Part 3: How to Launch a Startup (or How Not to!)

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Documentary continued....

Here at HF, we're launching a startup - Be Your Own CFO. I've decided to document the journey in this newsletter. Will our man make it to the other cliff? Your guess is as good as mine.

Part 1 - The Idea

While driving on vacation out West, I brainstorm a new business idea. It's a low-cost program for entrepreneurs and accountants who want to take their financial management skills to the next level.

Part 2 - Critics!

Critics throw so much cold water on my idea I almost need a raincoat to stay dry. But in the end, I realize my critics are my friends. The people who believe in my idea give hope, but the critics provide a realistic plan.

Part 3 - Choosing a Name (And Nearly Going Crazy)

As a father of eight, I've known for a long time naming is NOT fun.

So, from the moment the Be Your Own CFO idea first struck, I knew Priority No. 1 was finding a name.

There are at least three problems with naming a company like BYO CFO:

1. Even on a good day, the idea is hard to describe. Some of my target customers don't even know what a CFO is.
2. If you actually do come up with a good name idea, GoDaddy's website domain name search instantly crushes it. I'm sure I typed in at least 50 name ideas that generated the sinking response: "Sorry, this domain is taken."
3. A name that coincides with an available website requires out-of-the-box thinking. Out-of-the-box thinking is a VERY slippery slope with a deep river at the bottom.

As noted in Part 1, my first thought was DIY (Do-it-Yourself) CFO. I typed in diycfo.com. Of course, "Sorry, this domain is taken."

I decided to push further and went so far as to purchase GoDaddy's $70 domain broker service to reach out to the diycfo.com owner. I soon got an email from Richard at GoDaddy:

Around that time I struck on Be Your Own CFO, or BYO CFO. I liked it immediately. It had a good ring, and was kind of a tagline, program description, web domain and business name all in one.

I typed it in to GoDaddy. Voila! beyourowncfo.com was for sale for--ooomph--$12,888.

I reached back out to Richard. He replied:

Do "we see the value to proceed?" That indeed was the $6,000 question!

I'm entrepreneurial, but also cautious. I don't like spending big money on something that could be free if you just came up with a different name.

I spent deep mental energy on names for nearly a week. It was a vicious cycle. I'd think of a name, rally around it for a while, then compare it to BYO CFO and feel bad about my name.

I snapped up cheap related extensions like beyourowncfo.co. If I couldn't afford .com maybe .co could work? Or maybe it wouldn't.

What if we added "the" or "s" to certain domains (diycfos.com, or thediycfo.com). Maybe add a bunch of words like thediycfonetwork.com. Maybe that would work. Or, maybe it wouldn't.

The mental agony continued. Unfortunately, it was only the beginning.

At 4:17am on August 10, I emailed Richard from bed:

Six days later I received this response:

The world of domains always seemed sketchy, and this didn't increase my faith. I had a mental picture of GoDaddy and the "other party" coolly strategizing how they could best work me over.

Oh well, I thought, I am this far in, what's a few more thousand? I agreed to Richard's proposal to offer $9,500 and nervously waited.

I Learn Hard Lessons About Trademarks

On Thursday, August 18th, I was sitting in my office, still waiting. On a whim, or more correctly, by the grace of God, I reached out to an attorney and asked if he knew of any good trademark attorneys I could talk to.

He set me up with Patrick Bergin and on Friday (as I still waited to hear from Richard) we talked.

It was a painful but extremely crucial call. Pat explained how everyone in business has common-law trademark rights to their business name. You don't need to file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You just naturally have these common-law rights.

Unfortunately, if someone was using a business name before you were, they have the common-law trademark rights and you don't. An exception was if your businesses serve distinctly different geographical areas. For web-based businesses, that's a hard argument to make.

Ouch. During my research I'd noticed another company marketing a Be Your Own CFO course/Facebook Group. It was a bit different from my idea, but certainly used the name. They were using the domain be-your-own-cfo.com (note the dashes).

This company clearly had common-law trademark rights to the Be Your Own CFO trademark.

I asked Pat: "So if I buy beyourowncfo.com and start Be Your Own CFO as a competing company, what's the worst case scenario?"

"You could get a Cease and Desist letter demanding you discontinue use of the name and web domain."

"Are you saying my $9,500 web domain would then be worthless?!!!"

