
Rebranding Your Startup - robertlaing
http://robertlaing.com/2012/12/30/rebranding-your-startup/
======
titlex
Nice write up. Just curious, was renaming during the rebrand an option? Seems
like the money used to purchase the domain could have been used elsewhere.

~~~
robertlaing
Was always an option but we wanted Gengo.

Probably relevant to mention that "Gengo" is the Japanese word for "language".
So it makes a lot of sense for us.

------
flyinglizard
What a fantastic write up and outcome. Branding isn't everything, but it's not
far from that either. It defines the entire UX from the moment a person first
hears your name to the moment that person becomes a paying user.

------
adventured
I really like the new branding + logo. Good call on the change. One negative
point of feedback (nothing to do with the name or logo): the split image on
the home page is poorly done in my opinion. It looks freakish.

------
jonathanjaeger
Huge step up! Love the green color palette with the orange button. I agree
with the comment by adventured about the split image on the homepage. Out of
curiosity, was this A/B tested thoroughly or just "chosen"?

~~~
robertlaing
Chosen... will keep trying a few things though. So gradual A/B.

------
larrys
How much did you pay for gengo.com and how much did you pay the broker to act
as the go between?

~~~
robertlaing
I can't disclose exactly. Roughly a junior developer's salary.

It was owned by someone who's name is actually Gengo, and had a business
predicated on the name. So he was reluctant to sell.

The broker got between 10-15%.

~~~
larrys
If the broker gets 10-15% how are your interests aligned? They couldn't
possibly be motivated to get you the best deal on the domain.

(I've been doing this since 1996...)

~~~
robertlaing
As I recall we did something like... if price < x, commission = y% price > x,
commission = y-5%

Regardless, hard to have a perfect transaction in this kind of thing from a
buyer's point of view because by default you have imperfect information. Such
is life.

~~~
larrys
That's good.

I've done something similar. Base rate plus anything under "x" I get a
percentage of the "savings". But for me it's less of an issue as I do this
mainly for fun. I did it for free in the beginning but it ended up taking to
much time so I started to charge to slow things down. I just had a deal where
I bought a domain for $3000 less after my buyer already had agreed to the
sellers price and the deal was done. I smelled blood in the water so I got the
seller (w/o the buyers knowledge) to lower the price more just for the fun of
it.

In general I will see what the budget is for the purchase and if not
reasonable won't take the assignment at all.

------
nedwin
You guys have a great product, good to see the brand coming to the table.
Looks great.

------
aaronpk
+1 for Cuban Council!

------
tuananh
just like how the Thefacebook changed to Facebook.

