As a growing startup, there are numerous stages of funding that you’re working towards, starting with pre-seed and all the way up to a Series A, B, and C. Along the way, PR plays a critical role in helping your startup maximize media attention during each phase and accelerating your growth into the next stage. 

If you’re working toward landing critical investments for your startup, here are the five phases of startup PR to utilize throughout the growth journey. 

Pre-seed 

For startups in the pre-seed phase, PR might not be the first thing on your mind. You haven’t received an investment yet and your efforts are focused on building your product, proving the concept, and finding your market fit. 

But the startup environment moves fast and all it takes is one interested investor to get things moving in the right direction. And once the process accelerates, you’ll want to tap the skills of a tech PR agency to help you navigate new territory. Even during the pre-seed phase, you should be looking for agile PR agencies that can hit the ground running with you once your first round of capital is within reach. Just don’t wait until after the funding round, or you’ll miss your chance at maximizing the news coverage! 

Seed 

A seed round is the investment that helps get your startup up and running. Once you’ve landed your first investment — whether from an angel investor, friends and family, or a startup accelerator — you should be working with a tech PR agency as you prepare to launch or go to market. 

Working with an agency during this stage will help you target the right audiences, refine your brand messaging, and begin getting media coverage. It’s especially important to work with a PR firm as you prepare to launch as this is a major media opportunity and the timing and outreach need to align in order to increase your chances of media coverage.

Post-seed 

Continuing the momentum from the seed phase, the next phase of startup PR is during the post-launch period. After you’ve launched your seed round, you want to make sure your startup remains top of mind not only in the eyes of the media but also to get in front of new customers. 

During this stage, you should work with your tech PR agency to prepare various company announcements to run between funding rounds. These campaigns can include product launches and extensions, hiring leading executives, or winning major customers. 

Series A 

Once you’ve proven your concept, built up a solid customer base, and have hit your revenue goals, you may want to pursue a Series A round of investment to take your startup to the next level. Because a Series A is a much larger round, there’s a lot more at stake during this phase. 

The investment often comes from established VC companies, there’s more capital to spend and scale, and there are more stakeholders involved. All of this points to more attention from the media and the industry, which argues for a deeper and more strategic communications strategy. 

Work with your tech PR agency to prepare campaigns prior to your funding announcement so that you can make a big splash on announcement day and increase your media coverage opportunities.

Scaling

Your startup has finally reached the stage where it’s sustained rapid growth. And while this may seem like a time when you don’t need PR anymore, it’s important to continue your media outreach efforts in order to maintain your brand’s position in the market and show customers and key stakeholders that you’re staying active. You can even use your PR wins to support your sales funnel marketing efforts.

There are plenty of PR campaigns you can run as you scale your startup. Anytime you have a new product launch coming up, are hiring more executives, or attending trade shows, you can work with your tech PR agency to get the news out to the media. Another major announcement to share is anytime you have another round of funding coming up. 

PR plays an essential role in getting your startup to the next phase of growth. And by working with a tech PR agency like Swyft that understands startups, you can ensure that you’ll have an agile partner that can navigate the challenges of a burgeoning startup and help accelerate growth. 

About Sam Lauron: Sam is a Content Marketing Manager for Swyft, which is a tech PR agency in Austin and Houston and a top digital marketing and PR agency in Denver since its founding in 2011. Swyft recently opened a satellite office where it offers tech PR in San Francisco. Swyft was also listed as one of the top tech PR agencies in Texas by the B2B services review site, Clutch.co.