When I was building my first company, I was posting continuously on social media - it was draining and time -consuming, but it did help visibility.

But one of the biggest growth levers was getting featured in the press.

A single article in the right publication can do a lot:

• Send highly targeted traffic
• Earn powerful backlinks
• Build credibility
• Increase conversions
• Help your brand show up in AI search tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini

The challenge is that most founders assume PR is expensive.

I remember speaking to agencies that wanted £1,000+ per month, with no guarantee of coverage.

As a solo founder, that felt like a huge gamble.

What worked far better for me was responding directly to journalists who were actively looking for expert quotes and startup stories.

These requests come from:

• Journalists writing articles
• Bloggers
• Podcast hosts looking for guests
• Newsletter writers

If your story fits what they’re working on, you can often land coverage without paying a PR agency.

That’s exactly why I built ContactJournalists.com.

It brings together:

📰 Live press requests from journalists
🎙️ Podcasts looking for guests
🔎 A searchable journalist database
✍️ An AI pitch helper
🔗 Opportunities to earn backlinks and media coverage

We offer a free 7-day trial, so if you’re trying to grow your startup, it’s a simple way to see what journalists are asking for right now.

Even if you don’t use my platform, my advice is this:

Don’t wait until you can afford a PR agency.

Start responding to relevant media opportunities yourself.

One good press mention can be worth far more than months of posting on social media.

Happy to answer any questions about PR, backlinks, or how I’ve used press coverage to grow my own businesses.

Hi all,

Looking to connect with tech newsletters that have 20k+ subscribers. 🚀

I have a strong collaboration opportunity that could be valuable for both audiences.

If you run one — or know someone who does — feel free to comment here.

A bit of context on who we are: we run two established tech newsletters — WebDevPro (39K subscribers) and MobilePro (90K subscribers) — both with 50%+ open rates. We recently launched BuildWithAI on Substack, a weekly newsletter for developers and engineers who want to practically integrate AI into their everyday workflows. We're three editions in and publishing every week.

BuildWithAI is backed by Packt.com — home to 8,000+ tech books, thousands of videos, and a massive library of resources built for the tech community. So the content is grounded, practical, and credible.

To grow the newsletter, we're partnering with newsletters that share a similar audience — offering cross-promotions where we feature each other to our respective communities. Given that your newsletter speaks to a similar audience of developers and builders, I think this could be a genuinely good fit for both sides.

Happy to share more details or answer any questions you might have. Would love to explore this further!

Today marks day one of my sabbatical journey - something that only appeared as a distant option until today. I’m now commencing what I hope will be one of the most extraordinary transformation periods of my life. Congratulations to those that have alreadt taken this first step, it is one of courage, I'd be keen to hear your stories!

I hope that someday, if you have not already commenced, that you get the chance to step back from the noise and give yourself the thinking time to cultivate within yourself a life that brings the peace you so dearly deserve.

I don’t know where this journey will lead me, but the most exciting part is that I am allowing my heart to lead me, and from that I know that the path will be filled with fruitful lessons and potentially contented triumphs.

My drive? To become the happiest, most fulfilled version of myself so that I can be a more loving partner, son, sibling, uncle…

The Trigger for Change

After almost 10 years in the fast-paced environment of Research and Development, as an engineer, working with many talented performance-driven teams, I’ve finally decided to take the “plunge”, hand in my resignation and forge out a personal reflection period for some unknown amount of time. The desire to re-light that inner flame has been one of the lingering drivers for this.

When I asked myself subconsciously each morning whether I was excited to face the day ahead and what it entailed, that excitement was not there. No matter what pursuit you undertake, on some days it may just be difficult and you need to press on. However, when there are more days lacking that excitement than the days when you feel exhilarated for what’s ahead, something needs to change.

The Feeling Within

This feeling had festered for a while and I would always be thinking about the personal projects I wanted to dive into and only really ever had evenings (when I was already tired from a busy day) and weekends (where my relationships with my partner and family would be prioritised, and rightfully so). I felt in an endless cycle of suppressing what I wanted the most at the expense of engaging within a high-performance workplace culture.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place of growth within high-performance roles and teams, however this comes at an expense of the things I mentioned above; your personal pursuits, family time and self-development time. The question that needs to be asked is “What am I willing to sacrifice to be a high performer?” If you are content with all that is to be sacrificed, props to you, I envy your commitment and consistency, I even may have a thing or two to learn from these types of high performers.

I have decided to start documenting my journey through an email newsletter, if anyone is interested to follow along: https://the-freedom-to-think.beehiiv.com

I wish everyone all the best as they embark on this uncertain journey!

Hello everyone!

I just launched my first newsletter: https://thecostofthings.substack.com/p/the-night-i-downloaded-tricount

Could you please give me some feedback about it or if you think it’s something worth reading in your opinion?

Thanks a lot!