Supporting early-stage businesses

“When is the right time for PR?”

We hear this all the time, especially in the tech startup scene.

Businesses are eager to land earned media coverage to entice investors, partners and customers. But we know from our decades of media and PR experience that journalists are time poor and there are more and more businesses vying for their attention. So how do you cut through as an early-stage business?

That’s where we come in. At Harpswood, our team of former journalists and PR experts are well-versed in working with small organisations with exciting missions to craft compelling stories and generate media coverage that will help them to grow.

From helping you to shout about your early investment rounds to building a narrative about your business that will get journalists excited, we work as an extension of your team to develop a focussed PR strategy that directly supports your organisational goals and growth.

PR can have a pivotal impact on your business at its earliest stages.

Our Services for Early-Stage Startups

DOs & Don’tS

We’ll get you up and running / we’ll lay the groundwork

We’ll make sure you have all the foundations you need - press kit with all the assets - the visuals we know

With us you’ll be PR ready within a month…

Design your modular package

Add to form a set of checkboxes ‘Build Your Own PR Package’ - we cater to your needs, if you don’t see what you need get a call in and we’ll find a solution.

We’ll get you the contacts you need

We create tailored packages for early-stage businesses

ANSWERING TOUGH QUESTIONS

We’ll teach you how to bridge away from difficult questions in an authentic manner and move the conversation to where you want it to go.

DELIVERING YOUR KEY MESSAGEs

You’ll learn how to engage your interviewer, answer questions directly and effectively, and land your key messages with impact.

PREPARING FOR BROADCAST

You’ll gain an understanding of the different interview types you may face and the subtle differences in delivery that each requires.

MASTERING LIVE INTERVIEWS

The camera is on and you’ve got a seasoned journalist sitting across from you… our mock interviews will put you on the spot to prepare you for the real deal.

DEALING WITH A PR CRISIS

Things don’t always go as planned. We’ll show you the foundational skills to step in front of the media and address a difficult subject calmly and with assurance.

  • NEW AUTOMOTIVE

    NEW AUTOMOTIVE

    We began working with New AutoMotive from the organisation’s launch.

    We focussed on building rapport with the media through consistent delivery of quality data and expert insights. We persisted until we found the best angles that resonated with transport and environment journalists.

    Over four years, we helped New AutoMotive to become a leading voice in the electric car debate. We delivered over 2,500 pieces of coverage, including 51 national hits in a single year.

    We supported them to campaign for the UK’s Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate, one of the most ambitious clean transport policies in the world, which came into law in 2024.

    The organisation is now quoted in national media on a weekly basis, providing data and expert information to policymakers, other industry leaders and consumers.

    MORE ON NEW AUTOMOTIVE

  • YO-GO

    Yo-Go, the UK’s first pay-as-you-go electric buggy startup, came to Harpswood to accelerate the launch of their first trial in London with top-tier press attention. 

    We got straight to work calling our national contacts and crafting a press release based on early feedback that highlighted Yo-Go’s trial of neighbourhood electric buggies as as the world’s first.

    We also offered a select group of target journalists the opportunity to test a Yo-Go buggy for themselves - as well as interview Yo-Go CEO Sam Bailey and an early adopter of the buggy rental service in London.

    Our results:

    From two feature articles in The Times to a regional segment on BBC London that aired on both the lunchtime and evening news - the Yo-Go buggies received an early wave of influential media coverage - followed by further articles from an impressive range of national titles. 

    The Guardian, Mail Online, BBC News Online, Forbes, The London Standard and Metro all covered Yo-Go’s London launch with plenty of pictures of the eye-catching yellow buggies.

    Yo-Go’s team received thousands of new sign-ups to the Yo-Go app following our announcement. 

    MORE ON YO-GO

  • HUIB

    TENZING hired Harpswood to support its business growth and international expansion through raising the profile of founder and CEO, Huib van Bockel. We delved into Huib’s background as an ardent environmentalist, his leadership style and his inspiration for launching the business. We also prepared lines for Huib on carbon footprint labelling - a key issue for TENZING.

    Our results:

    • Business profile coverage of Huib in the FT and Evening Standard detailing his quirky leadership style and how he uses buddhist practices in the workplace

    • Educational commentary from Huib on carbon footprint labelling in CityAM, Mail Online, the Daily Express and others

    • An interview on the Evening Standard’s ‘How to be a CEO’ podcast that features “some of the most influential people in the world of business”. After our first few months of activity, Huib remarked that he’d never had so many high-profile media interviews

    MORE ON TENZING

ready to Get in touch?

Interested in working together? Share some details about your business and we’ll get in touch.