Before a new business commences operations, seeks investment, or is duly registered, a business name has to be selected by the founders. Choosing a great business name can go a long way to make or mar an investor’s interests in your new business. While the business model and viability is more important, some investors, after seeing a poorly chosen name on your business plan or pitch, could get turned-off if it doesn’t sound promising.
How then do you choose the right business name for your startup? What should you look out for when carrying out a name search? And what can turn investors off about your business name?
While there are many factors to choosing a great business name, focusing on avoiding the conditions that could hinder investors or consumers from connecting with your brand name the moment they see it is important. You need to know the key turn-offs and how they affect their thought process before you choose to go with the right name for your business.
That said, here are 5 things investors hate about your business name:
See Also: 10 Businesses You Can Start & Grow Everyday After 5 P.M
1). Words That Make No Sense Can Be Difficult To Brand:
Sometimes you may be tempted to use a name that makes absolutely no sense, both from the spelling and the pronunciation, simply because the name sounds cool. Unique as it may seem, some investors will either get mixed feelings about investing in your new business from the name or may request you change it.
These thoughts or feelings are mostly in no way to spite you, but majorly based on the fact that words that make no sense can sometimes be difficult to brand. To make a name like Google or Twitter get big, you’d need a lot of resources to back your business idea and model.
If you realise an investor may have previously been interested in your concept, but reduced talks after learning the name of your business, reach out to them to propose a better name for your company. Let them know how you trust their judgements based on how you’ve followed their business journey, and send them a couple of names you think are great & they should pick their best from.
By showing a little more effort towards changing the name to a more reasonable and attractive name, they could take you a bit more seriously.
2). Your Name Limits You To A Particular Product Or Service Line:
Using a name that states what you do as your business name can affect your business in the long run. When it comes to scaling the company to cover other product or service lines, it gets more difficult to let people know you offer those products or services.
A name that confines you to a specific product or service will cost you a lot more money to either rebrand or promote the other products or services you’re introducing.
When choosing a name for a business, choose a great one, but make sure it doesn’t restrict you to a particular product or service line.
See Also: How To Spot A Million Dollar Idea
3). Your Name Is Difficult To Spell:
If you run an internet company, then this must be a very important concern to you. If your business name is too hard to spell, people will have problems finding your website without going to Google.
Before you choose a name for your online business, make sure that when you pronounce it, people can almost immediately spell it. If they have problems spelling it after the second trial, it’s already a bad name.
Choose a name that’s easy to spell else, you’d lose a lot of valuable traffic (through redirections) to your competition.
4). Someone Has Already Acquired Your Domain Name On The Internet:
If the business you choose is not available online for a domain purchase, then you’re better off picking a different name.
This situation is based on specific factors. Internet companies are expected to have their domain names match their business names. As for businesses that don’t largely operate on the internet, this could be an exception.
If you run an internet company and are thinking of sending a business plan to a potential investor, ensure your business name matches your domain name. If it doesn’t, you’d come off as inexperienced.
See Also: 6 Legitimate Ways To Make Money Online From Home
5). Your Name Is Offensive To Someone Else’s Culture:
A word could mean over a thousand different things in many places around the world. This means the name you pick for your business, whether it’s an online or offline business, could determine how far it will scale.
Your operating business environment may be your locality or country, but scaling to other countries around the world could have serious implications. If your business is built to be a global brand, make a thorough research about the business name of choice before registering the company or pitching to investors.
While most investors may not pay initial attention to a name that may or may not sound racial, tribalistic, or offensive to other people’s cultures, it’s crucial you avoid it, so as to save high future rebranding costs.
What are your thoughts on these 5 things investors look out for in a business name? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
Hi Stan,
Your write up was well detailed, especially making reference to no. 5 about your business name being offensive to someone else’s culture. This particular problem does not only apply to investors but brand names offensive to other cultures also has a possiblity of hindering the prospects international trade. One of the instances that applies to this was when the American brand ‘Colgate’ tried to enter Argentina with its paste & mouth wash products in the early 90’s. The main reason it wasn’t accepted was because the literal meaning of Colgate in spanish (spoken in argentina) meant ‘hang yourself’ and so it did not launch there at the time. There are quite a number of reasons why a business name may not be feasible by investors as you have rightly mentioned, but for this reason, it is often not well thought out initially while also being oblivious to the attendant consequences..
Thank you for the contribution, Victor.
Hello and thank you for that wonderful information. I’m a technician and have knowledge of other businesses. I don’t want my business to be limited to only technical services, especially through the name (say something “tech”) pls what kind of name can I use to broaden my opportunity of getting involved in other business rather than being confined to just technical works or services and also when registering my business name and area of specialization can you advise on that also. Thank you again