It’s no secret it is hard for a startup to get coverage in top tier tech media. However, PRs learned to be creative and come up with tools and techniques which make even their colleagues’ brows raise. The most wondrous pitches and moves get a moment of fame eventually. Usually, in a reporter’s Twitter post.

I’m collecting those funny stories to have something to smile upon on a rainy day… and to remind you of what to avoid when trying to score coverage as a founder or PR professional.

Make no mistake, I have done my part to contribute to the list below, but I’m sure we can all learn from others to avoid the similar pitfalls.

10. Press releasing every step your CEO takes

Jon Christian, a news editor at Futurism, was pitched a fact that a certain CEO had tweeted to Elon Musk. Clearly, the lack of first page-worthy news makes us think outside the box. There is a difference though between finding new angles or data and press releasing just for the sake of it.

Like, hey — many of us use Twitter as a corporate HR tool tweeting to a celeb and trying to make a conversation (or get the most faved tweet/ or a retweet by the celeb). The winner gets it all — an extra burrito, a SPA day, a Tesla car. In any case, this hardly qualifies as news, only a gimmick or a funny detail to add to a real story.

9. Being a jerk

Sophia Waterfield who writes for a bunch of outlets such as Newsweek, New Scientist, Forbes, and Metro UK, was (kindly?) asked to source a statement from other publications when requesting one for her own story.

What was that? Lack of time? No option to reach a speaker to get one? Or PR’s laziness to create even a generic one to have at hand? We will never know. And Sophia was too kind not to name the company.

What it clearly shows is a lack of respect and professionalism. No matter how tired or strained for resources you might be, don’t be like that — spend an hour to prepare a few quotes (let’s make it four) before pitching. This small courtesy will take you far in building good relationships with any reporter.

8. Being a real jerk

Oscar Williams-Grut, Senior City Corr at Yahoo Finance, did name the company (and Mike Bird’s reply was hilarious). I can’t tell he was wrong doing so, but the PR was totally wrong. Be nice to people.

7. Undervalue others’ work

James Cook, a Special Corr at the Telegraph, was offered a job! Or wait, was he? For me, this is a total misunderstanding of how the media works.

Young or unseasoned CEOs and founders think journalists are some kind of loungers. They arrive at 12pm with a croissant and coffee to their fancy macbook’ed workplace, lazily check emails depart at 12.15 to meet with PRs in a cafe, and only leave this leisurely task to hang out with other journalists in the early afternoon. To be fair, sometimes journalists think the same of the young and brand new CEOs.

In reality, media is a complicated structured business where people have real duties, deadlines and KPIs. As well as corporate managers, journalists must know a lot about things they write about, remember the names of relevant speakers, be present, alert, and sane.

In other words, no, a Special Correspondent can’t handle your PR and write about you in their newspaper. Journalists are busy doing their own work. Please hire someone with a title that contains PR. And thank James for not reporting this case as a bribe.

6. Making up things

Mike Butcher, as we all know, can hardly be fooled by some marketing bullshit. He gets the essence and says it pretty straightforward. If you are trying to meet your KPIs by issuing press releases a second after some news arise and just doing PR for the sake of PR) – you are wasting time.

Think about reporters who have real deadlines for covering something important and need “meat” for a story to make it be useful and interesting to read – help them!. This is harder than sending a blurb with a title including a trendy topic, but boosts your chances to get rewarded with a mention.

5. Copying others… and doing it too late

Adrían Bridgwater, a tech reporter for Computer Weekly, Forbes and IDG Connect, is right saying that giving software for free tenth in line after others during a pandemic, or Black Friday, or whatever, is not good enough to get coverage. It is nice of you to give back something free of charge to a society, especially in challenging times or to underprivileged groups of people.

Nevertheless, reporters can’t write about each startup discounting prices or providing incentives to increase loyalty of their core customers. Put your resources into doing something more relevant, like producing easy recyclable face masks, or merging forces with other companies to create something the community needs.

Here is an idea — an easy to use app for elderly to request groceries and meds in isolation. Doing something real that actually helps people makes a really nice story with plenty of hooks to pitch.

4. Making the journalist’s job harder

PR is a very old institution (although journalism is as well). But that doesn’t change the fact that using some of its rules and traditions makes you look old and outdated in the eyes of journalists.

Sending press releases attached as PDFs, providing a text without any visuals, sharing a quote two days after the request — nothing can make it clearer that you’ve been around for a while in the business… without having learned to adjust.

