Start Something. Anything.

Rewind back to 2012, the year before the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. While doing my MBA, I interviewed for a marketing internship with a startup called PlaceFull.

I opened the door to an old brick building in Pioneer Square for my interview and in true startup fashion, there were team members building desks, setting up chairs, painting walls and pinning wire frames. I’ll admit that at first, I was a little skeptical. “Is this a real company?” Nonetheless, I kept an open mind and a couple weeks later, was hired on. Although uncertainty was at an all time high, I could afford the risk and building something from the ground up excited me. I was especially excited because soccer fueled me from childhood through college, I had yet to pinpoint a professional passion. I accepted it.

Working in the Seattle startup scene inspired me to get out and learn what products marketers were using, how founders were raising capital and how product teams were wiggling their way to product market fit. I attended marketing events and Seattle meetups, including Startup Grind, MozCon, Seattle Interactive Conference (SIC), New Tech Seattle and more. I also became an avid reader of any marketing book I could get my hands on. A few of my favorites are: 

• Contagious - Jonah Berger
• Hooked - Nir Eyal
• Purple Cow - Seth Godin
• Don’t Make Me Think - Steve Krug
• Youtility - Jay Baer
• The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
• The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

 Also, this article but Avinash Kaushik changed how I think as a marketer.

It was the aggregation of all these experiences that shifted a very important lesson to the front my mind. In order to stand out, be unique and discover your passion, most of us need to start something. Anything. It can be a non-profit, a band, or a photography business. The idea is up to you, but it’s unlikely that you will have an “aha moment” if you aren’t in pursuit of your passion.

My something was starting a niche blog that revealed the stories behind how tech brands got their names. I started, and am still writing, on topics like “Why is Expedia Called Expedia?,” Why is SnapChat Called SnapChat?,” “Why is Slack Called Slack?” You get the point. I like the process of researching and learning how the founder(s) went about selecting their name. Story by story, I also started to enjoy learning about those founders, where their ideas came from, their business models, how they gained traction, and the mistakes they made along the way.

Finding your content tilt takes time. I still remember my “aha moment.” I was riding the bus on my way home from work when I came across the story behind Google’s brand name in my Facebook feed. Prior to the story, I was constantly asking myself “What should I blog about?” 

So far the journey has been insightful, difficult, exciting, frustrating, you name it. Never did I anticipate hiring writers, going through multiple site designs, learning front end code and being included in Google’s featured snippet block (disappears from time to time:)). Starting something has created all these unknown learning experiences.

Through this adventure, I’ve identified a common dilemma that early stage founders are faced with, which has inspired me to go from a blog to a product.

 New Adventure: From Blog to Product

Today, I am excited to release a new beta product I have been working on for months. To some, this will be obvious. Along my blogging journey, I’ve learned how painful the naming process is for first time founders and even serial entrepreneurs. From my research, I learned that a high percentage of tech founders go about the naming process themselves or with their co-founders. Few rely on naming agencies because they are strapped for cash and take pride in the endeavor. I thought about building a brand name generator like these, but the market was flooded with them.

I determined that tech founders come up with hundreds of names, but often create a short-list of 3-5 names that they are seriously considering; however, they are unsure which name is best. This is the problem I am trying to reduce uncertainty for.

Click over to the new Rewind & Capture and see how we are scoring startup names, providing in-product naming tips and solutions to help founders select the strongest brand name among their short-list. In the end, we understand that not all the scores will be perfect, but that’s ok - we’ll iterate. What we truly hope is that users leave knowing something they didn’t know about naming before they arrived.

Progress = Passion

Through all of this, I have learned a lot, but one simple behavior stands out. I am passionate about making progress. This could be running a marathon, trying to rank on the first page of Google, building a product, creating an email drip campaign or studying for an exam. For me, it’s less about what the task is (of course there are things I don’t like to do), and is more about getting closer to the finish line.

I hope this post inspires you to start something. And remember, the hardest part is getting started.