Journalist’s Insights: Startups, the Media and CEE with Zosia Wanat from Sifted

Journalist's Insights

Introduction

A little while back, Sifted’s Zosia Wanat and BUPR’s JJ met up in Vilnius for one of our “Journalist’s Insights” interviews. And since everyone was there and next to each other, and Vilnius is known for great videographers, we decided to record the whole thing. Here is the transcript (redacted for clarity), but if you want to watch and listen to the interview, please do scroll down for the YouTube link.

Zosia is senior CEE correspondent at Sifted, the FT-backed news website on European tech and startups. Her job is to report on what she describes as “one of the most fascinating stories of the region: the one of entrepreneurship, passion and skill.”

We agree with the assessment and share the passion for storytelling. In addition, CEE has a special place in our hearts, so it was a no-brainer that we’d sit down with Zosia.

This interview will be useful for any startup — we talk about her day to day, the art of pitching in general (from a startup perspective) and things that can work for Sifted generally. But we also talk about some of the region’s particularities and refer to specific PR mistakes we see there, so CEE startups will find it especially useful. OK, OK, without further ado…

Start of the interview

Julija Jegorova: Hello, everyone, thank you very much for for joining. Today we have a very special guest with me in Vilnius. We have Zosia, who’s a senior CEE reporter, from Sifted.

Zosia Wanat: Thank you so much for having me.

Julija Jegorova: Just before we dive deep into what we’re going to be talking about, I just wanted to kind of go through the housekeeping rules for those that are joining. So we will split our session into various topics.

We’ll talk about Sifted and introduce it, Zosia’s day to day life as a journalist and media relations from her point of view. We’ll also talk about funding announcements and newsworthy stories, and more generally the art of pitching.

Finally, we will also have a Q&A session with questions from the audience. We expect it to be about 30 minutes, so please feel free to drop all your questions in the chat.

Sifted

Julija Jegorova: So let’s just dive right into it. Can you please tell us a little bit more about Sifted in case for some of our audience members that ever came across it? You know where the sifter sits within the European media?

Zosia Wanat: Sure. So Sifted, surprise, surprise, is a startup. We are a media startup that covers other startups and the VC market in Europe. Let me briefly tell you about our story.

Sifted was born because one of our founders, John Thornhill, who is also the deputy editor at the Financial Times, noticed during his research and work that there wasn’t a single place offering comprehensive analysis about European startups. He recognized that if European startups and technology want to be competitive, especially vis-a-vis the U.S. and China, we needed a media outlet, there needed to be a database and a place to tell the story of European startups. That was his idea. He founded Sifted in 2019.

Though we are still a very early company, at the seed stage, we are growing quite fast. I joined Sifted 10 months ago, so I don’t recall the beginnings. However, I’ve heard various startup stories, such as starting in a corner of the FT offices, where there was no light and like two desks for four people – you know the drill, typical startup scenario. That’s how we started. Now we have our own office in Shoreditch, London. There are more or less 80 people employed at Sifted, with a big majority in London and mostly working for the business side of the company.

There are around 10 people in the editorial team. We also have three correspondents elsewhere, not in London. I am the one responsible for Central Eastern Europe. We have a person in Stockholm, a person in Berlin, and soon, we will have a person in Paris, which we’re very happy about.

Our mission from the very beginning, kind of John’s idea, was to be a critical friend to European startups. We want European startups to succeed, and we’re happy about their achievements. But at the same time, we believe that this sector, this part of the European economy, needs scrutiny just like every other part of the economy. There should be journalists who chase these stories and tell these stories.

So, that’s basically what we try to do every day. We write news, analyses, listicles, interviews, and do a lot of really original reporting. We focus on several areas, with the most important probably being FinTech, HealthTech, climate tech, deep tech, AI, and also an area which we call “startup life,” which is more about how to run a business, how to run a startup, rather than the tech side.

Julija Jegorova: Okay, so what is your role as a CEE correspondent?

Zosia Wanat: So I’m based in Warsaw, and I am originally from Poland, which was quite convenient. From Warsaw, I’m tasked with covering the entirety of Central Eastern Europe. By that, we understand all the countries from the Baltics to Bulgaria and Romania. Estonia is a bit different; you know, I have a colleague who wants to cover Estonia. So, when I came in, I thought, “Okay, I understand Estonia is not for me.” But then from the Baltics Lithuania and Latvia did of fall into my remit.

Given the geopolitical situation, all eyes were turned towards Ukraine, the Ukrainian market, and Ukrainian founders. Belarus as well, from time to time. If we had a story from Cyprus, or Armenia, or Moldova, and it was an exceptional story, it probably would also be me who would write about this, but so far, it hasn’t happened.

