Back to my posts

Early stage PR

Most founders approach press wrong. They either spend too much money on PR firms that take months to deliver or they spray-and-pray with mass outreach that goes nowhere.

I've done both and learned from it. On my most recent attempt, we went from story to front-page news in under 2 weeks so I wrote down the approach for other founders.

This is my field guide for getting press coverage as an early stage startup without breaking the bank.

Phases of getting press

  1. Psychology
  2. Story
  3. Press Release
  4. Timing
  5. Exclusives
  6. Interviews
  7. Amplification
  8. Relationships
  9. Impact

1. Psychology

This is important to understand. As a founder, especially one that has fundraised, you're trained to pitch. Where a good investor has optimism and thinks "how might this succeed" and "how big can this be in the future" A good journalist asks "why might this fail today?" Reporters approach early-stage companies with skepticism (rightfully so!).

This matters for how you frame your story. Stop trying to pitch. Understand the angle of the journalist and the publication you're going for and tailor your story to fit within their current worldview. In my company's case, depending on the reporter, the shifting landscape of e-commerce, new UX and UI for decision making, how brands stay relevant, and tariffs' effect on e-commerce, etc. As a founder, you have a unique, future worldview. Taper it back to where the world is today and how your product fits the current narrative.

What doesn't change between investor and reporter psychology is momentum & FOMO. More on that in section 5.

2. Story

Before you approach any outlet, you need a compelling story. Not every milestone is newsworthy. For early stage startups, there are really only a few stories that press will consistently pick up:

  • Fundraise - This is the most viable story for early startups. Journalists cover fundraises because they're concrete, verifiable news. There are many of these stories, so landing the exclusive is getting harder, but you should still try.
  • Groundbreaking technology - Only if you can prove it. Claims without evidence won't get coverage.
  • Major customer wins - Landing a notable customer or partnership can be newsworthy.

Note - For most early stage startups, a fundraise announcement is your best (and sometimes only) shot at press. The good news: even if you don't feel this is the story you want to tell, it establishes a relationship with reporters that you can leverage for future outreach.

3. Press Release

Once you think you have newsworthy story, craft it into a press release. This becomes the foundation for all subsequent coverage.

You can find countless examples of them on PR Newswire. They publish the actual press releases companies submit. Rather than giving you a template, here's a list of questions from a no-nonsense PR person I respect. If you can answer these succinctly, you can craft a strong press release:

Company and product

  • What's the company's origin story?
  • Explain the core product and/or service offering. What does it do and who’s it for? How's it differentiated from what's already out there?
  • What is the traditional approach (to the problem) and how are you improving on that?
  • How do you differentiate?

Traction and Team

  • How many customers does the company have? How many users
  • Give use cases of how people or businesses can / have benefited from your product?
  • How many employees do you have today? How many do you expect to have by the end of the year?

Financials

  • How much total funding have you raised?
  • What's your ARR? Projected ARR? Gross Margin? Operating Cash Flow?

Market and Competition

  • Which companies do you consider your closest competitors?
  • What are key, major challenges the company faces?
  • What's interesting about your business model?
  • In the future, how do you plan to expand?

Here's what ours became after answering these questions

Assemble this into a PDF or doc that you can share with reporters.

Before you start outreach, set up a media library with founder pictures, product pictures, and brand assets. Pro tip: name each image the caption you'd like a busy reporter to use. Example: "Performing-a-multi-modal-search-with-onton.jpg" or "Founders-Alex-Gunnarson-right-Zach-Hudson-left.jpg".

4. Timing

Something important to understand upfront: press coverage rarely drives significant traffic or user growth. If you think press is going to be a big growth moment, stop it.

So if press isn't a growth chawnnel, what is it good for?

  • Market Credibility - with your customers, market, etc.
  • Hiring Credibility - candidates will want to look you up; these stories help.
  • Fundraising Credibility - Investors are looking for deal flow and to understand the market. They might read it or come across it while doing diligence.

Ask yourself, if this is the only story you get, when would it be most helpful.

Let's take a fundraise announcement. If you're looking for hiring credibility, do it ASAP. If you're setting up your next fundraise, time it as close to that raise kickoff as possible.

Use this to decide when to start your outreach.

5. Exclusives

Founders usually mess up in one of three ways:

  1. Hire an expensive PR firm. They often cost $15k+/mo with a minimum 3 month commitment and no guarantee of a story. They spend a month on the narrative. When they do start outreach, there is no urgency so you spend months waiting for a hit. This is wrong for a startup, especially when you consider the ROI (see the end of this guide).

  2. Spray and pray. They reach out to any and all reporters at once or over time as they find email addresses. This rarely works because there's no FOMO.

