Register the company
Get Y – understand why
Registering a company in Sri Lanka isn't a complicated process: the services cost $500 and it takes a couple of weeks. But since this is a development company and it will own land, 51% has to belong to Sri Lankan citizens. I didn't want some random nominee among the shareholders. So we went with the Cyprus-style option that was common in the early 2000s, where nominee services are provided by a professional law firm. Artem found a firm in Galle, MNR Associates Chartered Accountants, and they also handle all the ongoing support.
We didn't treat the company name as a formality. I wanted a name in a marketing style, a call to action, the way headlines on websites are written.
But after some discussion we concluded that GET INCOME - sounds like an ad for easy money. Then we went through Get + something: Get Invest (more of a call to ourselves), Get Estate (impersonal), Get Yield (narrow - only about income property), Get Horizon (pretty, but abstract), Get Living, Get Together - each option captured one facet of the project but didn't pull it all together. Then Artem simply wrote: Get Y. Short, and not already taken by anything. A couple of minutes later he added: “sounds like get why”.
In English, Y is pronounced “wai” - a homophone of “why”. Get Y = Get Why, “understand why”. Not square metres, but a meaningful choice. Then the other layers fell into place on their own: Y is also Generation Y, the main audience of property buyers today. And in casual speech “get” means to catch on, to grasp the point (“I get it”). Three meanings out of one word that until then had just been sitting in the middle of the list.
It's also very similar to the name of the big hotel chain W. They use that letter everywhere. We'll go down the same path
The more time passes, the more I like it. Everyone I tell about building in Sri Lanka always asks: “Why Sri Lanka?”.
What do you think of the name❓
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Key terms of the shareholders' agreement:
The partner owns 51%, but it's a nominal holding
All of the partner's shares are in fact paid for with my money
Only my nominees sit on the board of directors
The partner is obliged to vote the way I say
All of the partner's dividends automatically go to me
The partner can't sell or pledge the shares on their own
On my demand, the partner must transfer the shares for next to nothing
Key company decisions require only my consent
The partner's fee is symbolic, $330 a year
The agreement has no end date; jurisdiction — the courts of Colombo
We didn't treat the company name as a formality. I wanted a name in a marketing style, a call to action, the way headlines on websites are written.
Get Capital
Save Capital
Get Development
GET INCOME (PVT) LIMITED — the option that nearly made it onto the certificate of incorporation
Get Invest
Get Estate
Get Balance Invest
Get Yield
But after some discussion we concluded that GET INCOME - sounds like an ad for easy money. Then we went through Get + something: Get Invest (more of a call to ourselves), Get Estate (impersonal), Get Yield (narrow - only about income property), Get Horizon (pretty, but abstract), Get Living, Get Together - each option captured one facet of the project but didn't pull it all together. Then Artem simply wrote: Get Y. Short, and not already taken by anything. A couple of minutes later he added: “sounds like get why”.
In English, Y is pronounced “wai” - a homophone of “why”. Get Y = Get Why, “understand why”. Not square metres, but a meaningful choice. Then the other layers fell into place on their own: Y is also Generation Y, the main audience of property buyers today. And in casual speech “get” means to catch on, to grasp the point (“I get it”). Three meanings out of one word that until then had just been sitting in the middle of the list.
It's also very similar to the name of the big hotel chain W. They use that letter everywhere. We'll go down the same path
The more time passes, the more I like it. Everyone I tell about building in Sri Lanka always asks: “Why Sri Lanka?”.
What do you think of the name❓