Our Perspective

PremiumBrands is where I offer names I would consider building on myself. zTools.com belongs in that collection because I can picture a useful first product and the related tools that could follow it. The appeal starts with a practical software job, then leaves room for a founder to develop a clear identity around the work.

Why I selected this name

A software suite does not need to launch with dozens of features to deserve a coherent name. I like the idea of choosing one recurring task, making the experience good enough to return to, and adding the next tool only when it belongs beside the first. With zTools, the practical cue is right there in the name. The leading z gives it a distinct shape in a product header or an icon.

What interests me is the path from one useful tool to a recognizable collection. A founder can spend the first release solving a narrow problem and still have a name that works for a broader product. That is different from choosing a temporary label and expecting to replace it as soon as the business gets serious. The first users, the first emails and the first references all begin accumulating around whatever name is used.

My test when buying a name is simple: would I build on this? The names I have not built on yet are the ones I am open to selling. That keeps the selection tied to a real building decision. I want to be able to picture an offer, an audience and the work required, rather than treating a domain as a string of letters on its own.

What Newswire.com taught me

In 2007, I acquired the press release distribution business running on i-Newswire.com. I secured iNewswire.com in 2013. In February 2015, after more than a year of negotiation and conversations with SEO professionals, I moved the business to Newswire.com. The decision was about giving the business a short, clear name that matched what it did.

The morning of the switch, a prospect told one of our sales agents, “Oh yeah, Newswire.com. I've heard of you guys.” That was impossible. I remember the moment because the name had given the conversation a different starting point before the prospect knew the business. It shaped how I thought about the role of a name, alongside all the work the product and team still had to do.

In 2022, the business was acquired by Issuer Direct for about $44 million. That was a business acquisition, reflecting the business and the team's work. The history matters to me because I lived through the decisions that came before it. It is part of the perspective I bring to PremiumBrands, with OnlineBusiness.com as my supporting strategy and development studio.

The cost of changing names later

I bought PremiumBrands.com before I had a plan for it. I value premium names, and waiting would probably have meant losing the chance to build on this one. By now it could belong to someone developing their own business on it, in which case it would most likely no longer be available at all.

The fix-it-later mindset is easy to understand: launch with whatever is available, then upgrade once the business has made it. But the later decision comes with more moving parts. Email addresses, product screens, documentation and the name people already use all need attention. I would rather consider that choice while the product is still taking shape.

AI makes this especially interesting to me. More founders can turn an idea into working software, and useful features can be reproduced quickly. A recognizable name is one of the things a founder can keep building around while the product changes. For zTools, that could mean staying focused on a clear working audience while the collection develops one useful task at a time.

A great name won't save a bad business. It can give a good product a stronger starting point, but the founder still has to make the tools useful, dependable and worth returning to. That is the part of building I keep coming back to: choosing an identity and then doing the work to deserve it.

If zTools.com fits the business you want to build, tell me what you have in mind. If your preferred name is somewhere else, PremiumBrands can help you pursue it. A premium .com is a trust shortcut.