Checklist for Managing a Successful Startup Funding Announcement
- Clarify Your Objectives Identify your primary goals for the announcement. Are you aiming to build brand awareness, attract top talent, establish credibility with customers, or strengthen investor relationships? Knowing the purpose will shape your entire approach.
- Craft a Compelling Story A funding announcement is more than just numbers. Look beyond the dollar amount to tell a broader narrative. Weave in human details that make it interesting. The people part of business is what make stories memorable, and help differentiate a founder and the company’s brand. This may be part of the press release or can be part of the interview only.
- How does the funding align with the company’s mission and vision?
- What makes your investors or backers notable?
- Do the founders have an interesting backstory?
- Tie your story to broader market trends or milestones that demonstrate your company’s relevance.
- Is there something unique about how the deal came together?
- What’s the backstory of an early customer or product breakthrough?
- Coordinate with Investors and Stakeholders Investors are often underutilized in announcements. Their input can add depth to the story and offer insights "beyond the numbers." They may also help with media outreach by leveraging their existing relationships with reporters.
- Create a Comprehensive Timeline Start planning at least three weeks to a month in advance to avoid last-minute rushes. Develop a detailed timeline for drafting, editing, and approval of key assets such as press releases, blog posts, and social media content. Ensure all stakeholders, including your investors, are aligned and informed.
- Set a Clear Media Strategy Decide between an exclusive or embargoed media strategy:
- Exclusive: Offer the news to one publication for a more in-depth story.
- Embargoed: Share the news with multiple outlets ahead of time, allowing them to publish simultaneously for broader coverage. Know your target publications, and tailor your pitch to their unique needs.
At Notable, we can help with media strategy and leveraging our existing relationships with reporters. Depending on the approach, we can also tell a different side of the story such as “the story behind the story” or “why we invested.” We also work with you to amplify the news through our blog posts, podcasts and relationships with Nasdaq and NYSE.
From Frederic Lardinois, Techcrunch via LinkedIn
- Timing Tues-Thurs are generally good days for funding news. Mondays are frequently dominated with public company news or backlogged news from the weekend. Look at a calendar and anticipate what other events might add to or detract from your news (federal and religious holidays, earnings week for public companies in your sector, industry conferences, election day, regular govt reports such as jobs report, etc.)
- Know your Media Audience
- Provide Ample Lead Time for Journalists Reporters are busy and often short staffed, and need time to process and prepare your story. When pitching under embargo, give at least 7-10 days' notice. This allows reporters time to slot you into their pipeline.If its a big round or well known founders, less time may be needed.
- Beware of Leaks Limit the number of people who have access to the news before the announcement. Social media posts or casual mentions can derail even the most carefully planned launch, especially if you are working with a reporter on an exclusive. In terms of timing, one consideration is Form D. Startups must submit a Form D to the SEC and state securities regulators to disclose information about their fundraising within 15 days of the first sale of securities. For large rounds or high profile companies, reporters often track Edgar to track new filiings. Early planning can help to eliminate any Form D surprises.
- Amplify Through Multiple Channels Use a flywheel of earned (PR), owned (newsletters, blogs), and social media channels to get the most out of your announcement:
- Leverage LinkedIn, Twitter, and blog posts.
- Make it easy for employees, investors, and partners to share the news by providing social links and ready-to-go content.
- Don’t forget substack newsletters and podcasts which can provide a great way to tell your story your way.
- Employees - All hands or CEO message (noting it may become public), links to social platforms where they can share the news
- Partners/Customers - Sometimes relevant to share funding news, sometimes more strategic to avoid sharing it with them..
- Founder’s Announcement - One piece of content to consider is the founder’s announcement which can be very powerful in terms of articulating your mission and and the product you’re developing. Funding news can be a wedge to get coverage, but that the most important result is others learning about your product, business, and the vision you have for the world and future. For follow-on news, take the opportunity to take a victory lap on key milestones and be opening to sharing key learnings (although not all may be right for public forum.) Building a company is hard and authentically communicating the journey builds huge credibility.
- Be Ready to Pivot If your initial strategy or media interest isn't gaining traction, be flexible. Adjust your approach quickly, whether it's shifting the pitch angle or targeting different outlets. Having a plan B is essential.
- Temper Expectations Not every funding round, no matter how big, will get covered. The market for funding news is competitive, and media outlets can only cover so much. Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to media outreach, and set realistic expectations with internal stakeholders.
The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, TechCrunch, Crunchbase News, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Buzzfeed, and CNBC are among the top business and VC outlets. Additionally, newsletters like StrictlyVC, Fortune’s TermSheet, Axios Pro Rata and Pitchbook include roundup coverage of new financings. The industry press, however, rarely cover funding news and broadcast outlets are also selective, but don’t ignore them especiallly if its a big round.
One of the essential elements to obtaining news coverage is to understand the goals of the reporter and the audience of their publication. The WSJ may be interested in your financing because you solve a problem for F500 customers while TechCrunch may be more interested in the backstory of the founder or a unique technology or business model.
In addition, build a plan for who should receive the news, when and how they can share it.
- Build a Long-Term Narrative Funding is a milestone, not the end of the story. Use the announcement as a stepping stone to further build your company’s narrative. Highlight customer success stories, product breakthroughs, or unique aspects of your team’s journey to make the story memorable.
- Follow Up with Personal Messages After the announcement, send personal emails or messages to important contacts, investors, and media outlets, thanking them for their support and encouraging them to share the news.
Sources: Gravitate PR, Matter, HighWire, Outcast PR, and many many others