HOW STARTUPS ARE NAMED
An analysis of startup names used in the 2012 MassChallenge.
By John Lohavichan
Founder of Grademypitch
NAMING A STARTUP IS HARD
HOW TO BE DIFFERENT?
KNOWING HOW OTHER STARTUP ARE NAMED CAN BE A HELPFUL GUIDE
SUMMARY OF THE 2012 MASSCHALLENGE STARTUP NAMES 449 Different Startup Names (as of 4/3/2012) Average Length = 13 Characters Smallest = 2 Characters (R3) Longest = 50 Characters (Integrative Medicine & Holistic
Health Association)
POPULAR NAMES INCLUDE: TECHNOLOGIES, SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS*
*Note – LLC, Corp, Inc, etc… were filtered out
“S”, “C”, “P” & “T” ARE THE 4 MOST POPULAR BEGINNING LETTERS
S C P T M A B I D W G L E F H K N R U O J V
Numbe
r Q Z
Chara
cter Y X
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
MOST NAMES ARE 5-10 CHARACTERS
<5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 >300
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Number of Characters
WHAT CAN HISTORY TELL US ABOUT WHO WINS THE MASSCHALLENGE?
Looked at the Finalists and Money Winners from 2010 & 2011
Total of 236 Startup Names
Special Thanks to Josh Bielick for suggesting this idea!
THE MAJORITY OF MONEY WINNERS AND FINALISTS BEGIN WITH THE LETTER “S”
S A R C E L O T D H I K P U Z
Numbe
r B F G J M N Q V W X Y
Chara
cter
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Money WinnersFinalists
SUMMARY
Naming a Startup is Hard Being different is easy if you take the time to do research Statistical analysis of names can help guide you Begin your startup name with the letter “S” if you’re
superstitious
ASSEMBLED BY GRADEMYPITCH.COM
You can vote for us & other MassChallenge startups athttp://masschallenge.org/profile/grademypitch