A startup's spokesperson should be chosen based on the subject matter, not the organizational chart. The CEO represents the company's trajectory and commitments, the CTO provides technical credibility, and the CMO offers market insight. Sending the wrong person doesn't just result in a mediocre interview; it weakens both the message and the messenger.

This is a decision most startups make by default. The CEO speaks because they are the CEO. This reflex works half the time and proves costly the other half. Here is the decision matrix, the three situations that allow for no delegation, and what is actually being prepared before a public statement.

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What a spokesperson really commits to

A spokesperson does not express their own opinion: they represent the company. Everything they say becomes an official position, quotable indefinitely, even outside the context in which the sentence was spoken. This is what distinguishes an interview from a conversation.

This distinction has a practical consequence that many founders discover too late. An off-the-record comment, an estimate made from memory, or a critique of a competitor made in jest: all of this can be published, and will be if it is the most interesting part of the exchange.

You must also consider the memory of search engines. A statement picked up by several media outlets becomes a source that answer engines like ChatGPT or Perplexity can cite years later, without the original context. What a spokesperson says today shapes how your company will be described tomorrow.

Finally, the spokesperson upholds a principle that Linker applies systematically: the company is the subject of the article, not the person speaking. The leader is the voice that makes the startup audible and credible. Confusing the two results in personal branding, which is a different exercise with different objectives.

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CEO, CTO, CMO: who speaks based on the topic

The distribution principle is simple. Each profile handles what only they can guarantee. The CEO is the only one who can commit the company to a trajectory. The CTO is the only one who can answer a technical follow-up question without being caught off guard. The CMO is the only one who can provide a market perspective without it being perceived as a sales pitch.

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Two clarifications regarding this grid. First, it describes who leads the topic, not who participates: a product interview can easily involve both the CTO and the CMO, provided that roles are clearly defined in advance. Second, in a startup with fewer than twenty people, these functions often overlap. The grid remains useful because it focuses on the tone of the conversation, not on job titles.

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Should you have a single spokesperson or multiple voices?

Multiple voices, provided they don't speak on the same topics. This is the compromise that works, and it resolves a real tension between two contradictory approaches.

The single-spokesperson approach has a strong argument: consistency. One voice, one message, no risk of contradiction between two interviews. It also has a structural flaw: it creates dependency on one person, caps the potential volume of media coverage, and locks the company into a single tone.

The multi-voice approach expands your reach. Three spokespeople allow you to be present across three types of topics, and therefore in three types of media. Its risk is dissonance, when two executives describe the strategy differently just two weeks apart.

The practical rule can be summed up in one sentence: one voice per territory, never two voices for the same territory. The CTO does not comment on the funding strategy, and the CEO does not venture into technical architecture. Each explicitly refers to the other when a question falls outside their scope, which is perceived as a sign of professionalism rather than an evasion.

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The 3 cases where the CEO must speak, without exception

Three situations allow for no delegation. In these cases, sending someone else is a message in itself, and it is a bad one.

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1. Fundraising

A funding round commits the company's trajectory, its relationship with investors, and a promise of growth. A journalist covering a funding round wants to understand where the company is headed and whether the person leading it is up to the task. It is a judgment on the CEO as much as on the deal itself. We detail this sequence in our article on media relations during a funding round.

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2. Crisis

Security incidents, legal disputes, social issues, or product failures: in a crisis, the CEO's absence is immediately perceived as an attempt to dodge responsibility. The seniority of the person responding is interpreted as a measure of how seriously the problem is being taken.

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3. Strategic shifts

Pivots, discontinuing a product line, downsizing, acquisitions, or changing business models. These announcements all boil down to saying, "what we claimed yesterday is no longer true." Only the CEO can own this gap without making the company appear adrift.

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Preparing a spokesperson: what can be practiced and what cannot be improvised

Preparing for a public statement focuses on four elements, none of which can be sorted out in the ten minutes before an interview.

Key messages. Two or three ideas the company wants associated with its name, formulated in advance as short, quotable sentences. Journalists remember what is explicitly stated, not what is implied.

Difficult questions. Profitability, competition, staff departures, delays, or figures you prefer not to disclose. These questions almost always come up, and improvising leads to either an unfortunate remark or a noticeable silence. Preparation doesn't mean memorizing a script; it means deciding in advance what you will and will not say.

Defining the scope. Every spokesperson must know which topics should be referred to a colleague. These boundaries must be set beforehand, not during the interview.

The format. A twenty-minute phone call, a television appearance, and a podcast recording require different types of preparation. Live broadcasts, in particular, do not forgive any lack of precision, as we detail for TV, radio, and podcast appearances.

What cannot be worked on, however, is the substance. A spokesperson prepared on a subject they do not master remains a spokesperson in difficulty: preparation structures existing expertise, it does not replace it. This is precisely why choosing the right person comes before preparation, not the other way around.

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The most common spokesperson mistakes

• Having the CEO speak on everything, including technical topics where they will be less precise than their CTO. The reader notices it, and so does the journalist.
• Designating a spokesperson who doesn't have the time. An unavailable contact person causes you to lose coverage that was already secured. This is one of the classic mistakes of a PR campaign.
• Letting two executives comment on the same topic without prior alignment.
• Confusing a spokesperson with personal branding. The former serves the company, the latter serves the individual. Both are legitimate, but they are not prepared in the same way and do not target the same media outlets.

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How to decide in your case

Ask yourself one question before every speaking opportunity: what is the most difficult follow-up question a journalist could ask on this topic, and who is capable of answering it without being caught off guard? The answer identifies your spokesperson, regardless of their title.

If no one in the company can answer it, it is not a spokesperson problem: it means the subject is not yet ready for the press.

At Linker, we prepare the spokespeople of the tech startups and scale-ups we support, ahead of every speaking opportunity and not just before major milestones. Discover our approach to media training.