How to Think About PR - Stanford CS183F: Startup School
Stanford Online2017-05-19
Stanford#Y Combinator#PR#Public Relations#How to Think About PR#CS183F#CS#Computer Science#Marketing#YC#Sharon Pope#entrepreneur#entrepreneurship
18K views|7 years ago
💫 Short Summary
The video emphasizes the importance of product innovation over PR for startup success, advising founders to focus on creating an exceptional product that attracts press attention. Founder-led PR is deemed effective in building relationships with the media, with a focus on defining business clearly and telling compelling stories. It highlights the significance of establishing relationships with reporters over time, pitching relevant stories, and utilizing tools like Google spreadsheet for PR efforts. The importance of exclusivity in media coverage, reaching out to reporters in advance, and respecting embargoes are also discussed to enhance credibility and media interactions for startups.
✨ Highlights
📊 Transcript
✦
Importance of Product Innovation Over PR for Startup Success.
01:50Founders should prioritize creating an exceptional product that stands out to garner press attention.
Early stage founders are advised to handle their own PR efforts and communicate directly with reporters.
Founder-Led PR is highlighted as a unique and effective way to build relationships with the media.
By focusing on product innovation, founders can attract press coverage and cultivate long-term customer relationships.
✦
Importance of Building Relationships with Reporters
04:44Building relationships with reporters over time is more beneficial than relying solely on immediate news coverage.
Defining your business clearly is crucial for various aspects like investor pitches and hiring.
Understanding where your business fits in the news landscape is essential for effective communication.
Prioritize telling a compelling story about your product over personal relationships with reporters.
✦
Importance of PR for startups and tips for founders to handle PR goals.
07:18Emphasis on building a strong team, focusing on product development and customer acquisition tactics.
Importance of clearly defining company's purpose, leading with 'what' rather than 'why,' and sharing compelling founder stories.
Suggestion to involve someone outside the company for feedback on company description clarity.
Examples of successful companies like Dropbox stressing the importance of a clear and concise company description.
✦
Focus on business objectives and audience when defining PR goals.
11:15Press can help reach priority audience, such as investors.
Building relationships with reporters and publications is crucial.
Reading news articles can help identify relevant journalists.
Efficiency in PR comes from relationship-building, not automation.
✦
Importance of Business Press for Early-Stage Startups.
14:14Funding and disruptive actions are key topics for coverage.
Interacting with reporters should focus on transparency and caution when sharing business metrics.
Timed outreach for company news, such as launches, fundraising, and milestones, is crucial.
Building relationships with reporters can lead to future coverage opportunities, even if not immediate.
✦
Importance of Company Announcements and Pitching Stories to Reporters.
17:30Founders reaching out to reporters to share fundraising news and new releases can generate interest.
Offering products for free to journalists until a specific event, such as election day, can lead to media coverage.
Utilizing speech search technology to help journalists find newsworthy content can also attract attention.
Pitching to the right reporter with relevant news items is emphasized as a key strategy for gaining media coverage.
✦
Importance of Visuals and Exclusives in PR.
21:51Press releases are costly and ineffective for startups.
Visuals and assets are valuable for news coverage.
Exclusives and embargos are tools used in PR to brief reporters in advance of news.
Understanding and following rules of exclusives and embargos is crucial for maintaining credibility and managing relationships with reporters.
✦
Importance of reaching out to reporters for early-stage startups.
24:36Offering exclusives as a strategy to generate interest and coverage.
Clear communication to prevent publishing errors and allow reporters time to craft stories.
Utilizing tools like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to find sources and opportunities to be a source.
Emphasizing the value of respecting embargoes, being a reliable source, and using platforms like Twitter for media interactions.
✦
Penny's proactive approach to engaging with reporters and showcasing commitment to diversity and inclusion.
28:05Penny provides valuable insights and perspectives to reporters on topics of interest, leading to increased coverage and credibility.
Penny connected a reporter to an expert on equity grants, highlighting their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The company prioritized gender balance from the start by hiring a female engineer for their team.
Penny's approach not only fosters positive relationships with reporters but also demonstrates dedication to diversity and equity in hiring practices.
✦
Importance of exclusivity in media coverage.
33:01Exclusive stories provide depth and uniqueness, avoiding generic content.
Embargoes can lead to leaks and breaking the embargo prematurely, diminishing the impact of the story.
The value of exclusives for publications like Backchannel, focusing on special and in-depth coverage.
Strategic advantages of pursuing exclusive stories in media relations.
✦
Importance of exclusive stories for businesses.
34:39Exclusive stories provide in-depth coverage that cannot be easily summarized.
These stories can enhance a company's image, aid in recruiting, and form partnerships.
TechCrunch and traditional media are compared in terms of coverage and significance for businesses.
Tailoring pitches to different publications based on their preferences and audiences is crucial for success.
✦
Speaker's publications on Medium cover startup life and unique stories, including one about a Detroit founder pivoting his company to have artists in Hong Kong create paintings based on photographs.
37:30Emphasis on reaching out to reporters for publicity versus generating PR through media articles and social media.
Value of sharing your story through content creation to engage customers, improve SEO, and gain validation from third parties is highlighted.
✦
Importance of engaging storytelling in journalism.
42:07Lack of rewrites in journalism necessitates compelling stories from the start.
Balancing directing reporters while encouraging creativity.
Initial groundwork crucial for story success.
00:10Okay, hi everyone.
00:12We're going to talk about
public relations today.
00:15I'm Sharon.
00:16I actually work at Y Combinator, and
I work on our continuity team which is
00:20the team that does growth stage investing,
so Series B, Series C investing.
00:25And also trying to create programs and
00:27give advice to founders as they enter
into a different phase of their startup.
