Forget Fancy Names, Focus on What Really Matters: Validating Your Business Idea

Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, apologies because today is a very, very noisy day. And that's because two houses down, my neighbour is trying to get rid of a tree. They have a massive tree at the back of the compound and they have some lumberjacks felling the tree right now and that's where all that buzzing noise is coming from. So don't think it's me farting. It actually is someone with a chainsaw harking down the tree.

And it's impressive cause the fellow who is doing the work is real masterful. He's been going, you know, going at it for about a day now. And so far none of the branches have hit the house. And yeah, the guy knows his stuff. Then the usual part issues around the neighborhood. So my neighborhood has a commercial kitchen, you know, his staff are gathered outside and they're doing the usual thing, you know, gossiping, arguing, quarreling, you know,

whatever. So that's all the noise that you're going to be hearing basically coming through the recording. So with the apologies out of the way, let's head straight into the question that we're going to tackle today. Now this question is geared at people that have limited business experience and we're going to be looking at practical guidance for first time entrepreneurs basically. So it's one of these long winding questions.

So we're looking at people with limited business experience and we're trying to come up with practical guidance for first time entrepreneurs. Now here's some of the stuff that I think those of you who have limited business experience and who are taking a crack at this whole thing, being self-employed, being a business owner, being an entrepreneur, a mompreneur, solopreneur, whatever, preneur afri capitalist, you know, different kind of monikers out there.

So whatever it is that you're trying to do, these are a couple of things that I think you should know. And this list of things that I'm going to explore right now are by no means exhaustive. So basically what I'm saying is I might list out these things now, but as the podcasts ensue, because in typical fashion, we're not going to finish everything today. So I'll list out a bunch or we'll treat one or two and then move the rest off to the next episode.

So it's possible that I might start off with this list. I have about 5 or 6, maybe 7, but as we go on and on and on, it's possible that some of those things might be added onto it. So expect this to be a fairly long treatment. So these are the things I think people with limited business experience and who are looking for practical guidance, these are some of the things that they needed to know. So #1 your business name is not as important as you think, so don't spend too much time on it.

Let me repeat #1 your business name is not as important as you think, so don't spend too much time on it. I am going to explore in some more details in future episodes, so don't worry if some of these things sound counter intuitive or if they sound blasphemous. I'm going to be able to explain power some of these things in more detail in the future #2. Your branding is not as important as you think, so don't spend too much time on that.

I'll repeat, your branding is not as important as you think, so don't spend too much time on that. For those of you branding pundits out there, before you guys crucify me, just wait. We will get to the episode and you will hear about my ideas in more nuance #3 your business idea is not as important as you think it is, so stop spending time hiding it or trying to protect it. Let me repeat, your business idea is not as important as you think.

Stop spending time hiding it or trying to protect it. This is one that I have to put out there. Oh, by the way, apologies to my legal community. Yes, my professional background, or rather my academic background is in law. I only practice law for two years. So yeah, my academic background is in law. So I know that those of my colleagues right now who are in the intellectual property space, intellectual property protection space, might be chomping at the bits right now, really fuming.

Now, how can I give this kind of advice, especially someone who is learned in the law. But like I have told the other two people, the branding people and the business name people, just relax. We will get to the episode where I'm going to expand on my ideas much more clearly about why the business idea is not that important and why some people are spending too much time trying to hide what they're doing or trying to protect their business idea.

Then #4 there is no business idea that is so great that it will sell itself. Let me repeat, there is no business idea that is so great that it will sell itself. People keep on talking about this guy, what's his name? iPhone person Jobs. People keep on talking about Jobs and the iPhone. When we get to that episode, you will see how the iPhone is not selling itself. Other people are selling the iPhone. In fact, there's lots of great salesmanship and showmanship that is responsible for selling the iPhone.

The iPhone is not selling itself. So you people please stop propagating that myth. There is no business idea, product or service that sells itself. So but more details in the future. Then another thing I think that those of you guys with limited business experience need to know, especially those of you who are first time entrepreneurs. Business is a team sport. Even if what you want to do is a lifestyle business. You know if you want to be a lifestyle business owner, just realize that business is a team sport.

So realize that and start anticipating and start planning ahead for what your team is going to look like. The reason why I mention this is because some people say, look, I don't want this thing to be big. I don't want it to grow beyond me. So like, let's say somebody selling catfish at the back of Mom C's house. I want this to be a lifestyle thing. I'll push it as big as it can go, but it's only going to be me. If it's only me and I'm able to take you to the level where it's giving me three M every year, no problem, let me be happy with the three M.

