Ask HN: Should I change my company name and domain to a proper spelling? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I change my company name and domain to a proper spelling?

12 pointsjoshontheweb25 comments

I recently launched a SaaS app called Zencastr (http://zencastr.com). At the time of launch I didn't own zencaster.com. I have since bought it but now am wondering if it is worth switching over.

It would be a significant amount of work to change everything. I'd have to go through all my copy, get new email accounts set up, change any references in the code, get another ssl certificate, try and get the corresponding social accounts, reprint promotional material/banners/cards used for events etc.

I redirect zencaster.com to zencastr.com so I don't lose any traffic that way. I guess I am wondering if it will be more professional and give more confidence to potential customers? What would you do? Is it worth it to invest the time to switch and risk confusing people in the process?

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I would stick with having zencaster.com redirect to zencastr.com, and keep your current name/trademark. I think this is a fair compromise and probably your best bet.

For what it's worth, I prefer Zencastr over Zencaster.

I strongly agree with you. After Paul Graham's 'Change your name' essay lots of startups have been having sleepless thoughts about naming. Dude just offer an amazing service! When you hit product market fit, then maybe u can change your name! then, ur users will follow u. Product market fit is the key. I recently decided to stop being bothered about my http://classroom.ng (unified and uncluttered inbox for educative email subs you care about and can't miss), because no one will see a .com fro less than $10k ... Focus on users. look at Yahoo! Who knew?

I guess I should feel lucky. I got zencaster.com for $1100.

Right now, this very minute, is the #1 priority for you, you as a founder, building the product or building the company?

If the priority is building the product, then changing the name is entirely a distraction. Get back to work. The critical part of a name change, acquiring the resource is done. All the bureaucracy can be JIT'd until it matters. If the priority is building the company, delegate or outsource the grunt work when the name is having an impact on growth. Right now, fry bigger fish.

Changing the name is always easier than the real work that matters.

Good luck.

I don't know why this is the top comment but:

http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html

The "top remark" in Graham's remarks:

  If you have a US startup called X and you don't have x.com,
  you should probably change your name.

That's not the case here. The advice on changing names is narrow. The easy part of a future name change, picking a new name has been done. The hard part, getting the domain is also done. The bad part, opportunity cost, can be avoided until the company is big enough that there are staff to handle the name change as a normal part of their collateral duties. The description of "playing house" in Before the Startup [1] is sort of implied in the question.

As they say, " All happy companies are happy in their own way." The details matter both in Graham's essays and in the applicability of any action for any particular startup.

[1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/before.html

Thanks for the advice. What you say makes sense and I believe you are right on this. I'm going to leave it for now. Once the more important things out of the way I can reconsider changing then.

What would I do? Depends on how far along I was in the project and if I had customers. If I was just getting started, hadn't launched, and didn't have any customers, I would probably change the name.

That doesn't sound like the case with you though. In your case I would keep it just the way it is and redirect to your current name. With the email addresses, just set up a relay for the addresses.

Over time you could always change. For example, as your SSL certificate expires, renew for the new domain. In the meantime I wouldn't stress about over changing.

Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning this way. I suspect that if I don't change it now, I probably never will as it will only get harder. Probably doesn't matter that much though.

Don't bother. Just redirect, carry on. Food for thought: micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/08/how-aflac-got-its-name.html

Keep in mind, they are a multi billion dollar company and did not bother.

Best of luck.

Someone could probably make an entertaining book telling how companies got their names. I always enjoyed how an early employer of mine, Callan Data Systems, got theirs.

As you might guess, Callan was the name of a founder (Dave Callan). However, he was just one of three equal co-founders. Another will Bill Pohlman (probably best known as the leader of the team at Intel that developed the 8086). I don't remember who the third was.

When they were just starting the company they could not agree on a name, and this was holding up filing corporate paperwork. During this time Pohlman and the third founder went on a camping trip together without Callan.

When they got back Callan told them he'd gone ahead and filed the paperwork with a temporary name so they could move on with the important stuff, and they could change the name later when they finally agreed on a name they all liked. The temporary name was Callan Data Systems.

They never agreed on a new name.

I kind of like Zencastr over Zencaster. But I am not really the target audience. Just thought I should mention it though.

Thanks, some of the current users have said that as well. It's a tough call.

Benchmark it? These guys used amazon turk to decide which was best. http://customerdevlabs.com/2013/03/05/test-company-domain-na...

I'd 301 it for sure. It won't take long for people to adopt. Not an exact match for a case study but when SEOmoz to Moz switched they also changed domains.

I would change it now. It would be different if you didn't own ZenCaster.com, but you do so re-brand (slightly) now, rather than later.

You: Sure just go to ZenCastr.com!

Potential Client: Is that ZenCaster.com, just like it sounds.

You: No, we're at ZenCastr.com, without an e in Caster, drop the E that would normally go before the R. But we do own ZenCaster.com so you can just put that in to get to our website.

You are ZenCaster!

Nice site btw.

I got to thinking about this because of PG's latest essay Change Your Name http://paulgraham.com/name.html.

I know he was talking about .com tlds but it made me wonder about the cognitive effect that a misspelled domain could have.

Edit: spelling

Cutesy spellings aren't cute any longer, if they ever were. That point is debatable.

Startups looking to seem edgy and special use them, but I don't think they are effective. I only look at them to see what sort of product is behind that mis-spelling, not to actually buy something or use their service.

Mis-spelling shows me just one more small outfit trying to be splashier and trendier than the some other small company with a splashy logo or trendy spelling.

IMHO, you're always better off using standard spelling.

If your product or service just rocks, then it just does, and you'll have word-of-mouth. Odd spelling habits won't help you if it doesn't.

"Rivers are easiest to cross at their source." Syrus

Do it now before it gets harder.

This is what I'm afraid of. I know it will only get harder.

When growth justifies a marketing staff, it will be much much easier. Sure the first cost will be higher, but the overall cost will be much lower and you will have data to back up the decision.

http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html

Clickable link: http://zencastr.com

Yes

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