Alan Weinkrantz's presentation at TechLoft Tel Aviv on PR / Communications Strategies

1. START-UP COMMUNICATIONS
STRATEGIES
TechLoft
15 February 2012
Tel Aviv

2. PLEASE CHECK IN
SHOW SOME LOVE...
•@techloft
•facebook.com/techloft

3. ABOUT
• 30 years - yup, I am an old school PR guy :)
• Based in San Antonio, TX
• Frequent traveler to Israel - 6th trip in the last 12 months!
• Works with Jeff Pulver on State of NOW -#140Conf & Israel
initiatives
• Involved with Israel’s traditional tech sector for the last 18 years

4. Life in three labs....
pulver
geekdom techloft
ecosystem
www.geekdom.com

5. WHO’S IN THE ROOM?
• Five startups... chime in - 30 seconds each
• Show of hands....
• service providers / consultants
• startups
• funding
• looking for partners / job hunting
• previous exits?

6. NOTES...
• This presentation will be online tomorrow....
• alanweinkrantz.com
• slideshare.net/alanweinkrantz

7. GOALS FOR TODAY
• How Strategic 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
• prepare your company for being discovered
• be ready when you are found
• learn how to market to the media

8. WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
• Leaving room open for time for questions, issues, challenges....

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

10. The Media is Your Customer....
bloggers
you the &
analysts end
enter-
users
prise
media

11. I’M NOT READY FOR THIS...
• WTF is a PR person doing in the room?
• Most of you in the room are not ready for this
•Istrongly advise you against doing “PR” until it makes business sense,
or you have the bandwidth to do so (your mileage may vary)

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

13. BAD NEWS :(
• Someone in Jerusalem, NY, Austin, SF, Singapore, Mumbai is thinking
the same thing as you are :(
• Hard to have a defensible position
• Hard to protect your IP

14. QUALITIES THEN...
• Strong Intellectual Property
• Defensible technology
• Strategic investors like Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Motorola
• VC funded
• Office in U.S. for business development

15. QUALITIES NOW
• No Intellectual property
• Nothing really defensible
• Strategic investors & partners - Google, Yahoo, AT&T, MTV, Jeff Pulver
• No funding, or angel, micro, friends & family funding
• Easyto run a virtual company... no real address, but a U.S. / European
presence from a co-working space and an IP phone number

16. THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT
• Hardware
• Software
Go to School
• Telecom Army
Travel Year
• Security Go to University
• Bio
Go to Work
Sciences
• Medical Devices

17. THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT
• Hardware School
Start-Up
• Software Army
Start-Up
• Telecom Travel Year
Start-Up
• Security University
Start-Up
• Bio Sciences Work
• Medical Devices

18. Thought Story
leadership
Design wins “BRAND” Scale
Industry
Standards

19. THEN...
• OEM •
• Design Win
• Industry Standards
• Licensing
• Thought Leadership

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

21. PR in the past.....
company agency media
company analysts

22. 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

23. Alan’s
12 Fundamental Belief Sets

24. #1 - STOP PITCHING
• Start story telling
• Yourpitch helps clarify / define
what you do, but really sucks as
a way to get coverage

25. #2 - YOU’RE REALLY A MEDIA
COMPANY THAT....
•Create and make media • Pinterest
so you’ll be discovered, • Instagram
found and shared
• Cinchcast
• YouTube
• SoundCloud
• Twitter
• Google Plus
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Blog

26. #3 UNDERSTAND THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BEING...
being
discovered and
• Discovered - random
being found
• Found
increases your
- search
chances of
sharing

27. #4 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU
• How do you help others do
something in a compelling way
you could not do before

28. #5 BE HUMAN
• Get off your perch and write
like you would speak
• Conversewith your potential
market wherever they are

29. #6 LIKE MINDED PEOPLE TEND
TO FIND EACH OTHER
• Givethem a place to connect
and share their story

30. #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 ________
• Make it easier to ____________
• Have your voice be heard about _________

31. #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

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

33. #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

34. #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

35. #11 IT’S NOT ALWAYS
REPLICABLE
• Justbecause one strategy or
tactic worked for one company
does not mean it will work for
another

36. Case Studies Are Bullshit
WSJ
CNN
TechCrunch
GigaOm Financial Times
Pando
Daily Good Morning America
NY Times
Gizmodo
BusinessWeek
eWeek
Computerworld
Wired

37. Gartner Group
Robert Scoble
Mike Arrington
IDC
Yankee Group

38. #12 GET LUCKY
• Go wide
• Get lucky
• Runwith it when you strike a
chord

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

40. MYTHS
• Youhave to “know” the
journalist
• Much of this you can do yourself

41. CONSUMERIZATION OF IT
The shift from
• Journalists
aren’t just reporting just reporting
on the news about a product, about
platform or technology, they are
using them for their own technology, to
personal use actually using it

42. CONSUMERIZATION OF IT
NY, LA, SFO are
• Journalists, andespecially
a center, but not
bloggers live at the end of their the center for
IP connection and many travel meeting the
extensively.
media

43. CONSUMERIZATION OF IT
Blogs are a vital
• Many mainstream journalists part of the
source, or verify emerging trends media coverage
by sourcing story ideas from
blogs. supply chain

44. 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

45. 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 meetings in a “what if...” scenario.
Be Ready For PR So You Can Succeed

46. thank you
alan@weinkrantz.com
www.alanweinkrantz.com
Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.
all photos by me

47. please share:)