00:32Right after they've built a great product
they then have to go build a company.
00:35And make it a really great company so
that's what we try to do,
00:38we'll try to help with
on the continuity team.
00:40Before I was at YC, I was the Chief
Marketing Officer at GreenDot which is
00:44a fin tech company that makes
pre-paid debit cards and
00:47checking accounts that
don't let you overdraft.
00:50They're really targeting
under banked population.
00:52It's a public company.
00:54And I got there by being acquired,
I was at Looped which is a start-up,
00:57it was actually Sam wass start-up.
00:59So I worked with Sam there for two years
and before that I was at PR agencies.
01:04So I was at two different PR agencies,
probably had a total of 20 clients over
01:09that period of times, ranging from
start-ups to big companies like Intel.
01:14So I've done a lot of kind
of on the ground PR work and
01:17also have thought about it
from a strategic level.
01:20And also get to talk to founders from YC
about startups, or about PR and reckoning.
01:25So that's why I'm here talking to you.
01:29And the tough thing is even though
01:33this is going to be about PR you're not
going to escape the standard waxy advice.
01:36Which is while PR might be interesting and
01:38something that could help in some ways for
your business.
01:42Your number one job as a founder
is to focus on your product and
01:45that's your not going to escape that.
01:46So even if PR is interesting
that's the key, the key goal.
01:50And I bring it up because without
product innovation PR is not going to be
01:53an option for you.
01:54The startup curve is the one that Paul
Graham drew way back it probably looks
01:58familiar.
01:58But the fact is you could get some great
article written about your product.
02:03But if you get people in there and they're
disenchanted by it or not impressed,
02:07they're not going to come back.
02:09So your not going to have something that's
ongoing that you can really depend on.
02:14It's not a customer acquisition channel.
02:16So if press motivates you, if being on the
cover of Wired is something that you think
02:21would be cool that's cool.
02:23And have that motivate you, and create
a product that press cannot ignore, right.
02:29That's how you get great PR results,
is creating an amazing product.
02:33So that's the first thing you can do.
02:35Now that's said.
02:36[LAUGH] You know it's your first job but
there are some things,
02:40I am going to actually give
you some tangible tools and
02:43steps that you can take
to start a PR program.
02:46My first tip though for
early stage founders is don't go and
02:50hire a PR agency or a PR person.
02:52I really believe for early stage
founders that Founder-Led PR is simply
02:58the only way to go for a lot of reasons,
but mainly I think it's actually special.
03:04You know reporters like
hearing from founders,
03:06that's the end spokesperson for them.
03:08So there's not someone going in between
there's someone who they genuinely can
03:12learn from and gather information
from knocking right on their door.
03:16I guess usually in this forum,
[LAUGH] an email.
03:19But you're getting exposure to someone who
could actually be a spokesperson for you.
03:23So it's special and it's something that's
kind of unique to the vibe that you can
03:27pull off when you're at an early stage.
03:29And the other side is you
have something to offer.
03:32You may pitch them reporter today that
news may not fit into their coverage for
03:37the day or for the week.
03:39But in a month something really
relevant to that area could happen and
03:42they'll call you.
03:43Because you're a subject matter expert,
you know your domain,
03:46you know your business.
03:47And that helps them craft the story that
helps them give background of the story.
03:51So I would kind of think about it as not
kind of a switch you can flip from the PR
03:55perspective but really you're
trying to establish a relationship.
03:58And trying to just get ball rolling,
getting your company name out there,
04:02your product out there.
04:03And just establishing yourself
is a credible spokesperson.
04:08So this is the next question I always
get when I say that first speech.
04:12So I just really want to take a second
to just knock down these net.
04:15And I even sent out some questions to
a lot of folks in startup school and
04:19I got some of these questions.
04:21So questions back about PR agencies.
04:25So first reason why people
might think that they really,
04:28really need the PR person to come
in right away and help them.
04:31That they might help them define
the business and de-jargonize it.
04:35And yes, communications folks
can be really good at that.
04:39But you're kind of depriving yourself of
a process that's going to be really useful
04:44beyond media relations.
04:46Being able to define your
business in a clear and
04:48concise way is going to pay back
in every aspect of your business.
04:51When you're talking to
a potential investor,
04:54when you're talking to
a potential partner.
04:56When you're trying to hire
your first few engineers
04:59you need to be able to clearly pitch them
on what makes your business special.
05:03And why they should listen to you.
05:05So don't deprive yourself of that process.
05:08They come up with story angles so
they're paying attention to the news.
05:13Well you're a better spokesperson and
founder if you follow the news.
05:16You need to understand where
your business sits in the news.
05:19I'm not saying you should spend five hours
a day of poring over every news site but
05:22you should have a good pulse.
05:24You know couple times a day checking and
05:26look at the stories that
are relevant to your business and
05:28just more broadly understand where
your business fits in the world.
05:32The third reason and
05:33the most common reason I get is
that they know the reporters.
05:37They hold these relationships.
05:38They're the ones that can make it happen.
05:39And I'll tell you no
credible reporter would ever
05:43write a story because they like
went to drinks with someone.
05:49They'll write a story because
it's a good story, right.
05:51So a story always trumps a relationship so
focus on that.
05:55Focus on a product that has a story,
05:57focus on a product that has traction which
is a story and that's what can pull.
06:03That's what can start creating
those relationships for you.
06:06It's not a magic kind of
key that you can turn.
06:09They field media inquiries, right.
06:11So they'll be able to respond
to press in a timely manner.
06:15It's a pretty high-class problem to have.
06:16If you're getting tons of media
inquiries that you can barely,
06:19that you're drowning in them you probably
have some pretty good product traction.
06:23And maybe you're having a blazing
success and then you have permission to
06:28hire a strategic communications
partner who can help you through that.