Yes, so this is it. I cover news, which is what we do every day. By “news,” I typically mean funding rounds and any significant developments happening in the startup ecosystem. But because many of the startups operating in Central Eastern Europe don’t usually fall into the category of a startup we at Sifted write about, I also try to look wider at the ecosystem. I aim to showcase larger trends. I try to illustrate how CEE is different, or better than Western Europe, or how it’s similar in a way. What is specific for Central Eastern Europe? I try to capture that.

Being from here, being a native Polish speaker, definitely helps me out.

Julija Jegorova: Okay, good to know. And in terms of the organisation of Sifted, right, we all know there are editors, reporters and others, but, how does it work specifically? Not necessarily the hierarchy, but how is it organised? When do you have meetings, how do you decide what goes in and what doesn’t go in?

Zosia Wanat: We have a weekly meeting on Mondays when we decide what the plan for the week is—basically, what kind of stories each of us would like to write. Of course, it changes on a daily basis because of the news cycle, because of what’s going on in the world, because of the news, but whatever we can plan, we plan that on Monday.

As a reporter, my role involves gathering facts. I do the reporting, I conduct the research, and I compile it all into a story, which is later edited by my colleagues, my editors in London. I think it’s quite important to mention here that the final decision about what’s going to be on Sifted is not mine, but my editors’. However, because I know the editorial line quite well, I understand what should get in there. Very early on, I can tell a PR person or a founder whether a story is destined for Sifted or it isn’t. I can, of course, later check that with the editor, and they have the final word.

It happens that, you know, I’m very excited about a story, and then they tell me, “Look, this is not the right thing.” Yeah, it happens. But I feel that I have this understanding of what a Sifted story is. What can we publish, but the final decision is theirs. We are, I mean, we are in touch on Slack, obviously all the time with the editors, and with other colleagues in London too.

Zosia’s background

Julija Jegorova: Okay, cool. So now we know what Sifted is and how it operates. Let’s talk about your day to day life as a journalist, because first and foremost, it’s not that you’ve been a journalist for only 10 months, right? You’ve been a journalist for many, many years. So can you tell us a little bit more about your journey, how you came to Sifted and then you know how your day to day life as a startup journalist looks like nowaday.

Zosia Wanat: I began working as an international journalist about eight years ago, starting in Polish media. Fortuitously, I managed to secure a position with the Financial Times in Warsaw. After starting at the FT, I worked for the FDA from both London and, for a brief period, Paris, which provided a delightful experience. Subsequently, I moved to Brussels, a locale connected to my studies and interests; I’ve always wanted to work within the sphere of European Union policy making.

For a year, I worked for a company called the MX, which offers stellar regulatory news, and there I covered Brexit—an exceedingly exciting topic. Afterward, I moved to Politico. In the four years before joining Sifted, I reported for Politico in Brussels, covering policy and, to an extent, Polish politics from Brussels. So, that sums up my pre-Sifted career journey.

As for the day-to-day, it’s quite challenging to define a typical day. What my days looked like as a reporter at Politico is starkly different from what they look like now at Sifted. A general rule for journalists is that our days rarely mirror each other due to our dependence on the news cycle, which influences how we adapt our coverage to the news. Moreover, we alter stories, and people respond to our requests, so we need to accommodate interviews—everything is quite fluid and often hectic.

My personal constraint is that I have a two-year-old daughter, so I must meticulously organise this window of opportunity that I get every day, during which I can actually work. Typically, I either report—meaning I conduct interviews or meet people and gather information—or I write. These are the two primary tasks I must do. Alternatively, I answer emails and essentially organise my logistics around reporting. I personally tend to respond to almost all my emails in the evenings. So, if you ever receive an email from me at around 10pm, it’s not because I’m a workaholic, but rather because that’s the most convenient time for me at that particular moment.

Julija Jegorova: And where do you get your news as a journalist? What do you read?

Zosia Wanat: Yeah, so I have this kind of love-hate relationship with newsletters. I used to write one for quite a while and, honestly, I didn’t enjoy it much as an author. But now, from a reader’s perspective, I find newsletters pretty useful. My daily information, basically all my info, comes from various newsletters.

I mostly read those that provide general news. For instance, I read the Financial Times, the Politico Playbook, and some thematic newsletters from Reuters, like their sustainability one. I also check the New York Times newsletter briefing. This is how I gather all the general news which gives context to my work later because startup news always functions within a wider context. I want to ensure that I grasp this context and understand what’s going on globally.

