Guide · Pitching

How to pitch a journalist

Most pitches are deleted from the subject line and the first two sentences. Reporters are not looking for reasons to say no. They are looking for a story that fits what they cover, from someone who has clearly read their work. Here is what they actually read, and how to write a pitch that gets past the first glance.

By the Earned editorial team · Updated 4 October 2026

What a reporter reads, in order

A reporter on a busy beat can get many pitches a day. Each one gets a few seconds before it is read properly or deleted. In that time, they look at three things:

1. Who it is from. A founder writing in their own name reads differently from an agency blast. Your name and title should be obvious.
2. The subject line. If it reads like marketing, most reporters stop here.
3. The first two sentences. This is where they decide whether there is a story for their readers. If the news is in paragraph three, they never reach it.

Everything else in the pitch exists to back up those first lines with facts the reporter can check.

Step 1: Find the right reporter

The most common reason a good pitch fails is that it went to the wrong person. A reporter who covers consumer apps will not write about your logistics software, however good the pitch is.

• Search for recent stories about companies like yours, your competitors and the problem you solve. Note who wrote them.
• Read their last five to ten pieces. Are they writing news, features, trend pieces or analysis? Do they quote founders?
• Check that they still cover the beat. Reporters change beats and outlets often. A bio or a recent byline tells you where they are now.
• Start with trade and regional reporters. They cover your space closely, they are more likely to reply, and their coverage gives national reporters something to find when they search your name.

Ten well-chosen reporters beat a list of five hundred. A pitch that fits one reporter's beat exactly is worth more than the same pitch sent to everyone.

Step 2: Find the story in your news

Your launch or funding round is news to you. To a reporter, it is a story only if it says something about a bigger trend, a real problem, or a change in a market their readers care about. Before you write, answer these:

• What changed, and why now?
• Who is affected, and how many of them?
• What do you know or have that nobody else does: data, customers, a first?
• Why would this reporter's readers care?

If you can answer the last question in one sentence, that sentence is probably your opening line.

Step 3: Write the subject line

Write it like a headline the reporter could run. Plain and specific beats clever.

• Specific: name the company type, the number, the place or the result.
• Short: six to ten words is plenty.
• No hype: leave out "revolutionary", "game-changing", "exclusive opportunity" and capital letters.
• Flag exclusives and embargoes honestly, and only if they are real.

Step 4: Write the pitch

A structure that works for most founder pitches:

1. The news, in one sentence. What happened and why it matters now.
2. Why this reporter. One line that connects it to something they have written.
3. The proof. Two or three facts with numbers or names: customers, growth, funding, data.
4. What you can offer. An interview, data they can use, a customer who will talk, early access.
5. Your name, title and how to reach you.

Keep it under 150 words, in plain text, with no attachments. Put links in the body if they help, and a press kit link at the bottom if you have one.

A before-and-after example

Here is a typical first draft, and the same pitch rewritten. The company, people and numbers are invented for illustration.

Fernway, Maya Chen, "Dana" and all figures in this example are fictional.

What changed

• The subject line is the story, not an announcement. A reporter can picture the headline.
• The news is in the first sentence, with a number, a place and a result.
• The funding is context, not the lead. Very few reporters cover a seed round on its own.
• It proves the writer read the reporter's work, in one specific line.
• It offers something useful: customers who will talk and data nobody else has.
• It is from a person, with a name, a title and a phone number. No attachment.

Timing and follow-up

• Send early in the reporter's working day, and avoid sending in the middle of a big news event on their beat.
• Give lead time for planned news. For a launch or a round, reach out before the announcement so the reporter has time to write. If you offer an embargo, agree on it before you share details.
• Follow up once, a few working days later, in the same thread. Add something new: a fresh number, a customer, a reason it matters this week.
• Then stop. No reply usually means not this story, not never. Pitch them again when you have something that fits their beat.

Mistakes that get pitches deleted

• Pitching a reporter who does not cover your space.
• "I hope this email finds you well" and three sentences of throat-clearing before the news.
• Adjectives instead of facts: "leading", "innovative", "disruptive".
• Attachments, especially large ones.
• Mass emails with every reporter in the "To" line, or a mail-merge name that is wrong.
• Following up three or four times, or calling to ask whether they got your email.
• Claims the reporter cannot check, or numbers that do not match what is public.

Do you need a publicist?

Not to send a good pitch. Reporters want to hear from the person who built the company. What a good publicist knows is which reporter covers your space and what story they want. You can learn both by reading closely, and by keeping your list short.

Related

• How to announce your funding round.
• How to get on 30 Under 30.
• Startup Awards Calendar: deadlines, fees and eligibility for 70+ awards and lists.

No pitch guarantees coverage. Reporters decide what to write, and the best pitch still depends on the right story at the right time.