Remco Janssen is the founder and CEO of Silicon Canals. Before that, he led Amsterdam-based PR agency Proudly Represents. He had actually been in the world of journalism previously, working as a sports reporter. Remco has been active in the tech and startup ecosystem since 2001, and went full circle when he returned to the world of journalism and media looking full time after Silicon Canals.
In this edition of Journalist’s Insights, we ask Remco about his background previous to starting Silicon Canals, his experiences in the world of tech PR, what his day-to-day looks like as a media entrepreneur, Dutch coverage, his opinions about the startup world and much more.
BUPR: What were you doing previous to Silicon Canals?
Remco Janssen: All the way back in 2001, I worked at a food order startup called Urbanbite. Back then, we would be happy to have 50 orders a day! After I finished my journalism bachelor, I joined a newspaper startup as a sports reporter. I covered football and went to Champions League and national team matches, but it turned out, it was highly stressful, and I wasn’t a motivated sports journalist, haha.
So I became a freelance writer, but as this was during the peak of the credit crisis, journalism was already in decline, and I transitioned to public relations. Thanks to my background in tech, my first noteworthy client was a pan-European startup out of Austria. What fun we had, I never worked in a more promising team, and I learned all the ropes of PR in the 4.5 years I was with them.
I then founded Proudly Represents, a boutique agency focused solely on tech startups. In roughly ten years, I mentored and consulted for 100s of startups and scale-ups in the Benelux. A lot of them never made it, some managed to survive, and there were even a couple of exits (Treatwell, Scoupy), potential unicorns (CoachHub, Storyblok) and even an IPO (Trustpilot).
Since September 2022 onwards, my focus has been 100% on Silicon Canals, though. It was my time to leave public relations, but the lessons learned from running a small agency are incredibly useful in a media company.
BUPR: How did the idea for Silicon Canals come about?
Remco Janssen: In 2014 I was riding my bike on the Canals in Amsterdam to and from startups when it hit me! These are the Silicon Canals now! So I registered the domains and social media, and during the summer, we started blogging, at first in Dutch.
The same week we launched, Startup Delta, the Dutch government’s startup initiative, was introduced to the public. Now its predecessor Techleap.nl is one of our partners. We switched to English at a certain point and started covering Europe in 2018, although we still keep the closest eye on the Netherlands.
What motivated you to leave the world of PR and focus uniquely on Silicon Canals?
Remco Janssen: Well, after, give or take 12.5 years of PR it was time for a change. I heard myself saying the same things repeatedly with less enthusiasm. Unfortunately, PR is often not a priority for founders. It can be incremental to their growth and future success. Finding good PR talent in the Netherlands has been challenging, something I blame on our inability to appreciate the art of communication.
Doe normaal dan doe je al gek genoeg is our unofficial country motto: act normal that’s already crazy enough as it is.
Silicon Canals deserves my full attention now that we have grown into one of the leading media companies covering the European tech ecosystem. With the current situation in the world, Europe needs a solid tech-based economy to ward off its competitors and enemies. We see ourselves playing a vital role in it.
BUPR: Seven years on, how would you describe what Silicon Canals has become now?
Remco Janssen: We describe ourselves as technology news for Europe, but our goal for next year is to become a destination for everyone who wants to launch and run a startup.
We offer employer branding, list the most incredible technology events in the world; we’ll help you find an office, and keep you updated on the latest software and vendors.
BUPR: How much of the focus is on the Netherlands versus Europe?
Remco Janssen: To put a number on it, around a quarter of our traffic comes from the Netherlands, thanks to our ongoing partnerships with Amsterdam and Techleap.nl. But we cover Europe as a whole, although that’s quite a large region with numerous ecosystems flourishing or popping up out of nowhere.
Hence, more than a third of our pageviews are from Europe, yet it’s interesting to see immense interest from the US. Especially US investors visit us to keep a close eye on the market! For next year, we’re striving to triple or quadruple our coverage which means we have a complete overview of what’s happening in Europe.
BUPR: What’s it like to lead a tech media outlet? What does the day-to-day look like?
Remco Janssen: Oh my! Not one day is the same. I start the day off going over Slack and emails. During the day, I would either do calls with my team members, talk to potential or current media partners, and fix a glitch on the website, usually with the help of our development partner Bright Idiots.
My travel schedule since everything opened up after Covid-19 has been super busy. In 2022 I went to Vilnius, Riga, Barcelona, Cologne, Brussels, and Helsinki for conferences. I decided to skip Web Summit – that one’s gotten too big for my taste. But I will go next year for sure!
