Behind the Brand

PremiumBrands is the collection I founded because I care about the name a founder puts on the business before the first customer arrives. I buy names that I can imagine building on myself. Some become projects; the names I have not built on are the ones I am open to selling. Funnelize.com belongs in that collection because it connects a recognizable kind of work with a name that can live on a product, a proposal and a customer email.

The morning the introduction changed

In 2007, I acquired the press release distribution business running on i-Newswire.com. Later, in 2013, I secured iNewswire.com. Those were steps in building the business, but I kept thinking about the simpler name. After more than a year of negotiating, and after consulting SEO professionals about the move, we switched the business to Newswire.com in February 2015.

The morning of that switch, a prospect told one of the sales agents, “Oh yeah, Newswire.com. I've heard of you guys.” That could not have been true about the new name. It was a moment that stayed with me because the service had not suddenly become a different service overnight. The introduction had changed. We could say a short, direct name and get on with the conversation about the work.

In 2022, Issuer Direct acquired the business for about $44 million, as described in its acquisition announcement. That was an acquisition of the business and the team's work. The years of building the service belong in the story alongside the decision to move to a stronger name. Both mattered to how I came to think about starting something online.

Buying before the plan was ready

I bought PremiumBrands.com before I had a plan for it. Premium names matter to me, and waiting would probably have cost me the opportunity to own that one. By now it could be in use by somebody building on it, with no interest in a sale. Buying it meant I could work out the right business on the name I wanted, instead of fitting the business around whatever was left later.

That is the question behind the collection: would I build on this? It is more useful to me than trying to make every name fit every kind of founder. With Funnelize, I can picture a specialist sitting down to show a customer how a lead moves from a service page to a useful conversation. The product could be a builder, a diagnostic workspace or an analytics tool. The name gives that demonstration a natural introduction.

The work still has to earn its place

The fix-it-later mindset makes a name sound like a detail to revisit after the business succeeds. By that point, the detail is in the email addresses, the product, the proposals and the customer conversations. Replacing it becomes a project of its own. Choosing the intended identity earlier is a decision about where to spend that effort.

AI makes it easier to turn an idea into working software. That puts more weight, in my view, on the decisions that make a business recognizable across all the things it produces. For a conversion founder, those things might include a demo, a workshop deck, a report and the email that brings the customer back. I like a name that can hold them together while the offer improves.

A great name won't save a bad business. The founder still has to make something useful and take care of the people who use it. My work through OnlineBusiness.com is part of that broader interest in building online businesses, but the starting point here is the name itself.

If Funnelize.com fits the business you want to build, tell me what you have in mind. If the name you really want is elsewhere, PremiumBrands can help you pursue that one too. A name is a head start that you carry into the work. A premium .com is a trust shortcut.