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How to use PR firms at startups  

Mark Suster offers some good advice about how and when to deal with PR in startups. Some key points are:

  1. PR is something ongoing, not something you do around specific events and then stop until the next event.
  2. PR is something that the key founding team needs to handle, and shouldn't be delegated to a junior person.
  3. A a startup, even a funded one, you should not hire a PR firm, because you won't have the budget to get the right amount of attention from them.
  4. Even if you do have the budget, it is often better to hire someone inside your firm, or have someone inside your firm as well as retaining a PR firm.
  5. Once you have the budget, a good PR firm is worth its weight in gold.

And some additional tips:

  1. Be authentic. Talk like a human, not a press release.
  2. Have a point of view about things, not aggressive but opinionated.
  3. Don't constantly make pointless announcements or they will be ignored.
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