We recently hosted a masterclass on PR and media strategy to give our founders and early-stage teams a clearer picture of how to think about PR today. For many early-stage companies, PR can feel like a nice-to-have or something to figure out “later.” But done right, it can directly support sales, strengthen investor confidence and affect how the market values your company.
Below are a few key takeaways from the session, where we talked through why PR matters in the early days, how the media landscape has shifted in the past few years, where new opportunities are emerging and what entrepreneurs should actually care about when it comes to getting their story out there.
Meet the Panelists
Beck Bamberger is the Founder and CEO of BAM, a PR and marketing agency for startups and VCs. She recently wrote Flack Fairy, a practical guide to PR for VC-backed startups.
Justin Kaufenberg is a Partner at Rally Ventures and has been a founder or co-founder of over ten businesses, including SportsEngine, a sports-focused SaaS and payments company that was acquired by NBC Sports in 2016.
What We Learned
- PR is a sales enablement tool, not just a vanity metric. When done right, PR directly supports your sales team. That placement in CNBC or a trade publication is third-party validation that your sales reps should be using in every pitch. But here’s where most companies fail: they get the coverage and then do nothing with it. Beck calls this “leaving money on the table.” The key is activation: get it to your sales team immediately so they can share it with prospects. Send it to investors. Post it on LinkedIn. Make sure every customer-facing person in your company knows about it and uses it. Good PR creates value and gives you credibility, but it only matters if you turn that attention into action.
- The same company can be worth 50% more with better storytelling. Justin noted that two companies with similar metrics can have wildly different valuations based on how well they tell their story. A business worth 5x revenue with a confusing pitch could be worth 10x revenue with a clear, compelling narrative. Even sophisticated investors need to understand your vision in a logical way. If they don’t get what you do or why it matters, it’s hard to put a good price on it.
- Build media relationships by being helpful first. The best way to get coverage isn’t to constantly pitch your own story. Beck’s approach: serve before you sell. Share unique data you have access to. Connect journalists to hard-to-reach experts on your board or in your network. Offer fast, useful quotes when they’re on deadline. When a reporter asks for a quote by 2PM tomorrow, respond in 15 minutes with a ready-to-use quote. Building these relationships takes time, similar to how you’d cultivate VC relationships. Touch base every month or two, be genuinely useful and move fast when opportunities come up.
- The media landscape has changed, but opportunities haven’t shrunk. Traditional outlets may have smaller teams, but new media is everywhere: Substacks, newsletters, podcasts and niche industry publications. Storytelling isn’t disappearing; it’s just finding new channels. Founders today have more ways than ever to share their story directly with the audiences that matter most. At the same time, how your story gets found is changing. One practical insight: industry awards now carry weight with large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity, which use that data to surface credible companies in search results. Some Rally portfolio companies have seen measurable traffic spikes after winning awards and promoting them through press releases, social media and newsletters.
When to start
Justin’s take: you really can’t start too soon. Even if you can’t afford outside help yet, start building relationships and developing your pitch. The skills you develop—clear messaging, storytelling, relationship building—will help you in fundraising and eventually when you’re trying to sell your business.
Beck’s take: if you’re pre-seed and still building your product, hold off. But once you hit seed and beyond, start thinking about it seriously. And talk to your VC’s platform team first, they can often provide some initial guidance and help before you need to bring in a dedicated agency. When you are ready to hire outside help, start with a project to test the fit rather than committing to a long-term retainer right away.
