Etelos in the NY Times today

by Danny Kolke
published on: 12/06/07 5:11:05 PM

RE: The Dr. Seuss Jumble: Naming Web Sites

Etelos was mentioned today in the NY Times in a column about naming websites. "Could it possibly be true? Has all wit and cleverness already dried up in the naming of Web sites, less than 15 years after the Internet was opened to the public?"  I appreciate the mention, albeit that they added Etelos into a list of other sites with the comment that our clever name won't save us.


The article continues with, "As you can tell, these made-up names are absolutely identical to the actual company names listed above--equally meaningless". Well, it seems that the record needs to be corrected, as our name is not a made up name by some website designed to create mysterious success through web traffic trickery.  And more importantly, our name is not "meaningless".
    (Times Article Alternate Link)

What is an Etelos? Where did that come from?

Etelos as a name has great significance to me.  How we came up with it and the underlying vision it represents.

Etelos comes from the Greek.  The root word being 'telos', the end term of a goal-directed process; esp., the Aristotelian final cause (from Dictionary.com).

The history?  Specifically, my father is a theologian and spends a lot of time in Greek text. Nine years ago I had asked him for advice as I was starting the company.  My vision was to create a comprehensive solution that would help business people achieve their goals using the web. 

He taught me about the word, and by adding the 'e' simply would mean 'to bring something to divine fulfillment'. From a visionary point of view, I loved it.  And true, the domain name was available.

Am I the first to alter a word? 

Well, as a Google Apps partner, (also mentioned in the article) their name is an alteration of the original mathematical term "googol".  Flickr is also mentioned, obviously mentioned as a positive spin on a play on words.


No meaning? Try Again...

While the NY Times piece states "As you can tell, these made-up names are absolutely identical to the actual company names listed above--equally meaningless",  I believe that you can see that the name Etelos has for me great meaning.  To this day, the name Etelos ties to our vision.  The passion to help our customers with their goals has kept us going through the many years.
           
Our vision at Etelos is to empower organizations to use web applications to achieve their goals.  Our mission is to enable this by transforming the way applications are developed, distributed and consumed. 


What about other Kolke naming conventions?

At Etelos, I am proud of some other names we are known for, Etelos CRM for Google Apps, CRM for iPhone, Projects for Google Apps, Apps on a Plane and my personal favorite, "the outlook thing". Obviously, most of these names tie directly to what the applications do.  A CRM that works with Google Apps or iPhone; a solution that allows you to run web apps while offline (like when you are on a plane) and and integration tool that integrates with Microsoft Outlook.  I like naming things what they do.  The challenge when your mission is to build a platform that will transform the world of applications; it's tough to name it.  So we went with a name that has visionary significance; and we build a brand and a family of applications and partners around it.


In Summary

No, Etelos is not a start-up.  I'm NOT a 20 something Entrepreneur. Next, I guess there are those that are going to be making the accusations that our successes are the result of pure luck and Bob's-Your-Uncle type success. It is interesting to me to see the stereotypes pile on.  The truth is that I am approaching 40 awfully fast, and Etelos is going to hit 9 years old in a few short months.   We have thousands of businesses already using Etelos, and more signing up every day. The success that we have begun to realize is the result of years of hard work and our relentless effort to create solutions that empower thousands of businesses to use web applications to achieve their goals. (Wait, that has something to do with our name again).

I am encouraged to be noticed by the Times and David Pogue, it's a good sign of things to come.

Etelos is a very valuable name to me.  I hope that our customers will appreciate it some day as much as I do. I am grateful for my father and his suggestion of the name.  Yes, Etelos means a lot to me.

Thank you David Pogue for the mention.  Keep mentioning us ;)