If I push it to 50 M but it's only me, then be happy with the 50 M. So that's the whole idea about lifestyle business. You're not thinking about putting reputable systems, well tested frameworks, standard operating procedures. You're not trying to build anything beyond yourself, but still just realize that business is a team sport even for people who want to do this lifestyle thing. So we will explore some of that in the future.

So these are the five things that I want those of you with limited business experience to know your business name. It's not that important. Stop wasting time. Your branding is not as important as you think. Stop spending too much time on that. Your business idea is not as important as you think. So stop trying to hide and stop trying to protect this, your business idea. Then there's no business idea that would tell yourself, so stop looking for that massive mega super whatever thing that once you touch the thing will sell itself and then you become a millionaire.

Stop session for that thing. And then realize that business is a team sport. Even if it's just going to be you and only you. We're still need a team around us. And I'm going to explore some of these things in future episodes. So like I said, these are too many items to go over in one episodes we're going to tackle. Let's see if I can do 2IN each episode so I can get this whole series done in maybe three recordings or so.

But like I said, while I'm recording, if anything else pops to mind, I might add something on the list. So let me go to the first one, and that's about the business name. So I've said it, I think I've said it four or five times already. I'll say it again. Your business name is not as important as you think. So don't spend too much time on it. The reason why I'm starting off with this is because too many people waste time when it comes to this whole thing of business names.

Some people say, should you name yourself the business after you or should you pick a corporate sounding name? Now these are debates that I'm well familiar with because even though my academic background is in law, in fact, let me continue with that, my academic background is in law. I did corporate practice, sorry legal and practice for a while. And then after that I did wedding photography. So in these spaces, these are things that people talk about all the time.

Should you name your law firm Baba Lakin Co? If you name it Baba Lakin, that means you might not be able to build an international brand. And yes, Baba Lakin is the name of one of a Nigerian son. And then there are some people that say no name your, give your business name something corporate sounding. So there's a firm called Alex that's a ELEX. So like Alex. Yeah, that sounds international. It sounds corporate. It gives room for the business to grow.

So there are these sorts of debates. As a lawyer, should you name it Okichuko and Sons, Babalaki, Anko, Abdul Kareem and Sons? Or should you give it a fancy name like Alex? Let's see, what else? Aurora Legal Practitioners or Interstellar Solicitors Limited, you know, so those debates, the rage, they are bound all the time. Then you move out to the wedding space and then there are people who have these debates. It still continues till today.

Should you call yourself Tereshima and son's wedding photography or should you call yourself? There was there was a team that I knew it was the husband and the wife. I'm not going to use their real names, but it was husband and wife. So it was kind of like James and Juliet wedding photography or should you get something corporate sounding? So there are all these debates that keep raging. And I can assure you that if they are there in legal and they're there in the wedding and the event space, I'm sure it applies in engineering and architecture, in lab, practice,

fashion, whatever. So my own take on this thing is this, it is your aspirations that determine the kind of business that you build and not the name. So those of you who are engaging in this debate here and there, you're wasting time and you're confusing people because there's somebody who is genuinely thinking right now, should I call this thing Alisa wedding photography or should I call it Aurora Lights wedding photography?

And the poor young girl is wasting too much time thinking about the perfect name. It's not about the name. It's not the aspiration that will determine the kind of business that you build. Now, let me give an example. Nigerians, we know of Dangote. Dangote is the man's name. It's not even the family name. It is that one man. It is his name. But nobody denies that what we have is an international conglomerate. It's Nigeria, what else?

You know African countries for now. But there's, you know, Dangote is still a young man. I mean, youngish compared to those of you who's fathers are still alive. You say that, OK, he's a youngish fellow. So there's still time. I'm sure that we're going to see the expansion of the Dangote Empire over time. But the business is named after him. But clearly he has international aspirations, and he has an international conglomerate.

So whether he named it Dangote or whether he named it Interstellar was not the important thing. His aspirations were the main thing. So the fact that he named it after himself, not even the family, has not been a limiting factor. Then we also have Warner Brothers. I mean, how basic can that be? You get into business with your brother and then you decide to call it the Okechuku brothers. It's that sort of thing. So Warner Brothers, but they are into international movie distribution.

