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

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Emily Gerber, founder of Six Eastern, breaks down the tactical side of startup PR: when press is worth it, which outlets fit which stories, why warm intros matter less than strong angles, and how to write concise pitches that reporters actually use. She argues press often creates more value through credibility, recruiting, sales enablement, and positioning than direct signups.

Main Topics: The real value of press for startups: Press rarely drives direct conversions for B2B startups, but it creates second-order benefits like credibility, sponsor trust, recruiting leverage, and better outbound sales. For consumer products with low-friction value propositions, press can directly drive signups and growth. Outlet-by-outlet PR targeting strategy: Gerber maps stories to publications: TechCrunch for funding and select launches, Axios for deals and some local/sector beats, Business Insider for pitch-deck and entrepreneur-story features, VentureBeat for AI, Fast Company for future-of-work/design, and Forbes for lists and contributor pieces. How to pitch reporters effectively: The winning formula is short, direct, and pattern-matched to the reporter's beat. She recommends offering a clear angle, using exclusives for hard news, keeping pitches to roughly three sentences, following up respectfully, and using DMs, email, or social depending on the context. Why specificity beats category creation: Gerber strongly argues against vague category-creation language in PR. She says reporter pitches work better when they frame a company as a better version of a known incumbent or solve a concrete problem, rather than claiming a novel category with abstract marketing jargon. Finding story nuggets in non-obvious companies: Even technical or less flashy startups can get coverage by surfacing a founder story, a strong use case, a customer outcome, or a timely trend. She uses examples like Clockwise, Column Tax, and Entropy to show how to extract a compelling narrative from ordinary product launches. Podcasts, newsletters, and social as modern media channels: Newsletters and podcasts are now core PR channels alongside traditional media. Gerber recommends using search, audience research, and host-specific outreach, and she notes executive-led social accounts are more effective than generic brand accounts when the founder can authentically participate. Agency selection and PR resourcing: She advises startups to choose agencies based on startup fit, speed, and writing quality rather than marquee logos. Startups should understand month one deliverables, review recent writing samples, avoid heavy RFPs, and budget realistically for retainers or one-off projects.

Key Arguments: Press is often more valuable for B2B as proof and enablement than as a direct growth channel; it helps sales, recruiting, investor confidence, and partner trust. Consumer products can see direct growth from press when the product is easy to try immediately, as with Perplexity's low-friction search experience. Funding stories are almost always pitchable if framed cleanly and targeted to the right beat reporter, especially TechCrunch. Warm relationships help get responses, but good cold outreach matters more than existing connections because reporter decisions should be based on story fit. Publications have distinct editorial needs; pitching the wrong story type wastes time and can annoy editors. Most startup PR fails because the language is too abstract, too long, and too internally focused. Strong PR often comes from reframing an announcement through an incumbent, market trend, customer outcome, or founder story that reporters can quickly understand. Social channels work best when the executive has a natural voice and a willingness to be opinionated; corporate accounts alone are usually weak. The best outreach is concise, respectful, and tailored, often with a direct ask and one clear supporting detail. Modern PR should include podcasts, newsletters, awards, and list opportunities, not just top-tier print or tech outlets.

Data Points: Companies worked with: 100+ tech companies - Emily Gerber says Six Eastern has worked with over 100 tech companies from stealth startups to public companies. TechCrunch funding stories in a week: 9 - Gerber cites a tweet that counted TechCrunch funding stories in one week. Funding rounds in the same week: ~50 - The comparison count, using Axios Parada and Fortune Term Sheet, to show how selective TechCrunch is. Morning Brew co-working feature success rate: ~50% - Gerber says her team has had about a 50% success rate submitting executives through Morning Brew's co-working series form. PR agency monthly retainers: $10k-$30k/month - Gerber estimates small boutique agencies start around $10k/month, her own starts at $15k/month, and most series C startups shouldn't go above $30k/month. One-off PR project budget: $10k-$20k - She suggests this range for a single story or short-term project, with some consultants possibly at about $8k. Lead time for announcements: 6 weeks - Her ideal buffer before an announcement to allow pitching, coordination, training, and quote gathering. Pitch length: 3 sentences - Gerber says her most successful pitches are often only three sentences long. Funding round coverage on TechCrunch per week: 9 stories - Used to contrast with the number of funding rounds happening overall. Perplexity marketing spend: essentially zero - Used as an example of consumer growth driven by PR and product virality rather than paid marketing. Perplexity staffing: no marketing person - Gerber cites this to illustrate how PR can substitute for paid growth in some consumer products. Column Tax adoption detail: 40% - She notes that 40% of people filing with Column Tax had not filed taxes the prior year. Gamma launch funding stage: seed stage - The Gamma example was described as a seed-stage launch story. Custom pitch attempt volume: 1 to 6 reporters - For hard news like funding or startup launches, she usually targets a small set of relevant reporters. Outreach response rate reality: 1 out of 10 replies - She notes that many podcast or host outreach attempts will not get a reply.

Pivotal Quotes: "No one ever gets this tactical in PR." — Emily Gerber: Opening framing for the episode: Gerber argues the industry talks too abstractly and needs practical steps. "If you're like very straightforward and you're like pattern matching, it's generally actually going to work." — Emily Gerber: Her core philosophy on effective pitching: be direct, map the story to the right reporter, and avoid overcomplication. "I hate that. It doesn't, it doesn't work. It doesn't land with press." — Emily Gerber: Her critique of category-creation language in PR pitches.

Implications: Listeners should treat PR as a targeted storytelling exercise, not a vague brand exercise. The best results come from concise, reporter-specific pitches, strong narrative framing, and choosing channels that match the story and stage of the company.