Alan Weinkrantz's approach for Startups to Hack Their Communications and PR Strategies. Given at IDC Elevator / Tel Aviv

1. ABOVE THE CODE™
Tel Aviv
July 11, 2012

2. Hacking Your Startup’s PR and
Communications Initiatives
To Get You
Above The Code™

3. OUR STARTUP IS NOT READY
FOR THIS...
• What is a PR person doing in the room?
• We gotta focus on getting to - and through Demo Day
•I work a lot and want to have a life
•Idon’t have time for this... thinking about PR could wind up being a
distraction

4. ABOUT
• 30 years - yup, I am an old school PR guy :) -
• San Antonio & Tel Aviv
• Works with Jeff Pulver on State of NOW -#140Conf
• Involved with Israel’s traditional tech sector for the last 18 years

5. Life in three labs....
Tel Aviv
San Antonio
NYC / London / Tel Aviv,
etc.

6. GETTING LUCKY...
• Belief set about getting lucky with....
• PR
• Social
• Content

7. ALIGNING BUSINESS GOALS
WITH COMMUNICATIONS
• can be applied as an element of your R&D and development
strategies
• help you accelerate the potential for success
• prepare
your company for gaining coverage before, during and after
Demo Day
• prepare your company for being discovered
• be ready when you are found by the media

8. 2 PARTS TO PRESENTATION
• Principles and belief sets for the long run
• Practical
and actionable steps to help you be ready for DEMO Day in
September and beyond...

9. THE MEDIA IS
YOUR FIRST
MARKET
to share and tell your story

10. The Media is Your Customer....
bloggers
you analysts & the
the
consumer
enterprise
media

11. GOOD NEWS :)
• Very low cost / no cost to create a start-up
• Big Idea
• Core team
• Strong will
• Servers / hosting
• Coding

12. BAD NEWS :(
• Someone in New York, Austin, Chicago, SFO, Singapore, Haifa, Mumbai
is thinking the same thing as you are :(
• Hard to have a defensible position
• Hard to protect your IP

13. QUALITIES THEN...
• Strong Intellectual Property
• Defensible technology
• Strategic investors like Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Motorola
• VC funded

14. QUALITIES NOW
• No Intellectual property
• Nothing really defensible
• Strategic
investors & partners - Friends, Family, Angels, Microsoft,
Google, Yahoo, AT&T, etc.
• Up until recently....No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding
• Easy
to run a virtual company... no real address, presence from a co-
working space and an IP phone number

15. THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT
• Hardware
• Software Go to School
Army Service
• Telecom
Year Off for Travel
• Security Go to College / University
Summer Job
• Bio Sciences Go to Work
• Medical Devices

16. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
• Hardware High School
Start-Up
• Software Army
Start-Up
• Telecom College / University
Start-Up
• Security Travel Year
Work
• Bio Sciences Startup
Quit Day Job
• Medical Devices
Startup

17. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
• The next generation of multi-national startups are being formed
• Israel is a center of gravity in the world of startups
• Startups are starting up with foreign co-founders who live in different
parts of the world
• The consumerization of technology is one that is global

18. Outbound / Inbound Strategy
Outreach to media
pick me
Being found by the media
find
me

19. PR in the past.....
bloggers
company agency
media
company
analysts

20. The more that software
eats the world, the role
of story telling and
connecting the dots for
your global customer /
partner base becomes
increasingly important

21. WHAT I BELIEVE
• 12 Fundamental Belief Sets
• Not everything I do always works
•I do this for me... I do this for clients.
• There’s always exceptions to the rules
• Discussion is based on a combination of experience and principles

22. From >
Code

23. To > Above
The
Code

24. Alan’s
12 Fundamental Belief Sets

25. #1 - STOP PITCHING
• Start story telling
• Yourpitch helps clarify / define
what you do, but really sucks as
a way to get coverage

26. #2 - YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA
COMPANY THAT....
•Creates and makes media • Pinterest
so you’ll be discovered, • Instagram
found and shared
• Cinchcast
• YouTube
• SoundCloud
• Twitter
• Google Plus
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Blog

27. #3 UNDERSTAND THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING...
• Discovered - random being discovered and being
found increases your chances
• Found - search of sharing

