[Aurornis]

> We were working on voice agents in healthcare

Having some experience with the healthcare industry, seeing the name Vocera here is incredibly confusing.

Vocera is a very common communication platform and set of devices used in hospitals: https://vocera.stryker.com/s/product-hub/vocera-smartbadge These things are everywhere in healthcare already. If someone came to me and suggested using “Vocera” for a healthcare related tech thing, my mind would assume it’s the Stryker product. It’s that common.

So unfortunately I’d recommend a name change as a high priority. Dealing with healthcare tech is difficult enough, but using the same name as a very popular and established healthcare tech product is going to be an unnecessary obstacle in getting traction. Not to mention that Stryker’s Vocera division will have some things to say about this.

[Sid45]

You are right. We were unaware of Stryker's Vocera prominence when we chose the name. Healthcare voice agents are a huge space. We have 6 clients in healthcare already.

We will discuss and evaluate the name internally to avoid confusion or potential issues. Thanks a lot for your feedback

[brandall10]

It's prominently displayed as the top result when googling "Vocera". Unsure how this was missed by the founders or anyone involved in the YC network.

[Sid45]

It’s a valid critique. In hindsight, this should have been caught earlier.

[z3ugma]

I want to say, this comes across as 3 founders who don't have real-world experience in the hospital field. As a buyer in healthcare, this basic of an error would signal to me that this company is not ready for the enterprise stage.

[technics256]

This is the first thing I thought too, the name confused me with the company and brand Vocera, I thought it was from them.

[Sid45]

Feedback taken. Thanks for your input. Definitely we will evaluate this

[AlphaWeaver]

Came here to say this exactly - any nurse, PA, or other hospital staff person likely has heard of "Vocera" the hospital communication platform.

Beyond just accidental confusion, I'd be worried about real legal issues with trademark infringement. Trademarks primarily exist to prevent customers from being confused about which business they're interacting with, and this is a great example of the types of things they're trying to prevent. (I am not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt.)