Happy Friday, Fintech Takers!

And Happy (almost) 250th birthday to the United States of America!

This country has, by necessity and by design, been a work in progress for its entire existence, and there is still plenty of work that needs to be done. However, I feel extremely lucky to live here and to have the opportunity to contribute to that work.

There’s been a lot of content from me this week, so the plan for today is to do something fun. I hope you enjoy it!

- Alex

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The Tolkien Fintech Naming Guide

When observing those around me; I frequently find myself thinking, “I don’t really want you to do that; but if you’re going to do it, at least do it right.”

Most commonly, this thought is in relation to some scheme that my kids have cooked up, and to which I become a reluctant (though highly opinioned) accomplice.

(Related, creating an indoor zipline for stuffed animals is much more difficult than you might expect.)

However, recently I have found myself thinking this thought in response to the growing trend of startup founders naming their companies after terms from J. R. R. Tolkien’s books. This seems to have originated from entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, a self-confessed Tolkien superfan who claims to have read The Lord of the Rings series more than 10 times as an adult. Many of the companies that Thiel has co-founded or invested in carry Tolkien-sourced names, including some of the most prominent ones, such as Palantir and Anduril.

There are two reasons I care about this trend.

First, I am also a big Tolkien fan. I like The Hobbit, I love The Lord of the Rings series, and I am a mildly obsessive student of The Silmarillion (I’m a lore guy). I’m not at the Stephen Colbert level of fandom, but I would put myself easily into the top 5% of Tolkien fans who work in fintech.

And that qualifier — those who work in fintech — brings me to my second reason: Peter Thiel works in fintech! He is one of the co-founders of PayPal and served as its CEO from 2000 to 2002. Since PayPal, he has invested in a bunch of fintech startups through his VC firms, Valar Ventures (which is named after the godlike beings in Tolkien’s books) and Founders Fund (which is reportedly referred to internally as “the precious,” a reference to the One Ring). These companies include: Affirm, Stripe, Nubank, Ramp, Credit Karma, Klarna, Wise, N26, Petal, BlockFi, and Stash.

This means that even though I don’t like this trend of naming companies after words invented by Tolkien and I would prefer that it not happen, it will continue to happen because Thiel and his acolytes are going to keep making it happen, either by suggesting the names directly or through their influence over startup founders, who may think that picking a Tolkien name will increase their odds of raising capital.

This inevitability became clear to me when I discovered a startup called Gondor, which (and I can’t believe I have to type these words) enables Polymarket bettors to borrow money against their open bets using DeFi.

This company has nothing to do with Thiel. Neither he nor any of his funds are involved, from what I can tell. But its name has clearly been influenced by him and his obsession with Tolkien, which has, through some weird form of osmosis, become a default branding strategy in Silicon Valley.       

And the name sucks! Decentralized borrowing against prediction market contracts has NOTHING to do with the Kingdom of Gondor, founded in S.A. 3320 by the brothers Isildur and Anárion, sons of Elendil. At the very least, this company could have created a stylized depiction of a city in Gondor (Minas Tirith? Osgiliath?) for the visual background on its website, rather than New York City:

COME ON, YOU’RE NOT EVEN TRYING!!

[Takes several calming deep breaths]

So … if this is going to keep happening, whether I like it or not, and it’s going to happen in the industry that I work in, I would at least like to help make sure that it is done well.

That is why I have created the Tolkien Fintech Naming Guide, which contains a set of guidelines for how to pick a Tolkien-sourced name for your fintech startup as well as a list of example name/company pairs for inspiration.

Guidelines

I have five guidelines, which, when followed, should help fintech founders produce a shortlist of Tolkien-sourced names that will both serve as the foundation of a strong brand and avoid upsetting the Tolkien superfans in their lives.

#1: Reach across the entirety of Tolkien’s Legendarium.

Many many decades before the term “Marvel Cinematic Universe” entered the cultural lexicon, J. R. R. Tolkien began describing his vast collection of myths, poems, stories, sketches, maps, and invented languages as his “Legendarium.” It is this larger collection of material that his son, Christopher Tolkien drew from when posthumously publishing additional books under his father’s name, such as The Silmarillion and The Lays of Beleriand.

When naming your fintech startup, consider names pulled from this larger collection of works, rather than simply going to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (or, even worse, their movie adaptations).

There are some good names hiding in the First and Second Ages of Middle-earth!

#2: Make sure the name is thematically relevant.

This is where Gondor, the DeFi prediction market lending company, fails. The name should have some thematic relevance to what the company does. The more specific and tangible the connection, the better.

Mithril Capital, an investment firm co-founded by Ajay Royan and Thiel, was named because, according to Royan, the fictional metal is meant to protect and to be transformative, which he framed as the fund's goal too. This is a decent attempt, but it doesn’t get a passing grade from me. Too vague. 

#3: Make sure the name is thematically aligned.

Three of the most well-known Thiel-affiliated, Tolkien-inspired company names — Palantir, Anduril, and Erebor — pass test #2 with room to spare.

