How we named our product – The reason and the story behind it
An Anecdote: Before I started writing this piece, I wanted to get some perspectives on it if it were made as a blog. So, I pitched this idea to the founders/management team and they said, “Really? Are you going to write this as a first blog?” , and my peers/friends said, “Do you even have to write about this as a first blog?”
But, it’s all the constant thought that kept me pushing to write this blog – ‘When we consider our company’s name close to heart, why can’t we consider writing a blog that annotates the journey taken to arrive with such a name?’ With the thought, I took my pen and pad and sat among the three founders – Arvind, Balaji and Karthik
A small analysis on the human perception:“It all started with an analysis about human perception”, said Arvind. When I asked him, “What’s in a company name? Why did you invest so much time in that?”.
He explained, “So, the brand name is actually a perception of people about it. In a fast, trending social media era, where there is opportunity for everyone to deliver what they have in mind, only some get that virality. And, evidently, this virality either goes for people who already are famous in the society or a digital platform or people who would’ve been not at all in the platform but got some virality through others. It falls under the “rags to riches” story category.
So, on top of the quality of the content (whatever it may be) it’s always ‘whom the content is coming from’”, Arvind said and continued.
“Coming back to the naming factor, for many, the name doesn’t really matter. They have the pre-established personal branding. They are themselves influencers in the social media and the followers/fans would be ready to accept, support whatever they name their company or product with.
On the other hand, for many, the name matters a lot. Because, there are so many traits that they have to cover with the name they set. It shouldn’t annoy the market, it shouldn’t confuse the customers. It should clearly define the work they do. It should be easily pronounced and remembered. It should be “google friendly”. Yes, it should be”, Arvind affirmed. Karthik added, “We knew that we definitely fall under the latter”.
Balaji started, “Earlier, when we started Arbaan, we were so liberal when we wanted to give it a name”. I asked Balaji what was the story behind Arbaan’s name and he said, “Well, it is the first two letters of Arvind’s “AR” and mine ”BA”. So, we arrived at ARBA and felt it was kind of incomplete. Then, we ended it with AN and thus arrived, ARBAAN.
While I was hearing Balaji’s ‘behind the scenes’ of Arbaan’s name, Karthik said, “But with our new product, we definitely thought it was not that easy and fun. Because, Arbaan is a service based company while this is the product that should speak for itself. So, giving it a relevant name is the basic thing we thought we must do”.
An Understanding of our product’s function:When we name a business or a product we are going to offer, it’s vital that we fix a name that is authentic, distinctive and resonates with the customers.
When Balaji, Karthik and Arvind were brainstorming about giving a name to our product, they were so sure that the name should convey what we’re doing with it. At the same time, with every name that popped up randomly in mind, they ensured it was simple and short.
So, here is what the product does. It is going to be an integration platform that enables people to connect their software stack and automate workflows between them.
As I plunged more into their thinking stage, Arvind said, “So, there were a few things that we had to cover. One is the “Connection” part, another one is the “Automation” part, and later came “APIs”, “Webhooks”. How can we forget those? We initially had “Konnector” bubbling up a feel of vibe. Yes, with that, the connecting part is done. Automation part also is kind of covered”.
He continued, “We felt there was still something missing. We wanted it to be toned rough and hard as the integration, automation game is all about the robustness of the APIs, webhooks. Simply put, the success is all in the functionalities done in the back-end that puts the smile on the front-end of the user seeing it”. As Arvind completed his monologue, Karthik shared.. (look down)
A small Story that seeded to the “Aha” moment:“One day, there was plumbing work going on in our office. It was a mix of piping and drilling work. There were a bunch of pipes, steel that lied on the floor, several screws, and drilling machines”, Karthik said without a pause. “When I was crossing that place, the plumber told the driller (who was about to drill something) to do it carefully or do it after I crossed that place as it would smoke dust.
With a great smile and energy, Karthik continued to say about the aha moment he got and the event of sharing the same with the fellow co-founders.
The “Aha” moment:“Now, that was the “aha” moment for me, who had been thinking of a name that is strong and rough for our product. It just fits in so deep to the context of our product’s work – APIs, webhooks are all about connecting, holding apps tightly together. I knew the name of our product right after I heard it. With the strong belief that Balaji and Arvind would also be fine with it and when they too said ‘yes’, that was a relief”, Karthik sighed..
Arvind, who is a marketer in disguise, tinkered the letter “C” to “K”, just so we could easily rank on search engines, went straight to godaddy and purchased the domain with no further thoughts.
So, that was the story of coming up with a name to our product. Next, what?The Announcement:And that’s how we brought the name to our product that’s close to our heart. We’re glad to introduce our product with the name.