Essential Media Communication Guide for Crypto Entrepreneurs
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Essential Media Communication Guide for Crypto Entrepreneurs
For startups, media remains a crucial tool for precisely conveying brand messages and expanding influence.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Paul Cafiero, Partner in Marketing Communications at a16z
Translation: Saoirse, Foresight News
“Communications” (often abbreviated as “comms”) is an umbrella term referring to the strategic systems companies use to effectively engage with various audiences—including employees, media, investors, and other stakeholders.
Core components of communications include creating original content on owned platforms such as official websites and social media (also known as “speaking directly,” i.e., reaching audiences without relying on third-party channels); publishing thought leadership articles; managing internal employee communications to ensure alignment; collaborating with key opinion leaders (KOLs) to amplify messaging; securing organic (non-paid) and paid speaking opportunities at events. Additionally, communications inherently involves media engagement—commonly referred to as public relations (PR)—which remains a vital channel for conveying corporate messages externally.
No single communications strategy or tactic universally outperforms others. Therefore, the critical question becomes: how do you determine which approach best fits your needs?
In this article, I’ll systematically outline how to build a communications strategy, highlight core tools available to achieve your goals, and explain why traditional media relations—despite its mixed reputation in certain tech circles—remains a powerful tool for startups to precisely convey brand narratives and expand their influence.
How to Build a Scientific Communications Strategy
My framework for building a communications strategy revolves around answering three key questions:
- What are your core business objectives? (e.g., user growth, fundraising, establishing industry credibility)
- Which key audience segments must you reach to achieve these goals? (e.g., potential customers, venture capitalists, developers)
- What are the most effective tactics to reach these audiences?
At the heart of all strategic thinking lies your company’s “core message and narrative logic”—that is, the fundamental problem you and your team are solving, the value it will bring to the industry or society once solved (what the world will look like afterward), and which groups will benefit directly in this new scenario.
No matter who your audience is or which medium you use (e.g., written content, video, live events), your core narrative and messaging should remain consistent—it forms the foundation of brand recognition. However, different audiences require different content emphasis: investors tend to focus on business metrics, monetization models, and future growth potential, while media prioritize news “hooks” (headline appeal), pivotal turning points in a company's journey, and story readability.
What Core Communications Tools Are Available?
Although business goals and target audiences vary across projects, the underlying framework of usable communications tools remains consistent and includes five primary categories:
- Owned Content: Channels fully controlled by the company, such as official blogs, brand videos, whitepapers, or research reports published on the website. The advantage lies in deep transmission of brand philosophy without reliance on third-party approvals.
- Social Platforms (brand + personal accounts): While companies don’t own the platforms themselves, they serve as highly efficient conduits because audiences actively spend time there (e.g., X, Discord). For startups, a dual approach—using both brand accounts for official updates (product launches, industry insights) and personal accounts of founders/key team members for more humanized content (entrepreneurial reflections, technical musings)—can enhance trust when combined.
- Community Building: Creating dedicated online communities via tools like Discord, Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp to foster discussions around the brand or industry. This enables direct connection with core ecosystem participants—developers, partners, loyal users—for feedback collection, consensus-building, and forming a private information-dissemination hub.
- Speaking Engagements & Industry Conferences: Participating as speakers or attendees at major offline events and summits. These settings allow direct access to high-quality audiences (industry professionals, investors), reinforce professional branding through live interaction, and generate valuable follow-up materials (e.g., recorded talks, press coverage).
- Media Collaboration: Encompasses both proactive and reactive modes. Proactive efforts include pitching story ideas (e.g., innovative technologies, market insights), offering experts for interviews, or submitting op-eds. Reactive work involves responding to media inquiries (e.g., commentary on trending topics, clarification of company developments). “Media” here includes two types: vertical crypto outlets (e.g., Coindesk, The Block—highly targeted audiences) and mainstream traditional media (e.g., The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg—broader reach, higher credibility).
The Strategic Value of Media Relations for Startups
Among all communications methods, media relations (i.e., PR) generates the most debate among tech founders—and not without reason. On one hand, some journalists and media organizations have adopted increasingly critical, even skeptical stances toward the tech sector. Yet, in my advisory work with startups, “how to do media well” remains one of the most frequently raised concerns.
Founders often express specific ambitions: How can we get our funding round covered by TechCrunch—a key visibility platform in tech? Can we secure a positive profile feature in Fortune magazine? Or land an invitation to TBPN or collaborate with Bankless on a one-hour podcast episode targeting core crypto audiences?