In terms of startup news, we usually get most of them from press releases, and from you, the PR people. However, I also receive newsletters from TechCrunch, Tech.eu, and Wired. Although they’re not always newsworthy, I skim them to double-check that we’ve covered everything at Sifted and maybe to see if we’ve missed something. It’s essentially a way to make sure we have everything under control.

Additionally, I get a lot of newsletters from various specific outlets. Some of them aren’t even news outlets, but organisations or VCs, like associations that collaborate with startups. They send me separate newsletters about specific markets, maybe the Hungarian or Balkan market. These are not purely journalistic. They’re more like updates from companies or associations about their activities. But they often give me quite a lot of ideas, even though they’re not strictly journalistic.

Pitching your startup to Sifted

Julija Jegorova:Okay, let’s delve into the reason we’re here today: to talk more about media relations, from your point of view. So, you go into work, you work from home, you open your inbox—how many emails do you have? And how many of those are pitches? That’s one question. And how many of those pitches are absolutely irrelevant to what you do?

Zosia Wanat: I can’t count my emails; I have no idea. Recently, you know, you have this Gmail thing, like the mail page, and it sort of shows you to go to the next page, right, in your inbox. A couple of days ago, I literally wasn’t in front of my computer for like, two hours. When I came back, I saw that I had to go to the second page to see the last read email. I was like, is this what’s going to be happening? It’s so much. Obviously, not all of it are pitches, right. But if I count, I don’t know, daily, together with our general account, where everyone can send pitches, and to my personal account, or different social media, I would say we get around twenty real pitches, out of which maybe two are relevant for us.

Julija Jegorova: Uh, wow. Okay, so 20 only, what? And two that are relevant? What about the rest? Are they real pitches but irrelevant for Sifted? Or just badly written?

Zosia Wanat: Usually they’re just too small for us. Sifted has guidelines about language, especially about funding. There are two categories that we have to, sadly reject.

First of all, if this is a founding round announcement, which is way too small to be covered at Sifted, because if we, like, we wouldn’t be able to cover all the seed rounds and pre seed rounds happening in Europe. So we have our thresholds, which, before the crisis was at around 10 million euros.

Julija Jegorova: You would not look at startup fundraising unless it’s more than 10 million?

Zosia Wanat: I think it’s not like we wouldn’t look. We always look and try to find an angle, yeah. But when there’s a transaction bigger than 10 million, we will definitely look and, most likely, unless it’s super boring, probably write about it. This was sort of the unspoken rule that I had when I joined Sifted. Now, obviously, it’s different because the funding rounds are smaller; there’s less money and fewer rounds, so there’s also less news that we can choose from. We can be a little more flexible. We always look at many different factors when we choose what is a newsworthy story for us, or what isn’t. We look at startups from those four categories I mentioned at the beginning; these are the sectors we’re really interested in. So that means, like, a B2B SaaS, while I understand its value for the economy and the tech might be great, it’s not going to make a story, I think. Or, I don’t know, we get quite a lot of pitches from HR tech or legal tech. And I mean, I see the value in that, and I think these are great companies; it’s just not really 100% our remit.

There are also some things that make a story more interesting. So for example, if there’s a female founder in a startup, or if there’s a founder from a minority group—like, something different, something that is not that common in the startup ecosystem right now. Or if the founder is an alumna of a big startup like, I don’t know, Bolt, or if there’s a “mafia,” right? I don’t think we can use that term. But, you know, an alumni club being formed, then we can work with it, we can think about how to make it an interesting story. But if it’s just a 1 million seed round for a startup that creates some very complicated tech that I, as a journalist, can’t understand, I can’t expect my readers to understand and be interested.

So this is the first problem with pitches; the second one is that there’s just no news in the story, or there’s no news relevant for us. Sifted is very often perceived as a tech publication. I personally don’t agree with that 100%. I’m not going to delve into this, but I think we’re a business publication, we write about money, and this is our main focus. So, while we’re interested in all the tech behind the startup, we’re more interested in the investment. We’re interested in where the money goes, this is what sort of drives us. Hence, this is why we cover big funding rounds. But also, this is why we don’t cover startup expansions or new product launches, which appear most often. And just to be clear, as per our guidelines, we never do that. Never. So don’t even try it. No, like, I haven’t seen any exception to that rule, to be fair.

So yeah, we also didn’t cover exits, which is interesting. But unless they are very, very big or super cool—like Microsoft buying something—then maybe. If it’s a buyout—sorry, I should have said acquisitions. If it’s an IPO? Yes, we are very much interested in IPOs.

Julija Jegorova: You mentioned 10 million. Now. If we look at the CEE region, right, getting 10 million is more rare, or difficult. So if someone, let’s say raised a million or two, being they get in touch with you, you could probably look into them, or do you think right away that it would be a no go?

