1. Pitch journalists yourself as the founder - don't bother hiring a PR firm 2. Pitch journalists who previously covered related companies 3. Pitch what your company does from an interesting angle so it's easy for the journalist to see its story potential - different possible angles:

Your personal story / background Exciting new feature Company hit important milestone Your product is truly innovative Interesting user behavior patterns Broader social/political/economic issues your product touches upon Pitch to local publications (you founded your startup in this city) Create a landing page/resource related to product and pitch that

* From: http://www.artofemails.com/pitch-press