Elevator Pitch is a regular feature on Lifehacker where we profile startups and new companies and pick their brains for entrepreneurial advice. This week, we’re talking with founder Genevieve Dennis from Easynamechange.com.
In 128 words or less, explain your business idea.
Easynamechange.com was born from personal experience. I got married in 2008 and experienced the frustrations of having to change names with about 30 organisations first hand. My husband and I were frustrated that there was no online service that took care of the process, so we decided to change that. Easynamechange.com offers personalised, ready to send letters, faxes and forms to update records in just 15 minutes. Our US customers have the ability to personalise over 200 government and company forms in the simplest way possible. We currently operate in Australia, US, Canada, UK and New Zealand.
What strategies are you using to grow and finance your idea?
My husband and I made the decision to quit our day jobs, lower costs and focus on developing the best possible offer for the US market. We’ve starting to invest funds into marketing and growing the business and are seeking major partners in the US. Recently we signed a significant supply deal with a major US reseller, which we expect will increase turnover by $1 million per annum by December 2015.
What’s the biggest challenge facing your business?
Awareness. Because name change is generally a once in a life time occurrence there’s huge waste in marketing directly to the consumer. We’re developing strategies to target wedding vendors and work with businesses who already have a dialogue with brides post marriage.
How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?
When we launched in Australia we had no competitors, so differentiation was never our focus. In the beginning we decided that our value proposition is to save customers hours by provide comprehensive information and documents for all organisations. Now we’re entering new markets our proposition still stands — our massive database of US organizations places our product heads and shoulders above the rest.
What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?
When determining priorities, consider if it drives more sales. Asking ourselves this question has helped us think through upgrades and roll our strategies.
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