Zosia Wanat: I always look at the pitch. It’s not like I see 1 million and automatically say no. Only if I’m very busy, do I do that. Sorry. I always try to find an angle. Because exactly like what you’ve just said, this is also my story, right? The Series C story—I want as many Series C stories out there as possible. Because yes, I’m responsible for this region, and I want these stories to be out there; this is why I got hired. So, I will always try to find a way and I can give you an example.

Like I mentioned those “Illuminati mafia” situations. It actually happened to me that several smaller Romanian startups, at the seed stage, kept pitching their stories to me. And I was like, “Well, no, sorry. I can’t—there was no story in it.” Then we found out that what all of them have in common are the founders who are UiPath alumni. Okay, and we wrote the UiPath Mafia alumni piece with like five little startups which are at the seed stage—and it was so well-read. I mean, you wouldn’t believe it; it was in our top five. Yeah. People are crazy about UiPath alumni for some reason. So that was a great example.

Or another one: I met up for coffee with a founder of a very, very technical B2B SaaS startup at the pre-seed level. And I was like, “Look, I mean, what can I tell you? I can’t see a way for now how we can do this.” But then, a week later, someone on the editorial team asked, “We’re writing a story on how to spend money from the pre-seed round. So what do you do with the money from the pre-seed round?” And I connected my colleague with the founder I had met a week before, and they were published in Sifted in this particular context because this was the context that worked for us and worked for them.

So, I do my best, but it’s not always possible. And it’s not possible with all startups, and it’s also not possible for me to track everything that is going on out there at the seed or pre-seed level.

Julija Jegorova: So that brings us to kind of the next point about media relations. Listen, if it’s like a pre-seed, you know, like a young company, in general, at what stage? Do you reckon they should get in touch with you? Or can they just get in touch with you to be on your radar? Or do you find those emails in the butt annoying or ridiculous? You know, they don’t have any use? So what would your advice be?

Zosia Wanat: That’s a good question. What do I do to get on a radar, so to speak? What I always recommend is: send me these emails, send me these pitches, but don’t send me that one email five times—it’s not useful. Yes, I want to read about you, I want to have you on my radar. If I ever work on a bigger story, or a listicle, or any piece of content where I could potentially include you, I will do that. However, to do that, I have to know that you exist and that you’re out there. I suggest you do send me your press releases, but just once, not five times. And don’t expect that the news will be published immediately. I think this is the best answer. Unless it meets all our criteria, it just won’t happen. But then, I genuinely really try to put as many startups out there at Sifted as I can, because it’s also part of my job.

Investing in a long-term relationship with journalists

Julija Jegorova: And what would you say is the best way to develop relationships with journalists? Obviously, we don’t want founders to be purely transactional—sending a press release and expecting an immediate article on Sifted. However, we are living in a very digital age, exacerbated by COVID, where a lot is happening online. You also cover a lot of startups that you don’t necessarily meet in person. Would you be open to having a chat with them online? Or perhaps sometimes meet for coffee or lunch? Or do you not really have time for that? How would you advise startups that want to establish a relationship with you, even when they don’t have anything specific to pitch yet? How do you do that best?

Zosia Wanat: That’s a very good question. To be honest, I prefer to meet with VCs and PRs for informal coffees or lunches over founders, not because I don’t value what a startup has to say, but because VCs and PRs often have a broader perspective on market trends. For my needs, I can gather more information about what’s happening from them than from individual founders. Sometimes when meeting founders for coffees, it tends to revolve around them telling me about their great tech, which I appreciate but won’t necessarily result in an article. I want to know things like who is currently raising money. While some founders do share this kind of information, it’s generally easier to obtain from investors, given my limited time.

I always appreciate it when founders approach me at conferences. I like that because it’s a different context—I’m there to meet founders, and being able to speak to many of them face-to-face helps me remember their stories better. I also appreciate personalized emails or LinkedIn messages. They tend to capture my attention more than other messages I receive from different people.

Julija Jegorova: So how would you divide LinkedIn and email? And where would you like to receive a press release, for example?

Zosia Wanat: Indeed, if a founder wants to be on the radar and say hello, or introduce their startup, a casual approach like saying, “Hi, I have this startup,” can be effective on LinkedIn. However, if you have a press release or news to share, logistically it’s much easier for me to receive it in my inbox, preferably in English. This allows me to quickly forward it to my editors and solicit their thoughts. Receiving such information via LinkedIn, especially if it’s in Polish or a local language, requires me to copy it, translate it and make sure it makes sense, which takes time. While it might only take five minutes, sometimes that’s a crucial time frame given the volume of tasks we handle daily.

