The Colab Brief: 016 - Putting the Fun in Funding Announcements (don’t hate us)

On deck for today?

How to blow your upcoming funding announcement out of the water 🌊 and the trade secrets you need to know to be successful 🤫.

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Read Time: 5 mins

Picture this 📷: you’re working at (or with) an agency, and you’ve been clawing at the media for months. Proactive story angles, product pitches, thought leadership topics - the works - all while navigating media layoffs, a questionable economy, and a downright dismal news cycle 🌪️. Then, as if the stars align just for you ✨, your exec team lets you know that there’s going to be a funding announcement in the coming weeks. Hooray!

There are a lot of things we love about PR. But after hundreds of campaigns, funding announcements, for us at least, still stand the test of time. We ❤️ them!

In fact, we conducted a Series B announcement this week and got more than 30+ pieces of original coverage, including Axios, Fortune, TechCrunch, and the WSJ, just to name a few.

So what’s the secret? As always, we gotchu. Here are our top five tips to help you find success in your next funding round.

1. Exclusive or Embargo? The first question you should be asking yourself is whether to offer the news to one reporter as an exclusive or if you want to pitch it wide under embargo. If it’s a smaller round or if the company truly only cares about one publication, go the exclusive route and pitch broadly after their story runs. If it’s a bigger round (typically, more than $15M Series A, more than $30M Series B, or more than $85M Series C), cast a wide net, under embargo, to get as much coverage as possible.

2. Know the Trade Secrets: At the time of writing this, here are a few secrets you need to know.

   1. Bloomberg will likely only take your news if you give them the exclusive and/or provide your valuation. 💰

   2. Certain writers at TechCrunch have been utilizing the written Q&A - be as thorough in answering that as possible, as it will result in a longer feature.

   3. If you can get Axios, it will likely be a two-fer, as you’ll get published on the web, and you’ll also end up in their newsletter. They may want a slight jump on the news, though, so keep this in mind when pitching.

   4. INSIDER will want an exclusive to your stripped-down pitch deck, but you’ll have to pick between that and the Pitch Deck Teardown at TechCrunch. Choose wisely!

   5. Fortune’s Termsheet publishes at 7:30 a.m. ET, so plan your embargo time accordingly or request they publish the day after the news hits.

   6. If WSJ decides to write, they’ll need to confirm the round with your CEO and the lead investors, so you should send that contact info from the jump. Pro tip: Tell your team to expect an email from the journalist so you can get credit for the hit when it comes through!

   7. Reuters won’t take your news unless it’s over $50M. 😿

3. Be Ready: Even the most available executives don’t have enough time to field dozens of interviews. For the trade pubs and even the tier twos, come up with a series of pre-drafted quotes that you can share with journalists to avoid losing coverage over lack of availability. In that same vein, have your logos, headshots, and bios at the ready so you’re not scrambling when the reporter asks.

4. Keep ‘em separate: You should have a series of separate lists for your announcement. The business and finance pubs, sure. But you also need to have your regionals, your verticals, and your friendlies, and all of these deserve a unique pitch.

   1. Your verticals won’t care about an embargo, or even the funding for that matter, so that pitch needs to focus on what this means for the industry as a whole.

   2. Your regional pitch should focus on how this impacts the local community. Have a Cinderella 👑 story to tell? Now’s the time.

   3. Your friendlies should all receive custom, unique, individual pitches referencing past coverage or discussions with the company. It’s imperative they know they’re not getting lumped in with the strangers.

5. Take your time: We say it every week, but the media landscape has changed. You used to be able to pitch a funding announcement out with one week to spare and nab TONS of coverage. Now, the media requires two weeks minimum and will likely brush you off (and get annoyed) if you give them any less. Story minimums are up, and editorial staffs are down - so you need to give your journo friends plenty of time to pen a proper piece.

Funding announcements can be tough. But by knowing the landscape and heeding these tips, you’re sure to find success the next time your company claims some capital.

See you next week!

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