This is the second in a multi-part Lighting the Lantern series about the origin of Lantern Three.

Having an idea is one thing, having the time to execute it another.

I made the jump from internal IT to independent consultant in November of 2007, but was also finishing school part time until August 2008. While I made notes and continued to refine the concept, my first tentative step forward was to contact Stokefire in October of 2008. Tate Linden and I played tag until February 2009, when we finally met in person. I sought Stokefire out simply to come up with a name, but what Tate suggested (and we ultimately did) was to develop our brand.

By then, I had developed the short-list of the best people I wanted to recruit. I expected to work with Stokefire on the brand development, and reach out to them when we had something tangible to show. Tate suggested the opposite, and I agreed that everyone deserved input into the creation of our organization (since I insisted this was a company about us as problem solvers, not me).

With the four of us on board from day one (and others willing to join “when the time was right”), the Stokefire team reduced a list of 100 potential names to 13, which we narrowed to three before landing on Lantern as the stem. Why did we choose Lantern Three? That’s a story to be told in-person.

The name turned out to be the easy part, as the Lantern Three brand began to take shape. Over the course of several months, we refined our mission, goals, and expectations. The Stokefire team stayed in near-constant contact with us until they were sure we were comfortable with our brand. In Stokefire’s guest post, they tell their side of our story.

With a name, logo, and brand strategy, it was time to shift Lantern Three from concept to execution. We’ll explore that in part three of our Lighting the Lantern series.