S1E7: Getting Press for Your Startup and the True Role of Communications in Tech

The Operators

In this episode, we’re talking about the vast world of communications. Early on, most founders and investors focus on driving positive coverage in the press. If they’re unfortunate or mess up, mitigating negative coverage may end being a goal too. But communications also includes more broadly considering how and what information to share what inside and outside of the company. It touches on domains like management, recruiting, marketing, and business development. It’s basically everywhere. It’s also a highly optimizable domain in that the difference between using the right words and the wrong words can be the difference between dramatic success and catastrophic failure. We spoke with three communications experts to learn more:

Sean Garrett was the first VP of Communications at Twitter. He previously worked for Governor Pete Wilson of California and has also co-founded two separate communications firms, with clients including Slack, Cisco, and Disney. He’s currently the Managing Partner at Pramana Collective.

Faryl Ury is a former reporter, with experience at NPR and the Associated Press. Her communications experience also began in government, working for a US Senator, before moving to Square, Uber, and then Dropbox for a marketing role. She’s now the Director of Communications at Aurora, a leading autonomous vehicle company, with investors including Sequoia Capital, Amazon, and Hyundai.

Adi Raval served as a journalist at both ABC News and the BBC, covering 9/11, the Iraq War, and the White House before moving into government. He was first a diplomat for the State Department, serving in Afghanistan, and then a spokesperson and Director of Communications at USAID. After leaving government, Adi was the top communications executive for the Bechtel Corporation, and most recently Head of Comms and PR for TaskRabbit. He’s also a term member for the Council on Foreign Relations.