When we suddenly had to change our company name (find out in the blogpost tim&koko new name), we faced a challenge that wasn’t easy to solve.
One of the biggest hurdles was coming up with a catchy brand name that was both unique and unused by any other company worldwide. After what happened with our first name, we were extra cautious, and the search for a new name definitely cost us some sleepless nights.
It didn’t take long for us to realize that while we’re talented engineers, creativity isn’t exactly our strongest suit. Thankfully, we had some fantastic support: Lukas Wanner from Studio Wanner and Simone Hopf from Kolibris stepped in to help. These two creative minds guided us down new paths and gave us valuable ideas that eventually led us to the name tim&koko. But the journey wasn’t easy …
Here’s a glimpse into our early brainstorming phase, back when we thought we could figure it out on our own:
Our initial ideas just didn’t convince us. That’s when we brought Simone and Lukas on board. They encouraged us to step away from the technical world for a moment and instead look for inspiration in islands, places, animals, plants, pioneers, and even superheroes that we liked. The next step was trying to pair names that fit together.
The name «Koko» stood out to us right away. We were especially impressed by the story of the gorilla Koko, who learned to communicate with humans using sign language. If you’re curious to learn more about her, here’s a fascinating video: YouTube video about Koko
For us, it quickly became clear: We see ourselves as «Koko», and we want to teach our clients the «Cloud Native language» in a way that’s easy to understand.
Next, we needed a second name that would emphasize the technical aspect of our business. This is where «Tim» came in, inspired by Tim Berners-Lee, the British physicist and computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web (Wikipedia Tim Berners-Lee). Without his invention, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do today. The name Tim fit perfectly!
We just had to hope that no other company was already using the name. Fortunately, we got lucky: our trademark lawyers gave us the green light, and we were able to officially register tim&koko with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE).
Our brand name tim&koko was born this way – the name represents technology and communication on equal terms, just like our work and our spirit.
We hope you enjoyed this little insight into our naming process! Stay tuned for more posts in our blog series «tim&koko Behind the Scenes».
Best regards, Your tim&koko Team