Media is constantly evolving and today plays a crucial role in shaping and growing startups. In our conversation with StartupReporter founder Oleksandr Komarevych, he reflected on how young companies can build meaningful media relationships, the common pitfalls they face, and the distinctions between major outlets and niche players. We explored how AI is accelerating the way startup stories are produced, while at the same time redefining what readers expect from content and pushing media toward more creative and personalised formats.
What role does media play in helping startups grow today, and how has this changed over time?
Media amplifies the reach to an already interested audience in the subject. Founders when they launch the company often have no network or audience to reach, and the publishing of their stories about the company being founded, challenges, or the product launch creates trust for their future employees and investors and brings new customers.
We remember how storytelling is vital for the startup, and media creates a new storytelling channel for talented teams.
Nowadays, with lots of informational channels, media plays different roles according to the stage of the startup, and I want to believe that for early-stage startups, media is as crucial as for late-stage startups, but at the beginning of the startup is quite challenging to bring attention to your company.
How can startups improve their chances of getting media coverage?
The process is similar to fundraising or searching for clients.
Founders/startup teams prepare a list of things they can communicate (e.g. launch of the product, fundraising round, team culture, vision and the market trend and so on), check the media who cover such topics, add the names of the authors from those media and check the relevance between startup news and what author wrote before.
Then, write that person a message (if you have an email or LinkedIn or X) explaining why you are writing, what you want to propose and why it could be interesting for them to publish. The part of “why” is essential - be relevant and unique for them by mentioning the articles or topics the author spoke about at the conference or wrote.
It might seem impossible to compete with giants like TechCrunch or Forbes, so what inspired you to start a small media outlet despite the challenges? What unique value or vision drives you?
StartupReporter’s focus is European startups (startups with a root in Europe) and the investors, mainly at the early stages. The main driver to telling stories about such founders and VCs is the uniqueness of seeing their companies at the early stage when everything starts when they have their first investments and the team growth.
Thanks to my previous experience in the startup as an employee and then founder and then as an investor, I have also “give-back” as a driver.
The unique value is giving founders a chance to share their stories “why they decided to create a company, which challenges they have and what they learn on their path”.
The vision is to become the trusted leading media for the European ecosystem. TechCrunch and Sifted are great examples to learn.
What are big media outlets missing when covering startups, and how can smaller players fill these gaps?
Large media outlets tend to prioritise coverage of well-established companies or high-profile funding rounds, often overlooking emerging startups that may not yet have significant traction or funding.
Smaller media outlets can focus on in-depth stories about lesser-known startups, exploring their unique challenges, innovations, and contributions to their industries.
Big media outlets may lack the resources to cover every startup adequately due to their focus on bigger stories.
Smaller outlets can be more agile in their reporting. They might utilise innovative formats like podcasts, newsletters, or community events to engage audiences and provide coverage that larger organisations cannot afford to pursue.
How has AI changed how media covers startups and how people read startup content?
From what I see and hear, AI speeds up content creation, providing more homogeneous content, which brings the desire to have more unique formats of media coverage and more creativity in creating that one.
There is a big focus to read about AI; it could be a part of the startup, which they include now in the product or the new AI startup. Because of such unprecedented growth of opportunities of AI, the audience wants to know more about why AI is better in that startup than in another 10 similar competitors.
AI tools allow for better organisation and distribution of information, making startup news more accessible to a broader audience. For instance, automated summarisation tools can distil lengthy reports into digestible formats, catering to readers' preferences for quick information consumption.
Integrating AI into the media coverage of startups has led to opportunities and challenges.
In an AI-driven media world, how will startup-related content be created and consumed?
In 2025, it will still be consumed in the same way as in 2024. People like read/listen/watch the content. We can probably have more podcasts already created by AI in many languages from the original one, so I expect to see the localisation easier.
What do readers care about most in startup content in 2024? Is there still a place for long articles?
The analysis and overview after the startup conferences about the trends in the market and the state of investments. The format of the long articles is excellent for the interview and analysis of the market’s trends.
How are user habits changing in discovering and engaging with startup news, and what trends should startups follow?
Startup news has become more personalised; an authentic article has more details from which you can learn and improve your startup or investment strategy.
As a piece of advice to startups, experiment continuously with which platform your audience engages and, more importantly, have trust. Talk with your audience and read analytics about what worked.
As a trend - invest in quality content creation through your newsletter; you can use Substack to have a bigger reach.
How has social media changed how startups share their stories? Are influencers more impactful than traditional media?
Social media has fundamentally transformed how startups share their stories.
Startups can now communicate directly with their audience through social media platforms, bypassing traditional media gatekeepers.
Visual storytelling has gained prominence, with platforms like Instagram and TikTok enabling startups to share engaging video content that resonates more deeply with audiences.
Social media allows startups to share timely updates and news quickly, making capitalising on current trends or events easier.
Influencers have emerged as powerful storytellers in the startup ecosystem. While traditional media still holds value, its influence is waning in favour of more personalised storytelling approaches found on social media. More value goes to niche influencers or influencers with 3-10K audiences and more active followers.
What’s the biggest mistake startups make with media, and can you share an example of one that got it right?
The biggest mistake startups make with media is failing to establish a clear communication strategy. Many startups struggle to understand their target audience, resulting in poor messages that miss an explanation of why that media is a good one to tell their story.
I don’t remember the names of the startups who got it right, and what I remember is when the email was clear from the beginning till the end, and it was easy and quick to proceed to tell their story.
The email structure included more or less such points:
- they put the name of the media or the author for the section
- they mentioned in one sentence what their startup does, and the link
- the reason what they want to communicate and how it is relevant to the media/author. In general, you can put it in 3 bullet points or just write it in one-two sentences by giving the idea you understand the relevance of this story to the media
- the link for the additional details (media kit, where all information is straightforward and all photos were named with relevant details. The founders' bios are a plus.)
- the additional contacts of the person who can give more details
- the mentioning if the story is under embargo (if yes, till which time) or it was already published in other media
Be more authentic when you first write an email; it can help you to establish a long communication strategy with the media. If you have contacts who can make you an intro (founders/VCs mentioned in the articles/podcast before), you can ask them to do so.