A friend of mine, David, is starting company (with a little help from the Danish government), and one of the initial steps is to figure out a name for that company. I thought this might appeal to the crowd (i.e. you, dear reader), and at the same time could give you some refreshing insight into this new business management trend.

The company is focused on innovation in online communities. Initially, it is primarily consulting services, but the vision is to build a web based platform where manufacturers, user-designers and users can collaborate on developing new products. A very short introduction can be found on www.longtailinnovation.com and www.tribuned.com

.. the vision is to build a web based platform where manufacturers, user-designers and users can collaborate on developing new products.

Back to naming the company. David needs a great idea for a name, which can work both for the company name and for the website. He promises to throw a party for everybody who helps him out - he’s located in Copenhagen, Denmark, so that might limit your ability to attend. However, I thought this could be an interesting topic for a crowd brainstorm - so let us hear your ideas in the comments.

Some guidelines:

  • Meaning: It would be nice if the meaning of the name somehow connected to the business (e.g. Volvo, which means ‘I roll’ in latin)
  • It could be an abbreviation (e.g. Swatch = Second watch)
  • It would be great if the name can be verbified (e.g. to google something)
  • Finally the .com domain should be available.

Inspiration:

  • Since there will be three constituencies (manufacturer, user-designer and users) perhaps three/tri/tre could be part of the name?
  • Open, innovation, collaboration, distributed are all central words

David has published his master’s thesis at www.longtailinnovation.com, and it has some quite interesting and useful ideas. Focus is on how users/customers can become involved in new product development (NPD). While the focus is primarily NPD of physical goods, some of the thoughts and principles might be applicable for NPD in software and services.

Let’s give David a hand and see what brilliant ideas we can come up with by applying the wisdom of crowds.

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