PressFriendly

What PressFriendly does

PressFriendly is a San Francisco-based PR agency founded in 2013 by Joel Andren (CEO) and Paul Denya (CTO) that provides earned media coverage and communications services exclusively to startups from seed through Series B. The firm runs a virtual, software-backed agency model, delivering roughly 6,456 targeted pitches, 452 placements, and 11.1M media views in a recent year across 278 publications, with a lifetime track record of 800+ clients served in 32 countries and 16,000+ media hits. Its services are organized into six lines: Startup PR (the flagship), Tech PR, Consumer PR, Personal & Founder PR, Content & Podcast Studio (owned media), and PR Training for Teams. PressFriendly is singularly focused on the startup audience, distinguishing it from generalist PR firms and from enterprise-tier agencies whose pricing and account staffing models do not fit early-stage companies.

The company's technology backbone is PitchFriendly, a proprietary in-house platform that plans outreach, tracks every pitch by reporter, and exposes real-time activity to clients - explicitly positioned against the traditional agency 'black box.' PitchFriendly processes roughly 35,000+ pitches per year across all campaigns and is also licensed to other PR firms, giving PressFriendly a B2B software revenue stream alongside its agency services. Pricing is transparent and publicly disclosed: a Starter tier at $5,000/month for Seed/Series A startups and a Full Service tier at $9,500/month for Series B, plus custom-scoped consulting for crisis, owned media, and special projects. Customer acquisition is content-led: a 64-page PR Buyer's Handbook, a startup PR guide, free templates, a long-running email newsletter ('The PressFriendly Dispatch'), and organic social drive inbound, with direct website sales and free strategy calls closing the funnel.

Legal entity is Status Applications, Inc. (California). The company is privately held, founder-led, and operates with no disclosed institutional funding across its 12-year history, with a distributed team of 11-50 based in San Francisco, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. Past and current client logos include GitLab, TaskUs, PlanGrid (acquired by Autodesk), DocSend (acquired by Dropbox), Nexmo, Janrain, Zipnosis, Ooni (five-year AOR engagement), Verve Culture, Eczema Honey, and Leesa, anchoring credibility across B2B SaaS, consumer, and health-tech segments.

Name

PressFriendly

Legal name

Status Applications, Inc.

Website

https://pressfriendly.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PressFriendly is a San Francisco-based virtual PR agency founded in 2013 that provides earned media coverage to seed-to-Series B startups, running its services on an in-house PitchFriendly software platform with transparent, real-time campaign reporting.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Relations Services

NAICS

Public Relations Agencies (541820), Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Relations & Press Office Services (BPAFADAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Technology & B2B PR (BPAFADAI), PR, Reputation Management & Earned Media Platforms (BPAMALAO)

Keywords

• Startup public relations
• Earned media coverage
• Media outreach services
• Tech PR agency
• Founder PR services

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Monthly Retainer PR Services: Ongoing monthly retainer model for sustained PR coverage programs. Retainers at $5,000/month for Seed/Series A (Starter tier) and $9,500/month for Series B (Full Service tier). Includes weekly reporter outreach, custom PR planning, media-list development, content development, and regular client calls.
2. Custom Consulting & Projects: Custom-scoped projects for crisis communications, owned-media strategy, and one-off engagements. Priced to the specific problem rather than a flat SKU.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

PressFriendly is a virtual PR agency built specifically for funded startups (Seed through Series B) that delivers earned media coverage through six service lines: Startup PR, Tech PR, Consumer PR, Personal & Founder PR, Content & Podcast Studio, and PR Training for Teams. Every engagement is run on the firm's proprietary PitchFriendly software platform, which plans outreach, tracks every pitch by name and date, and exposes real-time campaign status to clients. The firm supplements retainer services with crisis communications consulting and licenses PitchFriendly to other PR agencies.

Product overview

PressFriendly is a startup-focused PR agency that offers a portfolio of earned media services across six core offerings: Startup PR (the flagship service for seed and Series A companies), Tech PR, Consumer PR, Personal & Founder PR, Content & Podcast Studio, and PR Training for Teams. The agency operates on a proprietary software platform called PitchFriendly, which handles outreach planning, pitch tracking, and real-time client visibility. The service operates on a virtual agency model with transparent, measurable deliverables.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PitchFriendly: The software platform built in-house that powers every PressFriendly campaign. It is also licensed to other PR firms to run their own outreach. Features include planning outreach, tracking every pitch, and providing clients live status on work.

Products and services

• Startup PR

Quantifiable outcome

• 452 media placements and 11.1M media views in a single year
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• PitchFriendlycoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2013PitchFriendly is the proprietary software platform built in-house by PressFriendly's CTO & Founder Paul Denya. It powers all PressFriendly campaigns with outreach planning, pitch tracking, and real-time client visibility. The platform sends ~7,000+ targeted pitches a year to 2,500+ reporters. Some top PR firms now license PitchFriendly to run their own outreach operations.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Prowly: PR SaaS platform for press release distribution, journalist outreach, and media relations workflow. Comparable to the PitchFriendly platform in targeting PR teams with software-led outreach.
• Muck Rack: PR software platform providing journalist database, media monitoring, and pitch tools. Most direct software-side peer to PressFriendly's PitchFriendly platform, with overlap in the reporter-relationship and pitch-tracking workflow.

Direct peers

• Walker Sands: B2B tech PR and demand-gen agency with strong startup and SaaS focus. Closely comparable target customer (funded tech startups) and service mix (media relations, analyst relations, thought leadership) to PressFriendly.
• BLASTmedia: PR agency exclusively serving B2B tech companies including SaaS, cybersecurity, and developer tools. Highly comparable positioning to PressFriendly's Tech PR offering and similar size/scale.
• Zen Media: PR and integrated marketing agency focused on B2B tech, SaaS, and startup clients. Direct competitor in the same niche—media relations and thought leadership for emerging technology companies.
• RH Strategic: PR and public affairs firm focused on technology, healthcare, and education clients. Comparable retainer model and B2B tech/startup focus.
• Inkhouse: PR agency for technology and B2B companies, from early-stage to enterprise. Direct overlap on tech-PR retainer services and startup-segment targeting.
• Crenshaw Communications: B2B PR agency serving technology and professional services clients, with a comparable retainer structure and startup-to-mid-market client mix.

Broad incumbents

• PAN Communications: Mid-to-large integrated marketing and PR firm with a strong B2B tech practice. Comparable services across media relations, analyst relations, and content but with broader industry coverage and larger team.
• 5W Public Relations: Full-service PR agency with a dedicated consumer and tech practice serving startups through Fortune 500s. Comparable in media relations services but much broader in scope and scale than PressFriendly's startup-only focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pressfriendly
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pressfriendly
• Instagraminstagram.com/pressfriendly
• Facebookfacebook.com/PressFriendly

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about PressFriendly