有個好名字 公司融資更容易
As if having an awesome product isn't hard enough: A study published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Venture Capital has found that a startup's name can seriously affect how a company is perceived by investors.
擁有一款出色的產品似乎還不夠難，同行評議學術期刊《風險資本》上刊登的一項研究發現，一家初創公司的名字會影響投資者對該公司的印象。Names are easily pronounced, such as Uber and Lyft, are preferred by both early and late stage investors. They tend to be offered more money, whether its through crowd funders, angel investors, VCs or IPO investors.
對初期和後期的投資者來說，朗朗上口的名字是他們的首選，比如Uber和Lyft。不管是衆籌者、天使投資人、風投還是IPO投資者，都願意給這樣的公司提供更多資金。Uniqueness is also virtue, but only with early-stage investors. The study found that since very little is known about a company in the early stages, unique names give the impression there is something special about the company.
與衆不同的名字也不錯，但是這只是對初期的投資者來說。該研究發現，由於初創公司在初期階段鮮爲人知，獨特的名字能給人留下一個特別的印象。
Difficult names "evoke cues of unfamiliarity and create a perception of high novelty, which is valued by these pre-venture stage investors," according to the study.
據該研究稱，晦澀的名字“給人一種陌生和非常新穎的感覺，而這正是初期風投人所看重的。”But don't go registering for that unintelligible URL just yet: The novelty wears off by later stages, when unique names can make investors feel uncomfortable.
但是，這種新奇性後期便會消失，這時別緻的名字會讓風投人感到不悅。不要急着去註冊這個讓人費解的域名。
Think about now-shuttered companies like Xobni, which was purchased in 2013 by Yahoo for $60 million, before being shut down just one year later. Then there are other departed startups like Oooooc, and Bawte.
想想現在已經倒閉的公司，比如Xobni，該公司在2013年被雅虎以6000萬美元收購，一年後被關閉。還有Oooooc、Bawte等已經黃了的初創公司。There is just not much of a benefit to having a unique name in later stages, according to the study. Investors looking at a company after it's proven to be successful — around the time of an IPO, for example — care more about accurate valuation, so linguistics have less of an impact on financing outcomes.
該研究稱，一個別致的名字在後期對公司是沒什麼好處的。投資者們在考察成熟的公司時，比如對即將上市的公司，他們更看重的是精確的估值，所以在名字上咬文嚼字對融資結果的影響較小。These results came from researchers in the business schools at Stony Brook University, Drexel University, and Villanova University, who conducted a two-part study which analyzed how names affect funding. In the first part, the researches looked at 131 crowd-funded projects. In the second study, the researches analyzed 1681 IPOs.
這一研究結果是來自石溪大學、德雷塞爾大學以及維拉諾瓦大學的研究人員得出的。他們的研究由兩部分組成，分析了公司名稱對融資的影響。在第一部分中，研究人員調查了131個衆籌集資的項目。在第二部分中，研究分析了1681例IPO案。