The same thing with Walt Disney. Disney is the man's name. OK, you can say the surname, the family name, but it's the same thing, international movie distribution. So you can see that in this case, the fact that these people name their businesses after themselves or after the family did not limit the scope, did not limit the scope of the growth of their businesses. Let me give another example. In Lagos, there's this school,

Laura and Flora, I think it's Laura and Flora. International School. It is called Laura and Flora, it is called International School. But even though it's called international, it's based in Lagos only. They don't have Abuja branch, They don't have, they don't have what Inugu branch, you know. But international is in the name. So it's not about whether you put international in the name or not, it's about whether you have international aspirations or not.

Sony Music, named after the man. Well, currently international movie distribution, international music distribution, international electronics distribution. So we can go on and on and on and on and on. What matters is not the name. I mean Amazon. What is Amazon anyway? Is it the warrior or is it the reference to the rainforest? Some people say it's the rainforest. Whether it's the rainforest or whether is the Amazon, the female warriors or Greek myth or of the Republic of Bennett myth because they had Amazons as well.

So what about the rationale? You can see that Bezos has built a company and it's national company that is not tied to whatever associations that the name might have for you or or for me. So the name is not that important. Forget about whether it is a family name, whether it is your name, whether it is corporate sounding or whatever. What are the aspirations of the business that you are trying to build? Oh yeah, I forgot one.

Lehman Brothers. Yeah, I think Lehman Brothers, I think those are the ones that were the Jewish boys that behind the international bank, you know some Jewish boys and eventually becomes a big banking family. So that one is even like family business, like the kind of thing that happens in Nigeria, like a man has a business idea and starts it and then he says, oh, I have five sons and you five sons, you are going to inherit this business after me and continue to grow this thing.

So it is that kind of thing. It's a very nice I think. But then today is Lehman Brothers family business or an international business. So those of you that's some of you that are just spending too much time on this name issue. So the name is not that important. It's how quickly that you can take action and validate the idea. So for Lehman Brothers, I can't remember the whole, you know, the whole scope of the whole thing.

But because of their interests and things like that, they're able to prove that there is a need for international banking, cross-border finance, you know, those sorts of things as like there was a need for the idea. So of course the thing took off, whether the thing was named Lehman Brothers or whether the thing was named Zion. OK, no, if they named it Zion International, maybe that would have been a different thing because you know, this whole thing with anti-Semitism, so they named it Zion Brothers International that that might have been a problem.

OK, well so there are some situations where some names might be problematic, but you guys get the gist of what it is I'm trying to say. So the business idea, so that's the most important. It's about how quickly you take action and validate the idea. So stop taking weeks to get the perfect name because there's some people that take weeks, maybe months to get the perfect name and then they realize that there is no demand for the business idea.

Then they shut the whole thing down. I mean, you've wasted time. You take like three or four months, select the perfect name, come with the branding and everything and then like there's no, there's no room here for business growth name, shut it down. So instead of using weeks to select the name, try and use a couple of days or weeks to validate the business idea and show that there is demand for the idea in the 1st place.

After that, you can come up with the name and then do incorporation and all those things after you have validated the business idea. Now, if you're new to this podcast, some of you are going to ask how do you validate the business idea? It's too long to go into details. I've done previous episodes on that because we have over 865 episodes of the podcast so far. So if you are using services like what's it called? There are some podcasts catchers that allow you to search within the podcast.

So if you're using one of those, then just search within the podcast. Just try validate validation, demand, you know, things like that. Then the older episodes that I've made about these sorts of things will will come up and then you can learn in detail how to validate your business idea. But summary, to validate the business idea, you have to be engaged in some form of sales actions, sales motions that will show whether there's demand for the idea or not.

In other words, summary, what I'm saying is you want to validate the business idea, go out and try to sell something. If people buy, that's a sign. How quickly people buy is a sign. How much people are willing to pay is also a sign. Those are the things that you're paying attention to. So if nobody buys, sometimes it might be a sign that you're just crappy at sales, you know, So there's, there's some art and some science to the whole thing.

But bottom line is until you go out and try to sell something, you are not going to know whether this is a, a viable business idea or not. So it's not about the name. Try and validate the business idea and get this thing going sharp, sharp. So there are going to be, there are some of you who listen who are listening to this episode right now that they are not convinced. It doesn't matter what I say. It doesn't matter who says it,

they're not going to be convinced. They still want to come up with their name 1st and they still want to do business registration first before doing anything. All right, Noah Allah, no problem. In the past, when I gave this sort of advice, I didn't have any good alternatives for you. For those of you who say you must do business name, now we have a game changer. Things have changed. You can use artificial intelligence and come up with a name in a day or two.

