What’s in a name: 5 companies reveal the brands they almost chose

By John Siegel | Apr 25, 2018

For all the money businesses spend to market their products and services as the best in their industries, a company’s brand name is what consumers recognize first. Choosing the right business name, however, is one of the hardest tasks of starting up.

Built In LA spoke with five local startups about how they settled on their names and the ones that almost made the cut.

Founded by HauteLook veterans David Sobie and Mark Geller, Happy Returns partners with e-commerce brands to make returning purchased items easier. As Sobie tells it, the duo used the fundraising process as an opportunity to gauge what experts thought of Happy Returns before officially settling on the name.

 What were some of the names in consideration?

We wrestled mightily with the decision of what to name the company. Happy Returns was the leading contender. However, we also liked YouTurn, a play on U-Turn, but with the empowering 'You,’ and ReturnTo, which suggested returns might go to different places than whence they came.

 Why didn’t any of them work out?

YouTurn felt a bit too close to YouTube. ReturnTo felt similar to 'Return to Sender,' which signals a mistake in addressing a letter.  

We liked the fact that Happy Returns was dead simple in its description of the business and clearly stated our brand promise. We also felt that 'happy' was not an adjective that any online shopper would choose to describe the process of returning products by mail. By choosing Happy Returns, we were making a bold declaration of our intention to transform a cumbersome, inefficient process — returning by mail — to something simple for shoppers.

How long did it take to come to a conclusion?

Well, not everyone agreed, so it took awhile. While Mark and I reached a conclusion quickly, our lead investor hated the name, which certainly gave us pause. We were fundraising, so our first pitch decks described Happy Returns as a 'working name,' while we solicited feedback from the investor community. It, too, was mixed, but there were more supporters than haters, and we realized it’s impossible to please everyone.

 What was one challenge you encountered along the way?

One challenge any new business faces after selecting a brand name is to confirm that the URL can be purchased. HappyReturns.com was already taken by a tax preparer in upstate New York, a totally different — but equally as fun — pun on returns.

Article was originally published here.