The story behind our name

Since launching our new technology consulting startup, we’ve received many questions about our name, ImagineX.  So, here’s the story behind our name.

Back in 2005-ish, 5 of the 6 founders were all working together in Vancouver, British Columbia on an incredibly complex, challenging multi-year business transformation program.  We were all traveling from different parts of the country, working late hours, and spending the remaining hours eating sushi and drinking Sangre De Toro wine at Alpha Sushi on Richards St.  When we did have a day off, we usually headed up the Sea to Sky highway to ski, hike, and climb the beautiful Coast mountains in and around Whistler (there may have been a few kokanees involved also). Naturally, we all became very close. That technology program we all worked on was code-named “Imagine”.

In late 2015, when the Managing Partners decided it was time to build a totally different consulting company, they rounded up the old crew and started to brainstorm names.  Should we create a combination name of 2 words?  No, too much like the consulting industry… A totally new word?  No, it wouldn’t have any history… A common single word but with whacky spelling?  No, too much like Silicon Valley product companies…

And so we hit on the word “Imagine”.  It was the common thread across the team, and captured our joint excitement and optimism for the future of the new company.   It is a strong, visionary word that is hopeful, confident, and inspires passion and excitement.  But it wasn’t enough to just name the company after the project we all worked on.  It was the “next” incarnation and evolution of us as a team.  What about “ImagineNext”?  How about we merge them and call the company “Imaginext”?  That sounded awesome, but it was a trademarked name for a line of superhero toys…

And that’s when it all came together…”ImagineX”.  The X represents a variable that will represent something different to each “ImagineXer”, to each client, and to our communities.  It represents our individuality, our uniqueness, our special “X sauce”.  It represents our generation of hard working, loyal, welcoming, and diverse entrepreneurs who embrace change and the new generation of Millennials, who are changing our lives with countless new tech innovations.  The stylized X is a nod to the snow-covered Whistler mountain and a metaphor to remind us to always reach for the sky.