  3. Ask investors for help Investors may have strong PR relationships, but the story isn't conducted with urgency. Leverage investor connections within the framework below: give each connection 48 hours to respond, then keep moving with your own list.

The key to successful outreach is offering exclusivity with urgency.

Identify target publications

First, identify the specific journalists and editors who cover your space. Don't just target publications - target the individual journalists who would write your story. Collect their emails.

The Exclusive Offer

Reach out to each reporter individually with an exclusive offer:

Subject: Story idea for next Tuesday, [DATE]

Hi [Reporter],

[Quick blurb from the press release: the core problem + the headline of the announcement]
I can share the full announcement if you'd like advance access. I can also set up an interview.

Please let me know if this is of interest.

Work the list methodically

  1. Start with your top-choice outlet
  2. Give them the 48-hour exclusive window
  3. If they pass or don't respond, move to the next outlet
  4. Repeat until someone bites. They'll usually say yes/no quickly.
  5. If yes, share the press release and suggest dates/times for an interview right away.

The date in the subject line is key and it should be 1-2 weeks out max. This creates urgency while the 48-hour exclusive window journalists' time to review and decide.

How does a journalist decide? From what I've gathered, it's a combination of: "Do I have time to write it given my other stories" and "Will my editor greenlight it?".

6. The Interview

A successful outreach leads to an interview. The interview is where your story content comes from.

Press Interview prep

Most journalists won't share questions beforehand. Instead:

  • Know your key points - Identify the 3-5 things you absolutely want mentioned in the article
  • Push the conversation - Actively steer toward your key points during the interview
  • Data sharing - It goes without saying, if you don't want something mentioned, politely steer the conversation away. If you're not ready to share ARR, say that and offer something else you consider important.
  • Don't leave without covering the essentials - Before the interview ends, make sure your important details have been mentioned. If they haven't asked about something crucial, say: "By the way, something we didn't get to talk about that I think is important is..."

7. Amplification

Ok, once you have an "interview" done, you should be fairly confident that a story is going to go live, but it's still not guaranteed. If they say "I'll run this by my editor", it's not a good sign. If they thank you and start asking for a media room, they'll likely publish on the date you set.

Journalists won't always tell you the date, so be prepared. Once the story goes live, the real work begins because one story alone won't generate significant coverage. You'll need to amplify it.

Amplification Steps:

  1. Submit to newswires - Services like EIN and Globe will publish your press release nearly word-for-word. Coordinate timing with your main story. Now that the news has broken via the exclusive, link to the exclusive and the press release and send it to as many secondary publications as you can.
  2. Submit to other publication - They will also republish your press release, but with some modifications.
  3. Get stakeholders to comment - Have your investors and other stakeholders ready to comment on or share the story for additional coverage on LinkedIn and other platforms. I sent an email days in advance letting them know a story was coming and then again when it was published.
  4. Execute as a coordinated campaign - This should be an intense 1 week push, not a slow trickle. Within 24 hours of our main stories live, we emailed 500 other outlets with the press release for follow up.

8. Relationships

If steps 1-6 went according to plan, you have a story. Now that you've broken the ice, you should keep those relationships fresh and you can get additional stories.

After coverage

  • Send semi-regular updates - Keep reporters in the loop on your progress (newsworthy updates!)
  • Position yourself as an expert source - Offer to be a source for future stories they may be writing in your space.
  • Connect them with your network - Journalists' stories come through their network. If you can help them build a node, they'll appreciate it.

Build brand mentions over time. With minimal effort, you can generate ongoing coverage through these relationships. Be mindful that journalists hear as many story pitches as investors hear startup pitches. They know what you're after. Be helpful, don't be overbearing.

9. Impact

We executed well on our last press push. From writing the press release to publication: 14 days. We found two excellent journalists to cover different aspects of our business and we hit the front page on both Forbes and TechCrunch. We then had 211 other publications follow on via the press release. We generated over 200k impressions / engagements on various social media and video coverage from various Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok journalists with 100k+ views. At the end of the day, we maybe netted 400 users?

If your users are the types of people that read these publications, press can be an OK growth channel for you. For the vast majority of founders, it is not the right channel.

Our users != the people reading these publications. We knew that and it's why I emphasized in the Story Timing section how you should think about press and ROI. For us, it was credibility and given how little we spent executing, it paid off.

--

If you give this a shot, message me your results https://x.com/nosduhz

Things I'm learning. If you have a good tip here, please message me!

  • Journalist psychology?
  • Are there PR firms out there that operate differently?
  • What's the best way to navigate newswires?
  • What others reasons might you want press beyond credibility? What did I miss?

Resources

  • techmeme.com/lb - Find reporters by topic.
  • EIN Presswire, Globe Newswire - Press release distribution services.