Friend asked me why I am doing the UTU project. I have tried analyzing my reasons for UTU and came up with these core reasons.

• I want to try something audacious which has potential to impact the world in a major way.
• My personal situation right now supports starting such an experimental startup project.
• Studying startups, business of software and fast growing companies has long been a hobby of mine. I am no longer satisfied with passive participation and study. Now I want to take more active role.
• I recognize that success in this project might mean large valuation and payoff. Right now my financial needs are fairly modest. Big payoff would of course feel nice 😉
• People building these startups somehow seem to gain more satisfaction, learn a lot and have more fun. I want to see if this is true and if this applies to myself.
• My hope is for UTU to impact the world in positive way and make lives better for many.

My experiment with BankRebels concept message failed. The emotional message was not good, conversion rates were poor and I ultimately spent 3+ EUR per each newsletter signup. Most importantly my precious time was taken by this side track and the main project was slowed down.

What is most annoying is that with bit of foresight and thinking all this should have been obvious and avoidable. But somehow it was not and BR track went onwards. I was just stupid on this. The BR track is now halted and the main UTU track is again moving onwards.

Was it all just a loss? Not fully. I gained 100+ signups whom I can contact later when we launch. Facebook ads now feel much more familiar to me. Main benefit might have been the recognizition that cost-effective FB advertising is not easy at all and there is tons of “weird unexplainable stuff” going on.

The project developing our new platform and service is now codenamed as UTU. This is just a placeholder name until the concrete domain and company name are decided.

We are originating from Finland. In our native language UTU means haze, mist, fog and cloud.

Many of my former projects and products have taken names from Maori language. In Maori language UTU means quite many things and has somewhat mixed emotional tone. Some of the meanings are negative, but majority of the meanings are in my opinion positive. Main positive meanings are payment, reply, reciprocity, maintenance of balance & harmony, gift exchange, kind deeds and response.

I think this internal code name is quite suitable 🙂