A few thoughts on PR Strategies for Startups

In the past week, I've had FOUR different people approach me asking for advice on how to create a PR strategy for their startup.  I've never created a PR strategy, but over 5 years as a journalist I've had one or two spectacular relationships with startups (that I've covered multiple times, and passed on to others) and one or two terrible experiences with companies/individuals I would never write about again.

Here are some things that I've noticed (and some that I've messed up)

1)  Relationships with the press are actual relationships.  Journalists are people, not just PR-spewing machines.  What does this mean? Find and cultivate relationships with journalists whom you enjoy working with and whose behavior you find professional.  Keep them updated with occasional newsy - and ideally personalized - notes about what's happening at your company.  If you throw a company party, invite them.  If you're a real champ, remember occasional common interests/facts about them and use those to tailor your notes. Why? Because you will develop people who are familiar with your company, familiar with you, who actually like you, and who will call you for comments not just about your specific company, but also about your industry and sector.  Encourage give-and-take in these relationships.  Understand that sometimes they will write about you and sometimes they won't.  (But the caveat here is: don't be fake about this. Don't pretend you like someone if you don't. Don't issue invitations and then blow people off.  Don't pretend you remember the name of their sister, their dog and their favorite movie - when you don't.  Don't be an asshole about your relationships, and don't give people an opportunity to question your sincerity.)

I know a guy in California who is great about this.  Every 3-6 months, I get a friendly two-paragraph email that begins "Dear Anika - hope things are going well at CNN IBN" and then goes on in a casual and chatty way to mention what they've been up to lately.  It's more like a Christmas card than a press release, and it keeps his company on my mind without being annoying.

2)  Cultivate the bloggers.  Everyone dreams of that six-page spread in the New York Times Magazine. But the vast majority of the media landscape comprises bloggers, trade publications and other small newsletters.  These people can make or break a new company's name long before the NYT gets on the scene.  These are the people who track developments in a specific industry, and they are people worth knowing and cultivating since they will write about your company again and again.  Know your blogs.  Know your beat writers.  Most newspapers and websites assign reporters to cover specific subject areas, or "beats."   If, for eg, you are a health startup, know who covers the health beat at the papers of note in your town. You will find beat correspondents at trade shows and industry events.  These are the people to reach out to with exclusive insights/scoops and early demos of new products.  They are the ones who will get excited about stuff like that.

Blogs are a great, great source of publicity for early-stage companies as well bc they're always on the lookout for content.  They might even ask you to write yourself.

3)  Tell your own story.  I have gotten a ton of very pleasant, informative, interesting emails from new CEOs themselves.  This is one of those things that startups can do.  If your English is even halfway decent, write yourself.  You know your company's story and what you're trying to do better than anyone else, and believe me, it shows.  The resulting letter, even if it goes to several media houses, just feels different from a press release written by a random outsider.  (I know some people don't have the time. But it really does make a difference, and it highlights one of the big differences between startups and big corporations - the personal attention that founders/leaders give to every detail of the company's presentation.)  This also means: don't rely on friends to "pass your info along."  If someone volunteers to do that, politely ask for the reporters' email so you can write to him/her yourself and follow up.

4)  Do not be an annoying pest.   Once you've made contact with a journalist, resist the urge to stalk them on FB, send them twice-daily emails asking about the status of a story, threaten them with violence if they don't write about you, etc.  If someone declines to write about you, take it politely and - if they cover your beat and you would still be interested - say that you'll stay in touch.  And then stay in touch!

5)  You cannot control the narrative.   Look, you just cannot do this.  It sucks, but those are facts.  It's a journalist's job to reach out to you for comment on a story that concerns your company.  It's also their job to reach out to your competitors, your former employees, activists who think you're the Devil and possibly a whole lot of other people who may say bad things about you.  If you happen to be in the situation - as a young nonprofit I know recently was - where you were the subject of a  500 word profile in a major national paper and 3 of those words were adjectives about your product that you did not like - that story was probably still a success for you.  There is a difference between balanced reporting and bad reporting.  Bad reporting is one-sided and incorrect.  If neither of these is the case, then the reporter is doing his/her work, even if you don't love the end result.

6)  Prep for a journalist the way you prep for an investor.  You know how, before pitching/meeting an investor, you'll research his prior deal history, his interests and his firm? Do the same thing with the journalists you meet.  Read a few of their articles, know the news outlet they work for.  It will help you give them content that is relevant and that they can use.  At the end of the day, it should be easy for them to write about you.