Julija Jegorova: So we would have emails for like proper pitches with press releases and everything else, and LinkedIn for you, just to kind of have a conversation, a quick chat. What about Twitter? because Twitter is not as popular within the CEE region. And you know, Twitter is very big with journalists. Yeah. So what would you advise me? (NOTE: This was asked before Twitter’s metamorphosis into “X”).

Zosia Wanat: Yes, it’s quite a shift from the political arena. At Politico, I didn’t even remember my LinkedIn password; nobody in Brussels seemed to care about LinkedIn. The focus was squarely on Twitter. When it comes to the nature of conversations and what gets shared, I try to think of suitable examples, contrasting general press releases and news. Gossips, interesting reports, or compelling data points, those tidbits you might casually bring to my attention at a conference, that’s the kind of interaction I had at Politico via Twitter. Currently, my Twitter isn’t as active. I think I’m losing followers, which is a bit disappointing.

Julija Jegorova: So, everyone, go and follow Zosia on Twitter!

Zosia Wanat: But on the contrary, LinkedIn is huge. So I don’t think I have mentioned Twitter and LinkedIn as my sources of news hunting. This is also like my Twitter’s always open somewhere that with you know, the lists I have and like the journalist I follow and experts I follow, but I would happily reply on Twitter. I think if everyone messaged

Most people don’t like the whole “slide into our DMs” thing, but I don’t mind – the only thing I’m mindful of a bit is Facebook. I treat Facebook much, much more personally for like, my personal stuff and my family. I don’t use it that much, either. But it’s just, yeah, it’s like, I have this very cringe feeling.

My advice, regardless of the channel you choose to communicate through, is to ensure your approach makes sense. When you’re pitching, not just saying hello, ensure your pitch is coherent. If it’s relevant and it aligns with Sifted’s content, we’ll be interested even if you reach out via Facebook or traditional post. I won’t be upset. That’s the main point, really.

Another guideline is to remember that we, journalists, are human beings. We have personal lives and don’t operate around the clock. Don’t expect us to respond to messages at 7pm. Sometimes we might, but it’s our choice and not an obligation. Be mindful of how you communicate with us; you can’t demand things. You don’t have to beseech us either. It’s about presenting an opportunity to write about your startup. If it aligns with our interests, we will consider it, but please, be respectful. We’re not friends yet, so maintain a level of professionalism. Treat us like you would any other business partner. I believe that’s a fair expectation.

Julija Jegorova: to say, because you pretty much you’re not there just to push off the news for the sake of pushing out the news or writing only positive things, right? You’re there to do your job to check out what the startup is about, what about the founders, then you assess it, and then you write it, right? So you don’t really owe anything to us, you know, us PRs, or the founders, you know, just to blast out articles.

Zosia Wanat: I can interview a founder and opt not to publish a story about them if I decide it’s not compelling. Sometimes, you might pitch me a story and, upon interviewing the founder, I find something entirely different to be the intriguing angle. My responsibility as a journalist is to uncover and highlight that. Some individuals become frustrated about this, but I firmly stand by it: if you speak with a founder for an hour and extract just one quote to create a news piece, that’s valid. Our role is to produce news. If there’s something newsworthy in what a founder communicates, I don’t have to incorporate an hour-long conversation into the story. I’ll simply write the news, and that’s final.

Julija Jegorova: Did you get cases when people would say, Oh, you wasted my time? You know, I demand 50 pages long article.,

Zosia Wanat: I had one person who actually called my editors, yeah, by phone. They called them in the Netherlands. I was freelancing then, and they called the editor being like, ‘Oh, I invited her for lunch, and she never wrote the story.’ The editor was like, ‘Why? What were they talking about?’ I think she told him off, yeah. So, we get a lot of that. We get a lot of, ‘This was not the angle,’ sort of complaints. ‘We wanted you to write about this, and you wrote about something completely different.

Julija Jegorova: But when it comes to certain angles, and once the story is out, right, you can change some things if there are factual errors, right? So if someone is 25 and you wrote 45, you know, that’s a straightforward human mistake. We’re humans. But if someone doesn’t like the tone or the way the article flows, that’s not really your problem, is it?

Zosia Wanat: No, no. And that is completely… This is also Sifted’s editorial line: that, of course, if there is a mistake in the article, we will correct it. There is no point in having any mistakes or misinformation in the article, but we’re not going to change the thesis of the article just because you don’t like it, or we’re not going to change the wording, or we’re not going to change the tone, as you said. Because we wrote in that tone and with that background for a reason, and that reason is well-researched. And the reason is based on many conversations that we have about this topic, so… So yeah, I mean, you have to trust when you set up a meeting with us. You have to trust our integrity and our editorial guidelines, that you know, they’re there to protect you. I mean, my journalistic integrity is there to protect you. Yeah, that’s clear.

