Choosing the perfect name for your startup isn’t just a task, it’s an art. It’s not just about creating a word or phrase; it’s about encapsulating the essence, values, and vision of the brand into a single, memorable identity. Plus, it should be useful for your marketing activities and easily remembered by your clients.
On a quest to discover the stories behind various startup names in CEE, we asked around and compiled this inspirational list.
This article marks the beginning of a series dedicated to exploring this theme. If you’re keen to share the story behind your startup’s name, reach out to Elena and get featured in the next part.
BibeCoffee
IoT solution that connects every coffee machine to the cloud, increasing efficiency for coffee chains.
Vasilis Apostolopoulos, Co-founder & CEO: “When we were brainstorming names for our startup, we wanted something that was not only memorable but also reflected the essence of what we want to offer. After exploring various options, we stumbled upon “Bibe” which is derived from Latin and translates to “drink”. We were immediately drawn to its simplicity and universality. Choosing “BibeCoffee” was a strategic decision for us. While coffee is our initial focus, we envisioned our brand expanding to offer other beverages in the future, such as tea, beer, and more.”
Deepstash
App that offers the daily source of inspiring, life-changing stories, and ideas.
Vladimir Oane, Co-founder: “We wanted from the beginning to have a .com website so we started there. We thought of what would describe our product best and so we came up with “stash”. It’s clear enough, yet a bit “naughty”, giving our serious context. We mixed it with different other words until we decided on “deep”, because we liked how it sounds.”
Jobful
Recruitment platform built on gamification.
Andrei Ilie, Chief Growth Officer: “Jobful launched the people-centric platform for employment in 2018. Prior to this official go to market, the organization delivered gamification designs for HR processes under the brand: Playful Solutions. The decision for naming the platform dedicated to recruitment is a derivative of Playful applied to the job market, hence Jobful.”
Munch
Platform for restaurants, bakeries, hotels, supermarkets and other stores to sell their surplus food.
Belayane Najoua, PR & Marketing Manager: “Albert, one of the co-founders, had a friend whose nickname was Muncs. This simple, short, and playful-sounding word appealed to him so much that he and the other founders started to build the brand with it. Shortly after the launch of the startup, they changed it to Munch, because they thought that a word that had a meaning in English and was very closely related to eating (it means literally to eat) would be easier to use for an international brand.” .
Nestor
People intelligence platform that helps organizations engage, develop, and retain talent in the new hybrid world.
Raluca Apostol, Co-founder & CPO: “In Greek mythology, Nestor is a legendary figure known for his wisdom, counsel, and leadership. He played a significant role in the Trojan War becoming a symbol for his advisory and diplomatic skills alongside his ability to influence others. We think Nestor has the same positive and strategic role in organizations today – support agility, decision-making, and continuous growth. Moreover, “Nest”, part of the Nestor word, is a synonym for team, collaboration, and working together to achieve bigger goals, a value we particularly embrace and live by at Nestor.”
Pluria
Solution that elevates the collaboration and productivity of distributed teams.
Andrei Cretu, Co-founder & CEO: “I came up with this name literally in the shower. We wanted a name that means nothing, but yet conveys the idea of diversity. I started from diversity, plural, plurality, and ended with Pluria.”
SOLO
One stop shop solution for managing your business when you are a freelancer or a sole trader.
Annemarie Fabian, Co-founder & Head of Growth: “Our solution takes care of the mundane accounting and tax filing tasks, so that our clients can focus on what they do best. The name SOLO embodies a dual meaning. On one level it reflects the practically of being a #solopreneur where you have to do everything on your own. Simultaneously, it references Star Wars’ Han Solo who is an innovative rebel fighting against the Empire. In our case, the Empire stands for bureaucratic hurdles and complexities in dealing with authorities. Our contact email is actually [email protected].”
SpotUs.space
Self-service app for office booking & access.
Ovidiu Ciurte, Founder: “Finding the name for our startup actually involved our whole team, because we wanted to find something simple, but very representative. As SpotUs.Space helps tenants find and manage a space’s resources, we came up with a name that revolves around the idea of localization. It’s an invitation for the end-customers to find and use the spaces of office developers we work with. The “.space” sounds like a web extension, because we wanted to create the parallel with the online environment, showing that we transform manual processes related to workspaces into digital ones.”
The Recursive
Community-born online media focused on the emerging tech and startup ecosystems in CEE.
Etien Yovchev, Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer: “Finding the right name was a long process. We had a list with over 100 names and ran a survey among our closest friends. TechTribe won there, but we hated it so we continued the process. After having a dream, one morning Irina came to me suggesting The Recursive, linking it to recursion. In a quest to make sense of it and see if it works for our project, I started reading science papers to understand the concept. I understood that, translating recursion to media, it means that that every new story creates new stories. You, as a reader, read the story of a successful founder who is giving back and are inspired to contribute with your part to the ecosystem. And your story will inspire someone else.”
VAUNT
All in one system for real estate teams to streamline their sales process.
Irina Constantin, Co-founder & CEO: “VAUNT (ed.note: to speak proudly about or praise something) stands for taking pride in what you do. We like to look at the industry we work with, the residential market, as more than just a real estate vertical. Building and selling assets leads to people having a home, a place for their family, a possibility to create the future they imagine for themselves. So those who facilitate this process, our clients who close deals, are to be celebrated, as well as all those who work on this product. We believe in celebrating this impact and in taking pride in what you do.”