06:33And lastly they're good
at sending invoices.
06:37Not to minimize that to a PR agency or
a PR professional but
06:42it's essentially overhead in a lot of ways
because there's no guaranteed results.
06:45It could be an agency can come in.
06:48They don't know your business,
they have to learn your business.
06:51So probably about a month out and
then they start pitching.
06:54It might be two weeks out,
06:55three weeks out, two months before
you even get a story in the news.
07:01And it's even then that's not
guarantee to drive specific business
07:04school because it's not an engaged
measurable customer acquisition tactic.
07:08So get to a place where you have
a really good team that can
07:12build that great product engineering team,
your product team, yourself.
07:16And that where you
should kind of focus on.
07:18So hopefully I've convinced you but
I do think that there are some simple
07:24things the founders can do to chip
away at the PR goals themselves.
07:28And eventually once you are a success
you should hire a PR firm,
07:32they're cool, I used to work in one.
07:35Five steps.
07:36And these are really based
on my experience but
07:38I'm also leaving some common YC advice
that batches receive when they come
07:42through YC specifically this one,
step 1, who are you?
07:47So this long list is a checklist of
a whiteboarding session at Y Combinator.
07:53So companies that come through YC will get
this great presentation by Kat Manalac
07:58who's a partner at YC.
08:00And then they'll meet with
their group partners,
08:02and go through each of these questions.
08:04And this is something that I implore
you to take time and think about.
08:10So invite a family member or a friend in,
someone who's not steeped in
08:15your world who can actually kind of
give you some real advice on whether or
08:19not your description is jargon or makes
sense to the common man in Anytown, USA.
08:24But most importantly,
what does your company do?
08:26We will talk about that more,
being able to describe your customers.
08:30So how does your product
live through your customer.
08:32Through the lens of their customer.
08:33People like stories about people so
this is a great one for PR.
08:38What problem are you solving?
08:40How are you measuring, how you are going?
08:42And how are you goiing?
08:43Who your competitors, and
why are you better than your competitors?
08:47What are your plans for next year?
08:48And I think one of the more important
ones for PR as well is why you?
08:52Why did you start this company?
08:54Why are you uniquely qualified to
bring this product to the world?
08:58And that can range from stories of
something you over came that cause
09:03you to explore this field and to conquer
this technology and this innovation.
09:08Or it could be that you came from
a company that has done this kind of and
09:11you're, you broke off and
are doing it better.
09:13So the founder stories are really
great to establish early
09:17on cause sometimes we could
forget that about ourselves,
09:19right that we bring something
special to the table.
09:22So to dive a little bit deeper on,
what does your company do?
09:26The biggest advice is to lead
with the what, not the why.
09:30And what I mean by that,
09:31is even though we've established
that you're all co-founders.
09:34And that you're uniquely
qualified to start your business.
09:37That's kind of a long story to get,
all at once.
09:40So instead of some like big paragraph
where I have to really try to navigate to
09:44understand what your company actually is,
it's a lot easier for
09:50you to say to me, well, Wright Electric is
Boeing for electric airplanes, I get that.
09:56You're making them, they're electric,
tell me more, right I want to lean in,
10:01I want to hear more.
10:02Actual company from the last
batch of YC by the way.
10:07Dropbox, is synchronizes your file
across your and your team's computers.
10:12That's easy to understand,
it might seem silly now, but
10:15this is actually their description under
YC application years and years ago.
10:21So the overall summary here is, make it
conversational, which means no jargon.
10:28No preamble, just get right to it and
above all, make it concise.
10:35So step 2, we're going to define
your goals and your audience.
10:39And this one,
it's kind of a forced principles type
10:44process because PR actually isn't a goal.
10:48So, saying my goal is to get a lot of
press, it actually isn't your goal.
10:52If you really, really step back, you're
actually striving toward a business goal.
10:56So you want to maybe
recruit the best talent,
10:58you want to finance your growth,
drive trial, land strategic partners.
11:03You have things that you're
trying to do with your business.
11:05So you want to ask yourself,
this is the business thing I want to do.
11:10Is there a strategic,
11:12is there an audience that I can maybe
influence to help me get there?
11:15Press aren't the audience,
[LAUGH] they have readers though.
11:21So press might be the window
to your audience, so talking,
11:24getting a story placed or
working with press to get some story place
11:28could be a way to reach
this priority audience.
11:31So if your priority or
your business goal is to finance growth
11:35your audience might be investors, right?
11:39So that's kind of how you need to break
it down, and really try to prioritize it,
11:43because if everything's a priority,
11:44then nothing's a priority,
so really to focus in.
11:47If your goal of press is investors,
11:50it's actually going to influence
the reporters that you try to talk to,
11:55and the publications that you try to get
in and so you want to ask to yourself.
12:00The other, obviously, piece of YC advice,
that I'm sure you're all already doing
12:04is building your product and talking to
customers and repeat, repeat, repeat.
12:08So if you're talking to your customers
anyway, maybe ask them what they read.
12:13That's a good way to kind of get to
what outlets you might want to consider.
12:21So which brings us to our next step,
step 3, reading.
12:25Which might seem common sense but, so
12:26if you all ready read the news,
probably you all ready do.
12:30It's just maybe putting a little more
structure around how you look at the news.
12:33So if you read a really compelling article
that you feel like hit some of the notes
12:37that you, as a founder, represent or
that your product speaks to.
12:41Then look at who wrote it, right?
12:43That person maybe will interested in
a story about you and your company.
12:47So the big tips here, as you kind of
prepare for, and this is also, I get a lot
12:51of questions from technical founders on
like how to bring efficiency to this.
12:55And the real answer is,
there's not tons of efficiency in this.
