bradleyjoyce [dot] com

Today I was doing my usual news browsing and I came across this headline:

Ex-eBay exec launches Ongo, a personal news service funded by media giants

The name really stood out. I kept saying it over and over again in my mind… why did that sound so familiar? Then it hit me.

Hongo (Spanish) masculine noun 1. fungus (biology) 2. mushroom (comestible) (especially Am); toadstool (no comestible) also: hongos -> fungus, fungal infection (enfermedad)

I was reading Ongo as hongo… the Spanish word for FUNGUS (the H is spanish is silent). Now how is that for the name of your startup? They describe themselves as “a personal news service that redefines how digital news is read, discovered and shared by bringing together the best content from a variety of sources — all in one place.” All I can think about is fungus. Moral of the story? If you care about international markets (and you *should* if your building an internet startup)… take a bit  of extra time thinking about what you name it, and how that will translate across languages and cultures. This is something car manufacturers figured out a long time ago and why you general see different model names for the same car in different countries. Right now, Ongo is going to be sounding like a bad toe problem to over 400 million potential users. photo credit - Baris Koca