Coming up with a good name does not need to take three weeks, 4 weeks, one month again, you don't need to now pay a branding specialist and all that to get the perfect name anymore because artificial intelligence can help with that. And then besides, I say this time and time again, you can always change business names later. So it's not that important. Facebook became Meta, Google became Alphabet and we know Nigerian businesses that have started off as one thing and then eventually change name to something else.

So business name can always change. So it's, it's not a problem. Now for those of you who doubt that looking for a business name can be done pretty quickly in a a day or two, in fact, not even a day, I will say in minutes, you can come up with names now in minutes, Max, let me say hours. Let's look at the case study. And this is something I did myself just to prove it to you guys. And you can run the experiment. You can run the experiment as well.

So the case study is this fictionary. This is a fictional scenario. I'm a 26 year old guy living in Lagos, Nigeria and I want to start a business. I want it to be a bar that sells peppered and grilled catfish. Why am I going on about this catfish? For those of you who listen to the show for any length of time, you know that I don't eat fish. But I come from a family that loves fish. My wife, my family, my mom. See my siblings apart from my brother, they all love fish.

So this is their thing. You know, grilled fish. Smoked fish, filet mignon fish, any kind of fish. If it's fishy, they eat it. But I don't. So that's why I keep going on about the catfish thing. OK, so I want to start a bar that sells peppered catfish, grilled catfish, and we're only going to serve it with energy drinks and we're going to serve it with vaping. You know, this alternative to cigar cigarettes, Yeah. So we're going to do some vaping in the bar.

So it's going to be catfish and energy drink drinks only, no alcohol. Then we're going to have vaping, vaping, you know, different flavours, maybe have some shisha. And it's going to be like a lounge kind of setting. And then we're going to have 24 hours connection to UEFA League, other sporting events, things like that. Now this business, the target is going to be men between the ages of 23 to 34 and the vibe that we're going for is something masculine as in, you know, you get like rugged boys only and because I wanted to be a hangout exclusively for men during the week.

So I took this whole story that I've given you now I typed it up and I threw it into Gemini. Gemini is my AI of choice just because I'm an Android user. So I have access to Gemini. No need to create account and blah, blah, blah. But you can do the same thing with CHA GPT or with what's this other one? OK, I can't remember, but you know that there are plenty of them. Sure, plenty. And they keep inventing new ones every every five or six months.

So I threw it into Gemini. You can do the same thing for charity BT or for Bing or for whatever it is that you'd like to use. And I told Gemini, come up with some good names for this kind of business, for this kind of establishment that I'm trying to create. Oh, by the way, please, ladies Novex, don't be offended though. I'm not saying that ladies are less than. I'm just looking for the most outlandish scenarios possible to show you that whatever it is,

you can come up with business names. That's the reason why I'm saying this thing is going to be exclusively male and we're not even going to sell, sell alcohol because, you know, usually this kind of establishment, you know, alcohol must be. And in fact, alcohol is going to be where most of the profits will come from. So I'm saying now that OK won't even sell alcohol, will serve energy drinks, will do vaping and then we'll do shisha and then it will be men exclusively as per like we don't even want babes, no babes allowed.

So I'm not saying women are less than. I'm just coming up with an outline this example now Google Gemini gave me some interesting ideas. And so let's let's see what Gemini came up with. So it broke into different categories. Gemini came up with names that have a masculine vibe. One was the gents quarters. Gents as in gentlemen, you know for short. The gents quarters. You see the idea there is a space for men. Another one that he came up with was Ironside Lounge is trying to evoke a sense of strength or masculinity.

Then it also came up with another name, the Bullpen. This is supposed to be like a relaxed hangout for guys. Another one of the locker room that is at a sports oriented atmosphere. Also a masculine feel. Another name, the Den, you know the den who hangs out in dens, you know lions, you guys are catching the drift. So you can see that this masculine vibe. You can see that these names are not bad. Gents quarters, Ironside lounge,

the bullpen, the locker room, the den. If I take any of these ones and I start just running this business because I want to see is there on demand, you can see there is not bad. I can start with the locker room and then later on like this locker room self like OK, this business is here, but I think this name is holding me back and then I can switch and then call it. Then it also gave some suggestions about names that highlight the catfish and the sports, and these are some of the options.

