Naming companies is so difficult. The number of constraints a name must satisfy only seems to grow each year. Between the dearth of available domain names, acceptability in other languages and international markets you might go into, it’s surprising we don’t have more names like Zzyzx.

Here are some resources to help with the process:

• List of root words – It can be useful to combine these with a word or words relating to your business.
• NameBoy.com – A site that allows you to select a few words and it will check various combinations if they are available domain names
• Etymologies of existing company names: Wikipedia List, Business Insider article
• PCNames – A tool that merges words and checks their availability in realtime
• FuseName – Another tool to check availability of name combinations

Step 1: Pick something you like.
Step 2: Think of as many ways as possible to make it better, more efficient, more durable, cheaper, longer lasting et cetera.
Step 3: Which solution from step 2 are your skills or connections the best fit for?
Step 4: Figure out the least expensive way to get a prototype in front of potential customers.
Step 5: Note feedback from step 4. If necessary, incorporate it into your solution and go back to step 4.
Step 6: Profit.
(Step 7: Contribute.)

Crowd-sourced funding platforms:
Kickstarter.com: A site where users can propose projects and the public can pledge funds to them
IndieGoGo.com: A competitor to Kickstarter

Loans:
Prosper.com: Lend or borrow money at varying rates.
On Deck Capital: Small business loans

Angel Networks:
Tech Coast Angels: A southern California network. Free to pitch.
Keiretsu Forum: Networks of angels in LA, the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest. They charge around $6000 to present to multiple regional chapters.
Maverick Angels: A network of angels in southern California. They charge $1500 to present to multiple regional chapters.
Open Angel Forum: Jason Calacanis’ free forum to pitch angels. It was catalyzed by the large fees some networks charge to pitch.
FundingPost: Events that match investors with entrepreneurs

Mentor Networks:
The Founder Institute: An international program pairing entrepreneurs with mentors over a semester long course

Pitch help:
Startup Nation Elevator Pitch: Help putting together an elevator pitch
OmniDazzle: A plugin (OSX only) that helps jazz up presentations
Prezi.com: A website that allows creating visual map presentations.
Mint.com Investor Pitch deck: An example of a great pitch deck

Document Templates:
Executive Summary: A sample from DocStoc
Term sheet templates: Y Combinator, WSGR

Events:
Startup Weekend: Conference where attendees create a new startup in 54 hours.
Twiistup: Conference that showcase a select group of startups.
The Launch Conference: Jason Calacanis’ rebirth of the TechCrunch50 event.
socaltech.com, coloft.com, and TechZulu.com all maintain calendars of SoCal events.
Others events include: Barcamp SD, Under the Radar, HackerSpaces, Caltech/MIT Venture Forum and UCLA Entrepreneurs Conference

General:
Help a Starup Out: List of resources for startups.
Startup Digest: emails about startups in your area
TheFunded.com: A site for entrepreneurs to share experiences with funding sources

Twitter:
VentureHacks: Advice for startups from some of the investors in Twitter. Their AngelList is a great resource too.
Mark Suster: Los Angeles VC looking for passionate entrepreneurs

Inspiration
Beautiful video created by Grasshopper.com