Unfortunately, we still haven’t fixed air travel to make it more sustainable, although I do travel by train whenever possible, and I ease my discomfort through carbon offsetting.
BUPR: How many pitches does your team get every day? Which ones make it, and which ones don’t?
Remco Janssen: On average, we receive about 30-40 pitches every day. The key to grabbing my team’s attention is a good subject line. Although my editorial team and I try to check almost all the emails we receive, some pitches fall through the cracks. Therefore, a good crisp subject line that conveys the press release’s core context definitely helps stand out.
We also appreciate it when the emails are addressed directly to us and have a personal touch. Pitches that read like an information dump with no clarity whatsoever should definitely be avoided.
BUPR: What are your biggest pet peeves when it comes to PRs and/or founders reaching out?
Remco Janssen: Here are a few things that we wish PR profs and founders would avoid:
1. Reaching out to multiple outlets in the same mail. We appreciate it when the emails are addressed directly to us and have a personal touch.
2. Pitches that read like an information dump without clarity or cohesiveness.
3. Jargony pitches with over usage of adjectives.
4. Mentioning that their client/company has been featured by a competing media outlet and, therefore, we should consider publishing about them as well.
5. Pitches without media assets.
BUPR: What’s one thing you believe would make life easier for journalists that doesn’t exist yet?
Remco Janssen: Well, it does exist! An AI tool that turns a press release into an article would be amazing. We have recently tested ChatGPT by OpenAI, and it looks promising. It removes the slightly tedious and mundane task of drafting the basis of a news story. It saves a writer an hour per story, at least time that could be invested in research, getting an exclusive quote, or finalising another article. At the moment though we are not using ChatGPT for publishing, as it still needs a human review, and it misses key elements only a trained journalist could pick up on.
BUPR: What fascinates you the most about the startup world?
Remco Janssen: By now, I can tell the difference between a real entrepreneur, and a faker. People think it’s easy and a quick win to build a company! What founders don’t seem to get is that you’re not entitled to success, and many factors come into play that you can’t manage: timing, market conditions, or just good or bad luck. The universe doesn’t owe you, so don’t act like you’re god’s gift to mankind.
I blame this on what I call “founder porn”: TikToks, reels, articles about successful founders and how they supposedly winged it. As a former football journalist, I see a lot of resemblance with that industry. Just because you’re a founder does not mean you are important. Luckily, most people I meet in tech are kind, humble, and hard-working. I have made friends for life; that’s what I love the most about it. But I don’t have patience with fakers and their BS.
BUPR: What would your advice be for someone wanting to get involved in the world of tech media?
Remco Janssen: Don’t! Haha. Go build a SaaS-company! I wouldn’t say that is easier. But at least you either build something people need or you fail quickly.
Everyone loves Silicon Canals; we have true fans – I count you as one of them – that are tremendously supportive. In reality, we have a business that’s 100% owned by me. It took us seven years to become a profitable company, and now with the markets in a weird state, it will undoubtedly be a tough year.
Luckily, we run a tight ship and focus on long-term partnerships with governments, tech companies, and service providers. As a trained journalist and a true tech aficionado, I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else – besides writing a book. All it takes is commitment and dedication, like any business.
BUPR: What’s in store in 2023 for Silicon Canals?
Remco Janssen: In recent years, we have always had talks with investors and/or acquiring parties. We’ve gotten close to being acquired, but it never materialised. Perhaps it’s time to find an investor to speed up our growth!
Thus far, we have always valued our independence and don’t per se need external capital. Still, a strategic investor or a media company that could enable us to grow beyond Europe would be warmly welcomed.
Regarding content, we’ll focus on diversity and inclusion. For us, that’s the most prominent topic in which Europe could lead the way. Sadly enough, when I look at our homepage, it’s often the three tech bros in their company-branded hoodies who raised X million. Not that we don’t want to cover stories about diverse teams. We actually prioritise them. Even then, the numbers are skewed. VCs need to step up their game and invest in more diverse teams.
BUPR: And beyond 2023?
Remco Janssen: As an entrepreneur myself, the big hairy audacious goal is to become the leading destination for the technology ecosystem in Europe! To do that, we need to reach more than a million pageviews a month, and we have already taken steps to increase our traffic next year, while ensuring we can invest in the quality and speed of our content too.
Have you seen the rest of our blog yet? Here is more from our Journalist’s Insights series:
Busting Journalism Myths with Lindsay Dodgson from Business Insider
Diving into fintech journalism with Doug Mackenzie from Fintech Finance
Securing media placements during COVID-19 with Yessi Bello-Perez from The Next Web
Connecting the European startup scene with Patricia Allen of EU-Startups
