Get Your First Press Coverage
8 weeks · 3 milestones
Land a feature in a publication your target customers read.
Milestone map
Milestone map
3 milestones
Build a targeted list of 30+ journalists, editors, and publications whose readers match your target customer profile. Press coverage only drives customer acquisition when it appears in publications your target customers actually read — a feature in a national newspaper is less valuable than a paragraph in the newsletter that lands in every inbox in your industry niche. Your press list should include: the publication name, the journalist's name, their beat (the topics they cover), a link to a recent relevant article they wrote, and the specific angle that makes your story relevant to their beat. Do not mass-email a generic press list; personalise each pitch based on what the journalist has written recently.
Proof required
Submit: a press list with at least 30 entries, each including publication name, journalist name, beat, and a link to one of their recent relevant articles. Include a 50-word note explaining how you decided which publications to target and how you confirmed their readers match your target customer.
What gets checked
- 30+ entries with all four fields complete — a list of publication names without journalist contacts, beats, or recent articles does not pass; the journalist name and beat are what enable personalised pitching, and the recent article link confirms the journalist still actively covers the relevant topic
- Publications are appropriate for the target audience — a list dominated by national newspapers or major tech outlets for a niche B2B product signals the founder has not done audience research; the note must explain why these specific publications were chosen relative to the target customer profile
- Recent article links are actually recent — articles from more than 18 months ago may indicate a journalist who has changed beat or publication; check LinkedIn or the publication's masthead to confirm each journalist is still at the listed outlet
Resources
Enroll free to unlock learning resources →Mastery
First Round Review — Getting Press as a Founder
Free — search 'press' and 'media relations'; the articles provide the frameworks for what makes a story pitchable, what angles work for different outlet types, and how to use warm intros to bypass cold outreach entirely
Unlocks after completing Foundation + Depth