In immediately’s funding panorama, synthetic intelligence is altering the way in which enterprise capitalists conduct early-stage due diligence. And in case you are a well being tech founder making ready on your subsequent elevate, understanding how PR matches into that equation could also be one of the strategic selections you can also make.
Over the previous decade, I’ve helped purchasers elevate over $1 billion in enterprise capital and guided dozens of firms by way of profitable acquisitions and exits. On the subject of PR and funding, particularly within the high-stakes world of healthcare and digital well being, this isn’t principle.
PR as an Enter for AI and Investor Notion
Buyers are not simply reviewing your pitch deck or glancing at your LinkedIn profile. They’re actively using tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini to ask deeper questions: What’s the market saying about this founder? What sort of consideration is the corporate getting? Are they seen as credible? Are they related?
What these instruments return is closely influenced by your media presence, which is the half most founders miss. Public relations has emerged as a critical element in securing funding for startups, with its potential to form narratives, construct model repute, and appeal to investor consideration.
It’s additionally about attracting the suitable buyers as a result of the improper ones can gradual your momentum, dilute your imaginative and prescient, or create friction in future rounds. That is why visibility and positioning are so necessary.
The Value of Being Invisible
Not all funding is nice funding. Particularly within the early or development phases, who you are taking a verify from issues simply as a lot because the verify itself. Give it some thought. When a agency like Andreessen Horowitz or Bessemer Enterprise Companions is backing your organization, sure doorways don’t simply open. They keep open. That type of affiliation adjustments how you’re perceived, how you’re prioritized, and the way shortly you may scale.
Funding is not nearly innovation. It’s about notion. And that’s the place most startups fall quick.
They’re fixing crucial issues and constructing stable expertise, but remaining silent.
There isn’t a earned media, no public narrative, and no founder visibility. When it’s time to elevate once more, they’re invisible to the individuals who matter most.
Let me clarify what is occurring behind the scenes whenever you start elevating capital.
Buyers should not simply evaluating your pitch deck or your expertise. They’re vetting you publicly. They’re Googling your identify and looking your organization. And extra usually now, they’re utilizing AI tools to do it for them.
So what occurs once they do this?
In the event that they discover you quoted in Forbes, featured in HIT Advisor, or talking on a panel coated by MedCity Information, that sends a powerful sign.
It tells them this founder is credible. They know the right way to market themselves in a approach that positions them as an business professional. This firm is related. This workforce is constructing one thing the market is taking note of.
But when they discover nothing—no media, no context, no sign—that sends a message too. It suggests you’re both too early, not related, or not gaining traction available in the market. Even when that isn’t true, the absence of visibility creates doubt. Buyers start to marvel why nobody is speaking about you, and that hesitation might be sufficient to maneuver on to the subsequent alternative. In a aggressive area like well being tech, silence doesn’t simply harm your momentum. It may erase it completely.
The Strategic Function of Earned Media
When a revered outlet writes about your organization, that’s third-party validation. It reveals that what you’re constructing issues past your inside workforce and your present buyers. It indicators that the business is paying consideration and that your work is gaining actual traction.
In case you are making ready on your subsequent spherical, right here is the truth: refining your pitch deck is simply a part of the equation. You additionally must refine your public narrative.
Your story needs to be seen, credible, and strategically positioned within the media retailers your buyers already know and belief. That visibility doesn’t simply construct consciousness—it builds confidence.
Earned media will not be a conceit metric. It isn’t about hype. It’s a development lever.
In truth, it may very well be the distinction between closing your subsequent spherical or being ignored completely.
PR Builds Market Worth, Not Simply Buzz
When leveraged strategically, public relations turns into one of many few belongings you truly management. And its affect is far-reaching.
It influences how AI instruments current your organization. It helps buyers discover and imagine in your imaginative and prescient. It contributes to increased valuations by signaling traction and management. And it performs a task in shaping the narrative buyers, analysts, and acquirers use to border your alternative.
In the suitable arms, PR doesn’t simply create noise. It creates market worth. And in immediately’s capital surroundings, it might be one of the underutilized belongings in your cap desk.
About Danielle Sabrina
Danielle Sabrina is an award-winning publicist and the founding father of Society22, a High 10 Nationwide PR Agency on Inc.’s Quickest Rising Firms, and ranked #5 Greatest Firm in America by Entrepreneur Journal.
