Seva's $500k Naming Mistake

A story about how ConvertKit's attempted name change to "Seva" backfired due to cultural sensitivity issues.

Nathan Barry shares: "We renamed ConvertKit to something else, but we didn't realize it had cultural significance. The word 'seva' means service, but in Sikh culture it means selfless service and is considered the highest form of worship.

Interestingly, Hindus didn't find it offensive - many thought it was awesome. But people from the Sikh culture were very opposed to it. We had to change the company name back to ConvertKit after just 24 hours.

I paid $340,000 for the four-letter domain (S-E-V-A), and it ended up being a $500,000 mistake. I still have the domain - there are actually two startups, one that went through Y Combinator and another, that have asked for it. But since I paid so much for it, I'm hanging onto it. Maybe it was a $500,000 mistake that will turn out to be a multimillion-dollar win."