Why do founders care so much about media? Because regardless of general perceptions, news coverage delivers two irreplaceable benefits:
First, the “third-party endorsement” effect: Objective reporting from media carries more credibility than self-promotion.
Second, the potential for “cross-audience reach”: Media enables access to otherwise hard-to-reach groups—potential top-tier talent (who follow industry trends), prospective clients (learning about your brand via articles), and industry influencers (who may initiate partnerships after reading). Reaching new audiences also feeds back into your owned channels (e.g., driving followers to your official account), and for resource-constrained startups, every opportunity to increase exposure and influence is too valuable to miss.
Take Kalshi, a cryptocurrency firm, as an example: Its founding team recently appeared on CBS’s *Sunday Morning*, a traditional mainstream program. The audience reached through this channel differs significantly from the deeply engaged core users active on X (formerly Twitter) within tech circles—CBS reaches a broader general public, while X skews toward industry insiders. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour shared a telling moment: One team member’s mother finally understood what Kalshi does after seeing the segment. This illustrates the unique power of traditional media—to break beyond existing bubbles and connect with entirely new demographics.
Screenshot from Kalshi team’s interview on CBS *Sunday Morning* discussing its prediction markets business
Note: Male on the left is Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour; female on the right is co-founder Luana Lopes Lara (also one of the youngest self-made female billionaires globally)
This is precisely why media relations remains central to the communications toolkit: It not only drives traffic to your owned channels (e.g., including website links or account handles in articles) but also helps establish founders and companies as credible authorities (through in-depth features showcasing technical depth), and even accelerates business outcomes—companies with media backing attract talent more easily during hiring, and sales cycles shorten when prospects already recognize the brand, significantly reducing trust costs. Over time, media collaboration also amplifies the impact of your “direct voice”: When owned content and media coverage align, your message cuts through noise more effectively.
Therefore, founders shouldn’t shy away from engaging with media—but instead learn how to use it strategically to stand out amid information overload and achieve meaningful breakout.
Key to Media Engagement: How to Stand Out
We live in an era of extreme information overload—nowhere more evident than in journalism. Reporters you aim to reach are drowning in content.
Open the inbox of any tech or crypto journalist, podcaster, or content creator, and you’ll be stunned: hundreds or even thousands of emails from PR professionals pitching clients or projects. Data shows the ratio of PR practitioners to journalists is as high as 6:1—one reporter faces an average of six PR reps bombarding them daily. Under such conditions, journalists lack the bandwidth to sift through pitches, making it difficult to distinguish valuable stories from generic promotional fluff.
Why does this happen? Two main reasons: First, many PR professionals lack proper training and fail to understand real media needs (journalists seek newsworthy narratives, not advertisements). Second, some lack judgment and不敢 push back against unreasonable client demands (e.g., pushing coverage for trivial updates), resorting instead to mass-spam tactics that flood journalists with low-quality content—fueling resentment among reporters, producers, and podcast hosts, creating a vicious cycle.
Worse still, some crypto projects overpromise, claiming to “solve major industry problems” while delivering little tangible progress—existing only as vaporware (concept-only, no real product). Such misleading promotion erodes media trust in the entire sector, making it harder for genuinely strong projects to gain attention.
Yet paradoxically, the scarcity of quality stories amid a flood of noise creates an opening for truly valuable companies: Those able to clearly articulate their value proposition and build deep trust with mainstream media will gain a significant edge—because they convince journalists that covering them adds real value, earning greater visibility.
Practical Guide: From Zero to Effective Media Engagement
For founders aiming to engage media effectively, four core principles are essential:
1. Founders Are the Best Spokespeople
A company’s core narrative and brand story are ultimately extensions of the founder’s vision—so never assume an external team can fully take over. While hiring PR professionals, agencies, or freelancers can help (e.g., structuring content, connecting with journalists), they can at best open the door. What truly resonates—with both media and audiences—is the founder’s firsthand storytelling. Founders know the mission, struggles, and values better than anyone, and can convey authenticity and expertise. Thus, founders must personally shape the story and deliver it compellingly—through interviews, bylined articles, or public appearances.
2. Trust Is the Foundation of Media Relationships
Think of media relations like business development (BD): It’s not about one-off transactions, but long-term trust-building. Whether pitching speaking opportunities or engaging journalists on X about industry topics, the goal is to establish personal credibility through consistent, valuable interactions. Often, a journalist decides to cover a company, invite a founder onto a podcast, or offer a speaking slot not just because of a news hook—but because they trust the founder or PR team. They know they’ll receive honest, insightful input (exclusive analysis, timely responses), not canned corporate speak. This trust is earned through reliability: delivering promised materials on time, answering candidly, refusing to pressure media into publishing weak content.
