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Ask HN: When should we start talking to the press?

6 points by eytanlevit ↗ HN
Dear HN,

(First submission to HN, long time reader - so a bit excited :) )

We've been building a SiteBuilder that doesn't suck for quite a while(self funded), now approaching our launch(4-5 month) we are starting to reach out for angel investors.

Some of the features we plan on launching are pretty cool and we think we will create buzz around them and in fact - we've got some news corp journalists that already want to profile us.

We are considering going with the flow - reaching out to bloggers - optimizing on the right bloggers to work with - breaking the news of our fresh vision and making some buzz.

Would appreciate if experienced people here would share their perspective, here is our way of thinking: pros: - sometimes going with the flow just works - will make it faster for us to raise money(especially taking into account that the SiteBuilder market is packed with competition) - if we generate buzz and play our cards right(communicating ourselves smartly) we could use this as a marketing platform. cons: - our first version will probably suck and we might get press backlash for it - maybe the buzz while launching will be smaller(since we already used some of our buzz generating energy on the pre launch buzz).

Thanks Eytan

1 comment

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 12.1 ms ] thread
tirrellp
A question that I would pose to you is 'Do you already have an internal PR campaign started'?

In other words, how are you keeping your 'targets' up to date with company progress and milestones? By targets I mean prospective investors, board members, and advisors.

Getting into the groove of keeping these people up to date is good practice for understanding what might be relevant from the perspective of an investor. It also puts you on their radar so that when you do get that big TC coverage, that could be the thing that compels them to say 'I'm in'.

On the other hand, skipping the internal pr and going straight for big coverage leads investors to say something like 'You're on my radar now... lets talk' and at that point you are going to have to keep them up to date with your progress anyway as part of the 'dance' that leads to funding.

So my opinion is to start an internal PR campaign keeping prospective stakeholders up to date with progress and milestones and keeping them warm and socialized, then when you get the TC/VB press, it serves to pump up the social proof aspect of how cool your company is.

Then your prospective angels can say 'Oh yea, I've been watching those guys since before the TC spread came out, I knew they were something'. People like to be ahead of the curve.

Hopefully this helps, or hopefully this gives you more questions than answers. Either way, I would like to see this thread not get buried.