Fledgling early-stage founders need two essentials to get their startups off the ground and onto solid footing — funding and media exposure. Earned media can translate into funding, but it can also translate into more recruiting options for folks who have just fundraised. And, if you place an article in the right publication, it can also grow your customer base.
Sounds great, right? But you’re not the only startup looking to score high-quality media coverage. Journalists are inundated with a veritable firehose of pitches on the daily. They, like their audiences, can have short attention spans and will likely grow impatient with pitches that are too long-winded or aren’t relevant to them.
Learning how to establish mutually respectful, enduring relationships with journalists will serve you now and throughout your entrepreneurial career. Developing your media-pitching skillset ranks right up there with honing your investor pitch.
Tomaeno founded ASTRSK, a NYC-based PR firm, in 2012. He brings a wealth of experience weaving compelling startup stories and pitching them to the press.
ASTRSK has participated in launching more than 300 startups and tech products, and it’s been part of 12 exits. An angel investor, Tomaeno placed bets on the Female Founders Fund and is an LP in Primary Ventures.
Prior to ASTRSK, Tomaeno spent 15 years developing his PR acumen at various agencies in San Francisco, NYC, London and Paris. Companies he worked with include Facebook, Eventbrite, Squarespace, Frank & Oak, Glu Mobile, ClassPass and Zola.