Pat calmly replied: "It's actually worse than that. Often as part of a settlement agreement you would GIVE THEM your domain name in exchange for them not suing you for damages."

Whoa!

Later that afternoon, I talked to Richard at GoDaddy. "They came back with an offer of $10,400," he told me.

"Whew!" I exhaled. "I'm running into trademark issues and might need to back out of this."

I'd been spared, and it would only get more interesting.

My Cash Situation Gets Even Worse

That Saturday I had a lot to ponder. I don't like living on the edge of law and I don't like living with risk. I'd rather buy the competing domain name and trademark, than live in fear of everything going up in smoke.

On another whim, I emailed the owner of be-your-own-cfo.com, to see if she would sell the domain and trademark rights.

She was very cordial and pleasant. She had started the program in 2015 and was willing to consider offers. For the sake of confidentiality, I won't disclose figures, but I soon knew what my outlay needed to be if I wanted her trademark rights.

It was not an inconsequential figure.

I was starting to chicken out on Be Your Own CFO. Surely there had to be a good name I could just grab for free.

I put a Slack message out for the team at Hoover Financial where I work:

I received a few feeble suggestions, but not enough.

That unleashed a torrent of names from all angles. Some highlights:

1. CFO to Go: "Supersize your finances!"
2. Enlightened Finance.
3. Semi-pro CFO.

Some of the suggestions proved my point about the slippery slope of name ideas:

1. Weed CFO: Take your accounting to the next "level" (quotations added).
2. MAFIA: Making Accounting and Finance Intuitive for All.

Note: Don't mess with our common-law trademark rights on these names. (JK!)

I thought long and hard myself and added a few more names to the list. These included Saturday CFO, Weekend CFO, Budget CFO, Self-Taught CFO, Profit Prof, CFOhelp.me, etc.

Each new idea would grab me for awhile and then I would compare it to Be Your Own CFO and wilt.

I Finally Make a Decision

After more than a week of agonizing thought and mind-spinning cycles, I knew I needed to do something.

Every time I tried to abandon Be Your Own CFO, I didn't even know what the second place option was. Yet every time I mentally accepted the outlay for Be Your Own CFO, the risk-averse accountant in me came out swinging.

One by one, the key people around me suggested it was likely time to bite the bullet. The final straw was when my generally frugal wife said, "It's probably time to just do it."

Finally, on the evening of Tuesday, August 30th, I made the mental decision to go ahead with Be Your Own CFO. I made the decision and then slept over it one more night to see how I'd feel.

In the morning, I felt better than ever. At 6am, I snapped up beyourowncfo.com. Side note: After not hearing from me, they had agreed to accept my $9,500 offer. Sometimes it pays to be hesitant.

Panic

Next I sent an email to the owner of the common law trademark, accepting her offer. I eagerly waited for acceptance of my acceptance. Crickets.

Always before she had replied promptly. Had she gotten cold feet? Was she ghosting me just to make me sweat?

The day drug on in agony. Finally, in the afternoon I re-emailed, just to confirm she'd gotten my first email. Crickets again.

The next morning, Thursday September 1, she apologetically replied. She'd been busy, and yes, we had a deal!

After 36 days of agony, we had a name. And not just a name, but common-law trademark rights back to 2015.

I'm well into five figures on an unproven idea, without a single customer.

That's the kind of challenge an entrepreneur loves. I am at peace.

(Side note: If this story has jiggered thoughts about your own trademark situation, I'd recommend a call to Pat Bergin. He's the rare attorney who actually picks up the phone.)

Thursday, plus an important notice:??

Thursday the documentary continues, Lord willing, with Part 4: A CPA Can't Decide How to Structure His Own Startup.

IMPORTANT: I'm planning to release Part 4 on both LinkedIn and the "new" newsletter email list. After that, future documentary posts will be delivered via the new email list only. Sign up now for uninterrupted delivery!

For You: FREE Business Tax Strategy Meeting

Be Your Own CFO itself is running ahead of the documentary by quite a few steps. To help kick off the program, Tyler and I are planning a live 45-minute Zoom presentation titled: Business Tax Strategy for Entrepreneurs. It will be geared to owners of small and mid-sized companies.

This is scheduled for Wednesday, October 19 at 11am Central, Lord willing, and is totally free in exchange for an email address. Secure your spot in this highly practical session today!