Germinating germinait

In December of 2005 while on vacation in India, I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of company I wanted to set up. That I wanted to start my own company was a given, what remained to be decided was what this company would do. I was clear in my mind that I wanted to leverage my own experience as a research scientist in artificial intelligence in order to build IT products that were cutting edge. This resulted in long brainstorming sessions about potential products with my father whose business acumen I have a very high regard for. Several useful product ideas were borne out of these discussions, but more than these ideas themselves came the realization that I did not want to restrict myself to just a single product. Thus was born the desire to create a company focused on taking the research ideas of today and developing viable commercial products out of it.

I returned to the US after this and talked to a dear friend of mine. We had determined several years ago that we would get into business together and so while I focused on the technology, he focused on acquiring business-related skills that would be crucial for our enterprise. Fanciful adda-style conversations were all very well, but I worried that marriage and a comfortable life had dulled his appetite for our venture. I was thrilled to know that not only was he game but that his wife was happy to support him through this time.

Over the next few months we made our plans, talked to people for advice and developed the seed of an idea for our company. But through all this we could not come up with a name. I would create a list of names that I thought sounded nice or described what we did but would invariably find that either some company by that name already existed or someone was hoarding that name hoping to sell it off for a pile.

In August, I travelled extensively around the US and meet researchers in various universities in order to set up collaborations and to discuss the commercial viability of their research. We discussed tons of ideas many of which had definite commercial value but I still was not able to come up with a name.

Then suddenly like a bolt out of the blue came the name GERMINAIT. It made complete sense -- our business was to germinate seed research ideas into commercially viable IT products. The AIT bit stood for Artificial Intelligence Technology, which was our focus. I quickly bought the URL and then talked to my dad and my partner. They both loved it.

Over the next two months, the name GERMINAIT was officially approved, we worked out our business plans, evaluated ideas for products, got the logo designed, ordered our stationery. We are now well and truly open for business.

- Ranjit


More updates on our progress will follow.