Andrew Ellson, Consumer Affairs Correspondent at The Times doesn’t want to retype a whole paragraph from your press release due to poor file formatting — and he is in his right! The ways to annoy reporters do not stop with old school techniques.

Try uploading your press release to Google Docs with no access to a reporter, or attach a lot of hi-rez pictures to your email — if frustration is your goal, you got it. Otherwise, stick to the etiquette and make all your pitch assets easy to read, copy, and download.

3. Being way too pushy

Speaking about etiquette — you work with journalists, you do not own them. They don’t have to either run your story, or even reply to you.

Sooraj Shah, a contributor at Forbes, found himself under a heavyweight PR attack, which is, unfortunately, not something rare in our industry. Sometimes being pesky helps, especially if you have a really urgent story to run or trying to negotiate exclusive coverage.

A reporter might miss your pitch in the email — some receive over 300 press releases a day. However, the more often you do so, the more likely you’ll receive a nasty reply or even banned.

I’ve found there are a few easy steps to avoid this: when negotiating an exclusive story, discuss it over the phone first and set a deadline to respond to an offer.

In all other cases, track if your email was opened (there are plenty of services for that, like Superhuman or Polymail) and only follow up once from the same email as the initial message was sent. Save yourself some time and embarrassment

2. Manipulating with exclusives

Exclusives and embargoes are two strong tools all PRs use to secure coverage from top tier media when the story is strong enough — like a new big funding round. The difference is that in case of exclusive, the story goes only to one reporter, and the rest have to re-publish them.

In case of embargo, many outlets are provided with detailed information ahead of the official release on a condition the stories will be published after a certain time. Both are strong incentives for journalists to cover the story — exclusives bring the media the first positions in Google News and lots of links and traffic, while embargoes allow some extra time to prepare.

However, both can go very wrong for PRs if overused or used for manipulation.

Steve O’Hear, a journalist at Techcrunch, was informed that if he passes on the news, the company will pitch others, and they even named the next two in line! Fair enough, if one media passes on the story, no one stops you from pitching another one. Trust me, an experienced reporter gets it without saying it in his face, threatening, or blackmailing them.

In my experience, here’s the best way to approach this: pick your top three media to offer an exclusive story and prioritize them. Approach your contact at the first one a few days ahead, explain the benefits of the story for their media without giving away the key details and give them a day or two to decide, clearly setting a deadline.

If they don’t respond in time, send a follow up to double check — without mentioning your further plans. If they still don’t answer, just go ahead and pitch the next in line — again, without mentioning competitors. If discussed in a good time and with respect, this approach will safeguard you from disappointment from all sides.

1. Not doing your homework

The last, but not the least… or maybe it is? A journalist from MIT Technology Review was offered an interview with… her mom! This is sweet but an awkward situation meaning PR didn’t do their homework.

It can be hard when strapped for time, but make an effort to know your client’s story and more importantly — history.

Does your client know any reporters personally? Have any of them been pitched on behalf of your client before? Are they related in any way? There is so much to find out before you start, but the more you do, the fewer chances you have to end up on a list like this one. Good luck!

3 things I learned closing an acquisition during the pandemic

Nothing tests the basic tenets of successful M&A projects like a pandemic. My team at WatchGuard (headquartered in Seattle) started looking to make an acquisition in the area of endpoint security more than two years ago.

We analyzed the market, spoke to many key players and narrowed down our list of candidates to Panda (headquartered in Bilbao, Spain) and a few others. After selecting Panda, we entered into an exclusivity period from January to March 2020, ultimately signing the acquisition deal on March 6 and officially closing the transaction on June 1.

Looking back, these were challenging times. Just consider how the COVID-19 timeline progressed during this same period. Italy reported a massive surge in cases on February 23, Seattle (and the U.S.) saw its first coronavirus death on February 29, and just a few short days later, Seattle city officials began hinting at widespread lockdowns.

Essentially the peak of our due-diligence stage was taking place in February before travel limitations were put into place, and before the virus had become a major concern in the U.S. or in Spain. As we neared our deadline for signing, we were suddenly confronted with a full-blown global pandemic.

The lessons we learned navigating this unique acquisition are priceless, and our story is one my team and I will tell for years to come. As the effects of COVID-19 continue to unfold across the world, here are three pieces of hard-won advice I’d like to extend to any business planning M&A activity:

1. Establish relationships and chemistry from the outset

Rock-solid relationships between company leadership teams are the most critical element of a successful acquisition. These tight bonds help ensure that negotiations go smoothly and fairly, help to maintain alignment on the goals and vision for the combined company, and provide the foundation necessary to weather major obstacles – even a global health crisis.

