On Michael's final point:
"And most importantly, once you’ve picked your name, NEVER FREAKING CHANGE IT"
I have personal experience with this. I joined a startup called TradeAccess. They changed the name and re-branded to Ozro. They closed their doors summer of 2001.
I won't say the name change was the cause of demise, but I can't say it did any good either.
Yeah, even though you can set up redirects, the dilution on the brand you've spent so much time building is quite substantial. I went through this on a site I was managing, and it wasn't only a huge distraction, it took the brand in a direction I didn't necessarily agree with.
I'd guess that sticking with a decent name is better than changing to a marginally better one, as your experience suggests...
I have personal experience with this. I joined a startup called TradeAccess. They changed the name and re-branded to Ozro. They closed their doors summer of 2001.
I won't say the name change was the cause of demise, but I can't say it did any good either.