Zosia’s pet peeves

Julija Jegorova: And talking about pet peeves. So let’s maybe talk about two different scenarios of irrelevant or bad pitched, right, we have founders that get in touch with you. And then you have PRs with freelancers, agents getting in touch with you. What would you say the biggest pet peeves for each category is?

Zosia Wanat: So for both categories I would hate to admit but actually, I think it would fall more under the founder category. The worst is when someone pitches something to me, and I say, “I’m sorry, this is not a story for us because XYZ” and this person keeps insisting that it is. This pointless insistence just gets journalists annoyed and makes them even less likely to write the story.

We are only humans, and we’re building human relations. And that means that if you annoy me now, I’m not a vindictive person, but you know, I would rather write about someone who has been nice to me. And I think it’s natural, right? There are a couple of other things that are annoying, like asking to check the article before it goes live, but that’s probably the worst.

Julija Jegorova: So if someone has, like, let’s say, a CEO has an interview with you, then the PR person gets back to saying like, “hi, oh, can you please send me the draft to approve or to fact check before you publish?”

Zosia Wanat: I don’t like it! In Poland, for example, it is a law, I think it’s the only country in the EU, I might be wrong on that. But in Poland, it’s definitely a law that a person can demand that. But this law doesn’t really apply to us at Sifted or any other media outlet I worked for before because we’re International and we can do whatever. But people are used to this right? Like, if they worked in that way with every other Polish media outlet, they would just expect that because this is something they were trying to do. And this is just so bad. The flow of the interview, their flow, it doesn’t make sense. And also, it would be a lot of extra work.

I agree to that only very rarely, and only in the situations when I know, how to put it nicely, that the gravity of these quotes aren’t that big for me. So you know, like, if I meet up with a CEO, or a politician, I would never agree to it. Because like, we’re there to scrutinise what you guys do, if I meet with an expert, or you know, like if I interview someone from outside of the bubble, but who for some reason I need for an article I I don’t know. Let’s say I write about Lithuanian foreign tech workers. And I interview a foreign tech employee in Vilnius. And this is a person who had never given an interview in his life. And they’re very stressed, but they want to help me out and they’re like, can I see the quiz later? I’m like, Yeah, sure. Because I know, they’re not going to say anything like, you know, super controversial or like, so if they want to change a word or two, I don’t mind

It’s also a question of the language, right? So sometimes some people want to check their quotes in English, right? If we speak in Polish, which again, I don’t tend to agree to. And I usually think that if I can avoid it, I will always avoid it and do interviews in English.

Julija Jegorova: And just, I guess, on record for everyone that you can’t and should not ask to see an article before it gets published. That’s not how it works!

More tactical tips from Zosia

Julija Jegorova: And so we will go a little bit into more detail about like pictures, and they see that there are questions, you know, kind of diving into that. But like, as a general rule, I guess in terms of media relations, what is your take on photography? Right? How excited are you about, you know, seeing the founders’ photography, because you want to make sure that those exciting photos are not just kind of boring, static passport like, or do you not have a major preference?

Zosia Wanat: It would be better if the picture was great, right? But first of all, high quality, this is like the main point. Second of all, it would be great if it didn’t look like every other picture, right? So yeah, especially in this region, it is quite difficult, because the majority of the founders are white men in their 30s and 40s. Very often they look very similar. So we really want this diversity to be there. Also it’s nice to get a smiley founder over a robot expression.

Julija Jegorova: Let’s discuss timelines, considering your day-to-day life is heavily affected by the news cycle, and you sometimes receive press releases late with expectancy for prompt publishing. How much notice should individuals give if they want their news to be published?

Zosia Wanat: The best answer is as much notice as possible. Sifted operates with a small team and we’re often overstretched with assignments. On Mondays, when we attempt to plan, we ensure stories are assigned. Sending a press release a day before its release offers a slim chance it will be covered because, for instance, I am the only person who covers CEE.

Currently, I’m in Vilnius, meeting people back-to-back for two days. If you sent your release for tomorrow today, I wouldn’t be able to cover it. This is applicable to all journalists in the team; they manage their beats individually and generally have fully packed agendas. If we know something is happening, we can allocate time to write an article, have it edited, etc. If we’re unaware, even with the best intentions and an excellent story, we might not manage. For instance, this has happened with pitching rounds intended to be published the same day.