13:00This is about relationship-building,
13:02there's not something
that can automate it.
13:04But here's some tools,
a Google spreadsheet, so
13:08that's the biggest tool I think
that people might use for PR.
13:12So just kind of organizing your thoughts.
13:14You read a very article, grab the link,
note who wrote it and write a little bit
13:18to yourself, about what was relevant and
how you think your story might
13:23play with that same reporter, given their
interest and given their coverage area.
13:27Think about what angle
might interest them,
13:29which we'll talk a little bit more about.
13:31And then think about connections to them.
13:34So we talked about how PR agencies
aren't vital for relationships.
13:38But it is nice to get a warm
introduction to a reporter.
13:42So, if you see that that reporter
has written about someone you know,
13:46or an investor might know them.
13:48So maybe another founder
has appeared in the story?
13:51Seem might reach out to that founder,
draft an email up for them and
13:54say hey would you mind
introducing me to this reporter,
13:56I think they might be
interested in my product.
13:58Right, so that's the connection
with the system column.
14:05On angle, I think I kind of wanted to
specifically point out business press,
14:10because for an early stage startup, it's
not always a relevant target for people.
14:14I'm going to do an audience question now.
14:17What would you guess is the most common
topic in covered in business outlets?
14:22>> Funding?
14:26>> Maybe, yes for start ups.
14:29Yes, so the most top topic is business.
14:31You have to have something that ties like
market moving, commerce, the economy.
14:36So funding is a good example for
where start up might get into this.
14:39Another example where star up might be
able to get an a story in the business
14:43press would be if you are really
getting a lot attraction and
14:47like upsetting the stream
of someone else's business.
14:50So you're taking advertising
dollars away from Facebook.
14:53Or you have an app that can hail a car.
14:58And it's maybe disrupting a taxi business.
15:01These are kind of things that will get you
into this press even before you get big.
15:04Because you're showing
signs of disruption,
15:06you're showing signs that there's
something to look at here.
15:08So one to kind of cover that one, because
it's a common question, the other element.
15:13So as you start reaching out to reporters,
and
15:15I'll give you some example of
pictures that have actually gone out.
15:19And just a reminder that everything
you say is on the record.
15:23The reporters job is to get the story and
15:26they just tell kind of Gathering
all the information you give them.
15:30I mean, if you share metrics of your
business, they may wrote about them.
15:35So it's the common advice we give YC
companies before demo day too, right?
15:39When they're really excited to share
everything about their business, and
15:41they share all their metrics.
15:42And they might be
surprised the next day when
15:45an article talks about
the metrics of their business.
15:47So just,
it might seem like common sense advice.
15:49But it's really easy to
forget in the moments.
15:51So just keep in mind,
be open, be transparent.
15:55Share honestly, but if you don't know your
metrics in the news, don't share them.
16:03Okay.
16:04So what to say and timed outreach.
16:08So going to start reaching out you have
already looked at your kind of year ahead
16:12and thought about,
what news your might have?
16:15Maybe it's your actual company launch,
maybe it's a product launch.
16:19Maybe you have fund raising.
16:21Maybe you got some investment.
16:22You might hit some milestone.
16:24Maybe you have some
statistics that are cool.
16:26These are all examples
of company fueled news.
16:29The other type of news
is trend based news.
16:32How your company fits in a bigger trend?
16:35Things like a round-up
of new finance apps.
16:40Maybe you're going to be one
of those apps, that's name.
16:42I usually say that journals will usually
only name three, they're not going to
16:47spend their day listing an exhaustive list
that have all the 15, 20, 30 offset exist.
16:52So to the degree that you have engaged
with the reporter in a meaningful way
16:57it maybe they don't write
about your new story one week.
17:01Or maybe three weeks from now
they're going to do a round up and
17:03you'll be in it.
17:04So there are some things where
just the relationship and
17:07just reaching out is good and
can kind of pay back later.
17:11Also politics and entertainment.
17:13When that kind of news happens sometimes
there's an opportunity to jump on and
17:17be included in some way.
17:18And also contextualizing
other company announcements.
17:20So if Apple has big developer news then
maybe your developer have something to say
17:24or contribute, or reaching out and
saying hey, here's what I think about it.
17:29Let me know if you want to talk.
17:30That can be a way to get your
company into the conversation.
17:33So here's an actually example.
17:37So simple habit within YC last batch, and
it's essentially Spotify for meditation.
17:44Yunha, the founder specifically wanted
to get a coverage in indulge it.
17:50So she found this reporter, Nathan.
17:52He wrote several times about
different streaming apps and
17:55we're specifically interested
in New kinds of content.
17:58So he's written about Spotify,
written about YouTube TV and so
18:02she approached him.
18:04She had some seed funding to announce.
18:05Engadget doesn't actually write that much
about fundraising and she knew that.
18:09So she reached out shared
the fundraising news.
18:11But also shared that they were going to be
doing a new release that had a bunch more
18:15content coming out and
a few new features and he was interested.
18:18He asked for more information.
18:20She searched from Visuals and
this is the story.
18:23This is the story [LAUGH].
18:24And so that's a great example of
something that simple habit did.
18:29So a relevant pitch to the right
reporter around a news item.
18:33Here's another example.
18:35So this is not company milestone-based but
actually customer-based.
18:40So like we talked about showing
your product through the eyes
18:44of a customer this YC company again,
18:47Thunkable which lets anybody build
mobile apps without knowing how to code.
18:52They discovered this customer
they had in Yemen who,
18:55again without knowing how to code.
18:57Developed a solar app or basically
an app that brought thousands of people
19:02solar power that had lost power
due to civil war in Yemen and
19:06it's a pretty cool story, right?
19:08So they drafted up a pitch.
