Hi there and welcome to The GTMnow E-newsletter – the media model of VC agency, GTMfund. Construct, scale and make investments with the perfect minds in tech.
“I wish to be in TechCrunch, Forbes, and so forth.”
It’s one of the crucial widespread strains we hear as traders.
However PR nonetheless looks like a black field for many founders, particularly these working a course of for the primary time. We regularly evaluate it to a marriage: you propose it as soon as (possibly a number of) so the planning course of feels new. Even when it’s not the primary, the individuals, venue, and timing change each time.
Repetition builds understanding, however early-stage firms hardly ever get that repetition with PR.
On this version, we break down step-by-step how you can land in your dream outlet.
Over the previous 12 months, we’ve help our portfolio firms in securing placements that amplified their tales. We’ve additionally been lucky to earn protection for GTMfund’s fund bulletins.
And simply this week, Max (GTMfund’s GP) joined the Head of Startups at OpenAI and the CMO of Google Cloud on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt to debate constructing a contemporary GTM engine.
The standing-room-only crowd of founders and traders was proof in itself: GTM has develop into one of the crucial important success components for immediately’s firms.
The Friction Report reveals what’s slowing down world software program gross sales, and how you can repair it. On this new {industry} report, Cleverbridge analyzed a whole lot of SaaS firms to uncover the important thing friction factors hurting income progress. From checkout drop-offs and localization challenges to subscription churn, it’s full of data-backed insights on how main software program firms are optimizing each step of the digital commerce journey.
Test the complete report right here.
PR Glossary
Earlier than we get into the method, this can be a useful glossary of PR phrases to know:
Your PR Information
We’ve helped dozens of startups safe protection for his or her funding bulletins.
This can be a step-by-step breakdown of how you can run an efficient course of when asserting a spherical.
Step 1: Set your targets
Earlier than launching any PR marketing campaign, begin by clarifying why you’re doing it. Are you attempting to help recruiting? Construct legitimacy with traders? Open doorways for enterprise partnerships?
Your goal determines your story, your messaging, and the retailers you prioritize.
Gross sales usually comes up as a objective, and whereas it may be PR needs to be seen as a credibility engine, not a pipeline generator. It’s the gasoline that validates your narrative, not the automobile that carries it.
Consider PR as jet gasoline: when layered on prime of your owned channels, it amplifies momentum and reinforces belief.
For instance:
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Something drove large visibility by way of virality on X (over 3M views on this publish), hitting $2M ARR in simply two weeks. Once they later introduced $11M in funding at a $100M valuation, TechCrunch protection added credibility to the momentum they’d already created.
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Paid introduced a $21M Seed spherical, touchdown TechCrunch protection that strengthened their traction. The announcement publish from Founder & CEO Manny Medina generated over 1,000 reactions on LinkedIn, signalling validation to each traders and clients.
An amazing press hit is third-party validation. It tells traders, recruits, and companions: this firm is value listening to.
Step 2: Determine excellent retailers based mostly on these targets
Your targets ought to information which retailers to prioritize.
In case your goal is fundraising or hiring, give attention to Tier I retailers with broad tech attain, like TechCrunch or Forbes. These assist validate your model and might sign credibility to traders and expertise.
In case your objective is demand era, prioritize industry-specific publications that your ICP reads. Relevance will drive much more certified consciousness than attain alone.
Step 3: Ask your traders if they’ve connections to these retailers
Except you have already got reporter relationships from a earlier enterprise otherwise you’ve been intentional about constructing them early, chances are you’ll not have direct entry to the retailers.
That is the place your traders might help. They could have present relationships with reporters and might supply heat introductions or steerage on which retailers are most responsive. Don’t hesitate to ask.
Right here’s a easy message you’ll be able to ship as a place to begin:
“Hello {{first title}} – actually excited to share that we’ll be asserting our $XX [round] increase quickly. We’re kicking off the PR course of and are concentrating on {{outlet}} and {{outlet}}. Needed to achieve out and see should you occur to have any contacts at these retailers, earlier than we dive into issues from our finish.”
Step 4: Determine the particular reporters at your goal retailers
Now, the best situation could be that you just’ve began to construct reporter relationships early. Most founders solely take into consideration reporters after they have information to share. However PR, very like gross sales, rewards relationship-building over time. Chilly pitching hardly ever works in addition to heat outreach constructed on familiarity and belief.
Begin early should you can. Determine 5–10 reporters who persistently cowl your class, and start following and interesting with their work.
Lead with worth earlier than you ever make an ask. That would imply sharing related {industry} information, connecting them with credible sources, or just commenting thoughtfully on their items. Over time, that consistency builds recognition.
Then, once you do have information, the connection already exists and providing exclusivity to a trusted journalist can considerably enhance your possibilities of significant protection.
This hardly ever occurs in apply — founders are juggling each a part of firm constructing.
That’s why it’s invaluable to ask your traders about connections. They could have supplied just a few names or none in any respect. Both means, the subsequent step is to guage which reporters are literally related to your story.
Reporters sometimes cowl particular beats, that are outlined focus areas like AI, fintech, or enterprise software program. You’ll wish to be certain your announcement aligns with what they write about.
Begin by discovering reporters who cowl your particular class. Search their profiles on the outlet’s web site, learn their latest articles, and be aware the themes they have a tendency to spotlight.