7)  You can't expunge the record, but you can clarify.  So you said something on the record, and now you wish you hadn't.  This happens all the time.  Resist the urge to call back and say, "Don't put that on the record!" The journalist may or may not comply with the request, but they will certainly hate you.  That said, if you have to do a "takeback", call up, apologize, explain the problematic bit and your issue, and (if you can) clarify what you meant.  And then let it go.  Don't demand that it be struck from the record.  Don't claim afterwards that things were "off the record" if they clearly weren't.  That's deeply annoying and unprofessional.

On Not Having a Job, and Why Everyone Should Try It

One of the recurring themes of this blog, if you haven't noticed, is me telling other people how to live their lives.  This post is going to go on along those themes.

On her (in?)famous blog, Penelope Trunk mentions that she tends to cycle through employment. She'll go through periods of intense work and then periods when she doesn't work quite so hard.

I don't know about that, but I can say that the past five months (of deliberate unemployment) have been one of the best periods of my life.

Here's what happened: around June of last year, I had a great job doing work that I loved.  In many ways it was exactly what a job should be: I'd worked my ass off, been reprimanded, been taught, learned my weaknesses and my strengths, created a joint vision with a great team and managed to end up with a decent number of tangible accomplishments.  But I felt like I was at the limit of what I was going to learn, both personally and professionally, and I was ready to try and strike out on my own.  I knew that what I wanted next, even though I wasn't sure exactly how I would get it.

I told my bosses that I was planning to go, and we worked to create a transition plan.  And then, at the end of October, I left.  I was incredibly nervous about it.  Like everyone else (but especially those of us in this hyperactive generation) I define myself by the work I do.  For the past three years, I'd had two jobs doing great work that I genuinely enjoyed.  My "work", for me, meant what was printed on my business card.  I worked a lot, and I spent even more time thinking about work.

It was hard to explain this decision to others. Not having a job is not considered an option, it's a position of last resort.  My parents, far away in Washington DC, now had to contend with awkward questions at dinner parties as to what I was doing.  "Why doesn't she come home?" "Why doesn't she get married?" "What is wrong with her?"  I'm not the best at keeping in touch, which I'm sure made these explanations a lot harder to provide.  Nor was I looking forward to meeting new people and answering their questions about what I did for a living with a blank stare.  Not at all.

But then I began to think a lot about who I was, and what my "work" is.  And what it means to me, and why I do it.  I began to think about those crazy dreams that I'd tucked away in the back of my mind - being a freelancer, for example - that I hadn't gotten around to because I was so busy working my jobs.  I felt that really old childish hunger that I hadn't felt since I was a teenager.  That gnaw in the gut - I'm going to do it all, I'm going to show them.

These past five months turned out to be the busiest of my life.  I knew that I wanted to work in digital media, and push the boundaries of the conversation around news x tech, and I began experimenting with new ways to reach that goal.  I applied for and got a scholarship to do a professional development course in the US.  I started a non-profit and organized events.  I freelanced for some great magazines (with a few more coming up!)  I won a reporting fellowship, and got to spend a few months researching a subject I really like. I started volunteering at another non-profit, just because I believe in the mission.  I even found time for an old love - acting in a theatre festival.  Things that had seemed like big obstacles before - pitching editors, for example - became daily events (as did rejection!)

This entire time, I resisted the urge to take another job.  Several came my way, and the pay was good, and I'm sure they would have been satisfying.  But I was enjoying doing things I'd dreamed about.

Then, out of the blue and not at a particularly good time, I finally got an offer I couldn't turn down.  After thinking about it for a long time, stressing over the potential downside, analyzing the upside - I realized I really wanted to do it.  It will be a huge challenge, and I'm excited, nervous and happy to get back to "work." But I've also realized that regardless of what gets printed on business card, work doesn't stop, and neither does challenge.  And challenging, meaningful work - not a job - is what creates satisfaction.

Regardless of why people aren't working, I would encourage everyone to try and own that time, rather than think of it as an interlude or an interregnum.  To use it to push harder for their goals than before.

There's one parenthetical note I should add here: I know that being unemployed by choice is an incredible luxury, and I am fortunate to have had it.  Yes, I saved the money to do it, but that doesn't change the fact that it was good luck.  I realize that to a lot of people who are struggling to find a decent job that'll pay bills, this post will come across as privileged and tone-deaf.  And I am sorry for that.  What I'm trying to document, as you'll see, is how I came to broaden my definition of what "work" means for me.  I hope that's something to which people can relate.

Do not hit on me when...

I promised a friend a post dedicated to "the fine men of Delhi." I opted for mockery masquering as advice.

Men in India seem to believe, mistakenly, that the West is some Elysian sexual paradise where dudes never get shot down.  Unfortunately, that's just not the case - Darwin's theories are, it turns out, not bound by geography.  Still, whether it's lecherous policemen, clueless colleagues, smirking clubgoers or overhelpful shopkeepers, (many, not all!) men in this country simply do not seem to know when to quit.