19:11They knew someone who knew the reporter.
19:13The founder knew someone who knew
the reporter and drafted up an email for
19:17that person to then send to
a reporter of that's company.
19:21So this is the email asking if they can
intro giving a little bit of context,
19:26giving that really short
business description.
19:29And the reporter was interested
this is the story of past company.
19:37And here's the example of writing the news
wave, we talked about politics and
19:40entertainment.
19:41Approximately being something to jump on.
19:43It's not everyday that
this is an opportunity so
19:45this is not your common example.
19:47But we all might remember
last October there was some
19:51tapes that were leaked of Donald Trump
saying lewd things on a bus.
19:55And it was to put it mildly major news
in the US and probably around the world.
20:00And so this happened October eighth,
I think.
20:03So deepgram, another YC company their
product is basically search for speech.
20:10So they can search audio files like
Google searches images, right?
20:14And so they saw an opportunity
with all this talk about
20:17are there more tapes is there
anything else to discover?
20:20Journalists are going down
that path of inquiry and so
20:23they came in with what I would
consider kind of a light stun.
20:26Which is hey, we're making our products
free for journalists until election day.
20:30Have at it search for whatever.
20:32And so they got were covered for that.
20:35So they were able to quickly think
about it they put up a blog post and
20:38they jumped on it and
this is the story they got in Tech Crunch.
20:44So those are a few examples.
20:47You saw a few examples of pitches and
I would say that's your number one tool.
20:50You're very likely not in a place where
reporters are kind of sitting on your site
20:53refreshing your blog.
20:54Wondering what the next news is going
to be, so you need to get to them.
20:58And so blog post is helpful to link
to just to give extra information.
21:04And don't attach like to not attach steps
so it's a good kind of repository for
21:08the full story to have that if someone
is interested they can click through.
21:13I get questions about press releases.
21:15They're not really for
start-ups, that's the truth.
21:17It's an older medium, gosh it used
to be even more intense than this.
21:23I mean, there was faxes coming
into the newsroom that used
21:26to be the big utility of a press release.
21:28And then more recently it was a good
way to get in Google news, right?
21:32It got you in search results, but
Google has wised up about that a lot.
21:37So it doesn't really do that anymore.
21:38So your blog has just as much power
to get into the search results as
21:42a press release does.
21:44And press releases if you're
going to put them over the wire,
21:47cost a couple thousand dollars.
21:49So it's not worth it for a startup.
21:51Really they're a tool for public companies
to make disclosures about market moving
21:56news so
that's the main folks that'll use it.
21:59I guess the only other exception
would be if you are in an industry
22:03that's an older-fashioned industry
like banking or aviation.
22:07Sometimes I go link to a press release on
your site can establish credibility for
22:12partners.
22:14Not press but like partners or other
people that you might want to get meetings
22:18with for lack of other press coverage.
22:21So there's that.
22:22Visuals and
assets are really great to include.
22:25Never an attachments because attachments
are annoying, we all know that.
22:29But just link to them like
either in your site or
22:33at the drop box link because every
story will use a visual anyway.
22:38A lot of outlets want to create their
own visual for bigger feather stories.
22:41But for like a smaller news item they
might just like screenshot your website or
22:45find a picture of the founder
like speaking at some event.
22:49But maybe you don't like that picture,
maybe it's not flattering.
22:51So I always just say
provide your own visuals so
22:54hopefully they'll use one of those and
you'll be happy.
22:57So I don't know why I shoved
all this in one slide.
23:00But the other thing I want to talk about
in terms of official announcements
23:04are exclusives versus embargos.
23:06Which could be its own slide about
how to really, really, really,
23:10really pissed off a reporter so listen
closely because these are important.
23:14These are two tools
that are used in the PR
23:18world to brief a reporter
in advance of a news date.
23:22So that they can have a full story
ready to go on the day of the news.
23:25You can't use them both together,
I'm going to talk about them individually.
23:30An exclusive is I'm going to talk to you,
you one reporter just me and you,
23:34you're getting the full story and
that's it.
23:37You're the only one I'm talking to about
this until after you post your story.
23:41And then if someone calls
me I can talk to them but
23:43they're not going to have
the story ready to go.
23:45It's yours.
23:46That's an exclusive.
23:48It's as serious as a monogamous relation
like that is you should not mess with
23:53an exclusive.
23:53If you promise to give someone the story,
it's theirs.
23:58Got it?
Okay.
23:59An embargo is if you have
bigger news that you think
24:02multiple reporters might cover,
which is common, especially for
24:07a mid-sized startup that has people
that are kind of following their news,
24:11you can reach out, and say to each
of the reporters, I have some news.
24:16I'd like to pre-brief you on it.
24:18The news is going out on
June 15 at eight AM pacific.
24:21Would you like the news?
24:23Will you agree to embargo?
24:25And they say yes.
24:25There goes the saying, give me the news,
24:27if I write a story I will not publish it
until that specific time that you told me.
24:32So the trick here is, you just need
make sure you're being really clear in
24:36communication with everyone, because if
you send one reporter the wrong time and
24:42they like post their time earlier,
24:44then there are four reporters that are all
ready, but they were supporting your ask.
24:48So it's kind of a little weird, but these
are things that exist that are tools.
24:54I would say specifically for an exclusive,
it's something we use a lot for
24:59early stage start-ups, because if
you're reaching out to a reporter and
25:02you have like that, the customer story.
25:04The one from Funkable?
25:05That was actually offered as an exclusive.
25:07So that was just kind of an extra carrot
to say 'hey, this is a cool story,
25:11and we'll give it to you, just you'.
25:14So the reporter knows okay,
25:15I can either take my time to
actually talk to the customer.
25:19And I'm not racing against
the clock to see because
25:21someone else might write it before I do,
right?
