
Qualified
Point
Intentional
Purposeful
Steer
Power
Powerful
Perfect
Precise
Faithful
Practiced
Neat
Directed
Better
Fantastic
Experienced
Agility
Workforce
Bull’s-Eye
Target
Targeted
Impact
Expert
Expertise
Inline
Online
Exact
Speedy
Lightning
Quick
Race
Fly
Zippy
Systematized
Apex
Zenith
Summit
Search
Placement Process
Quality
Consistent
On-Target
Efficient
Responsible
True
Intelligent
Choice
Helpful
Useful
Excel
Excellent
Skills
Flash
Special
Super
Superb
Pinnacle
Peak
Perfect
Top
Marvelous
Wonderful
Splendid
Fine
Royal
Glorious
Victory
Victorious
Ability
Smart
Right
Max
Maximum
Accelerated
Active
Agile
Fleet
Visionary
Productive
Virtuous
United
Professional
Pro
Activate
On-Point
Energy Professionals
Pros
Recruiters
Jobs
Staff Recruit
Hire
People
Precision
Accurate
Reliable
Fast
Quick
Dependable
Quality
Substance
Certain
Sure
Premier
Great
Fine
Treasure
Agreeable
Cognizant
Incredible
American
Spirited
Independent
Creative
Technical
Extraordinary
Innovative
Ingenious
Achieve
Active
Action
Force
Bright
Team
Partners
Solutions
Services
Recruiting
Company
Staffing
Personnel
Agency
Group
Corporation
Resources
Masters
Associates
Human Resources
Experts
People
Hunters
Bodies
Heads

Testing word combinations list:

Recruit Expertise
Rapid Action
Rapid Recruiting
People Pronto
Peak Performers
Accelerated Placement
Premier Placement
Premier Personnel
Purposeful People
Consistent Candidates
Excellerate
QuickHire
Sure Hire
Targeted Teams
InnovaHire
TopHire
AbleHire
AccuraHire
AccuRecruit
Top Recruit
SmartHire
HireRight
BrightHire
RightRecruit
RecruitPower
PowerRecruit
Hire Power
PowerForce
RightForce
BrightForce
SureHire
SureHire Solutions
SureHire USA
Hire Power Pros
Hire Power Agency
QualHire

Brainstorming and input from others: Nolan then sent out the list of name combinations to 20 or so of his friends and family members and had them rank the names.  This pared down the list to the top few names.

Domain name availability: Nolan then tested different domain name availability and arrived at a final short list of names he liked and potential domain names.

The final name was: SureHire USA
The final logo that Nolan designed himself was as follows:

The USP Nolan created was as follows:  Be Sure. Then Hire.

See Naming Your Startup - Part II