Where to submit your startup for some coverage

http://blog.traindom.com/places-where-to-submit-your-startup-for-coverage/

by peeplaja • 16 years ago

235 60 16 years ago

blog.traindom.com

bradmccarty3• 16 years ago

The Next Web - brad@thenextweb.com

acangiano2• 16 years ago

I took you up on the offer. ;-)

bradmccarty3• 16 years ago

As have about 10 other so far.

As an FYI, we're only writing up 1 tonight (AnyNewBooks?) and will sort thru the rest for posting soon.

I really do appreciate the submissions though. Please, keep them coming. I live for this stuff.

andjones• 16 years ago

This information is invaluable. This is a great way to attract some traffic / get valuable feedback.

I once posted an early version of one of my sites on the craigslist forum for feedback. The responses were not helpful.

wensing• 16 years ago

Does anyone know how long it usually takes to get your startup added to CrunchBase? My submission for Stormpulse has been in pending status since 9/23.

ElbertF• 16 years ago

Mine took a couple of days at most, it was more than a year ago though.

peeplaja3• 16 years ago

It was a couple of days for me too.

mkuhn• 16 years ago

Less than a day for me a few weeks back.

rafelio• 16 years ago

Maybe never :( it depends

jacquesm4• 16 years ago

Interesting that HN is missing, I've seen sites launched (not always voluntarily!) by a single posting to HN, and I've seen how much coverage you can get from here when announcing my 'two week' project reocities.com .

That seems like an oversight.

chime4• 16 years ago

I thought the same. I posted cakesy.com last night and have already received over 10k uniques via HN. Even if it hadn't made it past top 10, it would still be 500+ uniques. Wouldn't compare against 80k hits via TechCrunch but it might end up a better plan if your potential users are hackers.

aaroneous2• 16 years ago

TechCrunch won't deliver 80k uniques. If you got 10k via HN then that's a lot more than TC has been sending these days.

davidmurphy• 16 years ago

Speaking of which, my colleague had her birthday today and I sent her a Cakesy image. She liked it. Thanks!

peeplaja3• 16 years ago

Thanks for pointing this out, indeed we did not think of HN at the time, but I'll add it to the list.

snitko• 16 years ago

That depends on the website. When I posted http://insiderstalk.com on HN it was in the top-10 for like 2 days, received a lot of cool comments, but barely any coverage even on twitter.

photon_off3• 16 years ago

Oh yeah, I remember seeing this. How's is going for you? Getting much traffic?

I launched http://www.moreofit.com awhile ago and was on the frontpage for awhile too. Got 4k uniques, which trickled down to 100 in about 24 hours. Since then, I get about 200 uniques a day :(

photon_off3• 16 years ago

I just posted my project earlier tonight, and got essentially nothing. I'm fairly certain my site is relevant for hackers, so I'm assuming it just got overlooked.

The sites on the list have a pretty low chance of your site getting "overlooked" as easily as it happens on HN on a fairly frequent basis. There are just so many stories submitted here that they can't all possibly be upvoted. The sites listed are blog-like and guarantee your site gets visibility for some amount of time.

jacquesm4• 16 years ago

Your timing is terrible. Best time to post something on HN is 8:30 eastern time, that way you get the best chance of being noticed. Evening is almost certainly going to miss the majority of the visitors to the site and by morning your post will be gone.

What didn't help is that you posted it as 'self post', so one without a link (those are penalized).

Better to wait until 8:30 tomorrow morning, post it as a linked article and put your explanatory text in the first comment.

Good luck!

tsycho• 16 years ago

What was your site?

ai09• 16 years ago

Can anyone that has submitted their site to Killer Startups quantify the number of solicitations they received from vendors? I ask since I almost submitted my site a couple weeks back but was turned off by these lines in the Killer Startups' Terms of Service:

"You herein consent that The Company will disclose to any third party your name, address, e-mail address or telephone number (you may opt out of this by not submitting your startup), except to the extent necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws or in legal proceedings where such information is relevant. The Company reserves the right to offer third party services and products to you based on the preferences that you identify in your registration and at any time thereafter; such offers may be made by the Company or by third parties."

drubio2• 16 years ago

I didn't submit my info on their site. They actually just picked up my site from somewhere else. Looking at my analytics I realized they were the ones responsible for the sudden spike in traffic.

But now that you mention solicitations, I was contacted by three PR companies in that same traffic spike. It appears to be a hot-bed for PR companies scouring for new clients. I just wonder if the site isn't run by one of these companies.

thefreshteapot• 16 years ago

As an owner of a site wanting to get my name and info out there, this part of the ToS doesnt read to bad.

I certainly understand where your displeasure comes from, yet I do feel it needs to be kept in perspective. As in this would not be acceptable on your personal email. But on your generic site email. ( Which should still have a touch of personal, of course for your users! )

As mentioned in many places, if you are using email via google, you could always "+killerstartups" in your email.

I just tested it myself and it worked great. Not with "+killerstartups" just "+test".

peeplaja3• 16 years ago

I hand-submitted the site, but never received any third-party msg.

mathewsi2• 16 years ago

I received less than 10 emails from people offering to review my site and/or interview me on their blog/site for prices ranging from $10 to around $50. About a week after my review on killerstartups I stopped getting them.