25:23So it allows them to take their time.
25:25Take a breath and
write the story they want.
25:27And also it's nice to
not have to compete for
25:29clicks on the story with other outlets.
25:32So that's why it's used as a tool, but
25:36just make sure to respect it and
use it carefully.
25:42So last of all, listen and be a source.
25:46So it's one thing to reach
out when you have news,
25:50but kind of on your day to day,
you're really just following the news and
25:55possibly taking opportunities
to be a source.
25:57So these are just a couple of things.
25:59You guys know about Google Alerts and
RSS feeds.
26:01One thing you might not know
about is this tool called HARO.
26:04It's Help a Reporter Out and
the website is helpareporter.com.
26:10And it's free, you can subscribe to it.
26:12It's kind of a lot,
you get three mondo emails every day.
26:17And basically what it is is reporters
will, they're seeking a source for
26:21their story, so they'll actually
submit a request for a source.
26:24So hey I'm looking for
26:25an expert on molecular biology,
deadline is tomorrow at 5 PM pacific.
26:32And so you see that.
26:33You're an expert on molecular biology,
so you can actually reply and
26:37kind of let them know about yourself and
maybe they can use you as a source.
26:41So, it's a good way sometimes you can
strike it big and there's something right
26:46on the money, but it's not, I you know,
it's not a guaranteed road to coverage.
26:53Also some reporters will tweet
when they need a source.
26:56They'll say hey I'm looking for
someone who's an expert on this.
26:59So that's another way.
27:00Also most, a lot of reporters
tweet their own coverage.
27:03So again if you're reading a reporter's
coverage and kind of understanding what
27:07motivates them to write or
what types of stories are cool for them.
27:10Twitter is a great place
to hang out as well.
27:16A couple quick examples of being a good
source I always give, I mean, the one I
27:20always talk about is Sam Waldman having
worked with him he just wanted to help
27:24out, because he was just interested in the
story and so this is kind of the true test
27:29of the founder who gets PR from me is
someone who just thinks story is cool.
27:34Someone who actually wants reporters to
have the tools to put out a great story.
27:38So he would reach out even if something
wasn't within the realm of loop like if
27:41there was a story about
augmentative reality or something,
27:44he would ping someone and say hey I'm
really interested in augmentative reality.
27:47I know a lot about it and
27:48then they would call him even though
there wasn't a specific loop tie-in.
27:52That was a way that he was there for
them so
27:55when we did have news they at
least looked at the email.
27:58You know, so it helped just
kind of get that credibility,
28:01because they knew he was interested
in them getting a good story.
28:05Two recent examples from penny,
another YC company in a recent batch.
28:11This New York Times example was Penny
saw this comment that Jamie Diamond,
28:16who's the CEO of Chase,
made about innovative
28:21bank start-ups not holding a handle
to the offerings that Chase has.
28:26For their own customers, and it's kind of
crapping on innovative banking start ups.
28:29And it wasn't widely covered, like it
was only covered in a couple places,
28:33I saw it in Forbes, and I noticed
the New York Times hadn't covered it.
28:36And there was a specific reporter who they
had been continuing to read his coverage,
28:40Ron of the New York Times, Ron Lieber.
28:42And they felt like Ron would be interested
in this story, yet he hadn't covered it.
28:45So they reached out to him,
28:46said hey, have you seen this news,
what Jamie Diamond said?
28:50Here's what we think about it.
28:51We think that innovative
starts do have a place.
28:54And we have this perspective and
I'm an expert in this.
28:56And so he was able to jump on
the phone with a reporter,
28:59give him context from what he thought.
29:01And he was in this story in the second
paragraph and quoted twice.
29:05So this story that he wouldn't
have been in probably, and
29:08if the reporter had picked up on his own,
probably wouldn't have been in it.
29:12But he was in it because he was able
to guide the reporter through it or
29:15at least help him get to a place where
where he wanted to write about it.
29:19And the other thing that Penny worked
on Is, they had talked to a Bloomberg
29:24reporter about chatbots, because
she had written a story about that.
29:28And they kind of wanted to
give her some more experience.
29:31I guess I didn't really
say what Penny did.
29:33They're a personal finance app, so
29:35it's like a personal finance coach
in your pocket, and it's a bot.
29:39So they were talking to her about bots.
29:41And she mentioned them, and
there were two stories she was working on.
29:43One about equity, grants, and
one about diversity hiring.
29:47And it was just kind of conversation that
29:50they realize they had a friend who
knew a lot about equity grants.
29:52They connected her to their friend and
29:55that was just kind of
a nice gesture they did.
29:56And then when they were starting to
look for their first engineering hire,
30:01these two male founders with an app called
Penny and and a female bud wanted to
30:06hire a female engineer to help to balance
out their company from the beginning.
30:10So they reached out to her and
said, hey, just interestingly,
30:13I know you were interested in this,
we are actually doing this now.
30:16So anyway, hope you're having a good day,
that's what we're doing.
30:19So she got back with them and said, hey,
30:20I want to profile you through
the whole hiring process.
30:22So she shadowed them to this in-depth
podcast on their hiring process.
30:26So, this wasn't the story that they dreamt
of in Bloomberg probably, like a story of
30:31the hiring process versus their business,
but is was a great way to develop this
30:35relationship with this reporter, the piece
ended up turning out really great.
30:38They did end up making a hire, so this to
me is just a good example of a founder
30:44that gets a good story and is like, will
invest in just kind of making that happen.
30:52So this is kind of it, I think some,
the other tools that you have
30:56are responding to articles, so if there's
an article that you might even disagree
31:02with, or have a different point of view,
that's another opportunity to reach out.
31:06So it's not always just news-driven or
trend-driven.
