How “maven ideas” became a technology company.
We often get asked where the name, Mavidea, came from. It’s a story we still enjoy sharing because it still says something important about our company.
When we first started Mavidea, the original seven partners came together to start a technology company with the goal of helping small businesses succeed in Central Illinois.
For over a month, we spent 8 to 10 hours a week going over our operating agreement and discussing how we would avoid the pitfalls many groups face in starting a small business.
The final ten minutes of the last meeting was spent coming up with a name for our organization. We knew we wanted something unique that differentiated us from all the other tech companies.
We also wanted to obtain the domain for our website. It needed to be a URL that was memorable, unique and different.
Combining maven ideas
For almost 10 months, we struggled to come up with something that hadn’t already been taken.
Ultimately, we decided that we like the words maven and idea. According to Mirriam-Webster, a maven is “one who is experienced or knowledgeable.”
When we tried to combine the concept of a trusted expert with idea, we were left with two options:
Mavidea or (and this is the way we spelled it at the time) Mavidiean. Now, that we had two prospective names, it was time to test them.
Taking our name uptown
We all had a lot of laughs when we had an intern take our name into uptown Normal. We showed people the name on a piece of paper and asked them how to pronounce it. The video below gives you an idea how creative people could be with the pronunciation.
Ultimately, we decided Mavidea worked well for our intention and we would call our staff Mavideans.
I’ll have to admit that Mavidea didn’t quite roll off the tongue. It took some practice for us to say it fluently. But we think our name is unique and meaningful enough, and most importantly, that it represents our company very well.
What company names do you think represent their purpose well and why? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
