People who say naming a child is tough have probably never started their own business. There are many different considerations behind a business name. You must make the right impression, reach a specific audience, make sure the name is memorable and makes an impact while still providing a clue about what you do. You build your entire brand around a few words and then depend on that for your livelihood. Because so much goes into it, you can also learn a lot about a business by the knowing the process by which they chose their name. Here’s how it worked for us:

My founding partner, Luke Kreinberg, no longer in the business but still a close friend, inspired me to leave Hollywood to make videos that make a difference for businesses and organizations. We developed the name One to One Box through a process I love to use in small groups. Write down as many names as you can then bring them to a meeting. The more the merrier, as it is sometimes the ones you wrote without thinking that turn out to be the best.

How One to One Box got its start.

As it happened, we didn’t like any of our original names, but were able to cut and paste from the list, eventually joining on the word box and the phrase one to one. This gave us something new and fresh, peripheral enough to be interesting but not too obscure. Something to which we could attach a meaning that related directly to our product. To us, One to One said something about the way online videos inspire more intimate, one to one, relationships. Box represented the medium we’d be disrupting: i.e., television. And thus One to One Box was born. Genius, right?

As with all new ventures there was time of uncertainty, but for myself it was more a time of growth and learning. I was able to take my knowledge and experience from the film business and apply it on behalf an entirely new clientele.

A little throwback to 2009! 

I have never regretted leaving Hollywood. One to One Box is every bit as memorable and exciting—working for non-profits, winning awards for our work on food programs, putting technology companies on the map, or traveling to Italy to shoot wine videos—it’s great work and has a purpose. I love making videos that make a difference.

As with children, the business has grown, changed, and developed in to something I am very proud of. I hope you enjoyed our One to One Box origin story. More new videos coming soon.

Our first attempt at a logo.