31:08It could just be, hey, you wrote this.
31:10I don't know if you ever
thought about it this way,
31:12but if you ever want to explore this side,
let me know, I'm here.
31:16And then also, the media's changing.
31:21Getting an article written about
you isn't the only way for
31:25someone to start seeing you
as an authority, right?
31:28So, there are small things you can
do like commenting on an article,
31:32not self-promotional,
not plugging your business in any big way,
31:35just as an interested
person in this topic.
31:38Commenting on our article on Reddit,
Quora,
31:41and even creating your own
content on your blog or a medium.
31:45These are good ways to start just kind
of dipping your toe in establishing your
31:49credibility in the field
that you operate in.
31:51So those are some small things you can do,
and questions?
31:59And actually, as a surprise, we have
Steven Levy here who is at Back Channel.
32:05Come on up Steven.
32:06And formerly at Wired and
Newsweek way back.
32:11And he is surprised, so
32:12this is a journalist you can
ask questions to as well.
32:14So you can either ask me or the person who
is on the other line of these questions.
32:18>> Yeah, and actually this was a super
clueful presentation, I have to say,-
32:21>> Well thank you, Stephen.
32:21>> Right.
32:22And you don't hear that from
all people in the PR district.
32:26>> I think that's true, yeah.
32:28>> So very good.
32:28>> We do have a question right back there.
32:31>> Yes, I was just trying to understand
like the advantages of like the exclusive
32:35versus non-exclusive.
32:36So I imagine that being non-exclusive
could potentially lead to more press,
32:39they can at least indicate like say,
comfortable,
32:42I think comment about it like cool, so
there is like getting a better story, but
32:45what are some of the other
advantages of doing exclusive?
32:48>> Stephen can you repeat the question?
32:50>> Yeah.
>> Repeat it, so the question is,
32:52what are the advantages of
doing exclusive versus embargo,
32:56because what your understanding was that
if you do an embargo you get more stories.
33:00You want to go off that?
33:01>> Sure, yeah I'm dealing with
this a lot for what I do.
33:06I much prefer exclusives,
the publication I founded and
33:11write for called Backchannel is
we don't do a lot of stories,
33:16we're not a trade
publication like Techfront.
33:21So we're not going to cover everything.
33:22We tried to cover things that are special
and we could tell things in depth.
33:26So for us,
it's important to have an exclusive.
33:29We don't want to write the generic
story that everyone else writes there.
33:33And the other problem
with embargos is that,
33:37first of what you have has to
be important to get a lot of
33:41reporters involved in there for
a non-exclusive story.
33:46And what often happens is
that someone gets wind of it.
33:51And then someone will tweet, there is
a company that does x and there's four
33:55reporters sitting there with a story and
one of them will have an editor that says,
34:00That's it the embargo's broken,
let's just go with it.
34:03So I would say well
over half the embargos,
34:06I've ever been involved with get
broken and there's bad feelings.
34:11>> I would have said 25%.
34:12Half is, wow.
>> I say over half.
34:14>> Well, I mean,
you know better than I do, whoa.
34:17>> And my pet peeve is always if a big
publication like Business Week or
34:22the New York Times breaks
an embargo sometimes accidentally,
34:26we thought it was west coast time or
something like that.
34:32They never suffer consequences there.
34:34>> Yeah.
Exactly.
34:35>> But I think I argue for,
if you have an important story to tell and
34:39particularly if it's the complex story
that can't be summed up neatly in
34:43a sentence, but
what you have is really cool and
34:46needs an explanation,
then you really want an exclusive story.
34:51A reporter who's going to
find it worthwhile
34:54to spend a lot of time with you and
your company and tell a definitive story.
34:58You put it on the Web,
everyone gets to read it and for example,
35:02I did a story about this
company called Viv which was,
35:07people used to do the Siri product there.
35:10I did it for Wired,
it was actually probably my
35:13last story in the magazine until this
week, actually, was a couple years ago.
35:18And they actually used that on their
website to explain themselves for
35:22a couple years.
35:23>> Yeah.
35:24>> Yeah, and I think that's the key point
about this is if someone can go deeper,
35:30then as a business, that's a tool for you.
35:33It's like a part of
a tapestry of your company.
35:35It's kind of a top of the search results.
35:37It's something that someone
can actually take and read and
35:40fall in love with your company.
35:42Especially for recruiting,
partnerships like
35:44that story is in your email signature,
and you can really cherish it.
35:48I think there's a question
right behind you.
35:51>> Stephen, could you go through some of
the major different types of publications?
35:56There is TechCrunch, there is New York
Times and sort of like mainstream media,
36:00but then there's the new wave of media
companies on media and then there's wait,
36:04but why because there's
all these different types?
36:06Can you sort of go through the pros and
36:08cons to the different sort of
major categories that you see?
36:13>> Yeah, sure, I think ultimately
when you're going to do your pitch
36:19,you're going to do what Sharon says and
really get yourself familiar with them.
36:23But you know, the larger distinctions
is that a publication like TechCrunch,
36:28you know, considers itself almost
definitive to say anything important
36:33in the industry we're going to do.
36:35So I don't know if YC still does this,
but when I last did a dive in
36:40a batch they had almost an informal
relationship that any company's time came,
36:46you know, TechCrunch would basically run
their verbal press release, you know.
36:53>> Yeah.
>> They have a call scheduled, and
36:55someone would read it out there.
36:57I don't know what,
there are so many companies-
36:59>> Yeah, there are so many more companies.
37:00It's a top target for
a lot like you and me.
37:02>> Yeah, yeah, because they're
going to do a lot of stuff there and
37:06they're interested in the business.
37:08And other traditional publications,
again, they're not going to do as much.
