

Fukime - hacking Hacker News with a cool startup name - Swizec
http://fukime.tumblr.com/post/8534997631/hacking-hackernews-with-a-cool-startup-name

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StavrosK
I read it as "fuck me". Is that the joke?

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newman314
If this was read as a Japanese phrase, it would be pronounced as fu-ki-may.
Nonetheless, using this as a hook is a gimmick at best.

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StavrosK
Fu-ki-meh, actually, which is why I don't really get it.

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barlo
The marketing aspect is definitely a positive, but I'd fear it may make
adoption of your services in the corporate world a little difficult.

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pitdesi
Corporates are real people too, and people enjoy humor. That's one thing we've
realized with our name change. We were formerly the incredibly boring
"Transparent Financial Services..." and our website was the terrible
<http://transfs.com> until last September, when we changed our name to the
more fun name of FeeFighters (<http://feefighters.com>). We're in the B2B
space, and have customers that range from HN startups to large nonprofit
museums and public companies. They are all run by PEOPLE who love that we
don't take ourselves too seriously.

On the flip side, we actually had one VC who turned us away because he hated
our new name... but Fukime him.

The larger problem I see with your name is that people won't know how to
pronounce it/spell it. Buy all the alternates and redirect them, but also take
this feedback into account - you might find it worthwhile to change your name.

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barlo
I agree with your overall point. But, like you said, people may not know how
to pronounce it. Imagine all of the people that may pronounce it "fuck me" and
simply may not take it seriously.

I think the overall marketability of a humorous/cool/different name is great,
as long as it isn't in the realm of possibly being distasteful to a large
number of people.

I think many may discredit the company immediately, thinking it is a joke or
satire.

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ethank
You could have the best technology in the world but the name would never pass
the smell test on due diligence.

Professionalism means as much as technology when it comes to things I would
base a product on.

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tantadruj
I alpha tested the product and I love it.

It's good for it to have a memorable name because it kicks ass and has some
killer candies. It shows how simple the cloud computing on mobiles should
really be.

I'm looking forward to use Fukime Candies, regardless of their name.

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angryasian
there's the saying that any publicity is good publicity, but I still fail how
funny posts or things like this really help people differentiate and want to
use your service, as a mobile cloud computing company. Yes I know about your
company and the name, but you still haven't convinced me to adopt.

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startupcto
Your 24 hrs fame on HN is probably adding zero value to your startup. I don't
understand why ppl get so excited when they got techcrunched, nonetheless
HNed. Anyway change your name, I thought that was obvious reading into the
comments of that thread.

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chaosmachine
If your customer base largely consists of the kind of people who read HN,
there's really no better place to launch.

I had immense success launching my startup naming business here[1], the
conversion rate on clicks from HN exceeded 1%...

On the other hand, when my Photoshop business made the front page[2], it
didn't bring in a single new sale. Essentially, it all comes down to who your
real target audience is.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2257572>

[2] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2063061>

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leon_
Oh that's a real company? I thought it was just a hoax/joke because of the
name.

