Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

The ultimate guide to PR | Emilie Gerber (founder of Six Eastern)

March 21, 2024

AI Summary

5 min read

Emilie Gerber, founder of PR agency Six Eastern, shares tactical steps for startups to secure press coverage, emphasizing straightforward pitches over hype. Drawing from work with companies like Ramp, Perplexity, and Clockwise, she explains how PR builds credibility through second-order effects like sales enablement, recruiting, and investor validation, while sometimes driving direct growth for accessible consumer products.

PR's value and when it works

For B2B startups, PR rarely drives direct signups but provides third-party validation via publication logos on websites and emails, aiding sales outreach, guest attraction, and hiring. Recruiters link to stories in LinkedIn messages; buyers trust established tools less likely to vanish. B2C benefits vary: affiliate reviews (publications earn commissions on tracked sales) suit listicles, while organic features spike growth for intuitive products like Perplexity, where low trial barriers convert readers quickly. Fundraising stories always merit effort if pitched simply, as TechCrunch covers only a fraction of rounds but responds to direct exclusives.

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What you'll learn

1 **[00:01:50] Value of PR: Second-Order Effects**
2 **[00:13:32] Pitching Funding Rounds**
3 **[00:17:28] Target Publications by Story Type**
4 **[00:27:20] Finding/Pitching Podcasts & Awards**
5 **[00:31:34] Reporter Outreach: Cold Works, Multi-Platform**
6 **[00:37:23] Pitch Examples: Contrarian Angles & Incumbents**
7 **[00:57:37] Fixing Bad Pitches: Clarity Over Jargon**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Emilie Gerber is the founder and CEO of Six Eastern, a top PR agency that’s worked with over 100 tech companies, from stealth startups to publicly traded companies. Before starting her own firm, she worked at Uber, where she led PR for the business development team and B2B programs. Prior to that, she worked at Box on product communications, with a focus on product launches and partnership announcements. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Why, and when, getting press is worth your time

• Common misconceptions about the impact press can have

• The second-order effects of press

• Which areas each publication (TechCrunch, Axios, The Verge, etc.) cares most about

• How to craft your pitch

• How to find and reach reporters

• How pitching press is different from pitching customers

• The effectiveness of direct communication through social media versus traditional press

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