37:13They're going to figure out,
is this significant in a business sense?
37:17Or a technology sense in which case,
,actually you might have to
37:21consider a different reporter for
one of those publications there, you know.
37:25If your company is an AI company,
you're going to talk to the person who
37:30covers AI as oppose to the retail thing,
if you're a commerce company.
37:35And a lot of the newer publications.
37:37My Publications started on Medium,
we started actually as part of Medium.
37:42Again, lots of different kinds of stuff.
37:44Some of them are really focused
on what startup life is like.
37:48And then in which case,
you might have something unique to offer.
37:51We do a thing in my publication,
37:53because a lot of people in this community
reads called war stories, that if some,
37:59when it's a really interesting story
to tell, like about what they do,
38:03typically actually, people who've already
established themselves and talked about
38:10a crucial part in the formation of
their company, but you know, even so,
38:15some of the younger companies I've seen
there, how the story's interesting enough.
38:21We did it, we did one with,
what's it, instaArt?
38:25>> Instacart?
38:25>> InstaArt.
38:26The art one that does Chris Chan,
I was somehow captivated with.
38:30He was this young guy from Detroit
who wound up being a sole founder,
38:37did a few pivots and
wound up to have these people in Hong Kong
38:43create paintings based on
your photographs, right?
38:48Do you remember that company?
38:50>> Is the painting?
38:51>> Is the painting, yeah,.
38:53And I followed him, he was helpful,
again, against the sewers thing.
38:57>> Yeah.
38:58>> He was helpful to me,
38:59talking about his life as a startup when
I did a story about that badge and then,
39:04later I was connected with him and
wound up writing about his company.
39:08>> Yeah, that's great.
39:09I think, and just to add onto
the tech crunch element too,
39:13when companies are in YC, often times
their goal after YC is to get investment,
39:18which is TechCrunch tends
to be their top target.
39:21It's not every company that has
that as their top target, but
39:23if you think about that,
who's your audience?
39:25If your audience is investors,
maybe the outlet is TechCrunch.
39:30So, I'm just wondering about the benefits
of kind of reaching out to reporters
39:33versus generating your own
PR with media articles, or
39:38Twitter, or Facebook, or
other forms of social media.
39:41When you feel like you really need to
kind of reach out to reporters to kind of
39:45generate the kind of
publicity that [INAUDIBLE]
39:48>> The question is,
39:49how do you weigh reaching out to reporters
against things that you can do yourself
39:53like writing media articles and
being active on social media?
39:57I'm sure you have an opinion.
39:58My opinion is pretty brief,
it's that they're not mutually exclusive.
40:02I think that your story through
your voice is amazing and
40:06if you're able to start developing
content that's on point for
40:10your customers, and people who are
following your company, that's amazing.
40:14And that's helpful for SEO so
40:16from a pure like business standpoint,
it's helpful but it's also really
40:21great to create a dialogue where you can
actually answer your customer's problems.
40:26The other thing that's helpful is to have
a third-party validate your business
40:30by thinking it's cool right and
writing a piece on it.
40:35>> That's generally right, but
40:36if everything is out in the medium story-
>> Yeah.
40:39>> It's a little less delicious for
a reporter to do that.
40:44I did a story about a start-up
called Bonsai recently,
40:49and interestingly that came
from a relationship I had
40:54with a PR person who
really knows my work and
40:57knows this is a guy who likes to
do that really move the ball and
41:03this is something different there that I
think is going to meet Steven's needs.
41:10And they had those and the stuff are
medium, and I look hard at that to say,
41:14boy, did they give their story away.
41:17Even though obviously if you just put
up stuff on media, and not necessarily,
41:23it therefore would be pretty rare
to get a huge readership from that.
41:29I'd say ultimately then, it doesn't
really matter whether many people
41:33have read it but
if you got what you wanted and took off,
41:37it might make a reporter think twice to
say gee that story's been told already.
41:42>> Yeah, I think that might have blown
past the common sense point of the big
41:46part of the news is that it's new.
41:48Like that someone hasn't
talked about it yet.
41:50And that's a compelling point for
reporters.
41:54Any other questions?
41:56>> When you talk about the balance
between sort of like crafting and
41:59scaffolding a story that you directly
give to reporters versus letting them do
42:04what they want with it.
42:05Because on one hand,
it's less work for them.
42:07But on the other hand, they sort
of exercise less creativity if you
42:12just give them a narrative they can
copy and paste into their article.
42:15>> So the question is, and
I'm going to ask Steven to answer it,
42:18is what's the balance between
doing a lot of pre-work and
42:23giving kind of like an outline to
a reporter, as you said scaffolding,
42:27versus just letting
a reporter run with it.
42:31>> You're going to need to focus
in order to explain what it is,
42:37but once the things get rolling,
42:41the reporter is going to want to
take on the thing there.
42:48And people, reporters,
42:51just don't like being directed,
or saying, this is our story.
42:55Don't pay attention to that.
42:58So once you open the door, we're in.
43:03I hope what you want to say is
interesting enough to keep us from
43:08what we find interesting.
43:10>> And I think pre-work is helpful,
at least in my luck getting responses from
43:15folks, because you have to make sure
that they get that it's a cool story.
43:19So just saying, this is my company, you're
fat, is maybe not going to be enough.
43:23You need to talk to them about the cool
thing you're doing that they might be
43:25interested in, and it also brings up
another point that there are no rewrites.
43:29[LAUGH] So a reporter gets to have
their time with your story and
43:33you don't kind of get to review a draft or
edit it,
43:36which I know seems common sense but
it is a question I get a lot.
43:40Any other questions?
43:44Okay, thank you, and thank you to
our surprise guest, Steven Levy.
43:46Thank you.
43:47>> [APPLAUSE]
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