The catfish corner offside catfish half time grill the penalty box and grill the catfish tackle. So you can see that these ones are not as bad, are not bad, although I prefer the first one, the whole masculine vibes thing. But this one is not bad. In fact, this name, the penalty box and grill, you know, I like that thing and that's a cool name. Can imagine some guys, you know, you finish from the bank and say, oh boy, how far now they go Penalty boxer say where they go now you know, it's I think it's catchy.

It's good enough. Then it also came up with suggestions about names with the Lagos influence. So there was Eco Catfish Club, Lagos Catfish corner, the Island grill. That's if we locate the bar on the island 3rd mainland catfish, if the place is near 3rd mainland bridge and even came out one interesting name like you know, Fella's corner that's referencing, of course, the famous Afrobeat musician fella has a name with local significance, assuming that it blends with all thing because you you know, that fella used to he used to light up.

He used to split up. So since we're going to be doing shisha and vaping in this place, so I guess it's OK fellas corner. Then it also came up with names that focus on energy drinks and vaping. So the buzz bar, I like buzz bar. That's nice. Cloud 9 lounge. That's also a good one. You know, cloud 9 now, like you know, when you light up now, when you hit that, when you hit your blunt, you know, you you understand now and your brain will open up and you just you know, you go to the you get to that.

You know, your brain is opening up and you're making some divine connections you connect with when you're connecting all kinds of spiritual levels to the universe. You know, that's cloud 9. So Cloud 9 lounge, that's good. There was one here. I don't think it's workable. The ohm zone, Ohm as in Ohm. I don't think that's going to work in the Niger context. The voltage lounge lounge as far the energy drink thing. And then there was another name,

the full charge bar. So you can see that I just typed out this whole thing and this thing gave me responses like that sharply. It didn't take time typing this case study, throwing it into Gemini Gemini giving me responses those whole exercise. This thing didn't take me 10 minutes and I got some good names. I like Ironside lounge. It's cool. I like penalty box and grill. That's a nice one there. What else? What else? What else?

What else? Climb 9 lounge. I like that one see can see that these names are not bad. I can take any of the three. I'll start this my business. Most important thing is I'm trying to validate that this is an idea that might work because people might go there for the catfish and they might complain that my boy, like, what's up with you now? What's with all these energy drinks? Like, where's the alcohol? Like give us alcohol.

So if that's the market feedback, then of course I have to change my whole business, whatever that, you know, boys are loving the catfish, but they care nothing about the energy drinks. And it might be that people don't even want vaping, the only place where they can't smoke the real cigar itself. Or maybe they might want Igbo or something else. Igbo is who are non Nigerian. Igbo is what's that one Mary Jane, Indian hemp.

Yeah, hemp. So it might that people might, might not want the vaping thing and be like vaping is for children, like give us the real thing. So this is what I mean about the most important thing is not the name. Just start and then try and validate the business idea. You will see that some things are moving, there's demand or some stuff. Some things are not moving, there's no demand. So you now be changing and tweaking the business idea as you go along.

Anyway, summary, what I'm trying to say is don't let name hang ups stop you. Just choose a name today and start work immediately. The problem isn't the name. The problem is whether you can validate the business idea, whether you can show that there's market demand, whether you can achieve product market fit, whether you can create a profitable customer base. And I'm sure you guys, you get where I'm heading at. So let this name thing stop tripping you up.

But if you insist I must have a name or before I start, then no problem. This exercise, I did it on Gemini, so it's available. No need to create account. You're an Android user. Whip out your phone, just do the same thing. If you're wondering about how you get the best responses from these sorts of things, they need to know how to prompt. I did a podcast episode where I was talking about using AI and prompting and things like that.

So if you're using a podcast catcher that allows you to search within the app within the podcast, then search there, use, gosh, what did I call it? And it just put AI. Let's, let's see what comes up. Prompting, put AI, put prompting or put a prompt. I think there's something about the anatomy of a prompt. Try the anatomy of a prompt and then see what comes up. You have my podcast episodes there where I described or how to come up with the right prompt so you can get the good business name for you.

OK, it's ready. 30 minutes. So I failed. I can't do two in one episode. So let me just wrap it up here. So please connect with me on WhatsApp. The number is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian, then connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and the e-mail address from the link. We're currently listening to this episode.

Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next recording, where we will move on to. Sorry. Let me look at my notes. The second one was OK. A branding. Yeah. I always like quarreling with you branding boys and girls. So tomorrow I will open the argument with you branding boys and girls. Tomorrow we're going to why your branding is not as important as you think. So yeah, I'll catch you guys then.