This post is for them.
Do NOT hit on me when...

1.  You are the policeman assigned to make a case report on a possible burglary at my place of residence.

2.  I board your bus and ask if you stop at the Ring Road.  You do now?  That's great. Keep your eyes on the road.

3.  I'm in the hospital, waiting at the bedside of someone I love who is seriously, seriously ill.

4.  I'm in the hospital.

5.  Your wife and children are standing mere yards away.

6.  You have a live-in girlfriend of several years whom you'd rather not talk about because "it isn't that serious" and "she's really just a roommate, anyway."

7. You're wearing a leopard-print turban and we've all had a few too many drinks at the Taj.  I can adjust my nametag myself, thanks.

8.  You're an elephant handler.  This isn't a circus.

9.  You've just finished taking a piss by the side of the road.

10. You've just tried to sell my friend some possibly illegal item in an alley, then brushed off your jacket and proclaimed, "Even the police can't touch me."

11.  There's one of me, six of you and your friends, and it's late at night on a deserted South Delhi road.

12.  We happen to be staying at the same hotel, and the doors don't lock properly.

13.  The cost of your car could feed a village for a year.  All I see is four wheels and a whole lot of nerve.

14.  I got into your auto.  (And you didn't even go by the meter.  Seriously.)

15.  ...you think I know who your father is.

16.  ...you feel the need to tell me who your father is.  He owns a hotel in Karol Bagh?  I thought so.

17.  The bar has just shut down, my friends look lost and you "know where the real party is."

18.  You don't know the difference between "your" and "ur."

19.  You understand what the hell this emoticon means: ({})

20.  You're not wearing pants. Seriously, dude, those aren't pants.

21.  You've just charged me Rs. 1000 when the sign says Rs. 100.  I may have an American accent, but that doesn't mean I can't read.

22. You've just stolen my friend's purse.

23.You've just tried hitting on my friend, and failed.  Love isn't like Wheel of Fortune; sometimes, you only get one spin.

24.  Your opening line is "so, your name sounds like it could be the name of a stripper."

25.  Your opening line is, "wait, let me guess your cup size."

26.  You're engaged, and everyone knows it.

27.  You're engaged, and no one knows it.

28.  You think drunk driving is only a crime if someone gets caught.

29.  There's multicolored embroidery on the back pockets of your pants.

30.  Your Facebook profile picture is a Bollywood movie star.

31.  You think a wild night out is Thursday cocktails at the Delhi Gymkhana.

32.  Your opening line is, "I really want a six-pack, but so far I've only got four..."  Also, "gymming" is not actually a verb.

33.  Your opening line is, "Want to go back to my house?  I've got full power backup."

34.  Your shaadi.com profile says, "I prefer a woman who doesn't look bored in bed."

35.  Your shaadi.com profile.  Full stop.

36.   I'm friends with your daughter. No thanks, Uncle.

37.  You refer to yourself as the "King of Twitter."

38.  "So what do you do?" "I'm an entrepreneur."  "What does your company do?"  "It's really too complex to explain to someone who isn't an expert in the field."

39.  "So what do you do?"  "I'm an entrepreneur."  "What does your company do?"  "[Five hour long monologue.]"

10 Foods to Eat in India

I recently came across one of those 100 Foods to Eat Before You Die lists.  (What do you call that kind of a list?  A bucket list?  An edible bucket list?  Just an edible bucket?)

Anyway, these lists are clearly arbitrary, but I decided to make a list of 10 Things to Eat in India.  Here are the criteria:  1) I've eaten them.  2)  They were delicious. Or at least memorable.  3) I haven't had them in the United States, and don't even know if they're available.