We adore exclusives and would love to be the first to publish any news. However, I understand that some news will go to other outlets in the US for exclusivity, some will go to the FT or Business Insider due to the preferences of PR people or founders. That’s absolutely fine with Sifted. However if you want more certainty for coverage with us, we would still ask you to send us a press release in advance if possible, for example with an embargo. We will respect all timelines and embargos.

Julija Jegorova: Let’s say you want your news to go out in 10 days, and you send an exclusive story, but you’re in Vilnius on a press trip. You’re busy. When is a good time to remind you about it? Does it take a school tweet or maybe waiting five days to call you up?

Zosia Wanat: I genuinely dislike when someone sends a press release and then tweets me and sends a LinkedIn message, notifying me about that email. It’s just crazy.

Julija Jegorova: So, when is it a good time?

Zosia Wanat: I think a couple of days is good. I appreciate when people follow up, maybe bumping it up in my inbox.

However, if I haven’t replied to your email, there’s a 2% chance that I actually missed it or lost it. But a 98% chance is that it’s probably not a good fit, and I’m too busy to reply, which I deeply regret. I was a PR person for half a year 12 years ago, and I remember promising myself that if I ever become a journalist, I will reply to all media requests. It isn’t genuinely possible, and I’m very sorry that I’m not able to keep up with all the replies. But if you don’t hear from me, it’s usually a no. However, you can approach it as a human being. Sometimes I get these questions, which I really appreciate, like, “Can you just tell me yes or no?” And then I’m like, “No, sorry.” I’m sort of pushed to action. It’s very personal, and I’m not sure if that applies to everyone. But I think two days is fine.

Julija Jegorova: If someone sends you a story, let’s say an exclusive on fundraising happening in two days, and they’ve followed up but haven’t heard back from you. Is it worth following up a third time? Or is one follow-up enough? What’s your preference?

Zosia Wanat: Two follow-ups are my limit. If I don’t reply after two follow-ups, it probably won’t be fruitful to send another. I’m likely not interested. You have to understand that I check my inbox regularly, and when I see something that’s a good story, I get really excited about it. It’s not just you who’s excited; I’m thrilled to write about a cool startup securing a round or a new VC raising a fund. Those catch my eye immediately, and I usually try to reply because of that excitement, regardless of how busy I am. While it might not be a universal rule, I would say this is a basic pattern.

Julija Jegorova: When you refresh your email on all your devices and something catches your eye, you’ve indicated you usually get back to them immediately. I assume the subject line plays a crucial role. What should it contain? Does it need to scream “EXCLUSIVE” in all caps, or should it declare “Startup Raises 100 Million”? What are you looking for in a subject line?

Zosia Wanat: “Exclusive” is good, but yes, it actually has to be an exclusive. I haven’t dwelled on this too much, but I appreciate the term “exclusive” and some basic information in the title line. However, I usually click on the emails and at least skim them. Something I haven’t mentioned but appreciate in pitches—perhaps this is for another section, but I’ll say it now.

What I really value in pitches is receiving two, three, or four bullet points with the most critical information at the top of the email. It makes my life so much easier. If you can highlight what happened and why it’s essential in a few points, that’s what I need. All the background information is also valuable and crucial. Quotes from the company or investors aren’t vital, and I usually don’t use them. But background info about the market, competitors, and other aspects is useful. You can analyse Sifted’s news stories to see that we often create sections like “What’s the News?”, “What’s the Company?”, “What’s the Market?”, and “Who Are the Investors?”.

These are our primary focuses when writing a news story. So, if I receive all of that in one email, it makes me incredibly happy. I might think, “Oh, my God, it’s done for me.” While I’ll probably follow up with questions, I have a clear idea about what the startup and the fundraising are about, which is great.

Q&A with the audience

Julija Jegorova: Let’s jump into the questions from the audience. We have quite a few questions. And you guys, please do send us more. Here the first question. When is the best time to send press releases?

Zosia Wanat: I have that again, I don’t really think about this in these categories. For me, the most important thing is that it’s sent with some time you know. The important thing is the space in between the time I get the press release, and the time it needs to be published. This is whichever day it is, whichever hour this is, I will most probably read it, right, because I check my emails on a daily basis. I think the best time is the morning, but I don’t know why actually, no, I really like it doesn’t really matter. The main thing that matters for me, is this time buffer.

Julija Jegorova: Excellent. Next questions. This has been covered somewhat, but maybe new insights emerge. What should be the format of an email? And what should a pitch include?

Zosia Wanat: Yeah, so as I said, my favourite format is a couple of bullet points with the most important information. What happened? What’s the news? And why does it matter? Why should readers care? This is the basics of journalism, really. And, and then if I get a little bit of background, that’s great. But you know, that background is also something I can work on later.

