研究发现 公司名字起的好，融资更容易

前言

  拥有一款出色的产品似乎还不够，学术期刊《风险资本》上刊登的一项研究发现，一家初创公司的名字会影响投资者对该公司的印象。公司名字起的好，在早期更容易得到融资。这一结果是来自石溪大学、德雷塞尔大学以及维拉诺瓦大学的研究人员得出的。研究人员调查了131个众筹集资的项目，分析了1681例IPO案。，分析了公司名称对融资的影响。

一家初创公司的名字会影响投资者对该公司的印象。对于投资者来说，新颖而且朗朗上口的名字是他们的首选，比如Uber和Lyft。不管是众筹者、天使投资人、风投还是IPO投资者，都愿意给这样的公司提供更多资金。

研究人员把众多公司名了通过Microsoft Word拼写检查。有些公司名字是英文单词，拼写没错，有些名字是自创的，并不是英语单词，但是语音流畅，很容易发音，比如"Houzz"，刚刚得到了40亿美元的估值。 它没有通过MS Word拼写检查，但很容易发音。

对于早期的投资者来说，奇特的公司名好像初期效果也不错。该研究发现，由于初创公司在初期阶段鲜为人知，独特的名字能给人留下一个特别的印象。据该研究也称，“晦涩的名字“给人一种陌生和非常新颖的感觉，而这正是初期风投人所看重的。但是，奇特的企业名字新奇性随后便会消失。在后期融资，奇特名字的新鲜感已经消失，会让风投人感到不悦。所以不要急着去注册这个让人费解的域名。想想现在已经倒闭的公司，比如Xobni，该公司在2013年被雅虎以6000万美元收购，一年后就被关闭。还有Oooooc、Bawte等已经黄了的初创公司。

当然，所有的事情都没那么绝对，最近，一些用人名命名的公司成绩还不错，比如说“Oscar", "Lynda"和“Viv”。其中最成功的是"Aiden"，名字中即加入了“AI”，发音又与人名“Aden"相似。

最近的命名潮流趋于大数据和科技相关的词语，比如“AI”和“Robot。名字里有“AI”的二十家公司最近都成功地完成了首轮融资，其中最成功的是Argo AI，这家无人驾驶技术公司今年二月得到了福特汽车公司10亿美元的投资。

该研究称，公司的名字只有在早期融资中比较重要，在后期中就没有什么太大的作用。研究显示，在后期融资中，还是名字使用“字典”里有的词语的公司比较容易成功，比如“特斯拉”，"Purple Carrot"和“Next Door"。在后期，投资者们在考察成熟的公司时，比如即将上市的公司使，他们更看重的是精确的估值，所以在名字上咬文嚼字对融资结果的影响较小。

As if having an awesome product isn't hard enough: A study published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Venture Capital has found that a startup's name can seriously affect how a company is perceived by investors.

Names are easily pronounced, such as Uber and Lyft, are preferred by both early and late stage investors. They tend to be offered more money, whether its through crowd funders, angel investors, VCs or IPO investors.

The researchers took a look at names that run through Microsoft Word spell check (linguistically fluent) vs. names that don't clear MS Word, but are still easy to pronounce on first viewing (phonetically fluent). An example would be Houzz, which just closed on a mighty $4B valuation. It doesn't pass MS Word spell check, but it's pretty easy to figure out how you want to pronounce it in an English language setting.　

Uniqueness is also virtue, but only with early-stage investors. The study found that since very little is known about a company in the early stages, unique names give the impression there is something special about the company.

Difficult names "evoke cues of unfamiliarity and create a perception of high novelty, which is valued by these pre-venture stage investors," according to the study.

But don't go registering for that unintelligible URL just yet: The novelty wears off by later stages, when unique names can make investors feel uncomfortable.

Think about now-shuttered companies like Xobni, which was purchased in 2013 by Yahoo for $60 million, before being shut down just one year later. Then there are other departed startups like Oooooc, and Bawte.

There's more to it, of course. Startups with first names, like Oscar, Lynda or Viv, have done well recently. Extra points go to Aiden, an AI-powered tool for marketers, for scoring a brand that includes both an AI reference and a popular first name.There's also the recent trend to lean into data science--or look like you do--by having i/o in your name or .ai. Over twenty companies with AI in the name successfully raised first rounds this year, according to Crunchbase.

There is just not much of a benefit to having a unique name in later stages, according to the study. Investors looking at a company after it's proven to be successful — around the time of an IPO, for example — care more about accurate valuation, so linguistics have less of an impact on financing outcomes.

These results came from researchers in the business schools at Stony Brook University, Drexel University, and Villanova University, who conducted a two-part study which analyzed how names affect funding. In the first part, the researches looked at 131 crowd-funded projects. In the second study, the researches analyzed 1681 IPOs.

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