This can make it easier to construct a brief, targeted record of journalists who’re almost definitely to be occupied with your announcement (and stop you from losing effort on broad or misaligned outreach).
Step 5: Craft your story
It’s worthwhile to perceive what makes a narrative newsworthy.
What would possibly really feel thrilling internally isn’t essentially compelling to reporters. Jenny He (GP at Place Ventures) lays out a framework under to guage whether or not a narrative is definitely newsworthy.
The three pillars of newsworthiness:
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Timeliness – Ask: Would this story nonetheless matter if printed 2 weeks later? If not, it’s well timed.
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Affect – Map out how many individuals are affected (influence) and who cares (relevance).
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Relevance – Layer in third-party quotes, investor testimonials, and buyer anecdotes to strengthen the pitch.
A powerful story hits all three:
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A significant announcement (the what)
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A novel founder or firm backstory (the who)
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And clear relevance to a broader development (the why now)
When these components align, you’ve bought the sort of story reporters need.
Journalists are asking themselves three questions: Why this story? Why now? Why will my viewers care?
That’s why your positioning issues a lot.
Most groups rush into PR hoping for a splashy launch second. However with no differentiated place, even a giant announcement can fall flat. Earlier than writing a press launch or speaking to a reporter, you want to have the ability to clearly and defensibly articulate your “why us.”
Consider positioning as your North Star. It’s not nearly your product, it’s about the way you’re uniquely fixing an actual, painful downside for a selected buyer. That readability turns into the muse in your narrative, your storytelling, and finally, your PR angle.
“A reporter will get a whole lot of emails per day and has seen 100 firms in the identical house. It’s worthwhile to be so differentiated that they wish to write about you.” – Jenny
Step 6: The outreach
You could have three choices for conducting outreach:
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You are able to do so in-house your self
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You possibly can rent a PR marketing consultant
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You possibly can rent a PR company
All include their advantages, drawbacks, and value variations.
For Seed and Sequence A stage firms, hiring a PR marketing consultant is usually going to be the best whereas being price (capital and time) environment friendly.
On the subject of outreach, one key element issues: exclusivity. Reporters usually tend to interact after they have the prospect to break a narrative first. However exclusives include nuance. It’s best to solely supply exclusivity to at least one reporter at a time. Consider it as a waterfall course of:
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Attain out to your top-choice reporter first.
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Provide the unique with a transparent, brief window (“This unique is open till [date/time]”).
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For those who don’t hear again inside that window, transfer to the subsequent reporter in your record.
This retains your course of clear, skilled, and environment friendly whereas respecting journalists’ time and sustaining management over your announcement timeline.
Right here’s an outreach electronic mail instance that we despatched for a portfolio firm, which bought a optimistic response and unique characteristic:
Tag @GTMnow so we will see your takeaways and assist amplify them.
Superhuman is being acquired by Grammarly to construct the AI-native productiveness suite of alternative. Collectively, the groups plan to deepen investments in AI and electronic mail, reimagine chat and collaboration, and develop AI brokers that unlock a brand new means of working.
Figma acquired Weavy and launched it as Figma Weave, bringing AI and artistic modifying instruments collectively on a single canvas. The transfer lets customers mould AI outputs as a brand new medium, mixing human craft with AI era to unlock extra artistic expression.
On How I Rent, Andy Mowat talks with Man Yalif, Chief Evangelist at Webflow, about why product advertising is the toughest position to rent for. Man shares frameworks like altitude evaluation, blind references, and simulated assembly interviews that assist leaders separate good from nice expertise.
Get a sneak preview right here. For the complete factor, hear on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts by looking out “The GTMnow Podcast.”
Oureon – raised a $3.5M pre-seed led by GTMfund and got here out of stealth to construct a real-time communication layer for the sky. The platform connects manned and unmanned plane to allow them to talk, predict, and deconflict in actual time as 800M new drone flights enter world airspace.
Casium – raised $5M to assist employers rent and onboard world expertise sooner. The platform streamlines worldwide hiring, compliance, and payroll, giving firms an easier approach to develop groups throughout borders.
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Account Government, New Enterprise at Spekit (Distant – US)
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Buyer Success Supervisor, Strategic at Proprietor.com (Distant – US/Canada)
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VP Advertising at Gorgias (Hybrid – NYC)
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Senior Demand Technology Advertising Supervisor at Noibu (Hybrid – Toronto)
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World Demand Technology Supervisor at Vanta (Distant – US)
See extra prime GTM jobs on the GTMfund Job Board.
Upcoming occasions you received’t wish to miss:
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Momentum Digital Occasion: Ignite your GTM with AI: November 5, 2025
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Momentum E-book Tour: Management Dinner: November 5, 2025 (New York, NY)
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Midnight to Thousands and thousands: November 6 at 12PM EST (On-line)
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GTMfund Dinner (personal registration): November 18, 2025 (Toronto, ON)
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GTMfund Dinner (personal registration): November 19, 2025 (New York, NY)
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Founder Breakfast by GTMfund & 645 Ventures (personal registration): November 21, 2025 (New York, NY)
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Above the Fold (for entrepreneurs): February 9/11, 2025 (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
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Spryng (for entrepreneurs): March 24-26, 2025 (Austin, TX)
Some GTMnow group (founder, operator, investor) love to shut it out – we admire you.
