Our Approach

I founded PremiumBrands to help founders consider the name they would be proud to build on before the business has outgrown its first address. I select names with that decision in mind. HypeHunt.com is one of those names: an editorial identity for someone who wants the search for what deserves attention to become a publication with its own voice.

The decision to change Newswire.com

In 2007, I acquired the press release distribution business operating on i-Newswire.com. I secured iNewswire.com in 2013, then moved the business to Newswire.com in February 2015. That last move followed more than a year of negotiating and conversations with SEO professionals. Changing a working business's name was a decision to make carefully, with the existing business and the next stage both in view.

One moment from the morning of the switch has stayed with me. A prospect told one of our sales agents, “Oh yeah, Newswire.com. I've heard of you guys.” That was impossible. We had only just switched. It was a striking moment in a much longer period of building the business, and it made the importance of the name very concrete for me.

The business I helped build was acquired by Issuer Direct for about $44 million in 2022. That was a business acquisition, representing the team's work and the operation we had built. The experience behind my interest in names includes the years spent running a business through different addresses, making the decision to change, and then carrying the new identity into the work that followed.

Buying a name before the plan

I bought PremiumBrands.com before I had a plan for it. Premium names matter to me, and I knew waiting would probably mean losing the chance to build on this one. By now it could have been with an end user building a business on it, and in that situation it would most likely no longer be for sale. The decision came before the detailed plan because I knew I wanted the option to use the name.

That is still the test I use: would I build on this? I approach names as an end user. The ones I have not built on are the ones I am open to selling. The collection reflects that personal standard rather than a requirement to find a story for every possible address. With HypeHunt, I can see an editorial identity that gives a founder something clear to put on a first issue, an introduction and a growing body of work.

Start with the identity you intend to keep

The fix-it-later mindset treats the name as a decision for the successful version of the business. I understand the appeal of getting the first version out. My concern is the work attached to changing it once people already use it: email addresses, the masthead, links, printed material and the name a team says every day. At that point the preferred name also has to remain available.

AI interests me because more founders can now turn an idea into a usable product. In my view, that makes the identity attached to the work more important, since a recognizable name is harder to reproduce than another set of publication features. A founder still needs judgment, care and a reason for people to return. A great name won't save a bad business. It does let a founder begin with an identity they actually want to develop.

OnlineBusiness.com is my supporting strategy and development studio. PremiumBrands is where this domain conversation belongs. The purpose here is to make the choice clear enough for a founder to decide whether HypeHunt fits the publication they intend to run, before the first address becomes a later migration.

Two ways to begin

If HypeHunt.com fits your plans, tell me what you would build through the inquiry form. If a different name is the one you have your eye on, describe that instead; PremiumBrands also helps founders acquire names outside the collection. Both doors begin with the same practical question: which name would you choose to build on from day one?

A premium .com is a trust shortcut.