There can be no more complicated process than choosing a name for a brand. A brand needs a name that is unique yet easy to pronounce, and one that resonates with its target audience. Sometimes, meaningful and memorable names can be created by linking common words in a specific order. Let’s dive into the stories of three industry titans who transformed simple ideas into household names.
OYO Rooms
Then a college dropout, now one of the youngest entrepreneurs in the world. At 19, Ritesh Agarwal became the youngest Indian and the first Asian to win the prestigious Thiel Fellowship. His achievements include Forbes 30 Under 30, Fortune 40 Under 40, The Economic Times 40 Under 40, CNBC’s Young Turk of the Year, EY Entrepreneur of the Year, Forbes Tycoons of Tomorrow, and NDTV Dream Chaser of the Year.
A young man who followed his heart and changed the hospitality industry forever, Ritesh dropped out of college but went on to establish one of the world’s fastest-growing hospitality brands: OYO Hotels & Homes.
CEO of OYO Rooms. Image Credit: Instagram/riteshagar
OYO started with just one hotel in Gurgaon in 2013 but quickly grew to become India’s largest hotel brand. Today, OYO operates a range of hotels—budget, mid-market, and upscale—residences, co-working spaces, leisure resorts, wedding venues, and other hospitality properties across countries including China, Malaysia, Nepal, the UK, the USA, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan.
On Your Own
Ritesh noticed a major gap between the availability and demand for low-cost motels while traveling from Kota to Delhi. He started Oravel Stays to make inns, bed-and-breakfasts, and small hotels more affordable for budget-conscious travelers. However, the properties had very low repeat rates and bookings. Customers were dissatisfied with their stay.
To understand the issues, Ritesh traveled for three months, staying at more than 100 bed-and-breakfasts, guest houses, and small hotels. He observed missing signage, leaky bathrooms, damaged beds, discolored flooring, malfunctioning air conditioners, credit card rejections, unfriendly staff, and more. He realized that the experience, rather than availability, was the real problem.
Ritesh’s vision for transforming hospitality globally earned him the Thiel Fellowship, the first awarded to an Indian resident. Using this support, he refined Oravel and, in 2013, launched OYO – ‘On Your Own’, a hospitality chain built on the belief that everyone deserves a stylish, comfortable, and well-designed place to stay.
ShareChat
In 2015, three IIT Kanpur graduates—Ankush Sachdeva, Farid Ahsan, and Bhanu Pratap Singh—created ShareChat, now one of India’s fastest-growing startups. The platform is backed by investors like Twitter, Shunwei Capital, Morningside Ventures, Jesmond Holdings, Xiaomi, SAIF Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Venture Highway, and India Quotient. Today, ShareChat is India’s largest vernacular social network.
From Whatsapp to Brand Name
As ShareChat’s target audience was primarily non-English speakers, the company needed a name that would connect with people across India and be easy to find on the Google Play Store. Initially, they considered ‘ChaiTime’, inspired by the popularity of the words ‘chai’ and ‘time’. But the name sounded informal and unsuitable for serious use.
While observing conversations in WhatsApp groups, the team noticed that ‘share’ and ‘chat’ were commonly used English words, even among non-English speakers. They combined the two to form ShareChat. The name is simple, memorable, easy to search, positions the brand as an internet platform, and allows for expansion into future use cases.
Policy Bazaar
In 2008, Yashish Dahiya founded Policy Bazaar, an insurance-related platform aimed at transforming India’s opaque insurance sector. His personal experiences motivated the idea: several loved ones had suffered due to inadequate health coverage, and his father had suffered huge financial losses due to mis-selling by insurance agents.
Despite facing numerous challenges in its first decade, Policy Bazaar became India’s largest online insurance distributor and aggregator, holding over 90% market share. The company has won more than 50 national and international awards for its innovative business model, marketing efforts, and customer-centric approach.
Co-Founder of Policybazaar. Image Credit: policybazaar.com
Linking 2 words
The brand name Policy Bazaar was created by combining the two simple, familiar words ‘policy’ and ‘bazaar’. The name is self-explanatory, easy to remember, and stands out in the insurance industry. Yashish also secured the domain Policybazaar.com. He notes, “Because of the brand’s success, we do not need to educate a large section of society about who we are and what we stand for, which also translates into monetary savings for us.”.
