Startups, Mumbai
PR for Mumbai startups, before there is a funding round to announce
Most startup PR advice assumes a raise. If you have not raised, you still have data, a founder with an argument, and a sector nobody is explaining properly. Those are stories. The round is just the easy one.
Angles
Four stories most startups are sitting on
What feels routine inside a company is frequently the most interesting thing about it from outside.
Your own data
You see patterns nobody else can. What your users do, how behaviour shifted, what the numbers say about your market. Original data is the single most reliable way to earn business coverage.
A contrarian position
Something widely believed in your sector that you think is wrong, argued properly with evidence. Journalists need people willing to say things.
The founding problem
Not the origin myth, the specific problem that made the business necessary. Concrete and human, and it explains the product without reading as a pitch.
A hard decision
A pivot, a product you killed, a market you left. Admissions get read. Announcements do not.
Realistic targets
Which publications are actually available to you
Aiming only at the national business press is how startup PR budgets get spent with nothing to show.
Reachable early
- Trade press in your specific sector
- Regional and vernacular business pages
- Startup and tech newsletters
- Podcasts, which are consistently underrated
- Comment and expert-quote opportunities
Realistic later
- National business dailies
- Major business magazines
- Broadcast business coverage
Trade press is better than it sounds. Your buyers read it more carefully than they read the national papers, and a trade placement is often worth more commercially than a passing mention in a bigger title.
Practicalities
What a startup should expect from a retainer
PR is senior time, which makes it expensive relative to an early-stage budget. Knowing that upfront prevents a bad decision.
The floor
Published boutique retainers start around ₹80,000 a month. Below roughly ₹50,000 there is not enough senior time to develop stories, and it becomes release-writing.
The timeline
Six months to judge it. The first month is groundwork, trade and regional coverage lands in months two and three, national becomes plausible once there is a track record.
The alternative
If the budget is not there, one well-run project around a genuine milestone beats a thin ongoing retainer. We will say so rather than take the monthly fee.
FAQs
Startup PR: common questions
We have not raised funding. Is PR a waste of time?
No, though it is harder. Funding is simply the easiest story to place because the news is self-evident. Without it you need data, an opinion or a genuinely interesting decision, all of which are available to most startups and none of which require a round.
When should we start, relative to a funding announcement?
Two to three months before, if you can. Journalists who already know you are far more likely to cover the round properly than ones receiving a cold release on the day. Arriving the week of the announcement means competing with everyone else doing the same.
How much does startup PR cost in Mumbai?
Published boutique and specialist retainers start from about ₹80,000 a month, with growth-stage briefs typically ₹1,50,000 to ₹2,50,000. Award fees, events and 18% GST sit outside that.
Can PR help us raise?
Indirectly. Investors check what exists about you, and credible third-party coverage helps. It will not make a weak business fundable, and anyone suggesting otherwise is overselling.
Should the founder be the spokesperson?
Almost always, at this stage. Journalists want a person with a view, not a communications department. It also means the reputation accrues to someone who will still be there in two years.
What if we get a difficult question?
We prepare you for it beforehand. The questions that damage startups are the predictable ones nobody rehearsed: runway, competition, why the last thing did not work.
Tell us what you know that others do not
That is usually where the story is. We will tell you whether a journalist would agree.