Startups by definition start from scratch, with little more than an idea and some people. One of the most important assets that they need to build is their brand.  But it's no easy feat to establish a compelling new brand from a standing start.

There is a wide range of issues to consider in establishing your startup's brand - so today let's focus on creating a name for your business.

In choosing a name, it's worth considering at least the following issues:

• Impact
• Function
• Meaning
• Availability
• Relationship

Impact

The power of a brand lies in its ability to connect with customers, suppliers, employees and people in general. The strongest connections have an emotional resonance to them - we feel both strongly and positively about them.

The words, sounds and letters in your name often evoke an emotional response from others. Be it good, bad or indifferent, you need to be aware of the likely effect on your audience. Test it out with a few of them!

Function

Everyone wants their business name to perform some function. At the very least, it is the label by which people refer to it. Ideally, it should also be memorable and easy to say. You may also want your name to describe what the business does.

My own startup Trigora recently introduced a new brand name for its website, namely SoftwareShortlist. We decided that a simple, descriptive name that people could easily say and remember was more important than the abstract meaning of the company name (i.e. Tri + agora = meeting place for three groups: customers, vendors and service providers).

Meaning

Brands are inherently about meaning. While you can invest a neutral name with meaning over time through your marketing and service efforts, by choosing your name carefully you can build on the associations or roots of particular words. People like stories, and being able to explain the meaning of your name can make it a lot more memorable.

For example, "Nike" builds on Greek mythology via the goddess of victory, "Google" is a mispelled version of googol (i.e. the number 1 followed by 100 zeros), while "Zoho" is a play on SOHO, i.e. the 'small office home office' market.

Availability

There are few things more frustrating than coming up with a killer name, and discovering that it's already taken. As you brainstorm ideas, it's a good idea to check whether they are already in use as a:

• Domain name  (any decent domain name registry will tell you this)
  
• Trademark (search the IPAustralia database, or your country equivalent)
  
• Registered business name (search the Australian Business Registry, or equivalent)
  
• Well known product (via a web search)
  

It's not a show-stopper if someone else is using the name for something unrelated, but if they are in the same or similar line of business then you may have an issue.

Thanks to cyber-squatting, choosing a domain name is a very frustrating business, particularly with .com names. Be creative and you may find some still available. Alternatively, you could opt for a different domain (e.g. .com.au), or come up with a memorable variation of your business name to serve as your domain - they don't necessarily need to be the same. For example, ICT Distribution has the domain www.ict123.com.au, which plays on their proposition of making things easier.

Relationship

If you have multiple businesses or brands then you will need to consider how they relate to each other. This is a big enough topic for a post of its own, but suffice to say you can indicate they are linked, keep them totally unrelated, or any of a host of in-between options. To decide, think about whether there are positive reasons for wanting to demonstrate the linkage, such as cross-sell opportunities, endorsement from an established brand, etc

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What have been your own experiences with choosing a name? How long did the process take, and why did you end up choosing the final name?

It's always good to meet people with a passion for innovation and the guts to do something about it. Last night I attended an information session for Vic Pitch 08 finalists, and met a bunch of interesting folks who have taken the plunge with their own promising ventures.

Pitch 08 is a series of business pitching competitions in each state designed to connect innovative ventures with development capital. In their own words:

The philosophy behind Pitch '08 is to support innovation and to educate the investment community and general public on the excellent project and business propositions available in Australia that often have difficulty raising capital because they are too early-stage or don't fall into the usual funding criteria

The driving force behind Pitch 08 is ASSOB, the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board. Think of this like a mini-version of the ASX specifically for early-stage companies ... although it is not actually a stock exchange and the companies participating are 'unlisted public' companies.

(Since my own startup venture, Trigora, is one of the finalists, I should get a lot more insight into ASSOB and its proposition for startup ventures as we go through the mentoring and judging process. Expect a post on this later on...)

For now, I thought I'd just call attention to the business ventures in the finals - they span a variety of industries and stages of development. I'm looking forward to getting to know these fellow entrepreneurs better in the coming weeks.

• Artabase: Artabase is a Web 2.0 Social Networking website for Fine Artists.  Their exhibition calendar lets art lovers find out what’s on in galleries anywhere around the world.
• Trigora: Trigora is an online platform designed to help small to medium businesses compare, select and buy the right specialist software for their needs.
• Cinergix:  Cinergix is a software service company that provides a web-based intelligent diagramming and design  platform for various fields.
  
• Lavender Hill Projects: Lavender Hill Projects researches, develops and commercialises unique, highly effective and natural herbal products with significant therapeutic, cosmetic and commercial potential. 
• Carbon Reduction Industries: Carbon Reduction Industries Pty Ltd seeks skilled investment to help take its unique energy abatement devices on to global markets
• Humanitee: Humanitee produce high quality clothing using organic fabrics and fair trade business principles. Their styles are modern classics, designed to be versatile and long lasting and the business model values social, environmental and fiscal profit equally.
• ICT Distribution: ICT Distribution is now Telstra's largest distributor of business products across their mobility, fixed and data suite. With a network of 500 IT skilled channel partners utilising ICT's connection services, ICT has a competitive advantage and significant market potential for growth
• Professional Linkage Services (CounselLink): Professional Linkage Services is an online counseling service that will match clients with psychologists, enabling them to meet online anonymously and effectively, regardless of location.
• The Physio Co: The Physio Co provides solutions to mobility problems of Australia's rapidly ageing population. Affordable products and specialist advice - The Physio Co makes it easy for the 100's of 1000's of baby boomer retirees and their parents
• Travel Bubs:Travel Bubs is pioneering the family travel and baby equipment hire industries, offering a comprehensive “travel light” service directly to travelling families and corporate partners. Travel Bubs intends to have a presence at  major Australian airports by 2010
• Turn me green / ecoincubator: A business incubator and resource centre aimed at developing and accelerating ecologically and sustainability-based enterprises
  

It was great to see Zudio Music take out first prize at the recent Melbourne University Entrepreneurs Challenge (MUEC) with their Band Manager service. Why? Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, knowing the guys behind it and how much effort they've put in over the years, it's nice to see them earn a bit of kudos. Secondly, because it is a great example of a new business venture doing something fundamentally useful for their target customers. And thirdly because it is a powerful example of what I'd like to call "cultural entrepreneurship".

