You are deciding whether to write the first pitches yourself or sign a PR retainer. Most Seed and early Series A teams should DIY the narrative and the first reporter relationships. An agency amplifies a story you already have; it will not write one for you.
What you are deciding
| Path | What you buy | Wins when | Loses when |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY founder PR | Narrative, short reporter list, founder-sent pitches | Story is still forming; you need direct relationships | You spray hundreds of names and never follow a beat |
| Fractional / boutique retainer | Senior operator time + existing contacts | Clear news cadence; founder still does interviews | Retainer starts before you can explain the company in two sentences |
| Mid-size agency | Team coverage, surge capacity | Multi-market news, sustained campaign load | One announcement a quarter and a junior doing the pitching |
fn-content has no verified atom yet for Seed–Series B DIY vs agency spend or founder hours on press. fn-content tracks it as benchmark request: DIY vs agency PR cost and founder hours by stage. Until then, use the named public ranges above. Do not invent a "typical" startup PR budget.
Build the narrative before you pitch
Hammerling's intake questions (First Round Review) are still the right checklist. Separately ask founders and key investors: What are you? Why are you? Who are you? What problem, and how? Why should anyone care right now? Align the overlaps into a messaging doc:
- Cocktail-party line. One sentence a stranger can repeat.
- Three messages. Problem, why now, proof (customer, data, or regulatory first).
- Not-for line. Who you are not selling. Carmichael: cut jargon until a non-industry friend gets it.
- Headlines you want. Carmichael: write desired headlines first, then gather the proof that would support them.
NextView's Leah Fessler (ex-Quartz): do not tell the reporter what the story is. Set context and differentiation. Own competition instead of pretending it does not exist. The narrative serves you and the reporter; do not paste it into a press release.
How DIY PR works in practice
Seibel's YC frame maps onto this:
| Step | Operator move | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Generate news | Product launch, milestone, named customer, raise | Profiles without news are hard to place |
| Make contacts | Warm intro from someone the reporter already covers | Spray-and-pray burns beats (Muck Rack 88% off-beat delete) |
| Pitch an exclusive | One reporter at a time for the big beat | Blanket embargoes break trust for little gain early |
| Keep a queue | 3–5 announceable items over ~6 months | One hit a month beats one mega story a year |
Carmichael adds timing hygiene: pitch early in the week, before morning edit meetings, and skip Friday afternoons and cold calls. Background the reporter's last few pieces and say why this pitch fits that beat.
Fessler: give lead time on exclusives (about a week, not Sunday night for Monday). Offer to be a useful source on the category, not only when you want a hit.
When to stay DIY
| Signal | Stay DIY | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning still pivots | Yes | Agency cannot brief a moving target |
| Fewer than a handful of real news moments / year | Yes | Retainer pays for overhead you will not use |
| Founder can own relationships | Yes | Seibel: success rate rises when the CEO pitches |
| Goal is niche buyers or hiring, not national vanity | Yes | Carmichael: trade and niche often beat The Times for impact |
| Budget under boutique floor | Yes | Everything-PR boutique band starts around $3,500/month |
Hammerling's early-stage default: put the cash into product and team unless you are entering a crowded market that needs sharp differentiation, you are disrupting a regulated space, or a legacy CEO already draws press. Otherwise DIY.
When to hire help
| Trigger | Model to consider | Public cost context |
|---|---|---|
| Launch or raise with a clear exclusive plan | Project sprint or fractional | Everything-PR projects often $10,000–$75,000 over 60–120 days; solo publicists $2,000–$10,000/month |
| Four or more genuine news moments in the next year | Boutique retainer | Everything-PR boutique $3,500–$10,000/month |
| Multi-geography or sustained category fight | Mid-size agency | Everything-PR mid-size $10,000–$25,000/month |
| Crisis or regulated disclosure | Experienced counsel immediately | Separate from growth PR; do not DIY a crisis |
Seibel's later-stage note still holds: once press comes to you, a buffer can help you be selective. That comes after relationships exist.
Red flags from public pricing and measurement guidance: guaranteed placements, AVE (advertising value equivalency) as a KPI (AMEC Barcelona Principles 3.0 reject it), and a target list the firm will not show before you sign.
Match the outlet to the job
| Goal | Better target | Weak target |
|---|---|---|
| Raise | Startup / tech press and investor newsletters that already cover your stage | Lifestyle outlets with no LP or founder readers |
| Enterprise buyers | Trade press in the buyer's world | Generic "top 10 startups" listicles |
| Hiring | Engineer- and operator-read communities | Vanity national with no talent funnel |
| Category education | Trade + owned data or byline | One launch blast with no follow-up |
Carmichael: you rarely need a national splash. With fragmented audiences, the right niche outlets compound. Fessler: research the beat and cite a past piece. Muck Rack: relevance to the audience beats volume of names.
Operator judgment from founder rooms: build the narrative before the launch window, keep the founder as the public voice, and match outlet lists to the goal of the cycle (FounderNexus session). No closed-session numbers here.
Worked situations
Seed, pre-launch, no agency budget. Write the cocktail-party line and three proof points. Build a list of five to ten reporters who already cover your beat. Warm-intro two of them. Hold the big exclusive for a real launch, not a soft "we're building." Cap founder time near Seibel's ~5%.
Series A, four news moments planned, founder drowning in pitch admin. Keep founder interviews. Add a fractional or boutique for list hygiene, follow-ups, and calendar. Do not hand off the narrative. Measure branded search, referring domains, and inbound that cites coverage. Ignore AVE.
Series B, national vanity chase with one announcement a quarter. Kill the mid-size retainer or shrink scope. Either create a real news queue or stay DIY with trade press. Everything-PR's mid-size band is for sustained load, not boredom coverage.
Sources
- Y Combinator, Getting press for your startup. Michael Seibel, 20 Sep 2016. PR as bizdev; founders pitch; >$100,000 early agency spend; exclusive; 3–5 news items over ~6 months; ~5% of founder time.
- First Round Review, How new startups can win at PR. Terra Carmichael. Headlines first; no scattershot; niche outlets; founder outreach; timing hygiene.
- First Round Review, Why most startups don't 'get' press. Brooke Hammerling. Narrative intake questions; messaging doc; founder as voice; when early agencies make sense.
- NextView, A journalist's perspective on how to earn press. Leah Fessler, 7 Dec 2020. Beat research; context over dictating the story; exclusives need lead time.
- Muck Rack, State of Journalism 2026. ~900 journalists. 86% pitches inspire some stories; 88% delete off-beat; 71% reject promotional; 50% reject mass-email style.
- Everything-PR, How much does a PR firm cost in 2026?. 21 Jun 2026. Boutique $3,500–$10,000/mo; mid-size $10,000–$25,000; publicists $2,000–$10,000; projects $10,000–$75,000.
- AMEC, Barcelona Principles 3.0. July 2020. Rejects AVE as a valid measure of communication value.
- FounderNexus. Founder sessions. Narrative before the launch window; founder as the public voice; match outlets to the cycle goal. Not a survey. No closed-session numbers.
- fn-content #21. Benchmark request: DIY vs agency PR cost and founder hours by stage.
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Founders who built a narrative and a short reporter list before paying for a retainer will pressure-test yours in a FounderNexus session.