PR is one of the highest-variance line items in a startup budget. Done well, it produces the TechCrunch launch that puts you on every VC's radar and the Wall Street Journal profile that unlocks enterprise deals. Done poorly, it produces a monthly retainer of $15K and a spreadsheet of "media placements" in trade newsletters nobody reads.
1. A funding announcement worth telling ($5M+ seed, $15M+ Series A, or anything led by a top-decile fund) 2. A product launch with genuine narrative (new category, celebrity design partner, or clear before/after) 3. A category moment where you have a strong opinion and can be a source for reporters covering it 4. A major hire (a well-known executive joining from a recognizable company)
Outside of those, most PR spend is wasted. A startup with no news should not be paying for PR.
Boutique (2 to 15 people). $8-20K/month. Best for early stage. Founder gets the senior person on every call.
Mid-market (20 to 75 people). $15-40K/month. Good balance for Series A/B. Watch for the "senior sells, junior services" pattern.
Top-tier (100+). $30-75K/month. For companies that need reach across business, tech, and vertical trade press. Overkill before Series C.
Named reporter relationships. Ask for 5 reporters at target outlets they have placed clients with in the last 90 days. Then check with those reporters if you can.
Category expertise. Fintech, healthtech, enterprise, and consumer are different beasts. A generalist firm rarely lands top-tier tech coverage in a regulated space.
The team on your account. Meet the senior person AND the day-to-day contact. If they are different people, expect the senior to disappear after month two.
Recent placements for similar-stage clients. Not just the flagship logo — a boutique that landed 2 TechCrunch pieces for Series A clients this quarter is more useful than one that placed a Fortune 500 CEO 3 years ago.
3 month minimum, no annual auto-renewal. Retainers should be evaluated quarterly.
Clear scope. Number of media briefings targeted, number of press releases, number of contributed articles, thought leadership pitches per month. Get it in writing.
A launch moment in month 1 or 2. If you cannot align on a first news moment within 60 days, the retainer will drift.
A shared media list. You should be able to see every reporter they have pitched on your behalf, when, and the reply status.
Weekly 30-minute check-in. What is pitched, what landed, what is coming.
Founder available. The single biggest predictor of coverage is founder responsiveness. Reporters have 2-hour windows. Miss them and the story dies.
Say something. Reporters do not write about companies with nothing to say. Have a point of view on the category, share data nobody else has, be willing to comment on competitors.
After 90 days: if there is no tier-one placement, no clear pipeline of near-term coverage, and no strategic input on positioning beyond what you gave them — end the engagement. A good PR firm produces 3 to 6 tier-one placements per year for an active startup client. Below that bar, you are subsidizing their overhead.
Most PR coverage comes from founder relationships, not agency ones. The best agencies amplify a founder who is already talking to reporters, sharing data, and building a point of view. They do not manufacture reach from nothing. If the founder will not do the work, no retainer will fix it.
