Desktop Clearout Begins
As I mentioned yesterday, I have a heap of links and stuff I've been meaning to pass on to you for ages now. Over the next week or so I will clear them all out.
Starting with something no less apt now than when Erwin first showed it me. The New Media Company Generator. Now what shall my new company be called? CrazyPiranha? WildMonkey? ThirstyPixel? But seriously. I know it doesn't really matter that much but what about Jake Howlett Design or CodeStore Consulting? So many decisions. The last company I was director of was called Epsilon IT Systems ltd. Not exactly catchy!
On the subject of companies, things are definitely in motion. I have a call today with my local Business Gateway and have been getting a lot of advice from you guys too. I have to thank you all, not least of all Richard Spence of BlueTrail (Did they use the name generator I wonder?), Adam Crawford, David Clark, Chris Toohey and any others I may have left off. I do appreciate it.
Finally, a link from Jeffrey Condon of IBM. He's in the developerWorks Marketing department and wants me to bring the expanding list of Domino articles to your attention. Jeffrey's been mailing me for a while now with useful links. I always assumed he was a friendly developer on the inside. Only now do I find out he's in marketing! I told him how annoying it is having to login to the tutorials every time and he's passed it on to the usability team, who apparently agree.
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Only one name would be the right one for your company. Codestore! You already have a good solid image around that name so why change it?
And no reason for adding "Consulting". Your customers will call your future business Codestore anyway.
Codestore sounds like a website (which it is!) it doesn't sound like a company.
Jake Howlett Design is just naff. Don't put design, interactive, or new media in any company name. Otherwise it makes it sound like it'll go bust within a week.
If anything simply shorten it make it easy to remember for example "JHD" - of so if said as a word it does sound like a holy war - but hey.
how about Codestore Jake Design, or CJD for short?
Ha ha Mr Womble, you really are a mad cow aren't you...
Checked codestore on companies house website and you're ok - you have a good name there - stick with it ie. CODESTORE LTD.
I'm currently trying to think up a name for my upcoming venture as well but no joy so far!
How about Jakes House of Hacks? ;-)
Or, mm, Erots-edoc. Funny, e-doc is code backwards... I have no idea what an erots is. Sounds funny though, ee-raht-zee-doc. Just wierd enough to be trendily upscale.
Or maybe you could take the codestore icon and expand on that - c-square or square-c. That's how American ranchers used to do it... name their ranches things like 'double-bar', 'triangle-D', etc.
Definitely skip things like 'dot' 'com' 'biz' 'media' 'o-matic' 'notes' etc... I think Double-6 has one of the best names for domino work... but you're not going to limit yourself, we could safely presume.
I personally like Datatribe Softwerks because it always gets red squigly underscoring in Word. :-)
Jerry
First off, thanks for the link!
Second, and more importantly, I'd use CodeStore Consulting. I would also use that case as well - you're now CSC for short. (That also makes for a somewhat symetrical logo design!)
If you act now, codestoreconsulting.com is available ;-)
-Chris
How about 'Bootleg Coders'?
A little anagram with codestore and blog.
;)
-> Chris,
You are right about, "CSC for short. (That also makes for a somewhat symetrical logo design!)"
But i dont thinnk these guys {Link} will like the idea.
Well, there's a UK-based Domino Guru {Link} and me... and we don't duke it out! ;-)
Seriously though, I'm not saying that he name the company CSC, but rather that would be the business guy reference. Also, there are HUGE benefits IMHO when you *don't* name a company after yourself... "Jake Howlett Design" sounds, again IMHO, like a business run out of someone's flat. While this very well may be the case, it plants a seed of doubt in the would-be client's mind as to the professionalism of the services and product that would come from such an organization. While I wish it wasn't the case, the business world can be shallow like that!
-Chris
-Chris
How about Code Consulting, or Code Services, or something like that? You've got Code STORE (which is web site you designed to be a storing place for code).
Now you're adding your self as a service to others, completing the "Code" suite of services offered by Jake Howlett.
I think you've got a good branding case already underway with the word CODE, why not be off and running?
Jess :-)
Go for Codestore Ltd, you've got a huge marketing advantage using it and it sounds really well.
Good luck, you deserve to be successfull !
Businesses only exist to solve their customers problems.
It might be a good idea for your company name to focus on this idea. You should definitely include your 'codestore' brand.
Perhaps something like
'codestore solutions' . This would also be slightly broader in conception than 'consulting' and allow you to include other functions under the same rubric.
Thanks all. I'm getting the impression you think I should include the codestore "brand" in the name. Not keen personally. If I could I would never have used the name in the first place. I don't like it. It's ok for what this site is - a code store - but no good for anything else.
Imagine a approach a client completely outside of this site, who knows nothing of its existence. What would they make of the name codestore?
