Seed to Pre-A: stage-by-stage strategy
Startup PR goals change at every stage. At seed the question is "what shows up when someone searches the brand?" — investors and prospective hires must not see an empty results page, and the right answer here is a free channel mix, not paid spend. At Pre-A the goal becomes "investor recognition": ahead of Series A meetings, third-party coverage in tech and industry publications becomes supporting evidence beside the IR deck. After Series A, hiring brand and product release cadence converge, and a regular distribution cadence of 2–4 releases per month is needed. Budget should grow gradually — $0 → ~$100 → $300–$500 — and the lever is usually repeated use of one channel rather than channel diversification.
Free channels to start with
There are more zero-dollar visibility channels than most founders expect. The point is to secure the minimum search footprint.
- · Newswire free coupons (1–2 free releases on signup) — entry-level board-posting visibility
- · Medium and Brunch — first-person founder narrative as an SEO asset
- · OnOffMix and Eventus — Korean event-discovery search visibility
- · LinkedIn company page + founder personal profile — minimum global search footprint
- · Product Hunt for global product launches — single-use but high backlink value
- · GitHub README and Awesome lists for developer-focused B2B
Paid distribution services compared
| Service | Unit | Indicative price | Startup fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newswire | Per release | ~KRW 50k–300k | Single-shot, search visibility |
| Mediabe | Package | From ~KRW 100k | Outlet-selectable |
| BlinkHub Starter | Flat monthly | Low entry tier | Regular cadence + AI writing |
Prices reference public information and market averages; actual quotes may differ.
When to move from free to paid
Paid distribution makes sense at one of three moments: (1) three months before a Series A fundraise — you need to deliberately fill the search results investors will see; (2) the MVP-to-GA transition — features and pricing are settled, so there is real news to publish; (3) a large partnership, award or external event that organic channels cannot reach on their own. Outside these moments paid PR has low ROI. Hiring and sales leads respond better to content marketing (blog, newsletter) than to press releases, so do not confuse the two channels.
BlinkHub Starter plan
BlinkHub Starter is designed to be the lowest-friction entry point for a startup starting its first regular cadence. The AI press release generator turns inputs into a draft in five minutes, the release is pushed automatically to 40 Korean outlets, and the post-distribution report is assembled for you. It is designed for a single in-house marketer to run without retaining a PR agency. Send one release on the free trial and decide the plan based on your actual cadence.