Conversation

SBF
@SBF_FTX
5) I'm not 100% sure, but I have a guess: say what you want, but lots of people will judge a book by its cover.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
6)
@RobinhoodApp
's name is fucking awesome. It's easy to parse and remember; it's thematic; it's emotionally compelling; it's distinctive while being easy to pronounce. 4 years ago someone told me, once, that Robinhood was a 0-fee retail stock trading app. I never forgot that.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
7) Robinhood barely even needs to advertise; their name conveys their brand and message without the need for any additional color.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
8) So, what about Webull? It's a great product! And, from what I've heard, a great company. I don't think it's a great name.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
9) First of all, it's hard to parse. If you hear someone say /wEE-bOHl/ out loud, it's hard to know what word they're referring to. How do you spell that? So even for people who know the company or product, associating it with the spoken name isn't as natural.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
10) Second, it just doesn't sound great. It's not a real word, and the word that it's closest to is "weasel", which isn't a great brand association. I know this sounds nit picky, but I think it matters! Whenever I hear Webull, part of my brain thinks of this:
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
11) Third, the phonetics just don't flow very well in English. It's not a real word, and it doesn't sound like a set of syllables that would be likely to form a real word. It sounds like a foreign word transliterated into English. Which I think it might be?
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
12) So, what would I do if I were
@WebullGlobal
? Well, the real answer is that obviously they know way more about their company than I do, and I'm just bullshitting. Probably this is all useless. But here are some off the cuff thoughts.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
13) There's a spectrum here. The easiest version is a tiny change to the brand: WeBull
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
Replying to
@SBF_FTX
15) Also, WeBull makes sense thematically. What is WeBull? It's not a misspelling of a rodent branded as being deceptive. It's a stock trading app for We the people, who are Bullish! Together, We Bull.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
16) And if you make this change, all of a sudden your logo is fucking baller. As is, I suspect a lot of people saw it in the first slide and weren't even sure what it meant. But if the app is WeBull, the logo is clear and on-message:
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
17) So I think that alone would go a long way. It doesn't solve the fact that /wEE-bOHl/ just doesn't sound great phonetically. It also doesn't solve the fact that 'We Bull' isn't grammatically correct.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
18) So, if they wanted, they could do a fuller rebrand: maybe one of these? a) Bull b) Bullish (yeah, I know, the EOS DEX is trying to claim this one, but it's a really good name!) c) Bull Trade d) Bull Stocks I kinda think I like 'Bull Trade'? But I'm not confident here.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
19) Of course, this is all an English centric view. 微牛 might be a great name for an app in China. Maybe you can have it both ways -- with WeBull you certainly can! And, to state the obvious: I have no idea what works well in Chinese, and I don't try to.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
20) FTX has users from a large number of jurisdictions and languages, and as much as possible we rely on native speakers who have an ear for them. So don't take any of the above as thoughts on Webull's brand _except_ in English language countries.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
21) Anyway, why write this up? Because I don't have any background in branding. But one of the largest lessons I've learned as a founder is: that doesn't fucking matter. It's my responsibility for FTX to do well; I can't hide behind my ignorance.
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SBF
@SBF_FTX
22) And so I've spent a bunch of time trying to think about things I'm weak at, so that I can become better. This was one example, and I wanted to write it up, partially just to force myself to be explicit in my thoughts and hold them to a higher standard (I'll hear if I'm off!)
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