Day 5

We’re making progress! I’ve picked a name and bought a variation of the domain. The name of the startup is *drum roll* Kwei! Yes it is a weird word but I’ll explain it below and how I came up with it.

You’re probably wondering how to pronounce it. I have figured that you can either pronounce it Kway, Kway-ee, or Kweh. Personally, I think that Kway is the easiest way to pronounce it but there is no right or wrong.

Now, what the hell does Kwei mean? Believe it or not, the South Korean people come up with words for everything. There is even a term for the trend of South Korean culture becoming a dominant influence in the West. K-pop, K-dramas, and Korean-produced movies and television like Parasite or Squid Game.

That word is known as Korean Wave or Hallyu. I originally looked for a name like Hallyu, but the domains with .co or .com were all taken! It took me a lot of brainstorming but I do some of my greatest thinking in the nighttime. I knew that the name had to be 4 or 5 letters and easy to pronounce. Hulu, HBO, Netflix, etc., all are easy to pronounce but I especially like Hulu because it is fun to say.

So the K in Kwei is short for Korean. Okay, Spencer, that’s one letter but what about the last 3?! This is where I had to get creative. After doing some research I learned that the prominent South Korean company Samsung is actually two Korean words combined. Sam means three and Sung means stars. In Korean culture, the three stars signify eternity and something that is big and powerful. Hence the name Samsung, which is one of the most valuable and everlasting brands in the world.

Wow, I just ranted a lot and still haven’t told you what the WEI part means. The reason that I told you about Samsung is that I realized that it’s okay to shorten words, especially because Korean words tend to be pretty long. So Wei is a shortened version of the Korean word Weibeu. Any guesses as to what that means? If you guessed wave, you’re correct!

So, combined, the words are Korean Weibeu or Korean Wave, the term for Korean pop-culture’s influence in the West. Kwei.

What’s next? I may be pivoting my GTM strategy but I’ll talk more about that tomorrow. Today I hope to identify the brand's color palette and look into getting a logo made. See ya tomorrow :)