James Cook, Tech Editor of Business Insider UK: How tech startups can get newsjacking right

The Balderton Podcast: Tech Investment | Venture Capital | Startup Funding

In the latest Balderton Capital podcast, James Cook talks to Ben Goldsmith about how technology entrepreneurs (and their PRs) can get newsjacking right, and avoid falling foul of a journalist's 'delete' button. James Cook is Technology Editor at Business Insider UK. He was formerly Contributing Editor at The Daily Dot, and the Deputy Editor of The Kernel. He also runs @LedZepNews. 0100 James explains why he currently deletes most of your emails. 0125 “We’ve done this to ourselves” – James admit that journalists do ask for this kind of stuff, but he urges his peers to take caution. 0225 James explains what happens to his inbox when a big news story breaks, and why it is (at present) very difficult to sift through the heft of messages to find the really useful emails. 0400 How can we fix comment fatigue? James tells entrepreneurs not to stop emailing, but warns against sending emails just to check the box that says ‘do some PR’. 0525 A big question: How do you, as a tech entrepreneur or a PR, work your way into a journalists’ good books? 0830 Entrepreneurs need to consider what they can tell a journalist that no one else can. James reminds us that startup founders do usually have incredibly useful knowledge of something very specific, by virtue of them dedicating their lives to one industry. 1130 Journalists have gaps in their knowledge – if you’re sharing a comment, aim to fill those gaps; don’t just repeat obvious sentiment or well-reported facts. 1345 What questions should an entrepreneur ask themselves to ‘sanity check’ whether they should email you? 1520 Entrepreneurs should feel encouraged to give journalists more than just comment: don’t be shy about sharing data, case studies, reports etc. 1720 If you’ve just started out, how do you get to know journalists? 1830 It helps if entrepreneurs demonstrate an understanding of how news works. Understand that journalists are on deadlines, that breaking news need to be fast, and that they appreciate things like imagery and data.