How to get your startup featured in the biggest tech and business outlets
Many early-stage startups dream of being featured but struggle to get there. Here are some tips.
Probably the most exciting time in a startup’s life is often when they are ready to reveal their product to the world. However, it’s not as simple as waiting for editors of tech and business outlets to reach out for an interview. Public relations work needs to be done to attract media attention. According to the Propel Q4 2022 Media Barometer, journalists respond to 3.35% of pitches they receive, which equates to responding to one out of every 30 pitches they get. The odds are NOT stacked in startups’ favor in this respect, but it does emphasize the importance of working on the media pitch.
To approach PR right, it’s essential to understand the process and to answer the questions every startup founder should ask themselves.
Why should our early-stage startup spend time on PR? Is it the right time? What are the goals? Is it the proper allocation of resources?
This is the short checklist you as a founder might find useful. Publications in tech and business media will help you:
- To increase domain authority
- To attract attention from angels, venture capitalists and potential partners
- To target your audience
- To hire employees
Media coverage helps build the brand image of your startup and your personal reputation, which is useful if you’re fundraising or planning to launch another product in the future. But it is not only about you and your product! It’s about the audience and what the audience wants to get.
The harsh truth: what seems to be newsworthy to you may not really matter to the reader.
So, with this in mind, let’s figure out how you can get your startup featured in tech news and media publications. There are major news hooks that startups can use to attract journalists’ attention:
- Fundraising news
- A new partnership
- A launch of a new product or entering a new market
- A new milestone (for instance, your app now has 1 million downloads, or it was used by a celebrity)
- If you have pivoted to address new challenges and meet new needs
- A new patent or a new prototype with a disruptive technology beyond
- A fresh piece of research analysis/survey
- If you have an M&A or someone is buying your startup
Even if your news hook isn’t newsworthy in itself, you can still frame it into a piece of content that has merit. You can pitch your story about why you decided to launch your product or react to what’s already on the agenda, such as, e.g., ChatGPT API, a new wave of tech layoffs (narrower agenda), climate change, diversity, or venture slowdown (broader agenda).
These are the most popular content types where you can fit in with your startup:
- A feature — a long piece of writing than a news story, covering an issue in greater depth
- An interview — for an online publication/YouTube/podcast — when a journalist asks you in-depth questions related to experience, motivation, DAU/MAU, number of users, revenue, recent development, plans, etc
- Op-ed (short for “opposite the editorial page”)—is an opinion piece, where you express your point on a matter
- Listings or round-ups — a list of startups or products, like the 10 best apps to workout
- Product review — in-depth analysis of your product/ service, comparison to competitors
To request an interview or to be mentioned in the news, startups need to pitch their story to the right person. Among publication staff, there are:
- Reporters
- Senior reporters
- News reporters
- Contributors
- Guest authors
- Columnists
- Writers
- Journalists
- Editors
- Op-ed editors
- Contributors editors
- Feature editors
- Managing editors
- Assistant managing editors
- And, of course, an editor-in-chief
The right person to contact depends on how you frame your story, but it could be of interest to any of them, except maybe the editor-in-chief. The main advice here is to do your homework.
We at LETA Capital have 40+ portfolio companies from different industries (related to AI, business analytics, AR/VR/XR, B2B SaaS, etc.), so when I help them with media relations, I read 4–5 articles by each journalist and pick only those reporters, who cover the relevant topics. The second crucial piece of advice is not to pitch an exclusive to all the reporters in your industry. The simultaneous email outreach never ended up well. Be patient and try different pitches with the relevant reporters or give at least 3–4 days for each reporter to read and react to your message.
Knowing all that, I’m sure you will succeed in getting the most powerful coverage for your startup! Good luck with that!
Do you run an innovative tech startup? We are investing in early-stage revenue-generating software startups and would love to hear from you! You can reach us at info@leta.vc or fill in the form here.
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