How to Pitch Your App to the Press – Matthew Panzarino, Formerly TechCrunch

Copilot had been building and gaining some traction for a long time, so when Intuit shut down Mint it was ready: the small team went all hands on deck, shared and pitched itself as the next home for Mint users, helped by organic 'what else is out there' conversations. Guest's framing advice: no gloating ('Mint sucked') or pity; something like 'If you're losing Mint, we're here to help': acknowledge the loss, then show why you are great. For an outage (e.g. Apple Weather going down) it is fine to be a bit feistier with a giant, but market the features that make you better at any time, not that you are up while they are down, so switchers don't churn back when the competitor recovers.

Find the writer at the publication who covers your category (the fintech writer, whoever wrote about Mint) and follow their work. Write an individual pitch that references what they cover ('Given everything that you write about...'). Tailor it per outlet: TechCrunch wants what the move means for startups and to be 12-18 months early; enthusiast sites like 9to5Mac and MacRumors cover new apps more directly. Aim to win one or two writers who become believers and chronicle your progress over time.

Subject line: either very short ('Please look at this because X') with the pitch in the body, or very long with everything in it and the body just contacts and a press-kit link; writers often see only sender and subject. Body: a couple of your own sentences on why it's unique (nothing pasted), optionally one strong inline screenshot. No tracking pixels, read receipts or tracked links on individual pitches, and never say 'I saw you opened my email'; a polite follow-up is fine. Attach or link a press kit with high-res images, App Store description and screenshots, feature details, a few lines of founder backstory (a teaser, not a pre-written story), and TestFlight or download links. Give a direct email and phone number and reply fast, since writers work on tight deadlines.

Treat press as pinpoint acquisition: a TechCrunch story brings a few thousand users of a specific type (early adopters, power users, builders, engineers, investors, people who send feedback and bug reports) over the several weeks it circulates. For broad, long-term user acquisition use TikTok and Facebook install ads or Google. Evergreen articles can keep sending signups.

Once a writer who knows your space publishes a fair, in-depth story (it need not be all positive), send it to investors in place of the deck: 'check out this story that so-and-so wrote about us... happy to share our progress since then'. The outside writer acts like an outside board member validating the team and problem. The same story also helps recruiting and morale.

Treat solid design, accessibility and polished basics as 'zero' (table stakes). Lead with what is above zero: a cleverly designed feature, use of a newly launched platform sensor or API (Apple, Google, a new OpenAI model), or a fit with current conditions (post-zero-interest rates, COVID), tied to threads the writer already covers. Only then add the personal founder story (e.g. siblings who built an elder-care messaging app when their mother was in hospice). Avoid news hooks on disasters or someone saying something dumb online.