28. #4 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
• How do you help others do
something in a compelling way
you could not do before

29. #5 BE HUMAN
• Get off your perch and write
like you would speak
• Conversewith your potential
market wherever they are

30. #6 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TEND
TO FIND EACH OTHER
• Givethem a place to connect
and share their story
• Consider aligning with other
startups like yours to create a
multinational startup

31. #7 HAVE A MISSION
• We’re out to make __________ better
• We want to help _____ do _______
• We want to help others the opportunity to ________
• We’re connecting _______ with ______ so they can ________
• We make it easier to ____________
• Have your voice be heard about _________

32. #8 THINK LIKE A SOCIAL
DEMOGRAPHER
• The potential to collect “Big Data” means you have something of
incredible value to a potential partner, investor, or brand
• Gives you a better chance of a lift when an exit may present itself
• Bigdata lends itself to infographics, which contributes to your thought
leadership and a great way to get media coverage

33. spark -
what if?
“some
funding.”..
technology platform
story... narrative to
real value
engagement
BIG DATA
Lift towards an exit... (c) Alan Weinkrantz

34. #9 PUT IT OUT THERE
• You never know who is going to find your content and engage
• You don’t have to have high quality production values to do this
• Hardware is cheap. Tools are free. Tons of creatives to help you

35. #10 DRAW, PAINT,
PHOTOGRAPH, ROCK OUT
• Do something or learn to do
something creative other than
working on your startup
• Itwill re-wire your brain in an
unexpected way
my drums circa 1968

36. #11 IT’S NOT ALWAYS
REPLICABLE
• Justbecause one strategy or
tactic worked for one company
does not mean it will work for
another

37. #12 GET LUCKY
• Go wide
• Get lucky
• Runwith it when you strike a
chord

38. THE MIND OF A DEVELOPER
• Focus on...
• functionality
• application
• utilitarian value

39. HACK YOUR OWN PR!
• Youhave to “know” the
journalist
• Much of this you can do yourself
• “Paper trails” on the Internet
exist if you search correctly

40. PLAN....
• Postand write relevant content • Read and comment on relevant
so you can be a source to media articles without being self
on your field of expertise promotional.
• Develop & publish infographics • Askend user / beta customers if
you can share you can refer to them to media
• Follow a wish list of 20 • Follow editorial calendars
journalists you think should
cover you

41. NOW....
• Makea wish list of where you • track
competitors or
belong companies in your periphery
on news.google.com to see
• business/ tech / bloggers who who covers and writes about
are your fans back home them
• media appropriate to your
space
• analysts appropriate to your
space

42. PLAN FOR PR
• Ifyou follow some of these basic • Get everyone on your team to
principles, you’ll be further make this part of their regimen
ahead. as it will make them aware of
the opportunities that await you
• This process takes at least six when you are ready.
months to one year to really get
on a journalist’s radar and be • Bring
up PR in your team
sticky - sometimes you can get meetings in a “what if...” scenario.
lucky
Be Ready For PR So You Can Succeed

43. HELP!
• Mydoor is “open” via email and
Skype
• Happy to spend one hour with
each company after July 15 to
help you think this through.
• Email me your wish list of media

44. Read. Re-Read.
http://tech.li/2012/03/integrating-pr-into-your-product/
http://gigaom.com/2012/03/03/how-startups-can-hack-the-pr-machine/
http://appsmarketing.mobi/app-marketing-sxsw-2012/
read again...:)

45. Free tools to get you into the groove....
http://www.alanweinkrantz.com/startup-pr-
Who did I pitch today? strategies-who-did-i-pitch-today
http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/
Gartner Briefings request form vendor_briefings.jsp
Editorial calendars http://www.alanweinkrantz.com/
technology-public-relations-2011-
editorial-ca

46. Methodically.
Reach.
Out.
http://www.alanweinkrantz.com/startup-pr-strategies-
who-did-i-pitch-today

47. ABOVE THE CODE™
please share:)

48. thank you
alan@weinkrantz.com
www.alanweinkrantz.com
Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Instagram.
all photos by me
© Alan Weinkrantz And Company 2012 Above The Code ™