Please, stop naming your startup “Something-ify.ai” (brief rant from a professional copywriter)
Every morning, I scroll through the new launches to see what people are building, as many others do, and some recurring patterns are simply impossible to ignore.
When your product hits the front page, you have exactly three seconds to convince someone to click.
Just three gatekeepers stand between you and a new user:
Logo
Product name
Tagline
There are a thousand nuances we could dissect here, but today, I just want to talk about one.
I think we all agree that we're exhausted by the "-ly", "-fy", and "-ty" suffix spam.
When the first few startups did it years ago, it was fresh. It was a vibe. Now, it’s just lazy.
Branding is like going into a club: If you dress exactly like everyone else just to "look like a startup," you completely blend into the wallpaper.
And let’s be honest about the .ai obsession: In 2026, putting "AI" in your product name is like a vacuum cleaner bragging that it "uses electricity." It's completely redundant. We assume your product has AI under the hood; you don't need to make it your entire personality.
So, look at your competition to understand the landscape, absolutely. But your product is supposed to be a unique solution to a specific problem. If your positioning is actually different from everything else on the market, your name should reflect that.
Next time you feel the urge to slap an "-ify" on a random verb and call it a day... take a walk. Think twice.
Replies
I agree with this. But that’s the risk of trying to be trendy or ending up completely outdated. You either follow the trend, or you’re totally outside of it. The line is very thin.
I see a lot of products and teams that follow every trend. And others that don’t follow them at all. Those who don’t follow trends often look awkward. The others look lazy. But the ones who don’t follow trends can come across like dinosaurs which is even worse.
So my advice is to follow trends, but also make sure it’s done in a relevant and elegant way.
@byalexai I agree with you, following trends makes you relevant and aligned with what people look for.
But I also think it's smart to look beyond trends and try something different, although it's not easy and, as you said, you risk achieving the opposite effect and appear "awkward" or "weird."
It's difficult to make it right!
minimalist phone: creating folders
I really enjoyed this rant :D I started as a copywriter and this repetitive pattern started being boring :D
@busmark_w_nika I'm glad to hear that someone agrees ahah just seeing that name makes me completely lose interest in the product!
minimalist phone: creating folders
@pamela_arienti IMO, those AI companies generate those names using AI, so no wonder it looks the same :D
@dr_simon_wallace Maybe a few years back explicitly saying that your app or product was made with AI was relevant and helped potential customers understand the difference with similar products/apps. But now I feel like it's not a differentiator anymore.
Anyway, I understand how difficult it might be for startups to let go of patterns that have always worked and try a different approach. That's a common problem for all businesses!
PickleMatch
preach. there's very little upside to fitting into common naming patterns as a startup. A great name can be a brand's strongest asset (Loveable, Apple, Coinbase, etc).
@anneliese I completely agree with you! But I also understand how difficult it can be for a founder to go beyond what has always worked and try something different. I would never suggest taking that path, but I can understand.
After all, we can't all be Apple or Lovable, right? :D
PickleMatch
@pamela_arienti definitely. I would say. when in doubt, pick something very SEO-able lol