Mail

The Inc. 500 Name Game

Your annual list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies not only is great reading, but it also contains many imaginative and distinctive company names [The 26th Annual Inc. 500, September]. Sure, there were some boring ones that will never be household brands, like Hospital Partners of America at No. 3 and Image Solutions at No. 500. But Red F Marketing, No. 106, is fun. The company says it's short for Redefining the Future. (Not the red F you got in class?) Solid Cactus, No. 255, made me wonder if an Arizona cactus is hollow. Leading the weird name award category is Urooj at No. 399. Imagine being a sales or marketing exec and having to call 50 people a day--and tell them you are from Urooj! But the big disaster is No. 422. Coolibar contains a word that some Indians would find rude and offensive. I am staggered that no one recognizes this.

Athol Foden
President
Brighter Naming
Mountain View, California

Editor's Note: Coolibar's co-founder, John Barrow, who was born in Australia, says the company is named after a tree mentioned in the Australian folk song "Waltzing Matilda."

Website Makeover

I was very disappointed with your article about Web design ["Turning Browsers Into Buyers," September]. The examples chosen had designs that were circa 2000, and the redesigns were terrible. The Stamps.com redesign uses a huge header to deliver the mission statement, which overpowers the brand identity. ("Postage on Demand" looks like the company name.) And the call to action is hidden at the bottom of the page. The Jigsaw Health example was just as bad. Removing the navigation bar from the page is a user-interface no-no. That creates a confusing and frustrating user experience.

James Touhey
Owner
Touhey Design
San Diego

I was hoping your story about improving conversion rates online would have strategies for B2Bs, not the same old cosmetic changes for B2Cs. I would be interested in learning how B2B marketers are capturing leads from increasingly indifferent business customers.

Dale Underwood
President
Federal Appliance
Frederick, Maryland

When It Gets Personal

Norm Brodsky's advice about getting out of personal guarantees left out an important distinction ["Free at Last," September]. Personal guarantees aren't the same as blanket liens. Personal guarantees allow lenders to file a judgment against the guarantor in a default situation, but that doesn't mean they can liquidate assets. With blanket liens, on the other hand, lenders can repossess assets.

Brett Hawton
Senior account manager
Cypress Financial Corp.
Kent, Washington

Power to the People

By giving entrepreneurs a forum to express their views about venture capital firms, TheFunded.com is a great example of how modern technology can be used to restore the balance of power ["Who's Behind TheFunded.com?" September]. A minority group could use a platform like this to share success stories, bash corporations with discriminatory hiring practices, and put pressure on firms to hire a more culturally diverse work force.

Matthew Beltrano
Hamilton, Ontario

Sibling Rivalry

In her article about Sam's Wines, Stephanie Clifford writes about the breakdown of the family business as if it were inevitable ["Splitting Heirs," August]. Yes, family dynamics are complex, and families can be resistant to change. But if the owners of a family business can recognize this and seek the help of an expert in family-business coaching, it's possible to come to better solutions than the Rosens did.

Marc Miller
Principal
MLM Coaching & Consulting
Plainview, New York

The Coffee Shop Wars

Norm Brodsky offered Brian Kelly, co-owner of City Beans coffee shop, good advice about competing with the new Starbucks in his building ["Taking On Starbucks," August]. I think Brian should offer his customers free Wi-Fi Internet access. If another coffee shop offers free Wi-Fi, I'll choose it over Starbucks every time. I hope Brian succeeds. Although I'm a huge fan of Howard Schultz, I'm always rooting for owners of small businesses--I'm one too.

Justin D. Smith
Owner
S2 Lightscapes
Cincinnati

Investing With IRAs

As a longtime investor in start-up companies, I have always strongly advised against using tax-deferred retirement plans to make investments in companies ["Retirement Riches," August]. If investments made from your IRA succeed, you will eventually pay taxes at the regular rate, forgoing the advantages of long-term capital gains. Should they fail, you won't be able to deduct the capital loss on your taxes. A Roth IRA works fine on the upside, resulting in tax-free gains. But if the venture fails, you lose money on which you have already paid taxes, without getting a usable deduction.

George Schwenk
Mason, New Hampshire

Corrections

In our profiles of Inc. 500 companies in the September issue, we misspelled the names of Chris Hedrick, founder of Intrepid Learning Solutions; Rod Ford, CEO of CognitiveData; and Eric Doebele, CEO of ReliableRemodeler.com. We failed to note that Jobing.com had also been on the Inc. 500 list in 2005 and 2006. We incorrectly stated that Ford and HBO had been clients of TargetCast tcm. Employees of TargetCast had worked with those companies at previous jobs.

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