Over several years of regular interactions, I developed a strong relationship with Panda’s CEO, while our top technologists and product personnel did the same with their counterparts.

Within four days of signing our intent to purchase Panda, the world changed radically and our plans were tested. Many countries started locking down and the world brimmed with economic uncertainty. We knew every in-person meeting we had planned for March and April would be impossible and that the integration would have to be managed remotely (and across a nine hour gap in time zones no less).

Out of all that confusion and chaos in the world came the first clear sign that the relationships we had built with the team at Panda would be invaluable to this process, and that the strategic, technical, and cultural fit was virtually unshakeable. Almost as if we were already one unified company, it took only a few days for both management teams to align on and begin implementing an integration plan that could be managed virtually.

2. Constantly stress test your acquisition thesis

All too often, organizations pursuing an acquisition become deal enamored along the way and forget to regularly revisit the fundamental rationale and reasoning for it in the first place. This will help you accurately identify indicators that it’s time to walk away or to maintain resolve through difficult or unexpected challenges (whether internal or external).

As we were bringing negotiations and diligence to a close in late February, and preparing to sign the deal, the stock market began to slide. The week leading up to signing it plummeted by 20%! Post signing, with the closing date drawing near, the news of busted deals such as Advent’s canceled plans to acquire Forescout were hard to ignore.

Even though both companies were continuing to perform well in the midst of the crisis, these were potential leading indicators of our economic future and at the very least grounds for trepidation.

While the eventual decline of the global economy seemed inevitable, the promise of this acquisition ultimately remained intact despite – and in part due to – this global health emergency. Our core thesis for acquiring Panda has always been that midmarket businesses and the channel partners that support them need holistic security from the network to the endpoint, from a single provider.

And with more employees working from home as a result of global quarantines, pressure is mounting on businesses to extend security beyond the traditional network perimeter to provide the type of user-focused, endpoint protection that Panda would bring to our portfolio. Carefully and honestly assessing our thesis along the way gave us the confidence to push forward and close the deal as planned.

3. Embrace and adapt to integration challenges

The integration phase of an acquisition is pivotal, with many moving pieces. Here you must operate strictly based on the core thesis underpinning the deal, or face a messy road of course corrections.

This complex process is made all the more challenging in a pandemic, but it can be done well if you’re nimble and open to trying new things. On both sides, we were pleasantly surprised with how resilient and adaptable our teams were when faced with the integration obstacles brought on by the COVID-19 crisis.

Under normal circumstances, many of our meetings would take place in conference rooms in which people tend to get straight to business – with little time to get to know people other than over dinners here and there. But we had to do it all virtually.

By far the best outcome of our unconventional integration proceedings was that right from the start, we were essentially meeting in each other’s homes, being exposed to families, pets, and personal lives via video conference calls. This allowed us to bond with one another on a deeper level and at a faster pace. It changed the social contract between soon-to-be colleagues and teams, collaborating on common business goals, but with a greater degree of trust, empathy, and commitment.

It also forced everyone to be even more prepared than they otherwise would, communicate clearly and concisely, and go the extra mile to ensure mutual understanding during and after each meeting.

This unique process has given me a renewed respect for the power of the human element in business, and its ability to propel organizations through seemingly insurmountable challenges.

The shared experiences, foundational relationships and sheer will to overcome we’ve built through this process has made the early stages of our integration seamless and laid the groundwork our newly combined company to grow and succeed together moving forward.

It’s clear that this global health crisis is far from over, and that its effects on the M&A market will be dramatic and sustained. As uncertainty mounts and investment wanes, more companies will seek strategic buyers as the year progresses.

I urge any organization currently considering M&A activity to strongly consider the lessons we learned from our recent acquisition. With a smart thesis, robust intercompany relationships and a strong but adaptable integration plan, you can successfully close a deal during the pandemic.

60 days in lockdown: 4 productivity tips to keep you at the top of your game

Approximately two months ago, Western countries shut down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and most employers asked their employees to work from home .

For those not used to working remotely full-time, doing so proved to be an understandably challenging time: working away from colleagues, potentially surrounded by family and small children, makeshift desks and offices, and uncertainty-induced anxiety about what lay ahead.

As always, the tech community has been quick to share productivity tips and advice to help others deal with what some have already deemed ‘the new normal.’

But what’s changed some 60 days later? We spoke to several tech founders and CEOs to find out.

