When I first meet with new prospective clients, often the first or second question from them is, “What is SIX15?” or “What does SIX15 mean?”
What is “SIX15”?
Coming up with a company name and brand is surprisingly difficult. You can easily be paralyzed by over-analysis of the tiniest detail. Thinking of a unique yet catchy name to represent a technology-based company led me to think about numbers, dates, and the like.
My birthday is June 15, and when represented in the American date shorthand becomes 615. Applying the idea of an anagram, and changing the “6″ to “SIX” spells SIX15 (given that the font used to type it out shows the S and 5 looking similar, even when viewed upside down).
There’s really not much more to the story than that. The domain name was available at the time (fall of 1999). We started using the name when providing IT consulting help to friends and family in early 2000, and finally filing paperwork in Michigan that turned it into SIX15 Solutions, LLC in 2003.
Is SIX15 just Jeff?
Well, if you count my wife Stephanie, then there’s two people at SIX15. She’s the main motivator and Chief Ass-kicker, keeping me in line and reminding me to stay focused. A lot is owed to her for the continued support she’s provided from the beginning.
We do occasionally rely on sub-contractors when a design is beyond Jeff’s skill set or if time is an issue. But for the most part it’s all Jeff when dealing with clients.