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Lenny's PodcastHow to get press for your product | Jason Feifer (editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine)
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At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Turn Journalists Into Allies: Smart, Tactical Playbook For Startup Press
- Jason Feifer, editor in chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, breaks down how startups can realistically and effectively get press, emphasizing that media exists to serve its audience—not founders’ egos. He lays out a three-step framework: prepare your story and goals, identify the right publications and specific writers, then craft targeted human pitches. Throughout, he illustrates why timing, fit, and mission alignment matter more than blasting press releases, and why freelance writers are often your best bet. He also reframes press as a long-term asset for credibility and positioning, not a predictable growth lever.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasPress should support a clear business objective, not your ego.
Before chasing coverage, define exactly what press is for—e.g., driving awareness to a new product, helping with fundraising, reaching a specific customer segment, or positioning your brand—otherwise the effort is usually wasted.
Match the outlet’s audience and mission, not just its brand name.
A national business magazine won’t help a local hot dog stand sell more hot dogs; founders must target media whose readers can actually act—often local or niche outlets, not big-name publications.
Editors and writers don’t care about you; they care about their audience.
You get coverage by being useful to their readers—offering insights, counterintuitive decisions, or problem-solving stories—rather than pushing your product or title (‘we hired a new president’) as news.
Find specific writers and freelancers who already cover your space.
Search publications for your category or competitors, see who writes those pieces, and pitch them directly; freelancers in particular are hungrier for good stories and more likely to read and consider your email.
Craft short, highly targeted, human pitches anchored in a compelling story.
A good cold email is 2–3 tight paragraphs that reference the writer’s work, quickly frame the story in their terms (problem + solution or insight), and skip generic marketing language or mass-blast press-release style.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesThey don't care about you. They care about their reader, or their listener, or their viewer.
— Jason Feifer
You don't go out and raise money if you don't know what the money is for. You shouldn't go out and try to get press if you don't know what the press is for.
— Jason Feifer
Success stories are not interesting. I hate success stories. I love problem-solving stories.
— Jason Feifer
Sometimes you are not the story, but you can be part of the story.
— Jason Feifer
What's the point of building something if you can't maintain it?
— Katherine Morgan Schafler (quoted by Jason Feifer)
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
