A Big Naming Problem — ItzBig.com Had

Defunct firm had a number of challenges. Its (domain) name didn’t help.

A few years ago a fresh startup sprang onto the scene in Austin, Texas. Called ItzBig, it was a fresh type of job web site. It was backed by some big names in online job recruiting, counting former executives of hire.com. Venture capitalists piled on board, throwing cash at the firm.

But there was one glaring problem: its name. When ItzBig.com was launched in stealth mode, I assumed the name was just a placeholder until the firm unveiled itself.

The problem with its name, of course, is that no one who heard it in conversation would find the web site. They’d go to ItsBig.com instead of ItzBig.com.

But as time went on it became clear that the name wasn’t going to change. Someone made the poor decision to name the firm ItzBig. That’s a big branding mistake.

A couple weeks ago news hit the street that ItzBig was shutting down. Online recruiting is an intensely competitive space and the firm’s concept wasn’t cutting it. At one point the firm had 70 employees.

Obviously the firm didn’t fail since of its name. But it’s clear that choosing such a poor name, instead of a better name that may have required buying an existing domain name, would have been a smart choice.