Reborn in 1994: Internet Empire

24 A Name

“Ok, you guys for real! We need a name!” Trae said impatiently, as he tapped his hands on a whiteboard filled with crossed-out company names. 

It had been four days since the group moved their base of operations into the room that Lina had been using for herself. It seems that she struck a deal with the president to be able to use that room, provided she helped with designing for the school every so often. With that, four of them gathered there with two more days to go for the competition.

“I’ve been putting it off, but the committee said they need a tangible name by later tonight, otherwise we might be disqualified,” Charlie added. 

“I’m well aware, but I don’t have the skills for this s**t!” Max said with frustration.

“Well, we can’t use all of our names! It’d be too long!” Jules added.

“But why? We could make an acronym!” Charlie said, pointing to the acronym that had already been crossed out. 

“M-T-J-C-L? That’s both too long and too cheesy!” Jules replied.

“I don’t think it’s cheesy!” Charlie defended.

“And what are you, the cheesy police?” Jules replied.

“Why you-”

“That’s enough, both of you!” Max said. “Clearly we aren’t getting anywhere here.” 

Lina was not there to give her expert advice as she was stuck in class. However, she said she would

rush over to them as soon as she could. However, their capabilities for creating things were sorely lacking. 

“Ain’t so easy is it Trae? This is the reason why we needed a graphic artist,” Max said, in an almost gloating manner. 

“Yeah, whatever.”

The four of them tried to rack their brains in order to find a way to come to a consensus. Max put his hands on an art table and sighed.

“We gotta start over, we must be missing something. Maybe we could try writing out different things that we think would make cool sounding company names. They don’t necessarily have to involve tech though. Give it a try you guys,”

Reluctantly, the four of them started scrawling their own sheets of paper, until they had nearly a stack of twenty names.

“Awesome! I’m sure if we just give this to Lina, she will be able to pick out the best one for our company!” he said with a little optimism.

With that, Max got back to his computer along with Trae. The two were excited to start working on a new set of programs that they could potentially use as a product. Charlie got onto his own computer that he set up as well, only he focused more on refining the rough edges of the initial program, and did everything he could to make sure that the product was competition ready. Meanwhile, Jules stood outside and made calls to her father, as well as a few other of his VIP friends to come and observe their booth. She wanted to make sure that the attendance of these VIPs would gather more attention, in hopes that their product gets more praise. With all of this work that they had started to do, they did not notice a quiet Lina making her way into the room.

“I’m here you guys!” she said.

Nobody turned to her as they all had earphones in and mp3 players playing all at the same time. Lina shrugged and put all of her stuff down. She took note of the stack of papers that they had prepared and looked over them. After giving them a good thorough read, she aligned the papers by tapping the bottom side of the stack onto the table. Finally, she walked over to the entrance of the classroom, just about where everyone could see her. It was Max that took notice of her first, as he took his earphones out. 

“Lina! Good to see you here! We worked hard on that stack of papers, so please read ‘em and see which we could use as a name-”

Lina dropped all of the papers into the trash bin to Max’s shock.

“STOP! Lina no! God, we worked so hard on that, why’d you throw ‘em away!” Max said, both sad and a little upset, knowing that all their work and arguing had just gone into the garbage. 

At this point, all of the members stood up and watched Max make a scene.

“But they were all bad. I-I’m sorry Max,”

“W-were they really that bad?” Max asked, embarrassed. 

She smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder. 

“It was incredibly bad. Like the worst thing, I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I can have my own name linked to any of these names.”

It was like a spear was thrown through Max’s stomach with how abruptly she rejected every single one of their submissions. He did not realize it, but when it came to creation and art, Lina was brutal and demanded perfection, from both herself and her colleagues. 

“Do you have any better ideas then?” Max asked her. 

“Of course I do!”

The other members lightened up, feeling hopeful toward the name ideas that Lina was about to share. She erased all of the crossed-out names on the board and wrote three names down, each impacting all of the other members differently. They were all clever, and catchy, and most of all, unforgettable. She even drew prototypes of the logos underneath them, which in reality, we're already capable of carrying the brand of a company. They all marveled at her talent and wit. It was at this point that they all appreciated having a graphic artist on their side. 

“A-alright you guys, please pick one from these three options. We have UnHack Inc., which is a more casual sounding name. It screams internet security, which is true to the kind of company that we want to make. The second one is the Shield Tech., which is a lot more visual-based. The idea is for us to be able to capture attention just by the visual, which is the logo. And lastly, we have XeMillion Tech. It’s based on Max’s name, and since he was the one responsible for gathering us together anyway. I used million because that is what I assume we want to reach for; not just a hundred percent, but a million! That and it works as an acronym as well. X-M-T!”

Everyone looked at the whiteboard with some slight embarrassment as they were totally outdone by one person. However, they all still gave her all the respect as it surely is not easy to come up with things like those without the practice and the training. With that, they all decided on what they wanted as a name for the company. With an almost unanimous name, they picked the name that they wanted to represent them.

Everyone except for Max picked XeMillion Tech. He looked at everyone surprised.

“You sure you want that to be the name of the company? We could come up with one that isn’t solely based on my name! I want you guys to be recognized as well, especially in the company name,” he said adamantly. 

“Well, you are the one who started it all, ain’t you?” Trae asked with a smile on his face. “After all, it all began in the Bronx when we were getting some crazy dollars from our ventures!”

“And, you were the one who made me feel like I could do something for myself… That I could be more than just some heiress. I want to put in the work, for the person who gave me the confidence!” Jules added in.

“It’s you who’s the one who owes me knowledge in tech. In any case, I think the name works, considering you dragged me and Lina into this,” Charlie said with a smug smile. 

“Y-you didn’t drag me, Max! But yes, I was inspired by you. And in a way, you saved me from something that I didn’t want to do. S-so I don’t mind if the company is named after you,” Lina added, not able to maintain eye contact. 

Max smiled at his associates, and tears started to well up in his eyes. 

“Well… I guess I don’t have a choice then,” he said with a grin.

“No, you don’t!” Jules replied.

He looked back at Lina.

“I have one request though, for the name,” Max said, as he walked up to her.

He whispered briefly into her ears, and she nodded. A smile lit up her face, which made the rest of them eager to figure out what the changes were. The marker squeaked along with the board as she rewrote the name and encircled it in finality. Once she stepped aside for everyone to see, instantly they all had that same smile on their face. They were sure that this iteration of the name was much better. It was in the form of messy handwriting from a college student, but it was their name, and they were proud of it. With all their gazes locked onto the board, they all read it over and over again in their minds. 

“XeMillion and Co.”