At Glympse, we like to think that the distinctive name of our company is an extension of our innovative products and our unique approach to improving customer experiences. We asked Cami Zimmer, EVP of Business Development and Marketing at Glympse, to answer some questions about the history of the company, and to shed some light on how the name was chosen.
When was Glympse founded?
The company was founded in 2008, right at the genesis of the modern smartphone/mobile technology era. Our company headquarters is located in Seattle, WA.
Was “Glympse” the original name of the company?
“Glympse” was the name that was listed on our incorporation documents when they were executed on February 22, 2008, and it has always been the official name of the company. However, in the early stages of ideation before we incorporated, those of us on the founding team often referred to the company as “TrackYa,” which spoke to our fervent interest in developing location-based technology. We even bought the domain name “trackya.com” at the time, even though it never became the company’s actual website.
How and why did the company adopt the name “Glympse?”
In the beginning, before we had decided on anything else, we knew that we were passionate about building a company with a value proposition centered around developing innovative location-based technology and data that would improve people’s lives. So while we had a core focus, we really had no idea at the time how much the rapid evolution of mobile technology would enable us to grow and evolve along with the needs of our customers.
As it became clear that mobile technology was the way of the future, we decided we wanted to have the letters “GPS” somewhere in the name. Being a technology company, we created an app that searched through all the words in the English language and returned those that met that criteria.
What names did you consider before choosing “Glympse,” and why did you ultimately pass on them?
Actually, aside from casually referring to the company as “TrackYa” as mentioned earlier, there weren’t really any other names that we seriously considered once the app we wrote led us to the word “glimpse.” The Team was drawn to that word pretty strongly from the get-go, largely because of its connection to powerful concepts such as insight and knowledge that we felt were at the center of our brand identity.
When the Team started thinking more deeply about the meaning of the word “glimpse”—a quick, temporary view—we realized that it tracked very well with our aspirations and intentions regarding the core value of our technology. There were discussions about how flexible the word is; that it is accessible and can be used as a noun or a verb. Once the word had been decided on, the spelling was changed to “Glympse,” because we wanted the brand to have an identity that was independent of the common word while retaining its spirit.
The brand of “Glympse” was then born, and it continues to evoke the essence of innovation and the use of technology to enhance life experiences.