Cultural Entrepreneurs 

Melbourne is widely regarded as the most cultured and European of Australian cities. Arts, fashion, food, events, culture - it's about enjoying the good life, rather than worrying about who has the faster car or bigger TV. 

By providing an online service to help bands and musicians get themselves organised, Band Manager helps support and grow the wonderful cultural life in Melbourne.  And like many cultural entrepreneurs, the business grew out of the passion and experience of the founders - they were solving a problem they had personally encountered in managing indie bands. 

The Band Manager Toolkit

That solution took the form of a calendar-based application to help organise (notoriously disorganised) bands. Around that core platform they have built a range of simple yet powerful tools for bands - including updating the band's website, keeping track of their playlists, distributing their music online, and managing their fan database, including sending emails and SMS messages about upcoming gigs. They even help bands claim their live performance returns from APRA (which few typically get around to doing otherwise!)

That's not to say that Band Manager is perfect. For one thing, I'd like to see them shift their revenue model towards 'pay as you go' services (like email and SMS delivery) and remove the setup fee that creates an unnecessary barrier to trial. But at least they know their customers and have developed a product that solves a real and valuable set of needs.

Other Cultural Entrepreneurs

The good news is that Melbourne has many entrepreneurs pursuing opportunities that enrich the cultural life of the city. 

RedBubble is one example, an online art gallery and creative community that is among the more successful of Australia's web 2.0 startups. Chocolateria San Churro is another, bringing the joys of Spanish chocolate culture to locations around town.  The Rooftop Cinema in Swanston St and Moonlight Cinema in the Botanical Gardens have become popular destinations for film-lovers and anyone who likes a good outing. And an interesting startup to look out for is Laneway Magazine, an online publication (coming soon) which will celebrate Melbourne culture and lifestyle.

No doubt there are plenty more out there. Feel free to add to the list!

As someone working on a startup venture in addition to my freelance consulting, I was interested recently to see a 37signals presentation that mentioned the virtues of being a part-time entrepreneur (see the video here).

"Surely not!" some of you may be thinking. "If you could get funding and go at it full time, why wouldn't you?" 

Well, it turns out that working part-time on a venture has some important advantages:

• Allows your day job to help fund the startup and therefore to (i) retain greater control (ii) avoid or defer the distraction of raising capital in the early stages
  
• Encourages a scalable business model - i.e. revenue flows as the business grows, and everything still works you're not there (which may be often)
  
• Keeps you remarkably focused on the important tasks. You simply don't have time to waste on 'nice to have' stuff.
  
• Makes you far more likely to talk with customers before you invest your scarce resources on 'building something'
  
• Lowers your capital requirements because you're not burning wads of cash as you evolve and refine the company direction and product/service offering (which often happens in the early stages)
  
• Allows you to match your time input to the business needs. Sometimes there is a natural pace to growth, and being part-time stops you wasting time and energy for low marginal returns.
  
• Gives you a broader, more strategic perspective because you're not all-consumed by the startup.
• Lowers the risk of being involved in a startup - success is arguably more likely for the above reasons, and failure isn't as devastating.
  

But of course there is a downside too - very little spare time, frustrations about limited resources, scheduling conflicts, and various other issues trying to balance your day job with your startup venture. 

Your views? 

What has been your experience as a full-time or part-time entrepreneur? Are there other pros or cons that should be added to the above lists? What would you recommend to others?

It is easy to get a distorted view of what startup success looks like. After all, we hear so much about the tiny few that capture media attention, such as Facebook, YouTube, etc. Not surprisingly, this sample skews towards consumer-facing, mass market companies that are bought out or invested in for megabucks.

The reality is very different. Some industries just aren't newsworthy, even if they are lucrative. Not all opportunities are consumer-facing:  business-to-business is, well, big business. Many startups remain privately held and below the radar. And most don't end up being worth billions, even if they are very successful.

The latest BRW Fast Starters edition ("the 100 fastest growing start-up companies") gives a more representative sample of "successful" startup profiles than we typically see. A few of the interesting factoids that jumped out include:

•  57% became profitable in the first year
• only 29% started the business with a planned exit strategy
  
• 67% say their long term goal is to retain ownership, with only 13% aspiring to list on the stock exchange
• About half spent 1 to 6 months planning the business before starting, and a further 20% took 6 to 12 months
• Average age of the company founders was 38 years old
• 78% used their own savings to start the business, rather than taking money from banks or outside investors
  

No doubt the BRW statistics have their own biases, but they are still a useful antidote to the urban legend of "20 year old founder scribbles business plan on beer coaster, raises millions in venture capital, and is now worth billions". Nothing wrong with aiming high, but you need to keep things real as well.

Perhaps Jim Collins of Good to Great fame put it best when he advised: "Confront the brutal facts yet never lose faith"