1.  Pomfret.  How to describe this vicious beastie?  I was introduced to pomfret at a fancy dinner, or at least a dinner where it probably wasn't a good idea to spend twenty minutes subtly picking tiny tiny fish bones out of my gums, although that is what I ended up doing.  Pomfret is not for the inexperienced seafood eater.  Although I guess that could be said of any fished served whole.  The word "carnivore" comes from "carne," which means flesh, although it's unclear whether there's any of that to be found on this particular animal.  Nonetheless, it's a delicacy in Mumbai, where I lived for three months when I first moved to India.
2.  Solkadi.  To describe this particular Konkani dish in bare words is to do it an injustice: a sour, purple, cold soup made from the juice left over after boiling kokum (mangosteen) fruit peels for a long time.  It doesn't sound appetizing, and yet it is.
3.  Sabudana Papad.  Technically, I have eaten this at home in the United States, and it's one of my favorite things.  These are fried wafers made from pearl tapioca, typically served (although I'm not sure why) during the Hindu festival of Navratra.  (Tapioca is the same ingredient used to make the bubbles in bubble tea.)  Fun fact: Tapioca comes from cassava, which I didn't know until I wrote this blog entry.
4.  Appam.  These are amazing, amazing things.  I freely admit I am not what we in India refer to as a "foodie," but to me an appam can most accurately be compared to puberty: until I experienced it, I didn't understand why it was such a big deal.  (Let's not take this comparison any further.)  Appams are unevenly shaped frisbees made from fermented rice flour.  (Notice how I'm starting to enjoy the description part of this?  English is inadequate.  Deal with it.)
5.  Mishti doi.  If you are lucky, they will serve this to you in a tiny earthenware pot.  It's a Bengali dessert made from hung curd (dear God, I love the way we describe things in India.  I mean, hung curd?  It's yogurt that's been wrapped in a cheesecloth and hung from a hook for a while.  The whey drains out, and all that's left is the thick part of the yogurt).  Sweetened with jaggery, which brings me to...
6.  Jaggery.  This is unrefined whole cane sugar.  At a popular chain of historical theme parks, women in traditional Rajasthani garb will serve you rotis made from bajra (pearl millet) with flakes of golden jaggery and a dollop of ghee (clarified butter) in the middle.  One of my well-meaning relatives said, "the women of our family used to serve rotis like this to their menfolk generations ago."  To which I replied, "didn't they also practice mass ritual suicide?"  To which she replied, "Can we focus on the food, please?"
7.  Khandwi.  I did once have this at a relative's house in Chicago.  Khandwi is a Gujarati snack.  Literally, it's a rolled up dough made from gram flour mixed with yogurt.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you really want to know what this is, try a Google Image Search.  My first week in India, a cousin took me to a Gujarati snack shop.  We bought a pound of Khandwi to serve to guests later that night.  By the time the guests arrived four hours later, the Khandwi was gone, and the only evidence was my stomachache, which lasted for 6 days.  It was that good.
8.  Dhan sag.  A Parsi dish, this is lentil soup with kebabs in it.  (Kebabs: tiny fried balls of spiced, ground meat)  I have this at my aunt's parents' house all the time, but haven't really had it anywhere else.  It's a well-known dish in the community, but not sure about outside of that.
9.  Sweet potato chaat.  Made from Indian sweet potatoes, which are soft and kinda purple rather than yeasty and orange, this dish crops up on every Delhi street corner during winter.  Vendors smoke the potatoes over hot coals, slice them, and rub the pieces with spices.  When I first tried to get my Mom to try this dish, she took one look at the vendor's crusted and likely unwashed hands and refused.  I coaxed her to take just one bite; suffice it to say, ten minutes later she was ready to order another plate.  Like all street food, it's a bit risky.  I once fed this to a friend who was visiting from the United States and afterwards I was so violently ill that I think I ruptured blood vessels in my face.  It was probably still worth it, though.
10.  Buff fry.  You can substitute mutton/fish/beef here.  "Fry" is a traditional Keralite way of preparing meat: by spicing it up with coconut and chili and then deep frying it.  I had the best fish fry of my life at a friend's house in Thiruvananthapuram.  He made a point of telling me how he'd gone down to the market that morning to procure truly fresh fish.  Best with toddy, but not for the faint of heart.

Wow.  I thought I'd have trouble populating this list, but it turns out I had trouble narrowing it down.  There are actually a lot of things I've left off: raj kachori, chicken manchurian, etc.  But because making it was so much fun, I've decided to make a little bonus list: 5 Things to Drink in India.  Here we go.

5 Things to Drink in India

1.  Sula wine.  For a long time Sula was India's answer to every international wine.  A Maharashtran brand, they have a few decent vintages although it might take a while to find one.  Sula has roughly the same reputation as Franzia, although Sula doesn't come in a box and people besides college students drink it.
2.  Jaljeera.  I love this particular beverage, which is basically water mixed with mint, lemon, black salt, and other awesome things.  A little bit spicy, a little bit sour.
3.  Feni.  No list of Indian beverages would be complete with this famous Goan liquor, made either from coconut or cashew.  I've had the coconut variety, served in a mixed drink called a "Goan sunrise." I don't know if anyone drinks it straight.
4.  Toddy.  After a few servings of Keralite palm wine, a 50-year-old Mallu man (friend and colleague!) infamously told me: "Anika, I'm sure men in the North think you're pretty.  But in Kerala, we prefer plumper brides."  Drink with caution.
5.  Lassi.  Finally, the king.  I honestly cannot believe that I went 23 years of my life without drinking lassi.  Nowadays, I can down three glasses of salty lassi on a summer day.  Lassi is basically a drink made from thinned yogurt.  It's served sweet or salty (I drink the salty version exclusively, but the sweet one is actually more famous).

I'm sure I've forgotten things.  Enjoy!