Let’s face it — loungewear is the way to go

Caroline Plumb, founder of Fluidly , a cashflow management tool , says working from home during lockdown with three children has been a completely new experience for her.

Her working day, she says, has lengthened considerably but become more efficient.

“No one wants to stay on video calls longer than they need so meetings tend to be 20 to 40% shorter. We are also better at keeping minutes and notes in shared documents so less time is wasted on missed actions or misunderstandings,” she explains.

Early morning runs have been keeping Plumb sane and she’s used this time to clear her head and sort through priorities but also to get clarity on many longer-term strategic questions.

In terms of how she and her team have adapted to the monotony of working from home over the past two months, Plumb says that they’ve kept their weekly leadership meeting but also decided to add a daily standup. This, she notes, has been a good way of checking in with the rest of the team and addressing concerns in a speedy manner.

Although it’s often been challenging, there have also been some positives: “With more remote working and more mixing of work and parenting, it’s created more informality and deepened relationships between myself and many of my colleagues — especially with some groups such as customers and investors, where there is usually more of a barrier.”

Despite many insisting that loungewear and pajamas aren’t conducive to productivity, Plumb says any pretence at dressing in normal work clothes and blow drying her hair went out of the window in week one.

“So if anyone ends up on a video call with me and I look vaguely professional it means I must really think it’s important,” she quips.

Triaging your messages

For Nikolaus Suehr, CEO and co-founder of KASKO , a company that provides insurtech as a service, lockdown has been a particularly interesting experience.

“My routine has changed a lot in the past two weeks, not because of COVID-19, but because I welcomed a newborn daughter into the world,” he says.

“There are now a lot of early-wake ups, diaper changes, and making sure both baby and mum are OK. I still make sure I exercise and meditate, and take breaks to cook and prepare food for us both,” adds Suehr.

Work-wise, the biggest change to his life has been travel — or the lack of it.

Before going into lockdown Suehr says he was on the road for 100 days of the year. “This has come to a complete stop and I like it.”

Overall, Suehr says lockdown has pushed him to share even more tips with the team: “Allow for asynchronous communication. I ask people to send emails which I can work through and where things are urgent to send a WhatsApp or Slack message.”

Gamify all your tasks

Romanie Thomas, the CEO and founder of Juggle , a recruitment tech startup that helps businesses hire flexible experts, says she’s been working longer hours, but taking longer breaks while in lockdown.

“I actively put aside time every day for exercise, and I make sure I am learning each day by listening to a great podcast or listening to a book. Interspersing ‘work work’ with time for me breaks everything up and makes me feel happier and more productive as a consequence,” she notes.

Over the past two months, Romanie says she’s had to gamify the experience to avoid procrastination from fully taking over.

“I plan out what I need to do over three days and write down three things that are ‘important’ (essential but boring); three things which are ‘creative’ (exactly that); three things which are ‘urgent’ (what I would term as admin but cannot be left either),” she explains.

“These nine items are placed in a hat and in the morning, I’d pull out one ‘important’ piece to start my day as that is when I am full of good intentions and energy. Creative comes after lunch, which propels me to the ‘urgent’ item — because I’m energised by the creative item, I feel compelled to finish the day well,” Thomas concludes.

Educate your loved ones

Ruslanas Trakšelis, co-founder and CEO of food tech startup Millo , has had to make do without an actual home office, so he converted a corner of his bedroom into a makeshift one, in order to keep his productivity levels up.

“The concept of home office was new for my children, meaning that, delighted at the prospect of me being home, they would constantly come into the bedroom and want to play or interact with me,” he says.

It took a while, but eventually his family understood his need to focus and put the work in.

“It’s really important that parents are not too strict with children in this regard, it’s natural they will want to ask questions about work and play, and it’s a good opportunity to do so to a certain extent. As a reward the kids also get home-made sourdough bread and family cooking time,” Trakšelis adds.

There’s no denying that the lockdown experience has been different for everyone — much of it has been shaped by the varying decisions of governments and personal circumstances but it’s clear that entrepreneurs have constantly adapted to unpredictability.

The key takeaway from this should be that even if you start off by, say exercising in the morning because it’s what works best for you at that precise moment in time, this doesn’t mean you have to keep doing that for months on end.

Implementing changes to your routine is crucial if you’re hoping to stay productive, but don’t forget to assess and evaluate these if you want efficiency to stay in the long-term. So, don’t get stuck with a routine that stopped working for you weeks ago.

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