When should a venture-funded startup start PR?

The right time to start PR is once you have a marketing or communications lead in place to manage the relationship with your PR firm, triage incoming opportunities, and approve statements. Consistent, early exposure to journalists builds the credibility you need before you actually require coverage.

How long does it take to see PR results after venture funding?

Most companies should expect 3 to 6 months before securing meaningful press coverage. Paid placements can create earlier visibility while earned coverage builds, and many awards programs close submissions 6 to 8 months ahead of the ceremony, so timelines need to be planned well in advance.

Why is PR important after securing venture funding?

After venture funding, PR shifts from a sales tool to a credibility and awareness tool. Less than 1% of businesses ever secure earned media, so third-party press coverage acts as an endorsement that builds trust with customers, investors, and future acquirers, and it supports metrics like time to close.

Can PR help a startup reach new audiences after funding?

Yes. PR campaigns can surface audience segments a company didn't originally target. In one Fingerprint Strategy engagement with a B2B tech AI client, Avaans uncovered a secondary buyer job title that responded more strongly to the product's benefits, leading to new coverage and measurable growth in that segment within six months.

What to Expect: PR After Venture Funding

Q: What happens after you hire a PR firm?

A PR firm needs time to learn your company before it can generate coverage, so hiring one right before a major announcement and expecting immediate press is not realistic without prior media exposure. Following the agency's onboarding process and acting on its recommendations shortens the runway to results.

Key Takeaways

Building Credibility is Crucial: After securing venture funding, PR becomes essential for establishing credibility and awareness. Effective PR can differentiate your company in a crowded market, providing third-party endorsements that enhance trust among potential customers and investors. This is critical for transitioning from a startup to a recognized industry player.
Timing and Commitment Matter: The right time to initiate PR efforts is when you have a dedicated marketing or communications lead to manage the process. Expect it to take 3-6 months to build meaningful media coverage. Consistent communication with your PR firm is key to ensuring alignment and maximizing opportunities for visibility and growth.
Expanding Market Reach: PR can help identify and target new audiences that may not have been previously considered. By leveraging media exposure, companies can gain access to different segments, which can significantly impact growth. Effective PR strategies can also shape narratives and highlight the unique benefits of your offerings, increasing market presence and potential sales.

Once you’ve secured a Series A, the world feels like it’s at your fingertips. But deep down, you know this is where the hard work begins. Not only will you be working to accomplish the goals of this set of investors, but you’re on track to your next round of funding and an IPO. You have a unique set of needs and requirements. Leveraging PR after venture funding is a sometimes overlooked but critical component of your growth. But when, why, and how should you leverage PR for your pre-IPO company?

What Expect PR After Venture Funding

Maybe you never even considered PR until you secured venture funding. After all, you have a lot to juggle as you transition from a private company to a VC-influenced decision-making matrix. As a venture-funded startup, the reason for your PR isn’t sales but credibility and awareness. Chances are, the customers you’re approaching hear thousands of pitches daily for competitive products.

Standing out gets harder and harder.

Sure, there are annual buzzwords that you can pick up on (yes, I’m looking at you, AI). But it’s got to be more than that.

If your venture funding goals are to go from tiny challenger to industry leader, then PR after venture funding is your friend. Why? It’s more than sales that get you there because sales numbers aren’t an enormous factor in your sales pitches; trust and perception are.

When Should You Start PR?

If you’ve done nothing to establish your credibility in the eyes of journalists, think of PR as brand-building for journalists. But the earlier you consistently get in front of journalists, the more likely you are to capture their attention when they need you. Like everyone else, repeated exposure to journalists builds credibility.

More specifically, the prime time to start PR is once you have a marketing or communications lead to manage the PR firm. A good PR firm will communicate with you regularly and send you opportunities regularly as well. You will need someone to prioritize and triage the opportunities and handle the day-to-day communication with the agency—someone who knows your company well enough to approve statements.

What Happens After You Hire a PR Firm?

