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The name WePay is on the mark. Asking people for money is awkward. But, WePay frames the process in a very clever way: a collaboration rather than a collection.

The name WePay is on the mark. Asking people for money is awkward. But, WePay frames the process in a very clever way: a collaboration rather than a collection. I think the name WePay reduces the creepyness of asking people for money lower than any cooperative payment brand yet. In the end, the creepyness of WePay may be low enough to work. I proposed this business to a few partners in 2005, but we couldn't come up with a name that could sell it. Now, I'm terribly jealous. Very well done guys.

ghshephard 17y ago
Of all the things to worry about, and there is probably a list of hundreds, the one thing you should absolutely never, ever be concerned about is the company's name. Off the top of my head in less than 15 seconds: o payshare o allpay o wefund o alldollar o gofund o gopay o paynow But, think about the great companies out there with names that really don't mean much: Google Yahoo Zynga The company I work for is named after the _road_ it was founded on - it was just supposed to be a temporary thing, but it "took." The key is to generate value.
- falsestprophet 17y ago
  Of course branding is important. Branding is one of the principle ways "value" is built. Building something people want is not enough. After the building bit, you need to convince people to use whatever it is you created. What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. And Google and Yahoo do mean something. They are whimsical and lyrical and memorable. I don't think these would "take": allsearch wesearch gosearch searchnow
  - breck 17y ago
    > What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. I disagree. I think you're confusing cause and effect. I'm sure Gap, Armani, Gucci, etc., started out with great products and amateur brands. As the products gained traction, they gained more resources to develop the brand. > So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. Building a product and finding a market for it is step 1. Branding/growth is step 2.
  - ghshephard 17y ago
    Marc Andreessen said something around 2000 that really stuck with me with regards to spending on marketing/advertising. His take was basically you create something that has underlying value, and is useful to customers, and _then_ you advertise. If you try and do it the other way around, build excitement around a brand prior to the value existing, you are just flushing your dollars away. The brand becomes an extension of the underlying value - marketing is just one mechanism to communicate that value in building a brand. I do think the software/online applications are a different type of industry with regards to branding than apparel - the value is immediately more apparent (Taking nothing away from Calvin Klein and friends). More on Naming: In 1999 our company was supposed to "run the cloud", and in fact, be the biggest/loudest company to do so: ergo: LoudCloud In 2002, after the crash, we sold the infrastructure portions, and needed to come up with a name for a company that would provide the Software for Operations. ergo: Opsware
- boucher 17y ago
  Hats off to another _road_ based company name :)

ghshephard 17y ago

Of all the things to worry about, and there is probably a list of hundreds, the one thing you should absolutely never, ever be concerned about is the company's name. Off the top of my head in less than 15 seconds: o payshare o allpay o wefund o alldollar o gofund o gopay o paynow But, think about the great companies out there with names that really don't mean much: Google Yahoo Zynga The company I work for is named after the _road_ it was founded on - it was just supposed to be a temporary thing, but it "took." The key is to generate value.

falsestprophet 17y ago
Of course branding is important. Branding is one of the principle ways "value" is built. Building something people want is not enough. After the building bit, you need to convince people to use whatever it is you created. What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. And Google and Yahoo do mean something. They are whimsical and lyrical and memorable. I don't think these would "take": allsearch wesearch gosearch searchnow
- breck 17y ago
  > What is more, often a brand contributes the majority of a product's value. Consider the entire apparel industry. I disagree. I think you're confusing cause and effect. I'm sure Gap, Armani, Gucci, etc., started out with great products and amateur brands. As the products gained traction, they gained more resources to develop the brand. > So if you can't figure out how to brand a product and you can't figure out how to market a product and you can't figure out how to sell a product, I don't think it is very clever to build the product. Building a product and finding a market for it is step 1. Branding/growth is step 2.
- ghshephard 17y ago
  Marc Andreessen said something around 2000 that really stuck with me with regards to spending on marketing/advertising. His take was basically you create something that has underlying value, and is useful to customers, and _then_ you advertise. If you try and do it the other way around, build excitement around a brand prior to the value existing, you are just flushing your dollars away. The brand becomes an extension of the underlying value - marketing is just one mechanism to communicate that value in building a brand. I do think the software/online applications are a different type of industry with regards to branding than apparel - the value is immediately more apparent (Taking nothing away from Calvin Klein and friends). More on Naming: In 1999 our company was supposed to "run the cloud", and in fact, be the biggest/loudest company to do so: ergo: LoudCloud In 2002, after the crash, we sold the infrastructure portions, and needed to come up with a name for a company that would provide the Software for Operations. ergo: Opsware
boucher 17y ago
Hats off to another _road_ based company name :)