The clouded world of naming cloud startups
February 1st, 2011 | Published in General | 8 Comments
We break from our regular programming for a guest post. The naming of cloud startups has always befuddled me. To chime in with some opinion on this delicate topic here’s Lucy Schiller of A Hundred Monkeys, a naming firm in San Francisco.
So let’s say you need a name for your up and coming cloud computing company. Going by most of the names out there right now, it looks like you’re going to write “cloud” on a piece of paper and then rack your brain for some sort of word to sit before or after it. Maybe you’ll start with numbers or meaningless modifiers (see Cloud9, Cloudera, icloud, Cloudant), move on to slightly more relevant options (Cloudscale, Cloudworks, CloudShare), get frustrated, try out a few stronger sounding words (Cloudkick, Whamcloud), and land, finally, in the territory of completely unrelated modifiers (Panda Cloud, CloudBerry). You’ll eventually find an available URL and subsequently try to convince yourself that naming your company “ChowderCloud” sounds like an okay idea. At least it kind of rolls off the tongue, right?
“Cloud” doesn’t even look like a real word by the end of the massive list of companies using it in their name. So what’s next if your friends talk you out of ChowderCloud? Earth, Wind and Fire? A more general theme of atmosphere? Surrounded by crowded airspace with names like Cumulux, OpenNebula, and Skytap, you decide to turn to something more grounded (see StrikeIron IronCloud, for instance).
While the cloud metaphor is way overplayed, the general concept remains an interesting one with a lot of room for imaginative names. Reservoir, Manymoon, Amazon’s Beanstalk, and StrikeIron (minus the IronCloud) all tap into the basic idea behind cloud computing without going the obvious cloudy route. From a functional standpoint, these less literal names also don’t pigeonhole you if you ever try to expand your business into new territory or shift your focus.
So while names like icloud and Couldworks are immediately relevant, they also immediately make you one in a million. How are potential clients supposed to tell everyone apart at first glance? They all sound like they do basically the same thing. And with more and more businesses switching to cloud infrastructure by the day, having a name that shows potential clients why you’re different can really make a big difference.
So let’s hope you decide to use your imagination. Every cloud is different. Ditch Chowdercloud, Cloudiddly, TroutCloud and Cloudsmack. Think about how you’re different from all the others, and start naming from there.
February 2nd, 2011 at 1:44 am (#)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Trevor Hinson, Hiro Kishimoto. Hiro Kishimoto said: [cloud] The clouded world of naming cloud startups http://dlvr.it/Fb2m0 [...]
February 2nd, 2011 at 8:46 pm (#)
We named Standing Cloud (www.standingcloud.com) after a type of cloud that is common in Colorado, formed when a standing wave of airflow passes over a mountain or a ridge; the cloud is formed at top of the airflow wave and does not move. There are several different sub-types of standing clouds, including lenticular, chinook, and others.
Metaphorically, it is intended to capture the idea that your application will operate the same regardless of which cloud provider it is on and (to the extent possible) which version of the technology stack it is using.
February 6th, 2011 at 12:19 pm (#)
Lucy, thank you for highlighting this particular pet peeve of mine. It often appears to me that some companies veer from sheer stupidity to near illiteracy to get their startups out of the blocks. I would if Stone, Dorsey and Evans would still call it Twitter if they could turn back the clock.
February 11th, 2011 at 7:00 am (#)
[...] Of All Clouds carries a thought provoking article on naming virtual companies a subject dear to my heart as it seems to me that some companies veer from the downright bloody [...]
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:47 pm (#)
You have presented a very interesting argument with name a cloud based company in todays business space. Not that long ago I was looking for a domain with “cloud” in it and I will agree that the pickings are very slim. I think if you get creative enough there are ways around it you just have to think outside the box.
March 27th, 2011 at 4:48 pm (#)
I picked – http://www.iamondemand.com as it is al about making your applications on demand and not on premise.
September 3rd, 2011 at 6:03 pm (#)
Well I have selected keyword based domain – CloudComputingTechie as I am writing as a user’s perspective.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:08 pm (#)
This cloud computing is seriously amazing. When you think about how much society has progressed in the last number of years, it is amazing really. There is all these cloud computing sites that are popping up such as http://www.dropbox.com, https://www.mypdv.com, http://www.box.com amongst many many others…I wonder where we are going with this in the future??!!