Why Amino is called Amino, plus a bonus

Why is Amino called Amino? I’ve been asked that so many times I’d better tell the story once so I can refer people to it. The name comes from amino acids, but it was actually found for an entirely different project from the entrepreneur forum you know.

Here in August 2010, I talk about the name, why the forum came about and the people working on Amino with me.

First, we wanted to create a mental fitness centre

It began when my good friend Nikolaj came and asked whether we should create a mental fitness centre. My partner Henrik Sørensen and I were interested, and we discussed the idea back and forth.

The concept was that a company could pay around 1,000 kroner a year per employee. The employee could then get mental fitness training by watching lots of talks throughout the year.

It was along the lines of Speakers Club, which Anders was continuing with some good people at the time. He was involved in our original thinking too.

For various reasons, our project never happened. But before we’d fully agreed to do it, I’d already been given the task of finding a name.

Why is Amino called Amino? I looked in a medical encyclopaedia

I searched online and looked in all sorts of places for inspiration. Old warships, various words and finally a medical encyclopaedia. That’s where I found amino acids.

I wasn’t brilliant at chemistry or biology, so I won’t try to give a precise scientific explanation. My association was with building things up. I also knew bodybuilders used amino acids, and I thought of them as something that builds muscle.

That thought suited a mental fitness centre: Something that would build people up. So I took Amino from amino acid.

There were some practical considerations too. I wanted a name beginning with A because it comes first in the alphabet. Back then, that could matter in phone books and on websites with alphabetical lists and links.

The name needed to be relatively short and easy to spell. If I said it in a radio advert, I wanted people to find it without guessing between several spellings.

When the fitness project didn’t happen, the domain just sat there. Services showing old websites let you go back and see earlier versions. I think you can also find some of the original mental fitness concept there.

The same questions landed in my inbox

Later, I gave lots of talks about entrepreneurship, including at business schools. After standing in front of 500 or 600 students and coming home, I’d have a terrible number of emails.

They were things people hadn’t had time to ask, or hadn’t dared ask in front of everyone else. And many of the questions were the same. How does VAT work? Is my idea good? That sort of thing.

So I thought: If I make a discussion forum, I can answer there and others can read the answer. When five people ask about VAT, I only need to answer once. Then I can refer the next people to that same answer.

I also hoped others would help answer the questions. The idea wasn’t for everyone just to sit waiting for me.

So the forum really came about somewhat by chance. I had a specific need and made something that could solve it.

I made my own dream product

That’s often how good products come about: You need them yourself.

When I first became an entrepreneur in 1993, there was nothing like Amino. The internet was only just emerging, and there wasn’t much I could use in that context.

So I’ve actually created my own dream product. I’d have liked Amino when I started myself. I tell my own story as an entrepreneur in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

I joke that if I’d had it back then, perhaps I’d have been Janus Friis making the money from Skype. No, I bloody well probably wouldn’t. I’m not that visionary. Congratulations to you, Janus.

Amino has simply grown gradually. At some point, I decided to work on it full-time, and here in 2010, that’s almost what I do. Of course, I also work on SPAMfighter, but Amino takes up a lot.

There’s a team behind Amino

It’s no secret that running it costs a gigantic pile of money. Several people work on making it function.

Nicolaj is the managing director. Jacob and Jimmy are our full-time developers. We also have the developers at 1902, Peter Skouhus’ company in Manila.

Henriette is the sales coordinator, Niels sells and Lotte helps a lot. Claus helps with programming as a freelancer, although I think by this point he’s mostly moved to working on Min-Mave, which I’m also a little involved in.

Anja does lots of different things and helps with much of what needs doing. I’ve probably forgotten some freelancers, but that gives a picture of the team.

Nicolaj runs the day-to-day operation with the people in the Nordvest district. I’m here in Florida as a working chairman. I get ideas, try to help as actively as possible and contribute particularly to the broad, long-term direction.

And I mustn’t forget my wife Camilla. She handles support every morning. If you write to Amino support at this point, she’s actually the one helping you.

I almost forget her when listing the team, but she does a good job. That’s a little about both the name and the people behind Amino. I can tell you more another day.

Lots of people have asked why Amino is called, well.. Amino. You’ll know shortly. Enjoy it, and have a good weekend. Best wishes, Martin