Why you should name your company after yourself
I don’t mean literally name your company after your first or last name.
Instead, there’s a trend where founders are naming their company after their professional identity! This helps drive the value prop and distinctiveness of what your company is about. Here’s why.
Awhile back, I noticed Brittany Sarconi's LinkedIn profile (below). It jumped out to me because she calls herself "Chief Fire Starter," and I was on the hunt for interesting, unusual hybrid titles that existed in the wild (meaning someone I had no affiliation with and who didn't know my work but was already using a unique professional identity on their own).
The curious thing that also struck me was Brittany's company is called Fireside. It beautifully unites with her professional identity.
For the first time, I witnessed how a founder/CEO can mirror their professional identity with their company. Like peanut butter and jelly, they naturally fit together and reverberate back and forth.
A company name can reflect the founder's identity. A founder's identity can reflect the company.
Woah.
If you believe once is a chance, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern. Then this is a pattern!
BRITTANY SARCONI
Brittany's title is Chief Fire Starter and her company is Fireside.
THREE TIMES IS A PATTERN
There’s something special going on in company branding that hasn't been discussed, and needs to be. Professional identities and company names are being interconnected.
My hunch is that discovering who you are, your true professional identity, gives way to the emergence of new language that authentically describes you (often this becomes your hybrid title).
And, if you are a founder, you have an additional opportunity.
Once you know your professional identity, then your company, which is an extension of you (your gifts, talents, skills and ideas) can be named something that echoes your uniqueness.
Here are more examples:
NEELY TAMMINGA
Andrea's title is Curator of Purposeful Experiences and her company is Purposefully Curated.
DANA RAY
Dana’s title is Namer of the Unnamed and her company is Name Your Work.
I hope to keep finding more examples to study this further. I see this pattern as another frontier of professional identity and personal branding work.