Rootd · B2C · panic attack relief app
Cold-email journalists who write about mental health, telling your own story
Few replies, but features in Cosmopolitan, Women's Health and Time
Workedpr-launchfounder-brand
What they did
Found journalists online who wrote about mental health, read their pieces, then reached out on LinkedIn or found their email and sent pitches. Put her own name and panic attack story to the pitch after initially not wanting to be known as 'the anxiety girl', because a personal story resonates better.
What happened
Most never responded, but every now and then a major feature landed: Cosmopolitan, Women's Health, Time magazine.
- Stage
- Growth (early growth)
- Effort
- A ton of work; low response rate
In their words
Starter Story · This app made over $1M“I would find people online, journalists that wrote about mental health, and then I would read it, reach out to them either on LinkedIn or try to get their email and send pitches that way.”
“So we were in Cosmopolitan, we've been in Women's Health, we're even in Time magazine, which was a big one. All of that really happened from these organic cold emails.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Rootd: Read reviews of rival apps to find the gap, then ship a rough first versionFirst few hundred users asked her to keep going despite bugs
- Rootd: Spend hours writing helpful replies on anxiety posts, with a link to the appNamed her top growth tactic; no numbers
- Rootd: Make the app deliver what searchers want so reviews repeat your keywordsFounder calls it a strong App Store presence; no numbers
- Rootd: Release an app update every weekFounder says it shows the app is maintained; no numbers
- Rootd: Sign B2B deals and get therapists to recommend the app to patientsFounder says it's been helpful in 2025; no numbers
- Rootd: Track reviews and star rating over revenue, and build what reviewers ask forKept a 4.8 rating; founder credits it as a big growth factor