We've changed our company name more than once (our business cards have trust issues about it), and one of those changes was made for the wrong reason. When we split the Dynamics practice out of TrueIT, we named the new company after a product, TruNorth Dynamics, right when we should have been the ones saying the product isn't the point.
Michelle Serna and I started a podcast called The Nova Effect, and in Episode 1 we finally tell that story, mistakes included.
How we got here
It starts with Ignus Technologies in 1999, when Wes Henry and I were two techy nerds who figured starting a business couldn't be that hard. We did software, websites and whatever servers needed fixing, and it turns out running a business is pretty damn hard. That turned into IT services pretty quickly, because clients needed someone to keep the lights on, not just ship a site and disappear.
Then came TrueIT, which was a pure MSP. It was a very different business with very different economics, but we kept the same habit of saying yes to the next hard problem.
When TrueIT acquired Summit Group Software in 2018, we got serious about Dynamics. That focus mattered, and it also taught me something I wish more partners would say out loud: Dynamics is one set of tools, and it's not always the answer. The job is solving the business problem, and the stack should follow the need.
Why the name was wrong
So when we split the businesses in 2021 and started TruNorth Dynamics, we put the tool right there in the name, which in hindsight is a bit like naming your kid Silverado because you really like your truck (sorry if you love Silverado... and you named your kid that). I understand why we did it, because Dynamics was what we were known for and it made the split easy to explain. But it boxed us in, and it told every customer that the answer was going to be Dynamics before we'd even heard the question.
What the episode is (and isn't)
It's not a rebrand victory lap. We talk about the mergers, the culture clashes, the financial pressure and some hard calls along the way, and it ends with us deciding to stop selling "we implement product X" as if that were the whole relationship.
TruNova is the name for where all of that landed. We help clients move forward without making them start over, we stay after go-live, and we're willing to tell people what they don't need, and every once in a while that includes Dynamics.
Where to find it
- Watch Episode 1, "The Rebrand We Got Wrong"
- Michelle's write-up on the rebrand
- Subscribe to The Nova Effect
Watch the episode, then ask yourself whether your company name promises a tool or a result.
If you listen, tell me what landed and what we should dig into next, and if you have a suggestion for our next company name, please keep it to yourself.