How to Build Trust with Key Media Contacts?
Approaches vary, but the core principle is: offer value before asking for anything.
- Step One: Become a go-to information resource. When a relevant trend emerges, proactively share expert perspectives (without self-promotion) to help journalists deepen their coverage. Or support reporting by providing useful data or case studies (within compliance boundaries).
- Step Two: Avoid transactional communication. In early interactions, don’t rush to promote your product. Instead, focus on understanding what the journalist needs—their beat, interests—and provide helpful content accordingly. Show you care about their work, not just using them for exposure.
- Step Three: Strengthen bonds offline. Industry conferences and forums offer ideal chances for face-to-face conversations. Step beyond formal topics to discuss broader trends or personal insights—transforming a professional contact into a trusted peer, which strengthens long-term collaboration.
3. Media Are Neither “Friends” Nor “Enemies”—They’re Professional Partners
Recognize this: Some outlets have editorial biases (e.g., regulatory scrutiny, ESG focus), but for most journalists, the primary goal is simply to find and report compelling stories—that’s their job. So avoid treating media as “friends to please” (expecting favorable coverage via favors) or “enemies to fear” (avoiding engagement due to negative coverage risks). The right mindset is professionalism: Be transparent about strengths and achievements, yet open about challenges (e.g., respond honestly to tough questions within legal bounds, rather than dodging them). Also learn to set boundaries: Politely decline to disclose sensitive topics (e.g., undisclosed funding details, core IP), without compromising integrity to appease media. And reject unreasonable requests (e.g., inflating results). Long-term, a “honest and principled” reputation earns more respect than blind compliance.
4. Embed Your Story Within Larger Trends to Resonate
The most effective founder-communicators share one skill: the ability to connect their company’s mission, product, or vision to broader industry shifts or societal needs—making clear that the company exists not just to profit, but to advance the field or solve real-world problems. Stories framed within larger contexts carry far greater news value and emotional resonance than mere product announcements.
Consider year-end summaries like Spotify Wrapped, Google’s Year in Search, or a16z and Coinbase’s annual State of Crypto reports. Their widespread traction stems from stepping beyond self-promotion—they link data to “user behavior shifts” and “emerging trends,” offering unique insights, enhanced by visual design for accessibility and shareability.
Crypto founders can apply this logic: tie your story to macro themes like “how stablecoins improve cross-border payments,” “AI + blockchain solving industry pain points,” or “DeFi advancing financial inclusion.” When your narrative aligns with these zeitgeist topics, media are more inclined to cover it—not just as “company news,” but as a reflection of wider industry evolution, delivering greater value to readers.
The core rule: Don’t just say “what we did”—explain “what it means for the industry and society.” That’s how you cut through the noise.
Proactive Defense in Media Relations: Prepare Before Crisis Hits
Some founders may ask: “Can I just avoid media altogether?”
That’s understandable, but unrealistic. As startups grow—especially as operations scale and visibility increases—staying off the public radar becomes nearly impossible. Whether through intentional exposure or passive industry attention, media will eventually come knocking.
A smarter approach is to proactively build media relationships rather than react passively. This is especially crucial during negative coverage or crises (fair or not). Pre-existing media trust acts as insurance: If you’ve maintained good rapport with key outlets, journalists are more likely to hear your side and present a balanced view, rather than relying solely on external claims. Conversely, if you’ve never engaged media, a negative story could leave you voiceless and vulnerable.
Crisis communications is a specialized discipline, to be explored in depth elsewhere. But the guiding principle is simple: the best defense is proactive offense. Before crisis strikes, do three things: build robust communication channels (e.g., verified accounts, owned communities) to quickly disseminate your message; foster trust with key journalists and industry voices so you have allies to engage; and deeply understand your core audience’s concerns to ensure your messaging lands effectively. With these foundations, even in crisis, you can respond with clarity and confidence.
Conclusion
Today, some founders see media as intimidating, while others treat it as a scapegoat when things go wrong (e.g., blaming lack of coverage for poor traction). But in reality, media is simply a bridge for information. With proper preparation—clear storytelling, capable teams—and the right mindset—professionalism, long-term relationship-building—it becomes a powerful ally in scaling your company: breaking into new audiences, building authority, and accelerating growth.
May every founder move confidently along the path of transparent brand-building, mastering media collaboration as a core skill—so your company’s value can be seen, understood, and recognized by more people.
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