Palantir is named after the palantíri, magical seeing-stones that let their holders peer across vast distances to gather intelligence, which is very fitting for a company that builds data-analytics software for militaries and intelligence agencies. Anduril is Aragorn's reforged blade, carried into battle to defend the free peoples of Middle-earth, and the company is a defense contractor. Erebor, a de novo bank, is named after a mountain kingdom, built by dwarves, that contains a great vault of hoarded treasure.

All of those are highly relevant. However, those companies’ products and strategic priorities are not necessarily aligned with the themes that Tolkien intended their names to convey (or the author’s personal feelings).

The palantíri were used for surveillance, but the warning conveyed by Tolkien was that potent surveillance tools can be easily manipulated, with disastrous results.

In the books, the treasure under Erebor breeds "dragon-sickness," a possessive greed that poisons everyone who covets it. This sickness causes the characters in the book to make really dumb, risky decisions, which isn’t really what you want a bank to do!

Anduril is probably the best of the bunch, from an alignment perspective, especially considering the Elvish name translates to “Flame of the West.” However, I feel the need to point out that in the books, Anduril is a sword, wielded responsibly by a human hand. Anduril, the company, builds autonomous weapon systems, a form of mechanized, industrial warfare that would have horrified Tolkien.      

#4: Pick a cool word that is relatively easy to pronounce and spell.

For all the unique and interesting words invented by Tolkien, there are plenty of mundane words and names in his books as well. Sam’s pony in The Fellowship of the Ring is named Bill. This should go without saying, but please don’t name your fintech startup Bill! Among other reasons, we already have one of those!

Pronunciation and spelling are also important. Erebor is actually really strong in this regard. Anduril and Palantir are both OK, though slightly trickier to both spell and say out loud (IMHO).

However, there are some REALLY TOUGH words from Tolkien that you could pick, such as “Nírnaeth Arnoediad” ("the Battle of Unnumbered Tears"), Ungoliant (a big-ass spider), and “Ilúvatar” (the supreme being and creator of the world). Resist the temptation, no matter how cool they sound or how fitting they are.  

#5: Include subtle references to the name within the larger brand identity.

This isn’t a requirement, but you do get bonus points if you can subtly find ways to tie your specific Tolkien word into the larger brand identity of the company.

The logo is the most obvious opportunity for this.

I hate to admit it, but Palantir, Anduril, and Erebor absolutely nail their logos.

Palantir’s looks like a black circular orb balanced on a small pointed base, which could be seen as a stylized palantír resting on its stand or as a human head bent over a book:

Anduril’s logo is derived from the pommel of the Andúril sword, as it appeared in the movie:

Erebor’s is a shape that looks simultaneously like a mountain and a futuristic, high-tech building, evoking both its Tolkien inspiration and its mission to serve tech startups. Indeed, because Erebor is new and its website doesn’t have much going on yet, the company has leaned even more into this Middle-earth/techno-future aesthetic, to great effect:

Examples

OK, with those guidelines in mind, let’s run through a quick list of example Tolkien name / fintech company pairings.

Shadowfax / Auto Lending

I can’t believe this isn’t already a thing.

A digital-first auto lender that delivers blazingly fast decisions through indirect auto lending channels, but also delivers exceptional customer service and recapture rates on existing customers (“once you ride with the lord of horses, you never fall off”).

Grey Havens / Pre-retirement and Retirement Execution

As I have written about before, there is a huge untapped opportunity for someone to help older consumers transition more smoothly from retirement planning to retirement execution:

Consumers preparing for retirement, or who are in the “unemployed but not yet officially retired” stage, want tools that can translate assets, risk tolerance, and tax status into a believable monthly paycheck, then let them adjust the dials and see — in plain language — the tradeoffs they’re making. If spending rises by $200 a month, how does the probability of depletion change by age 90? If markets draw down by 15%, how does the plan adapt without panic selling?

Consolidation matters as much as allocation. Consumers want to be able to pull scattered accounts into a single system for withholding, beneficiary hygiene, and document storage. They want help making tax moves tangible and timely: nudge on Roth conversion windows, catch-up contributions, HSA funding, and charitable giving strategies tied to the calendar rather than abstract guidance.

Call it Grey Havens, or if you prefer something more abstract, Mithlond, which is the Elvish name for the port city in Middle-earth that served as the primary departure point for elves sailing west to the Undying Lands.

Bonus points if you build an AI agent to assist customers and call it Círdan, the master of the Grey Havens and previous ring-bearer.

Erelas / Real-time Fraud Monitoring

Remember in The Return of the King, when the beacons of Gondor are lit, and a call for aid is relayed across the mountains to Rohan?

Fun fact! Each of those individual beacons has a different name. Erelas is the coolest-sounding and most repurposable of those names.

How about a real-time fraud monitoring service called Erelas? Or, perhaps, a service designed to streamline the chargeback process for customers (“The beacons are lit! Alex calls for aid!”)

Honestly, if I was high king of the universe for a day, I would rename Early Warning Services Erelas. 

