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Here are (some) steps founders can take to get reporters to write about their companies (a thread). (Caveat: this thread is not exhaustive and really applies only to me)
1) understand which reporters cover which subjects and reach out to the reporter who writes about the things your company does (step one: make a list of the reporters whose articles you read regularly for info about your industry)
2) if you haven’t raised any money it’s not necessarily a problem! Do you have an exceptional founder story? Do you have a solid customer or user base? Are you profitable? Are you making any money at all? (If u can’t talk fundraising be sure you can speak to at least 2 of these)
3) Even if none of the above apply you may still be able to get covered... if you’re working on tech that’s truly revolutionary (if you have invented teleportation I’d love to talk to you).
4) remember that local media and trade publications are your best friends. Often they will be more receptive (and better signals to customers or potential employees) than big national press.
5) reach out with actual news. Talk about a new (significant) customer, a new product or service (not an update), exclusive (significant) revenues or user numbers, new funding, new (significant) hires. (I don’t care about industry awards or advisory boards.)
Size doesn’t matter, but funding rounds are a good outside indicator that someone thinks your tech or service is worth a damn. That’s why we (I) write about them.
Gtfooh with garbage takes about how reporters don’t cover seed stage companies. I wrote 779 stories last year and many of them were about seed and pre-seed companies. It’s possible that your idea just sucks.
Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. This thread is merely my personal opinion and does not represent the views of my employer. I’m going to go back to writing about seed and pre-seed companies now.
