Business owners see risks, rewards of having firm named after them

NEW YORK — In casting about for a name for their new companies or products, entrepreneurs often decide to use their own.

And it can work — look at the success of Ben & Jerry’s and Dell Inc. But before you order your new firm’s letterhead, you should think about some of the ramifications — good and bad — of sharing your name with your company.

Craig Newmark’s business started as a hobby back in 1995, when he began e-mailing friends a list of “what I thought were cool events” in the San Francisco area. As the group of recipients grew, people started referring to it as “Craig’s list.”

When the hobby started turning into a business, Newmark thought of changing the name to sf-events. But he decided to make it craigslist — “if I call it that, it’s going to stay personal and quirky.”

Newmark sees many pluses in having his name on craigslist, which has evolved into a Web site with real estate and job listings, personal ads, chat rooms and other services in big cities across the country and in Britain, Ireland and Australia.

“I take it personally when someone tries to do something improper or wrong,” Newmark said.

Pete Slosberg’s name has adorned two businesses: Pete’s Wicked Ale and his newer venture, Cocoa Pete’s.

When Slosberg and a partner started their Palo Alto, Calif.-based brewery in 1986, it made sense to them to have their beer carrying the name of a real person.

“When we looked out there in the real world, we could see people get behind real people,” like the Ben and Jerry behind the ice cream, and Debbie Fields, who named her famed chocolate chip cookies after herself, Slosberg said.

“We never thought of another way — it was part of the strategy,” Slosberg said. But part of that strategy was “to follow up and be visible,” so consumers would continue to link the brand to a real person, he said.

The strategy helped make Pete’s Wicked Ale a valuable property; it was sold to Gambrinus Co. in 1998 for about $69 million. And Slosberg is using the same strategy for Cocoa Pete’s, his chocolate business.

For Renee Sall, having her public relations firm bear her name worked well for the first 13 years she was in business, especially when the company, based in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., was small. But as it grew larger, potential clients and journalists “called and only wanted to talk to me,” not the four people who worked with her.

“It was too much pressure,” Sall said.

So five years ago, with the help of a marketing company, she changed Renee Sall Associates Inc. to Maximum Exposure Public Relations.

“I just feel better about having a separate entity from myself,” Sall said. Moreover, the name clicked with the public — “it’s very catchy, and the business is going well” — and people have the sense that behind the name is a team, not just Renee Sall.

Sall says there are other advantages in not naming a company after yourself. She noted that with small firms, when owners decide to sell, they’re more likely to retain some involvement if their names are on the front door. Giving the company a different name can make it easier to walk away when the time comes.

Moreover, if something goes wrong with the company and your name is still on it, your reputation can suffer as well.

Some owners decide to hold on to their names after they sell.

Amanda Brown used her name, which changed when she married and later remarried, for her Atlanta marketing and public relations firm. After she sold the firm in 1988 — by that time it was A. Brown-Olmstead Associates — “I negotiated to acquire my brand back,” Brown-Olmstead said.

She said that over the years, she used her name changes to her firm’s advantage. “It became a marketing opportunity more than a detriment,” she said.

For Judy Taylor, using a play on her name helped people connect with her St. Louis public relations firm. For the first three years it was Custom Taylor’d Communications; for the past 12, it has been simply Taylor’d Communications.

Either way, it has helped Taylor connect with prospective clients when she hands out her business cards. “You get a smile first thing, and that’s what you want,” she said.

She also thinks using an owner’s name for a business increases dedication to the enterprise.

“When your name is on the door, I tend to think you put a little more in it,” Taylor said.