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Ask HN: Should we rename our startup?
Hi guys, we just launched a new service called Sfalma (the greek word for error, remember σ from math?) We though it was a bizarre word that could work but it seems that is very difficult for people to remember or even spell it. What do you think?
- dimitristi 15y agoThe f could presumably be confused with a ph when telling it to someone. Otherwise, it's simple enough so I'd have thought it'd be at least easy to remember. But if you've had a couple of problems then it might be worth exploring other options.
- megamark16 15y agoI'd vote yes, change it. Something catchy and easy to remember (and spell) is a must. It looks like BugEaterApp.com is available! :-)
- HardyLeung 15y agoChange it. Definitely.
- e-diva 15y agoSfalma rocks.
- THEM 15y agoI vote change it.
- myearwood 15y agothis is way too hard to remember or type in
- petervandijck 15y agoForget about the name, are you getting traction? Are users happy? That's what matters. You're just distracting yourself.
- PanosJee 15y agowe have some users but not at the rate we would like. We tell people about the service but it seems they forget the name in 2 minutes. Of course online conversion is much more important than word of mouth
- Joanna9 15y agoKeep it.
- andreascon 15y agoThe 'sf' combination is very rare in the English language (look up the dictionary), so difficult for people to remember how to spell it and therefore how to find it. Change it.
- gmosx 15y agoI like sfalma, google was/is difficult to spell too...
- PanosJee 15y agoit is a phonetic problem, people read s+f as 'sv' so they cannot type it
- papagel 15y agoKeep it... the name says little. Sfalma will give you little google competition which on the long run may be important. Finally, basecamp uses the url basecamphq.com ... who would imagine that something like this would work.
- tritogeneia 15y agoTry an experiment: tell some people it's called "Sfalma" and tell other people it's called "The Bug Eater" and see which group is more likely to create an account within 2 weeks. I'd guess that obscure names aren't good, but you never know.
- vatikiot 15y agochange it. people need to be able to spell it correctly in google. the downside is that you must find another name as unique (in search terms) as this.
- sunahsuh 15y agoI had a similar problem for an HCI project where we used a Greek word as the name and we got reamed in our reviews for the name being "unusable." I'd say change it -- it doesn't evoke any connotations for the user nor is it easily pronounceable.
- abbasmehdi 15y agoDepends on your demographics. My mom would hate it, dad would mistype it, I don't know how to pronounce it. It's not related or associated with anything in the daily life, and there is a disconnect between the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning for the layman. Only works for math, history and language buffs. That's a tiny corner.
- aprigoinc 15y agoHow about bugfollow or errorsniffer? Like either of those?