Wiki: your questions about media relations and LinkedIn

Measure PR on three levels: qualified coverage (the right outlet, the right audience, your key messages picked up), observable effects (inbound requests, traffic, journalist inquiries, visibility in AI assistants) and business impact (leads, hires, investor contacts). Advertising value equivalency (AVE) should be left out.

Choose an executive visibility agency on five criteria: whether it defines a positioning before producing content, the seniority and sector knowledge of its writers, the channels it covers (LinkedIn, press or both), how much of the executive's time it needs, and metrics tied to business goals rather than likes alone.

The first criterion is an active network of journalists in your sector, which you can check by asking for five reporters the agency pitched last month. Next come an understanding of tech and of your startup's stage, work on your messaging before any outreach, spokesperson preparation, and measurement that goes beyond counting articles.

Good press coverage appears in an outlet your customers, candidates or investors read. The startup is the subject or is quoted in depth, the article carries your key messages, names your spokesperson and stays findable online. The quality of coverage matters more than the number of articles.

In France, a PR agency costs between €1,500 and €25,000 a month depending on its profile: €1,500 to €3,500 for a boutique agency, €3,500 to €7,000 for a specialist tech agency, €6,000 to €12,000 for a mid-size agency and €12,000 to €25,000 for a large agency. UK and US markets have their own price levels.

Usually from the seed stage, once the startup has early traction, news to announce and a founder who can carry a point of view. At pre-seed, building the founder's LinkedIn presence is a better use of time. By Series A, PR becomes a structured, ongoing channel.

No, editorial coverage cannot be bought: journalists choose their stories independently. What you can pay for is advertising space (sponsored content, advertorials, paid rankings), which must be labelled as such. A PR agency fee pays for the work of preparing and pitching the story, not for the article itself.

Yes, for a tech startup the two channels reinforce each other. Press coverage provides third-party proof, LinkedIn provides reach with your own audience. According to Cision's 2026 State of the Media Report, 62% of journalists use LinkedIn in their work, so the founder's profile matters to the press too.

It depends on the kind of need more than the budget. In France, a PR freelancer (€1,000 to €3,000 a month) suits a one-off announcement, a specialist tech agency (€3,500 to €7,000) suits building a position over time, and an in-house hire suits a startup that already produces a steady flow of news.

Both, but for different messages. The founder's profile carries the point of view, the convictions and the behind-the-scenes story: that is what builds trust. The company page carries official information such as product news, hiring and announcements. For a startup, the founder's profile is usually the main channel.

A startup usually lands its first piece of press coverage two to six weeks after a PR campaign starts, provided it has real news to share: a funding round, a launch or new market data. Without a news hook, expect two to three months. The first weeks go into building the angle, the materials and the journalist list.

A startup founder builds thought leadership by picking a narrow topic, taking a clear stance on it and repeating that stance over time, on LinkedIn and in the press. Expertise alone is not enough: what sticks is a take on the market nobody else has articulated, backed by data only the startup holds.