Change Your Name →

Paul Graham ·

Paul Graham on choosing a name for your startup:

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

…Even good founders can be in denial about this. Their denial derives from two very powerful forces: identity, and lack of imagination.

X is what we are, founders think. There’s no other name as good. Both of which are false.

You can fix the first by stepping back from the problem. Imagine you’d called your company something else. If you had, surely you’d be just as attached to that name as you are to your current one. The idea of switching to your current name would seem repellent.

Which leads to an interesting second read also from Paul on identity.