Y CombinatorAbout half of the 6,253 startups in its directory list San Francisco as home.
San FranciscoWhere we are based. Salesforce Tower, Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid from the bay.
AirbnbA YC startup from Winter 2009. Its headquarters at 888 Brannan Street in SoMa.
A free launch and PR audit
Tell us what you're launching and who buys it. Before we meet, we put together who your buyers watch and what got your competitors talked about, for free.
You keep it whether we work together or not.
The creators your buyers already watch
The channels your kind of buyer follows, and which of them already take sponsorships.
What your competitors got coverage for
The launches, boxes and moments that got them press and creator posts, and the ones that went nowhere.
Where to start
The first creators to send your product to, and the one moment worth building your launch around.
1
You book a time
Pick a slot, and tell us in the form what you're launching and when.
2
We send the audit before we meet
You get what we found in writing, before the call.
3
We go through it together
Which creators first, which moment, and what to do in the weeks before launch.
Dennis
We're small, so no sales team. You'll talk to Alice or Dennis.
How Bay Area startups got their launch talked about
Most of these started at Y Combinator. Each card says what happened, what it shows a startup, and links to the page we read it on.
Justin.tv, 2007
Justin Kan strapped a camera to his hat and streamed his life in San Francisco on Justin.tv, all day, every day. About three weeks after launch, tens of thousands of people were watching every day, and fans even watched NPR interview him, live. Paul Graham of Y Combinator had given the team $50,000.
What it shows
The founder made himself the show, and the stunt was the product working in public, so every story about it showed what the product did. The same team later started Twitch. For a launch, we look for a moment where your product does its job in front of creators and the press.
Before it joined YC, Airbnb was called AirBed & Breakfast. For the 2008 election it made two cereal boxes, Obama O's and Cap'n McCain's, only 500 of each, at $39 a box. A TechCrunch writer got both boxes in the mail and called it the best election marketing of the week.
What it shows
The box rode the one story everyone was following, so a reporter had something to hold and a reason to write. Making only a few made people want one. We plan launch boxes the same way: one moment, a small run, sent to the people who tell the story.
Before Dropbox opened to everyone, it posted a demo video on Digg, with little jokes in it made for Digg's readers. Within 24 hours, 75,000 people joined the wait list. The team had expected 15,000 at most.
What it shows
The video was made for one crowd, with that crowd's own jokes, and posted where that crowd already was. Pick one group for your launch and talk the way they do. We look for the creators whose viewers are that group.
Google sent its new Pixel 4 to more than 50 influencers inside a Domino's pizza box. The box read "Hot, Fresh and Hands-Free", to show off what the phone could do without touching it.
What it shows
The phone came inside the one moment you'd want it hands-free, so the unboxing told the story with no script. That's the kind of creator box we plan around a launch.
Coinbase's 60-second Super Bowl ad was a colorful QR code bouncing around the screen, like a bouncing DVD logo. Scanning it led to $15 in Bitcoin for anyone who signed up before February 15. Coinbase's product chief said its landing page got more than 20 million hits in one minute, and the app crashed for about an hour.
What it shows
People had to pick up their phone to find out what it was, so watching the ad was the first step of signing up. Give people one small thing to do right away, with a clear reward, and make sure your site can take the rush.
Airbnb turned a coastal house into Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse, hosted by Ken, with two free one-night stays on July 21 and 22. Time Out put it simply: those were the nights everyone else would be out watching Barbie.
What it shows
Airbnb didn't sponsor the film. It made something of its own that people wanted to talk about while the film was everywhere. We look for the moments your buyers are already watching, and give creators a reason to bring you into them.
Startups and consumer brands in San Francisco and the Bay Area that sell to people, have something launching, and want it talked about where their buyers already spend time.
Founders
It's your launch, and you want the people your buyers trust talking about it, before and after the press does
Heads of marketing and growth
You own the launch budget, and want it spent on creators you can track to a sale
Heads of communications and PR firms
You own the press side, and want a creator side that fits the story you're telling reporters
What we do around a launch
01
Creators your buyers already watch
We match your buyer to creator audience data, and start with the ones whose followers would really want your product.
02
Product in hands early
We send your product to creators weeks before launch and make sure they like it, so the first posts sound like the creator's own.
03
A moment worth covering
A PR box people want to film, a launch stunt, or a quick reaction to something in the news, planned so the press has a story too.
04
Every sale traced to a creator
We set up a coupon code or a UTM link for each one. That lets us see exactly how many customers come in through each influencer, and how many keep buying.
Your value propositions, how you want the product framed, and what your competitors got coverage for.
2
We confirm where you sell
Where you sell and ship, and which markets to go after first.
3
We map your buyers to creators
Your audience against creator data: who watches whom, and where.
4
We seed before we pay
Product goes out first, and we build the relationship before talking about fees.
5
We build the moment and write the briefs
The box, the stunt or the news hook, and your value propositions front and center in every brief. We review every single ad before it goes live to keep quality and messaging on point.
6
We look at the results
Which creators brought in customers, and which ones to keep for the next launch.
We find creators, send product, write briefs and review every post before it goes live.
01
We negotiate the deals
In a lot of cases we land a rate low enough that the savings alone offset our fee.
02
We work beside your PR firm
They keep the reporters, we take the creators, and both tell the same story.
03
We vet creators so you're never gambling on someone who'll underperform or go off-brand.
Influencer Advisory has worked across 55+ brands over the last year.
Influencer Advisory
A division of Influencer Advisory
San Francisco PR Agency is the PR and launch side of Influencer Advisory, an influencer marketing agency. We're based in San Francisco, and Alice and Dennis run it.
Golden Gate BridgeFrom Battery East in the Presidio.
California StreetA cable car climbing out of the Financial District.
Alamo SquareThe Painted Ladies, with downtown behind them.
Questions brands ask us
What does a PR agency in San Francisco do for a startup?
A PR agency gets other people to talk about you, people you don't pay to say it, from reporters to podcast hosts to creators. Most firms in the city focus on reporters. We focus on the creators your buyers watch, and the launch moments both can cover.
How do startups get press coverage for a launch?
By giving a reporter something new to write about, and a reason it matters now. A launch that creators are already filming, a PR box people talk about, or a reaction to the news gives them that. Fewer, bigger stories usually do more than a long list of small ones.
Is influencer marketing part of PR?
The good kind is. A creator talking about you because they like the product carries the same weight as a reporter writing about you. A one-time paid post is closer to an ad, and buyers can tell.
Are you based in San Francisco?
Yes, we're based in San Francisco and work with Bay Area startups and consumer brands. The creators your buyers watch aren't in one city, so we find them wherever they post.
What is influencer PR?Influencer PR is earning a creator's attention the way press PR earns a reporter's. How it works around a launch, and where it usually goes wrong.
