Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts

Chapter 29. Some Tips for Interacting with the Press

Chris Dixon

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years about the best ways for entrepreneurs to interact with the press (by press I mean blogs as well as traditional media):

• Don’t be afraid to ask what the rules are. Is this on or off the record? If they are writing an article about your company, do they require exclusivity? What is the angle of the story?

• Don’t use a PR firm unless you are so successful that you need someone to help you manage inbound press interest. Most journalists, when talking candidly, will tell you they’d vastly prefer getting an email from the founder of a startup than a PR firm. If you’re Bill Gates, it is understandable that you have someone reaching out for you. If you are a small startup, having a PR rep contact a journalist says, “I’m not competent enough to reach you” or “I don’t respect your time enough to reach out directly.”

• Treat journalists with respect. Tech/business journalists often interact with rich and powerful people, some of whom treat them disrespectfully. Like entrepreneurs, journalists are usually interesting people with diverse interests. You’ll probably like them if you talk to them, and you might even become friends.

• Unless you’re a super-hot startup, the existence of your company is not a news story. Exclusives of launches, financings, and acquisitions are usually news stories. Trend stories that you are part of could be news stories. Relating your ...