Rohirrim / Fleet Cards

The name for the legendary cavalrymen of Rohan would make for a pretty epic name for a company providing fleet cards. I guarantee you that none of the Rohirrim ever ran out of supplies for their mounts.

Arnor / Solopreneurship Platform

The imagery that we are trying to evoke with this name is that of the Dúnedain Rangers, the survivors of the kingdom of Arnor who went on to become solitary, wandering protectors. This feels like the exact right vibe for an all-in-one platform — marketing, CRM, accounting, billing, payments, etc. — for solopreneurs. Picture a dark forest green color palette and a logo built around the stylized silhouette of a ranger in a cloak, with the hood drawn.

Istari / AI Financial Advisors

We’re going to get AI financial advisors. Coinbase has taken a step in this direction already. More will follow.

Eventually it seems likely that we will have a swarm of AI financial advisors, each specializing in a different area (insurance, retirement, taxes, estate planning, etc.) and configured to work both independently and in concert.

To me, that sounds a bit like the Istari — the five wizards sent to aid and inspire the free peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron. If you go with this name, be sure to focus on creating good alignment between the AI agents and your end customers. That’s where the Valar screwed up with the Istari.

Gamgee / Ag Lending

Another idea that’s so obvious that I’m surprised it hasn’t been done.

A modernized, digital-first ag lending platform, blended together with a strong focus on the communities that it serves.

This perfectly mirrors Samwise Gamgee’s personal journey. After the War of the Ring, Sam and his fellow hobbits return to their beloved Shire only to find it has been conquered, corrupted, and burned by Saruman. Sam applied his real-world experience (plus a box of magic soil) to restore the Shire.

Hence a modern approach to ag lending combined with a strong focus on and love of rural communities to save them from a rapidly changing world.

Gondolin / Embedded Second-Look Lending

Ohh hell yes. One of my favorite locations from The Silmarillion would make an excellent name for an embedded second-look lending network.

The idea of embedded second-look lending networks like Pagaya is that they sit behind the scenes, powerful and influential, but unseen. That’s a perfect fit for the Ñoldorian city whose name translates to “Hidden Rock.”

Bombadil / Automated Savings and Investing

Saving and investing works best for most people when they don’t micromanage it. The core job-to-be-done is building the discipline to consistently set money aside and to allow compounding interest to work its magic.

Humans suck at this because we can’t resist the temptation to log in and check our accounts; to get impatient or bored or scared and mess with the system when we would have been better off to just leave it alone.

So, how about an automated savings and investing app that focuses on helping users resist this temptation by automatically squirreling away small bits of money from their checking accounts and putting them into savings and/or investment accounts?

This obviously isn’t a new product idea in fintech (see Acorns, Digit, etc.), but what if we called the product Bombadil, named after Tom Bombadil, the character from The Fellowship of the Ring who was completely and cheerfully immune to the temptations of the One Ring?

Give your money to Bombadil and forget about it!

Mordor / Neobank

This might seem like a bad idea at first blush, given that many people know this name already and don’t have positive associations with it.

But wait.

This neobank won’t have any customer-facing channels. No branches. No call center. No website or mobile app. There won’t be any way to get in contact with it.

And when people ask why, we say:

Credit to Nate Johnson for this joke.

Sponsored by Nova Credit

Cash flow intelligence has become the analytical layer underneath decisions that used to have nothing to do with each other; decisions like fraud detection, line management, early intervention, and retention (for starters).

Now that AI's reshaped the underlying models, the industry is working out what that means in practice.

Cash Flow Intelligence Summit brings together 200+ credit risk and lending executives from the nation's largest institutions for a full day of that conversation.

It's on September 10th in NYC.

And it's invitation only; apply now to save your seat in the fall.

Apply to attend

MORE QUESTIONS TO PONDER TOGETHER

Big news for the endlessly curious (yes, you): I’m collecting your fintech questions on a rolling basis. 

What’s keeping you up at night? What great mysteries in financial services beg to be unraveled? Think of it this way, if a stranger is a friend you just haven't met yet, your question is a Fintech Takes conversation waiting to happen. 

One that could headline a Friday newsletter or be answered in an upcoming Fintech Office Hours event.

Drop your question here, whenever inspiration strikes!

WHERE I'LL BE

There are some great virtual events coming up soon, and planning for the fall fintech season is well underway. Here's where I'm planning to be in September.

✈️ FinovateFall | September 9-11 | New York City

My can't miss fall conference! September in New York is glorious and the fintech conversations will be too.

✈️ Cash Flow Intelligence Summit | September 10 | New York City

Nova Credit has rebranded this from the "Cash Flow Underwriting Summit" to the "Cash Flow Intelligence Summit." Come find out why.

✈️ FDATA Global Open Finance Summit | September 17 | Toronto

This will be my first time at an FDATA event and my first time back to Toronto in a long time. If you work in open banking in Canada and want to yell at me for my bad takes in the past, this is your chance!

✈️ AI-Native Banking & Fintech Conference | September 29 | Salt Lake City

The name of this event is a mouthful, but the content and networking are both A+.

Thanks for the read! Let me know what you thought by replying back to this email.

— Alex