What should it include? Well, quite often press releases about a seed round, or like a Series A, without a concrete number. And there is nothing we can do without the number. There’s no way we can work around this. We have to know how much the round, like the investment was, to even decide what we will do with it? That’s one thing I see a lot. Another thing that has started, like, has been happening quite a lot recently. Is giving one big sum for the round, but not mentioning that it’s actually a mix of equity and debt.

It’s better to be honest straight away, because we usually notice. Confusion around this would be really bad for our readers. I would like to say that it doesn’t really matter how much the equity round was, but it does. This is one of our criteria, quite a criteria. What you see on Sifted website is news about investment rounds, equity investment and not debt. Just be very upfront about it straightaway.

Julija Jegorova: in terms of the structure. When it comes to sending you stuff, do you prefer a link with the press release? Photos, boilerplate, etc? Or should the full press release be already included in the email? Would you like a link with everything, then you can get or copy pasted press releases in the body of an email? Or you don’t care?

Zosia Wanat: I would say that the most convenient thing is to have all the information in the email. But actually, sometimes I get those whole packages, you know, like Google Drive packages with like, picture, press release and some additional info, all of it together. So I don’t have to ask about pictures in the follow up email. I sort of have it all in one place.

Julija Jegorova: Perfect. The same person asking about a subject line. I assume this person is working for an Estonias startup. So how do you feel about this subject line? “Estonian startup built a new scalable technology to remove CO2?”

Zosia Wanat: It’s not for me. It tells me that there is a startup, which builds a particular technology. What we need at Sifted is news. What I don’t get from this subject line is a scenario where there is something new happening. If you told me, an Estonian CO2 removal startup has raised 10 million euros, then I would be interested because obviously it’s climate tech. It’s an important topic for us, and you’d have relevant news.

Julija Jegorova: The next question comes from a peer person and a friend of ours, Doug Hunter from So Content. Hi, Doug! OK, the question is: What are your views on top up rounds, series extensions and bridge rounds. Where does the line stop? And it shouldn’t actually be just the next round?

Zosia Wanat: It’s a really good question. And this is the one that I’ve been asking myself quite a lot. This is one of these problems that I’ve been thinking about. Another one is, it’s more from the VC front, but like, should we announce the funds? Like, for example, 100 million funds, if the VC only raised half of it, you know, or like half of it committed?

I keep asking these questions. The answer is at Sifted, we occasionally cover those. We sort of treat them as any other round. Another question is, if it’s a good practice. And if we should, you know, as an industry, if we should do it.

I think it boils down to comparing the same things to comparing the success of one startup to another and understanding how commonplace the trend is currently in the industry. But in general, we do tend to cover these if they satisfy our other criteria.

Julija Jegorova: Thanks for that. New question coming right up. So, how would you pitch news versus a research story?

Zosia Wanat: To be fair, I was thinking a lot about this before coming here. Even myself, I’m a little bit unclear how to do it. Because it’s something so subjective, it has to be a topic that I already deal with. And I have to find the pitch good, really good.

Identifying suitable candidates or good interviewees often happens quite naturally. Sometimes I directly ask people, or I inquire with PRs or investors I know, if they are aware of a startup that does X, Y, and Z. I’m not entirely sure how this should work the other way around. So, if you have a startup that does something you think is exceptionally well, or differently, or is counterintuitive because you pitch me this startup and I think it’s interesting, I also need to find other people.

There have been instances where PRs did something extremely useful: they pitched me a trend and provided three or four examples of startups that fit into this trend. This means much less research for me; it’s just easier. However, I also understand it doesn’t always work and is not always possible to be done right. So I think that to pitch those other stories, the best way is to keep sending these emails. As I said at the beginning, I want to have these on record, and maybe I will log the page and the trend, deciding that this is something we have to write about.

But also, this is something you can mention just in a chat, or when we meet up for coffee, or when I get to know your portfolio. Because then again, I sort of have it on my radar, and I remember it when writing something else. I understand it’s not very concrete, and I’m sorry about that. But thinking about the best ways to address this is essential.

How to get in touch with Zosia

Julija Jegorova: Okay, perfect. Well, I think that is it. Could you please let the audience know the best way to keep in touch with you?

Zosia Wanat: So my articles and profile can be found at Sifted’s website. I can also be found on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Julija Jegorova: Perfect. Well, thank you very much for this wonderful conversation. And I hope here everyone will get some useful insight and knowledge!

Zosia Wanat: I’m looking forward to seeing all your pitches. Very excited!