When A Startup with $9M Takes Your Brand Name
You may know that I’ve been thinking about brand names a lot, due to the fact that my co-founder and I have been going through the branding exercise ourselves for the private hospitality exchange app we are building.
The name we had decided on (after lots and lots of discussion and debate)?
OpenDoor.
Some of you may have seen, Keith Rabois’ new real estate startup recently announced their new name.
Yup, you guessed it: OpenDoor.
They have already raised $6M of a $9M round. Given that our app isn’t even done yet and we most definitely do not have anywhere close to $9M in funding, there is zero sense in competing with such a well funded startup on brand name.
Thus, we went back to our list of names for a new one. And we ultimately came up with a new one that wasn’t even previously on the list.
In short, “When A Startup with $9M Takes Your Brand Name”, what do you do?
Pick a new brand name, and move on 🙂
PS: I still think OpenDoor is more fitting to the app that we are building than it is for a startup to help home owners buy and sell homes…but $9M says that’s a moot discussion.
Malcolm Lewis
Posted at 06:27h, 20 JuneThat sucks – though you had a happy ending. Not sure how much protection you get with a trademark application in progress (vs granted), but an hour and ~$150 is all it takes for a young startup to get a stake in the ground.
Malcolm Lewis
Posted at 06:29h, 20 JuneAlso, challenging for OpenDoor, is that NextDoor is getting a lot of traction (at least in my neck of the woods) and the two names are ripe for confusion.
buckeyecal
Posted at 09:30h, 20 JuneSeems the name Revolving Door might be a better one for those guys!
Sam DeBord
Posted at 10:30h, 20 JuneAt least you’ve got a good attitude about it. Don’t fight it, just adapt. Good luck.
Drew Meyers
Posted at 15:46h, 20 JuneWe’ll nail it
Mark
Posted at 12:36h, 20 JuneMany, many exisiting companies in real estate named Open Door, with some having registered trademarks. Not sure what they are thinking when they went out with this but they may need to deal with trademark issues down the line.