Most were really generic and irritating. I could tell I was just being spammed. However, a couple were well-written and polite. I emailed them back thanking them and letting them know I'd consider their service in the future and they were very nice about things.

jasonlbaptiste• 16 years ago

Why isn't there a commonapp for startup press coverage? Same set of details, no PR fluff, and sent to these sites + one designated person at a publication.

This would just make everyone's life so much easier.

jsm386• 16 years ago

http://www.blogreviewed.com/ (In beta - I believe i saw it on HN previously but can't find anything searching now) is an attempt at this. I think the product needs a lot of work - the tips on pitches and the way they evaluate sites all seem to have been done quickly/formulaically. The idea, as you mention is a good one. If they could improve the execution it would be useful. It's not a common app, but it makes pitching a repeatable process in an automated way (in theory).

I don't know if it was random or not, but it seems like they start with really easy (and in often case worthless) targets and then just work you up to say a VentureBeat. We (GroupTabs) had already been covered there, along with a couple other of their suggested pitch spots - so they definitely are not looking at that, which would be a nice feature.

That said I'm not sure a common app would really work. If you want coverage it's more than pitching the right publications, it's pitching the right people there.

takrupp• 16 years ago

Maybe there should be a tag and thread on HN for startups that are launching or looking for alpha/beta users (like the ASK tag).

catshirt• 16 years ago

a general product/feedback/product feedback tag would be useful

ddrager• 16 years ago

This is a good list to get started. I write for MakeUseOf - generally to submit your app there, use submit@makeuseof.com or if you want to send a direct message to me, dave@makeuseof.com.

Your app must at least be in open beta, and must be free or 'freemium'.

drubio2• 16 years ago

I got picked up by http://www.killerstartups.com/ a few months ago. They have a submission page (though I didn't actually use it)

I actually got about 200+ referrals from them, which was nice. In addition to multiple PR offerings.

mathewsi2• 16 years ago

I got a nice bit of traffic from killerstartups as well (800some referrals I think). Before submitting there, one should figure out when their busy days are, when they seem to have slow days, etc.; my startup unfortunately got placed into a second page early on for their daily reviews and it stayed there most of that day.

Also, despite their audience, I didn't receive a lot of feedback initially. That took some more time.

sshaff• 16 years ago

also try twist - http://thisweekinstartups.com

ashitvora• 16 years ago

"This week in startup" is missing. I like those guys.

hrabago• 16 years ago

I'm surprised at the size of the list here. Are all these sites legitimate, each with their own audience?

I'm wondering if there are equivalents for iPhone apps (or mobile apps in general).

Edit: Created a new post focusing on my mobile apps question so as not to hijack this thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1757510

ohashi• 16 years ago

MO.com - Entrepreneur Interviews (from starting to successful). Tell me the most interesting thing about you, your company or about tech/startups in general if you want a better chance/get something posted faster. Email may be down, moving servers but Kevin@MO.com or use my personal contact form: http://ohashi.info/contact

alain940403• 16 years ago

This is generally bad advice. To quote from the PR panel at the Founder Conference a month ago: the last thing a journalist wants to receive in their inbox is a bland e-mail that was obviously blasted to another hundred places.

video at http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2010/08/24/pr2-0-doesnt-work-fo...

alain940403• 16 years ago

Thanks for group-thinking the downvoting... So I guess I need to explain why I said it's bad advice.

First of all, credentials: I have been covered on many of the sites listed including techcrunch, venturebeat, killerstartups, etc... I know first-hand the kind of response each site generates.

Second: I forced journalists from VentureBeat, the San Jose Mercury News and Wired to spend 30 minutes discussing the best approach to get coverage, in public. I linked to that video. If you don't have time to listen to how the press wants you to pitch to them, don't be surprised that nothing is working out for you :-)

Third. The answer is relationship. Build relationships with the various media & influencers. Not by buying them drinks, but by understanding who they are, what they write about, and why. You surely hate spam. They do to. And using such a list of 100 sites to send the same announcement is spam in their book. I thought you should know.

frisco• 16 years ago

The advice that TC won't cover you unless you're much bigger is bad. They'll cover you however small you are as long as you give them something worth writing about.

jonathanmarcus• 16 years ago

Nothing even comes close to Lifehacker, assuming your product is a good fit. It should be #1 on every start-up's list.

sahillavingia2• 16 years ago

My iPhone app just came out. So far I've just been emailing bloggers and advertising on cheap sites. Also, tweeted about it!

What do you guys suggest to market an iPhone app (more specifically, productivity/utility $1.99)? What has worked for you?

davidwparker• 16 years ago

I would probably make an website that specifically markets your iPhone app and then send that URL out.

sahillavingia2• 16 years ago

I have that, but where would I send it out? Here it is for reference: http://daytaapp.com/

willlangford• 16 years ago

This is a great list. I do write web apps and am working on my 1st "startup" so this will be great.

I would like to expand this, how would one who is opening an online store for example get coverage besides the normal press? I mean yes it is a startup but not, we make everything ourselves, so it's not reselling someone else's stuff, but at the same time doesn't fit the startup mold.

flardinois• 16 years ago

ReadWriteWeb (tips@readwriteweb) - email us and we will definitely take a look.

adlep• 16 years ago

Great list, thank you for compiling this for the rest of us

known• 16 years ago

AdWords ?

Where to submit your startup for some coverage

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