Why Disqus Founder Daniel Ha Chose Name First, Idea Later

Most startup founders come up with the idea first, and the name comes from a brainstorming session or list of available domain names. Disqus founder Daniel Ha decided to build his business a different way by starting with the name first. Ha and his co-founder worked on various side projects while they were in school, but none of them went very far because they didn’t have a catchy name. So for his next company, Ha took a different approach. “With Disqus, we decided we were going to start with a fun name,” he says. “From there, we applied the name ‘Disqus’ to any number of fun projects we were doing – the one we stuck with was a concept to give users a new take on how they experience online communities. It evolved from there.”

Disqus is a blog commenting platform that helps you build a community around a website’s readers or audience. The Disqus platform reaches over 500 million people per month across thousands of the web’s largest sites and properties, including Mashable, Engadget and CNN, and works with the most popular blogging platforms including Tumblr, WordPress and Blogger. The company announced they raised $10 million in funding in May 2011.

Ha started the company in 2007 while he was still in school, and dropped out to work on the idea full-time. “I didn’t have any personal clout, having dropped out of school and a fairly sparse resume,” he says. “But we were very passionate and hopefully that showed in our pitches.” Around the same time he started working on the idea he started reading a book called Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston, who was also a partner at startup accelerator YCombinator.

“She was doing a small book signing one day, and my cofounder and I went to check it out,” he says. “We ended up having a nice chat with Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, and a few other YC alums. Over the next couple weeks, we applied and got into YC.” He says being a part of the program was a big help in the early days because it helped them get a foot in the door with prospective partners. “Having the Y Combinator stamp of approval helped tremendously in getting people to commit to at least an intro meeting, especially if they have no idea who you are,” he says.

According to Ha everything was a challenge in the early days of the business, and he spent a lot of time pretending he knew what he was doing. “Naïveté was great because I was never scared of failure, since I didn’t think it was possible if I tried hard enough,” he says. One thing that helped him through those early days was his co-founder Jason Yan, someone he’s known since seventh grade algebra class. “We weren’t extremely close throughout, but we got to know each other really well while working on projects in school,” he says. “We still get along extremely well today, and we cover different aspects of the business.” He says he would recommend most first-time entrepreneurs find a co-founder. “It certainly worked for us.”

While Ha is now running a successful startup with millions of users, the days when he was stumbling his way through are still fresh in his mind. “Most people are winging it just like you are, but ask a lot of questions just in case,” he says when asked about his best piece of advice for entrepreneurs. He says the biggest Disqus milestones to date are the day he dropped out of school to commit to the idea, and the day they made the first dollar in revenue. But that’s just his first act. “I love working on Disqus and we’re currently on a path that I consider our second major act,” he says. “I see myself on this for a while, but of course I’ll be involving myself in more things into the future. There’s too much fascinating stuff out there.”

—

Have questions for Daniel Ha? He’s taking your startup questions on Monday, November 28th at 2pm EST. Submit one now, or view his full Q&A at sprouter.com/danielha.

Share and Enjoy:

13 Responses to “Why Disqus Founder Daniel Ha Chose Name First, Idea Later”

Jonathan Jaeger 23 November 2011 at 11:30 am #

If you want to hear a thorough interview with Ha, he was on This Week in Startups a while back: http://thisweekin.com/thisweekin-startups/this-week-in-startups-116-with-daniel-ha-founder-of-disqus/
Ralev 23 November 2011 at 11:31 am #

Thanks for the interview. I always wondered who are the people behind Disqus. And I’ll also check the book
Why Disqus founder Daniel Ha chose name first, idea later | Founder Profile | Sprouter | Entrepreneur | Financial Post

[...] Read more at Sprouter.com. [...]
Why Disqus founder Daniel Ha chose name first, idea later | Finance Assistance

[...] Read more at Sprouter.com. [...]
micah 23 November 2011 at 2:07 pm #

Sure would have been a cooler interview if the site was using Disqus vs the standard WP comment system… *cough cough* *hint hint*

Ive known Daniel since he launched Disqus, and have never lost faith in his ability to succeed…
mojaam 23 November 2011 at 2:16 pm #

“I didn’t have any personal clout, having dropped out of school and a fairly sparse resume”

Even with a degree, most grads have sparse resumes or not “enough” experience and thus I think it’s a great spark to venture out and try your own ideas.

P.S. Now I wish this blog uses disqus , guess there’s still a lot of room for growth!
wmougayar 25 November 2011 at 8:24 am #

Thanks Erin for highlighting Daniel and Disqus. We’re big fans.

Time to switch your blog to Disqus ?
What’s In Your Name?

[...] of the name for his next startup even before he had an idea for what the product will be. In a recent interview with Sprouter.com (I have to give a shoutout to another Toronto-based startup – Sprouter), he explained that he [...]
awaldstein 16 December 2011 at 4:07 pm #

I’m a big fan of Daniel and a strong proponent of Disqus as a community platform.

Thanks for highlighting them.

Question….You say that “the Disqus platform reaches over 500 million people per month”.

Are you saying that 500 million people comment (sounds too high), 500 million comments are made (sounds great but I’d like confirmation) or that 500 million blogs use Disqus?

Please confirm.

And of course, why doesn’t this blog use Disqus? You should.
JacobS 17 December 2011 at 2:32 pm #

GiveMeApps (http://www.givemeapps.com) is The #1 Independent App Store and Mobile Community offering apps for every Smartphone and Tablet – iOS, Android, Blackberry, Web OS, Windows Phone, Symbian, Facebook, etc. It’s also the only app store giving App Publishers 100% payout, free in-depth reviews, their own personal store front, and for customers, every imaginable app. Developers can sell their apps in three easy steps (1) Create a free account (2) Customize your personal app store (i.e. givemeapps.com/yourcompany) (3) Sell your apps and enjoy 100% payout!(http://www.givemeapps.com)
richard @ weee recycling 7 January 2012 at 8:10 pm #

The thing about Disqus is that it’s so very controllable. Unlike other blog commenting systems (wordpress included), there’s little, if no risk of an outbound link damaging a blog. So, bloggers get the best of both worlds, a Blog with good ranking and comments by it’s readers, that provide discussion.
columbia outlet 17 January 2012 at 9:20 pm #

excellent write up,thanks for sharing.
grubvallance 27 April 2012 at 8:31 am #

Disqus creator Daniel Ha determined to develop his company a different way by beginning with the name first.