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One of the first steps probably way befor going life will be the branding of your startup. Especially in the Web2.0 world branding is a major point in getting a voice in the market. You can’t just sit there and wait till some one drops in your shop, unless your name is google this will likely not happen (else tell me how you did it :).

When thinking of branding one of the first steps will be the name game. You may find a very good Post of Paul Graham about naming your startup and I think he is right, finding an excellent name in the world where many names are taken by domain squatters is not an easy task and the name will clearly show how creative you are. If you had enough brain to find a sexy name your imagination will probably lead you to build a meaningful startup.

Startup Names

Another part of branding is how you can distinguish yourself from the competition. How can you spread the word beyond your family and friends. Branding and PR are methods to generate traffic on your web site. I can recommend this blog post on the aviva directory which shows you 99 cheap branding tips for your startup. Use them and especially use them frequently!

Little Known Ways to Brand on the Cheap: 99 Tips for Poor Web Startups

Branding and PR are one of the top things to keep in mind when starting. This is how you distribute your service!

If you would like to see a very good presentation about the Art of the Start, I can suggest the following Video. Guy Kawasaki Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures has a very humoristic way to tell some rules when starting a company:

Guy Kawasaki “The Art of the Start” @ TiECon 2006

The Art of the Start a short overview of the ten rules:

1. Make meening
2. Make mantra
3. Get going
4. Define a Business Model
5. Weave a MAT (milestones, assumptions, tasks)
6. Niche thyself
7. Follow the 10/20/30 rule
8. Hire infected people
9. Lower the barrier to adoption
10. Seed the clouds

For more details and examples on each rule watch the video.