Our Thinking

Why I look for names worth building on

My work at PremiumBrands.com starts with a question I ask when I consider a name: would I build on this? I am interested in the identity a founder could carry into a product meeting, a customer conversation or a first launch. CheckoutLab.com fits that way of thinking because it gives a specific kind of work a clear home. A founder can start with a useful checkout tool or a focused piece of research and keep the same identity as the work becomes more ambitious.

My view of names comes from building a business through more than one of them. In 2007, I acquired the press release distribution business operating on i-Newswire.com. I secured iNewswire.com in 2013. After more than a year of negotiation, and after consulting SEO professionals, I moved the business to Newswire.com in February 2015. Those were decisions made while running the business, with the practical work of changing an established identity in front of us.

On the morning of the move, a prospect told one of our sales agents, “Oh yeah, Newswire.com. I've heard of you guys.” That could not have been true. We had only just made the switch. I remember it because the introduction had changed before we had time to do anything else with the name. It made the connection between the name on the door and the conversation behind it very concrete for me.

The business was acquired by Issuer Direct in 2022 for about $44 million. That was a business acquisition, reflecting the company and the team's work. I do not treat it as a price for a domain. The lesson I carry into PremiumBrands is about making a useful introduction and then doing the work that gives it substance.

I bought PremiumBrands.com before I had a plan for it. Premium names mattered to me, and waiting could have meant losing the opportunity altogether. By now, someone else could be building a business on it. In that position, a name is often no longer something you can acquire. Having the name gave me the space to decide what I wanted to make of it.

A small beginning can have a serious identity

That is how I see CheckoutLab.com. I can picture a founder choosing one checkout question and answering it well. Maybe the first product checks a few purchase paths after a merchant changes a theme. Maybe the first research engagement examines why people hesitate at delivery selection. Maybe the first publication gives product teams a carefully organized set of checkout examples. The starting point can be specific while the identity leaves room for the next useful thing.

A lab is also a good reminder to look closely. The work might involve a repeatable test, a recorded observation or a comparison whose method is clear enough for someone else to follow. I like a name that invites the founder to hold the work to a standard. It gives the product roadmap a center without writing that roadmap in advance.

The fix-it-later mindset is easy to understand: choose something for now and upgrade once the business has made it. But a later change reaches into email, documentation, product screens, proposals and the name people already use when they mention you. I would rather make the intended identity part of the first round of decisions, while those materials are still being created.

AI has made it much easier to put together the first version of a product or an explanation of an idea. My view is that a recognizable name matters more in that setting because another team can reproduce much of what you build, but cannot take the exact identity you have chosen. A great name won't save a bad business. It gives good work a useful place to accumulate.

Two ways to begin

The names I have not built on are the names I am open to selling through PremiumBrands.com. If CheckoutLab.com is the right identity for your business, tell me what you intend to build and whether you want to discuss a purchase or partnership. The conversation can begin with the audience you want to serve and the first job you want to do for them.

If your plans call for another name, tell me which one. PremiumBrands also helps founders acquire names outside the collection. My broader work at OnlineBusiness.com comes from the same interest in turning an idea into a business with a clear identity. You can pursue this name or start a conversation about the one you already have in mind. A premium .com is a trust shortcut.