Unlike other types of stories, a funding or launch announcement is hard news, meaning it will only happen once, and it won’t be a story anymore once it breaks. When you pitch the story under embargo, journalists appreciate having time to work on the story, and they also appreciate the guarantee that no one will be able to write before them. With funding stories, if a journalist doesn’t write the day the news is announced, they typically won’t write at all.
You also want to make sure that no one breaks the embargo. This is why you can ask them to explicitly agree to the embargo, ensuring that they’ve registered that there is an embargo and that they know the time it lifts. Once they agree to the embargo, you can send them the full media kit.
Remember, an embargo is different than an exclusive. If you pitch under embargo, there is no understanding that you’re exclusively pitching that journalist. This also incentivizes journalists to post their article right when the embargo lifts, to ensure that no one beats them to the news. If the journalist asks for an exclusive after you pitch them (which will sometimes happen with top-tier publications like the Wall Street Journal), figure out if there are any exclusive angles you can offer them — an interview with your lead VC, a specific funding detail, etc.
If you do offer them an exclusive angle, make sure you don’t offer the same one to any other journalists until after the news breaks. Be very clear what element of the story is an exclusive, and know that sometimes an exclusive angle is not enough. A WSJ journalist might want the entire story to be an exclusive.
Now this gets tricky. To avoid this situation and if you really value an exclusive story (which often means others won’t cover it except for downstream “coverage of the coverage”), we recommend picking one or two journalists who you would be happy offering your story to entirely exclusively and see if they bite first. When you email them, tell them they have a day to claim the exclusive. If they don’t, then you can send the embargoed news to the rest of your list.
We typically recommend sending the initial pitches a week before the embargo lifts, following up once two to three days after the initial pitch, and then again the day the embargo lifts with the full media kit.
Make sure no trace of the news breaks until the day of the embargo lifts. This includes Twitter, Facebook, Medium, and company blog posts. If someone else is making an announcement that will include your news (for example the release of the companies in your Y Combinator batch), make sure to coordinate so that the day of the announcement is the day your embargo lifts.
If you want more background on embargoes, including what types of stories to pitch under embargo, you can check out our blog post here.
