What does Wattpad mean?

I have been asked this question so many times so I guess it is a good idea to explain it here.
In 2006, when Ivan created the first prototype, it was called mtextbox.  However, we both felt that it was a bit too specific and hence it would limit ourselves in the future.  Anyone who has done startup before would know that a startup mostly like won’t turn out to be what you originally envisioned.  Who knows if we would become “YouTube for screen savers”?

To come up with a new name, we have set some criteria:

• It must be short as it needs to be mobile friendly.  Typing on mobile is still difficult today.  Imagine it was 3+ years ago when the hottest phone was Motorola RAZR.
• It must have 2 syllables so that it is dead easy for pronounce even if you can’t speak English.  Ideally we only want one but the domain name will be expensive!
• It is somewhat related to ebook but it must be vague enough such that if it becomes “YouTube of screen savers” we don’t have to change.

So, we came up with Wattpad.  “Watt” means electricity.  “Pad” symbolizes book.  It is so simple that I have yet to encounter a person who pronounce it incorrectly (including non-English speaking people).  It is also dead easy to type on old mobile phones (remember iPhone didn’t exist back then).  You just have to press the keypad 7 times to type Wattpad on feature phones.  Don’t believe me?  Try it!

While it may not be obvious that the name Wattpad is related to ebooks or e-reading, I guess we must be doing something right.  Our users are now calling themselves Wattpader (or should it be Wattpadder?).  Spending time on Wattpad is called Wattpadding.
When your company name becomes a verb or a noun, you know you are onto something.
Have you Wattpadded today? 

I have been asked this question so many times so I guess it is a good idea to explain it here.

In 2006, when Ivan created the first prototype, it was called mtextbox.  However, we both felt that it was a bit too specific and hence it would limit ourselves in the future.  Anyone who has done startup before would know that a startup mostly like won’t turn out to be what you originally envisioned.  Who knows if we would become “YouTube for screen savers”?

To come up with a new name, we have set some criteria:

- It must be short as it needs to be mobile friendly.  Typing on mobile is still difficult today.  Imagine it was 3+ years ago when the hottest phone was Motorola RAZR.

- It must have 2 syllables so that it is dead easy for pronounce even if you can’t speak English.  Ideally we only want one but the domain name will be expensive!

- It is somewhat related to ebook but it must be vague enough such that if it becomes “YouTube of screen savers” we don’t have to change.

So, we came up with Wattpad.  “Watt” means electricity.  “Pad” symbolizes book.  It is so simple that I have yet to encounter a person who can’t pronounce it correctly (including non-English speaking people).  It is also dead easy to type on old mobile phones (remember iPhone didn’t exist back then).  You just have to press the keypad 7 times to type Wattpad on feature phones.  Don’t believe me?  Try it!

While it may not be too obvious that it is related to ebooks or e-reading, I guess we must be doing something right.  Our users are now calling themselves Wattpader (or should it be Wattpadder?).  Spending time on Wattpad is called Wattpadding.

When your company name becomes a verb or a noun, you know you are onto something.

Have you Wattpadded today?  J

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