brand, namingSay I launch a startup, and after a few months, with quite a good amount of user activity, I change the name of the startup to something I find more relevant or suitable.
What are the downsides to this? And how to tackle them?
Practical issues:
Legal issues:
Reputation issues:
Conclusion: Avoid a change unless you have a really serious reason to do so. Be very careful to not forget any aspects of the change. In an early stage of the company’s life, it still doable but older your company is and more customers it has, it becomes more difficult.
So in general, I would avoid it because it causes lot of (unnecessary) “troubles”. But of course, sometimes it has to be done.
Just compare the “cost” of it and the “benefit” that the change will bring to your company.
As someone who has done this, a few of our users still refer to us by our original name which sounds confusing, but other than that it isnt a huge deal.
Make sure you use 301 redirects though, because they will maintain any SEO rankings you have built up for the first name.
I would say one of the biggest downsides to this is losing the brand recognition. Strong business models usually involve building the brand to sell the product. If you have strong brand recognition and a high reputation, your product or service usually sells well. Take Apple for example. Why is Apple so popular? For starters they make very sleek, well designed and well functioning products. More so though, they’ve developed the brand. They’re a status icon now. The “i” products are the products to own; the best in their class. I admit, it seems like an elitest attitude, but it sells the product.
Rebranding can work and has worked for many companies before. It takes a lot of effort and marketing though to push your existing customers to the new brand and facilitate a movement around your new name.
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