Even the most nimble and experienced PR firms need time to know your company and understand how PR can best support your business goals. Hiring a PR firm two weeks before your CEO makes a huge presentation and expecting media coverage on that presentation is simply not practical if you have no previous new exposure.

Hiring a PR agency is an investment, so give yourself the best chance by following the process your PR agency needs to follow to get started. A PR firm that’s used to working with newly venture-funded companies will have a process that understands your unique needs.

Listen to the experts. You hired your PR firm to fill gaps and guide you in ways you haven’t been before. It might make you uncomfortable, but think twice before rejecting your PR firm’s recommendations. PR does have a rhythm, and your PR firm wants you to succeed, which is why they provide insights and recommendations. Growth is uncomfortable; go with it. You will be happier if you do. Let your PR firm grow with you, and you will find the ROI gets exponentially bigger.

How Long Will B2B PR Take?

Some of this depends on your company, your leadership, and current media trends. But even when all those things are firmly in place, it’s probably going to take 3-6 months before you get much press coverage. Building PR coverage takes time, and you can’t expect to secure press on demand; editors have their own timelines.

Before that time, you might augment your PR with paid placements that get the ball rolling and give you immediate coverage. A great B2B Tech PR firm will also help you shape the story that will get you press and recommend ways to shorten the PR coverage process through activations, owned content, or other opportunities.

And don’t forget, many awards programs close submissions 6-8 months before the awards are given out, so it’s important to remember that today’s seeds give flowers next season.

Growth Stage: Hypergrowth

Ambitious companies need to fuel all the growth stages; that’s how hypergrowth happens. And if the end goal is IPO, then PR is more important than ever. Few companies get to hypergrowth without building a reputation. It may be that you only need a reputation with a few select stakeholders, and not the general public, but you still need to create credibly awareness, consistently, with that group, so your PR is even more valuable because it’s more targeted.

Why do PR After Venture Funding

Build Credibility

With less than 1% of businesses ever securing earned media, securing press coverage is an important third-party endorsement. When you read TechCrunch, it may seem that everyone is getting press. That is most certainly not true.

Before anyone can buy from you, they have to know you exist. While you may have a strong outbound campaign already underway, PR is a critical tool for those outbound approaches because it puts you in the top 1%, works to get you in the door, and closes deals faster. When you can say you’ve been included in articles from noteworthy publications, it gives your team and your company credibility. It gives you an edge. Can it be “attributed” to PR? Not directly, but if you track Time to Close as a KPI, you can see it working more and more. And that Time to Close metric is one that also sets you apart from future investors. Examine what PR metrics matter to CEOs and build campaigns that track against those too.

It also starts building your company history, which will become more and more impressive. Building and documenting this brand will not only help you with today’s goals, but media coverage virtually lasts forever, so it will help you with future goals, like additional funding, new partnerships, and, yes, your IPO — bankers love to see press coverage, it really provides evidence of consistent and ongoing growth.

Expand Market Reach

PR will put your company in front of new audiences, even ones you never expected.

Let me give you an example. We handled PR for a B2B Tech AI company, and their entire marketing plan was centered on “Job Title 1.” However, during our Fingerprint Strategy, we uncovered the fact that “Job Title 2” actually talked more about the benefits their product brought, and we recommended they consider this audience as well. We also went after the press to that secondary audience and recommended a few activations to balance out their marketing calendar. After only six months, this company saw their buyer wasn’t who they thought, and indeed, there was a lot of growth in the job title buyer segment we recommended. After securing media in major tech and industry outlets, as they approached these new audiences, they had the gravitas to show they belonged in the conversation. It changed the business.

There’s no “one” way to grow your company in the post-venture capital stage. But PR is your partner in growth, and while you can absolutely run a successful business without PR, it’s pretty difficult to be a brand leader without PR. If you’d like to talk to us, we’re experts in the post-venture-funded stage and can speak with you candidly about what it takes to succeed with PR in this stage. Contact us here.