How to Do Your Own PR as a Startup: 10 Steps from a PR Agency Founder
Can startups do their own PR effectively?
Short answer: yes. Longer answer: yes, if you're willing to spend 3-5 hours a week on it and you don't expect results in the first fortnight.
I've worked with over a thousand startups in the past decade. The founders who pull off DIY PR tend to have a few things in common. They stick with it week after week instead of treating it as a one-time blitz. They pitch stories, not product specs. And they get that PR compounds: your fifth article is way easier to land than your first, because editors can see you've been covered before.
Here are 10 steps that actually work.
What are the best steps for doing startup PR yourself?
1. Lead with your founder story.
Journalists don't write about products. They write about people. Your founder story, the problem you lived through, the moment you decided to build something about it, the early failures, that's the most pitchable thing about your startup. In Singapore and Southeast Asia especially, outlets like Vulcan Post, TechInAsia, and e27 run founder profiles all the time. Sit down for 30-45 minutes and write out why you started this company, what personal experience drove it, what you gave up to do it. That becomes the backbone of every pitch you send.
2. Don't wait for big milestones to start PR.
Most founders think they need a funding round or a big product launch before they can pitch journalists. They're wrong. Large companies run year-long PR retainers for a reason: if you disappear from the news for six months, people forget you exist. You don't need a milestone to be newsworthy. Industry trend commentary, original data from your product, a contrarian take on something in your sector, partnership announcements, opinion pieces. CNA and Fintech News SG both accept contributed articles from founders, and that's just in Singapore.
3. Build a media list from scratch (about 2 hours).
Go to Google News and search for recent articles about your industry or competitors. Write down who wrote them. Check those journalists on LinkedIn and X/Twitter to see what they actually cover day to day, because beat titles can be misleading. Then grab their email addresses through Hunter.io or Apollo. 15-20 relevant journalists is enough to start. A short, targeted list of reporters who genuinely cover your space beats a 200-name blast every single time.
4. Put together a one-page PR toolkit before you pitch anyone.
Before you send a single email, get these ready: a one-paragraph company description, your founder bio (third person, about 100 words), 2-3 story angles, one good headshot, and your company logo in PNG and SVG. Put them in a Google Drive folder so you can share a link instead of clogging someone's inbox with attachments. This takes 1-2 hours. It saves you from scrambling when a journalist says yes and needs everything by tomorrow morning.
5. Write pitches that are specific and short.
A subject line with a concrete angle (not "Exciting startup announcement"). Three to four sentences explaining the story. One line on why their readers should care right now. And a clear ask, something like "Would you be open to a 20-minute call this week?" The fastest way to get ignored: pitch your product instead of a story, send the same email to 50 journalists, or follow up more than twice. If they haven't replied after two follow-ups a week apart, try a different angle next time. For a deeper walkthrough of pitch structure, timing, and follow-up strategy, read our guide on how to get your startup featured in the media.
6. Monitor journalist requests. This is where easy coverage hides.
Journalists looking for sources post on X/Twitter using #journorequest and #PRrequest. On LinkedIn, follow the reporters who cover your industry because they regularly post callouts for expert quotes. Set up Google Alerts for your company name, your competitors, and a few industry keywords. This takes about 20-30 minutes per week. Responding to a journalist who already needs a source is much easier than cold-pitching someone who doesn't.
7. Use AI tools to speed up the boring parts.
A lot of PR work is repetitive: drafting pitch variations, researching journalists before outreach, summarising industry reports into talking points, tracking who covered what. AI is genuinely good at this stuff. Free options: Google News alerts for monitoring, ChatGPT for drafting pitch angles and press releases (but always rewrite in your voice, or it reads like a robot wrote it), and Hunter.io for finding email addresses. If you want something more hands-off for media monitoring and reputation tracking, Alpha Story's PR tools can do that so you spend your time on actual relationships instead.
8. PR builds credibility, not direct sales. But you can measure it.
A press mention won't spike your revenue overnight. Earned media works differently. It makes everything else perform better. Your sales team closes faster when a prospect already saw you in TechInAsia. Your fundraising deck lands harder with an "As Featured In" section. Even your LinkedIn posts get more traction when you share a media clip. Track referral traffic from each article, social shares of your coverage, how often your sales team brings up press mentions in conversations, and whether inbound leads mention seeing you in the news. For a structured framework on connecting PR activity to business outcomes, read our guide on how to measure PR results.
9. Squeeze everything out of every piece of coverage.
One article should turn into at least five things: a LinkedIn post, an X/Twitter thread, a quote graphic for Instagram, a line in your next investor update, and an "As seen in" logo on your website. Put it in your newsletter. Add it to your sales deck. Drop it in your team Slack. Coverage compounds. Journalists check whether you've been covered before, and a founder who's been quoted in three outlets is a far more interesting source than someone with zero press history.
10. Make PR a weekly habit, not a quarterly panic.
A realistic weekly time budget: 20-30 minutes monitoring (Google Alerts, journalist requests, competitor news), 30-40 minutes drafting or refining pitches, 20-30 minutes on follow-ups and relationship building. Total: about 1-2 hours per week. Once a month, look back. Which pitches got replies? Which angles got traction? Which journalists actually engaged? Adjust accordingly. Founders who send two solid pitches a week for six months consistently outperform those who blast 50 emails in one afternoon and then go quiet for three months.
DIY PR works well early on. But there are a few signs it's time to get help. You're spending 8-10 hours a week on PR and it's taking you away from product and customers. You're entering a new market where you have no media contacts. You're gearing up for a major funding round and need coordinated press. Or your coverage has flatlined and you can't break into the bigger publications no matter what you try.
If that sounds familiar, here's how Alpha Story works with startups and enterprises. You can also book a free consultation to talk through what makes sense for your stage.
For a deeper comparison of the tradeoffs, we wrote a full breakdown: DIY PR vs. Hiring a PR Agency.
Frequently asked questions about startup PR
How much does it cost to do PR yourself?
Mostly time. Expect 3-5 hours per week on research, writing pitches, monitoring, and follow-up. Paid tools like media databases and email finders run $50-200 per month, but you can start without them. For reference, PR agencies in Singapore typically charge $5,000-15,000 per month depending on scope. Alpha Story's pricing page has a breakdown if you want to compare.
What is the best way to get press coverage for a startup?
Lead with your founder story. Target journalists who already write about your industry, not random reporters. Pitch a specific angle tied to something timely, not a generic company announcement. And start building relationships with journalists before you need something from them: engage with their content, offer yourself as a source for industry commentary. When you do eventually pitch, they'll already recognise your name.
How long does it take for PR to show results?
First coverage usually lands within 4-8 weeks of consistent outreach. Getting to a point where journalists come to you takes more like 3-6 months of regular activity. Most people quit after 2-3 weeks of silence, which is exactly when things are about to start working. PR is slow at the start and then it picks up speed.
