The billion-dollar naming exercise

The first thing I do is to say, okay, let's forget about developing the name for right now. Just draw a shape of a diamond. At the top of the diamond is just the word win. Underneath that is, how do we define winning for us as a company? And that can start off being simple. Like, you know, we want to be the dominant player here, but you really have to work at that. What does that really mean? The second on that right hand tip there of the diamond is, what are we doing now that makes us a winner? Then we go down to the bottom of the diamond, and it's what do we need to win? There could be technical things. People talk about talent and resources. Often there, they'll say, we need a good name. We always correct that. It's not the good name, it's the right name. And then finally, it's what do we need to say? That's where you want to spend some time, really thinking about all the things you need to say that you can say or you would even like to say. And that usually launches a really good discussion with founders.