How Did Memento Vitae Get Its Name?
Memento Vitae didn’t get its name by accident or out of thin air. There’s a story behind it — one that’s closely tied to why the company exists in the first place.
In the autumn of 2024, three IT professionals met for a drink and a conversation. This wasn’t casual small talk. A few days earlier, one of them had introduced an unusual idea — an AI-based service that initially sounded a bit strange, even uncomfortable, but undeniably intriguing.
The idea was to record a person’s memories, life experiences, way of thinking, and general worldview into an AI profile. That profile could then be used after the person’s death, allowing future generations to “invoke” their thoughts and ask for advice in real-life situations.
The idea came from the man who would later become the founder of Memento Vitae — and it came from a deeply personal place.
In his early forties, he found himself facing a difficult life decision. He could either continue living the way he had been living up to that point (let’s call it Path A) or make a radical change and choose a very different direction (Path B). Months passed, and he couldn’t bring himself to decide. The indecision began taking a toll on him and on the people around him.
In moments like these, many of us instinctively turn to our elders. Their lived experience and perspective can make all the difference.
But in this case, there was a problem.
A Personal Moment That Shaped the Vision
The founder desperately needed his father’s advice — but his father had been dead for many years.
At one point, overwhelmed and searching for clarity, he even visited his father’s grave, hoping for some kind of revelation. As we all know, tombstones do not speak. Nothing happened.
On his way home, however, a thought crossed his mind: we live in the age of AI. If his father were alive today, he could have created an AI profile of him — a profile capturing his way of thinking, his values, his advice. And that profile could still be available, even after death.
That realization became the seed of Memento Vitae.
He shared the idea with Miša, who then shared it with Vuk. Both were intrigued, and soon the three of them arranged a meeting to explore whether this idea could become a real product.
The concept initially felt unsettling. Were they trying to enable conversations with the dead? After deeper discussion, they established a clear ethical foundation: Memento Vitae does not claim to let people speak to the dead. Instead, it helps living people create a genuine AI profile of themselves — one that can later serve as a digital reflection of their thoughts and memories.
The Naming Debate: Memento Mori vs. Memento Vitae
As with any serious project, the next challenge was choosing a name.
Vuk openly stated that he considered himself a purely technical person and preferred to stay out of naming decisions. Miša, however, felt the opposite. Based on his previous business experience, he believed the name was crucial — it had to clearly communicate what the product was about. A strong name, in his view, should be self-explanatory.
Miša also had a background in literature and had published a book of poetry. Naming felt natural to him, and he gladly took on the task.
Before the first meeting even ended, Miša proposed a name: Memento Mori AI.
His reasoning was straightforward. “Memento mori,” a Latin phrase meaning remember that you are mortal, encourages people to reflect on mortality and prepare while they are still alive. From a marketing perspective, the phrase was recognizable, memorable, and not yet strongly associated with AI. It might even generate organic web traffic from people searching for the term in other contexts.
Despite Miša’s confidence, the reaction was not what he expected.
Vuk disliked Latin phrases altogether. The founder reacted even more strongly — and negatively. To him, “Memento Mori” felt dark, ominous, and even frightening. Who would want to use a service with such a name?
He raised his hand and suggested an alternative: Memento Vitae — remember life.
After all, the product was about recording life, not death.
Letting Data, Not Ego, Decide
The discussion ended without a decision. Egos were involved, and tension was starting to form — a dangerous thing for any young founding team.
Fortunately, Miša had previously been CEO of a large software company and had learned firsthand how strong egos can destroy good ideas. He also understood something else: what matters most is not who proposed an idea, but how the target audience perceives it.
So instead of arguing further, the founder and Miša created a small survey. Participants were asked to rate both names — Memento Mori and Memento Vitae — on a scale from 1 to 10.
Because the idea sounded unusual to many older people, the survey mainly reached people aged 30, 40, and 50, using friends’ and friends-of-friends’ email lists. The audience was mostly Serbian, with about 20% of participants from the Netherlands, where Miša had previously lived.
The survey was translated into English and distributed via Google Forms. Participants had three days to respond.
The results became clear almost immediately.
On the first day alone, Memento Vitae was already leading. The average rating for Memento Mori hovered around 5.5, while Memento Vitae scored above 7.5. In total, 44 people participated. The final averages were decisive: 6.2 for Memento Mori, 8.3 for Memento Vitae.
A few days later, the team met again. Over another drink, Miša congratulated the founder and officially accepted the result. The name Memento Vitae was chosen — not by ego, but by data.
And that decision didn’t just shape the brand. It helped preserve trust within the founding team — something no young company can afford to lose.
That’s how Memento Vitae got its name.