Personally I like the idea of having a generic name and then having things like CodeStore Consulting as a "trading name".
A food store is a place where a customer comes to buy food or get advice on food products, why would it be different with a "codestore" ?
and think twice about the reputation of your website, you MUST use it !
Gaston
Just invent a squiggly looking graphic and call your company "Squiggle - the Consultant formerly known as CodeStore"
His name is Jake, and he is funky!
It's more likely that you would get work from someone _because_ of the website, rather than from someone who had never heard of it.
(From an American perspective codestore does sound like someplace you Buy code.)
Maybe you could use the 'slash' method to add something to the name to come up with one that you feel better about.
"Codestore/Howlett Ltd.'
Codestore is a strong identity, albeit to a relatively small growd of people, but given you were touting for business here earlier in the week, its something your potential customers would identify with. Codestore Ltd if you go that route, no need for additions.
Your right that to someone who doesn't know about the site they wouldn't know what to make of it, but then all new media names are like that!
When I named my company, I was keen on Domino development, but didn't want to restrict myself to that. I've always been involved in copying data around, so 'Replicated Solutions' was a good compromise, although some of my friends took it to mean that I was blagging other peoples software!
I wouldn't got for 'design' type suffixes, makes you sound like a poncy brand type, PR that sort of thing, which probably its wht you do. People always like 'solutions', and solutions providers have devalued if a bit over the last few years.
'systems' is for people who do hardware as well.
You could always go for 'Jakes Advanced Systems Supplies' or 'jakeass' for short!
I agree with the 'codestore consulting' emphasis from Gaston. Any Domino shop worth working for has someone who has visited this site. Your reputation preceeds you and it will get your foot in the door. After that point, it doesn't matter what your co. name is.
Michael
Hmm... I think I might start a company called "Blagging Designs" considering the code I've adopted from Jake.
Jake,
2 things.
1) If you're planning on working alone, you're company name will mean little to the people you are marketing to. Go with something that you like, something that makes you smile when you say it. Something that breaks the ice a little when introducing yourself to a prospective client
2) If you're trying to build a company with more consultants than just yourself, I would recommend leveraging 'CodeStore' for the time being. You can always rebrand the whole shooting match down the road, you may as well take advantage of the name you've built.
codestore!!!
codelogic
howlett group
codekaj (code+jake backwards)
codebuilders
codev ltd
jwad (jakeswickedassdevelopment)
Jakes Groovy web thing yeah ltd....
Sorry drunk
Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net, Inc?
Æthelstan and Son Farriers and Fishmongers PLC?
Not A Cheese Shop, Ltd?
If you must use the Generator, then "InteractiveEel" is the best of the bunch. It has just the right amount of "what was he smoking?" in it.
Your best asset would be your name, except that there's a "J. Howlett and Associates" financial research firm (www.howlett-research.com), a "Howlett Associates" in Southamptom, and so forth, so just about everything involving your "grown up" name and a "respectable" company description will lead people astray. You do google to the top on "Jake Howlett", where your blogs (CodeStore and jakehowlett) come to the fore. Face it, Jake, CodeStore is what rises to the top whenever anyone tries to find out anything about you. Better to leverage it than to start off as a blank.
1) Power of brands is repetition. Codestore has x million hits per day?
2) Codestore's name includes it's USP: you already have a large store of codes, so you will develop three times faster than an ordinairy developer.
3) CodeStore: "Codevelops with you!" as a pay off. You are full of bright ideas and you seem to listen well to the wishes of your customers.
Good luck. Nothing is more fun than to start your own company. The first year is usually the hardest, but also the one you will look back upon with the best memories.
You all keep telling him to use codestore because it■s an already well known name. But surely it's only well known by people who visit it. Thus it won't make a difference if he calls it this or that. He can just smack a link on the top of this site to advertise his professional venture, and anyone who does visit this site will then associate it with his new company.
Personally I think you should drop codestore as a business name. People who don't know the difference will only get this site confused with your company. And then they'll start to wonder who the hell they're dealing with. Plus wouldn■t you then have to drop this site ■ really?
I wouldn't bother putting "solutions", "systems", ■media■, ■interactive■, "leprechauns" or anything like that on the end of the name. There are so many businesses with those damn things on that I'm sick of seeing them. There's nothing different about them - and they all just reek of "bedroom start-up".
Go for something short & sweet, memorable ■ with maybe a hint of humour (but don■t look like a clown) don■t relate it to domino otherwise your pigeon-holed.
Look at your name. See if you can maybe make something interesting out of it, by splicing your first and last name together, mixing it up ■ leaving last letters out etc. If nothing comes from that start doodling ■ maybe just come up with a logo first and then try and fit something to suit the logo.
It■s not easy creating a brand ■ which is why there are companies specially setup for doing it. And it■s a multi-million pound business.