Recently in my mailbox appeared an e-mail from Marta Diana Koziarska, who together with Boris Musielak organizes and runs the preacceleration program ReactorX. I was waiting for him. I knew that I would receive it and that it would be accompanied by emotions similar to those of the first time. I was not mistaken. When he came I delayed his opening for a while. A moment later, however, I dared and started reading. Opinions of participants 2nd Batch ReactorX. Uff, we managed!
When I agreed to become a mentor and share my knowledge with startups, on the one hand, I knew that there was a lot of work ahead of me, and on the other hand, I had a mission that I was trying to fulfill. I want the startups to understand what PR is all about, when they start it and what results they can expect. I am honest about that. I explain, not only when PR is needed, but also often when it is not needed and what efficient teams can do low-cost by their own means. And that works very well. I assume that it is necessary to educate at grassroots level, to explain step by step, in order for such a strategy to have positive effects in the future. Why?
I work with various companies on a daily basis. And while the larger ones most often (although it is not the rule), they are aware of PR activities, the smaller ones – not entirely, confuse PR with marketing. FP7 will not be immediately effective. It will not cause leftovers to fall asleep in 2 weeks and sales in the online store will increase. It will not save the company or the startup from itself (read the bad product, the service for which there is no demand). The sooner a business learns about this, the better it will be for everyone. And another, equally important issue – the PR industry has quite poor PR, for various reasons. One of them is promising startups pears on the willow, and then, when it comes to something, there is no publication (because the agency does not understand what exactly startups do, so how is it supposed to sell it on?). And we know that PR agencies operate inefficiently, that they are unnecessary and that it is better to invest in other activities. That’s how it works, but fortunately you can escape from it. At least try it.
So I mentor and, as I read in the email, I do quite well.
These are some of the opinions (there are many of them and I don’t want to bother you with them) that I received from the participants of the 2nd Batch of the ReactorX preacceleration program:
She was helpful, gave good advice. I just like listening to her as a person. It made me pay attention and the content is useful for every startup.
I think all important issues were included, after workshop I know more about work of journalists, how to write an email to them and how to contact them. For sure there is scope of other things regarding PR but probably reaching press is the most affordable and efficient one.
Very useful, very practical, very straight-to-the-fucking-point. I didn’t take any notebooks and I remember a lot. Inspiring mentor.
Kasia nicely organized the process of writing Press Release and establishing and maintaining contacts with the press.
Big knowledge, very helpful
I much rather have a great speaker with content that is ‘kinda important’ over a speaker who is bad (rude, not prepared, boring) but ‘very important’ content. She was the first example.
More time! This should be an evening session. So that you can talk more about building relations with the press and write your PR.
Thank you very much and I am very pleased!
Of course, there was also constructive criticism, so I know what changes I should make and how to respond even better to the needs of the participants!
Kasia was a bit stressed by speaking English. Solution? Invite her to the Open Reader to make a preview in English 😉
The title of the workshop did not correspond to its content: there was not a word about marketing, and in the case of PR we were only talking about the preparation of press releases, and according to the leader of the workshop we were supposed to learn this. A wider context of PR and marketing would be useful: which actions are worth taking, which tools are worth using, etc.
For us such a workshop could take place at a later date, too early for us for press releases, and e.g. meetings with investors we already have and we are great at knowing how to better prepare for them. Of course, I know that it is not possible to plan everything in such a way that it fits all the startups, because everyone does something different, everyone is at a different stage and everyone needs something different at a given moment. We will certainly need this knowledge later on 🙂
Thank you also for your comments! I am getting down to work and preparing even better material for the participants of Batch No. 3! Yes, I was invited to the next edition and will be happy to participate as a mentor, yeey!
Returning to the substance and subject of my entry. Why is it worth becoming a mentor?
You are completing a mission! I am happy to share my knowledge, which participants can use in real life! You meet great people who work with passion and great commitment on their startups You learn new technologies! In the last Batch there were a lot of projects from