I am getting an increasing number of calls and emails from entrepreneurs in the San Antonio, Austin, and South Texas area about new technology startups needing PR (and some elements of social media) services.

Here's a few tips about how to approach me and here's how work with startups and what I look for...

1.  NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement First

Today, I received a call from what I am sure was a well-intentioned entrepreneur who said he did not have an NDA and asked me if I had one I could send him.

You don't need a lawyer to get one.  You can download a free one here.

Bad sign.

If you take your startup seriously, and even if you don't really have anything proprietary, it shows prospective investors, partners, and service providers like me that you have something to protect and that you consider what you are doing to be very serious.

In this case, I really did not care if he had a NDA or not.  

Actually, it was a leading question.  I wanted to see how he would respond and how seriously he took what he was doing.  

I told him that my lawyer does not allow me to meet with startups without an NDA.

I see way too many things, way early and even if we don't do business, I make it a rule of thumb that we have an NDA in place.  

When he asked to send him an NDA, he was putting the burden me.  

Not good.  

I passed and wished him luck.

2.  Management Team

You can be 18, 22, or 90.  With tons of experience or none at all.

You can have another day job.

Or you could be doing this solo.  

I don't care. 

I just want to see who is involved, what their backgrounds are, and some sense of history.  If you have no history, it's really OK.  I just want to know.

3.  IP - Intellectual Property

If you have IP that is yours - be it patented or patents in the works, that's important as well.  It means you have some defensible strategy.  

No patents?  

That's ok too..... just bring it up in the context of your pitch, so I don't have to ask you.

4.  Funding

How are you funded?

Self funded.  Angel money.  Seed.  VC.

It's all good.  Tell me what you are doing for money and how you plan to get to next level to secure funding.

5.  Who Should Cover You?

You're reaching out to me for PR.

So, in a perfect world, who should cover your story?  Why?  What media / what mediums.

Think like a PR person and do some homework first.

6.  Make Your Pitch Realistic

"Our technology will revolutionize X...."

Uh... pardon me, but before you make a some outlandish statements like these, make sure you know what you are talking about.

Hint:  humility is a virtue.

7.  Yes, we have Beta's 

In an perfect world (there isn't one) it's nice to have Beta customers who we can talk to in order to get a realistic view of their world and how and why they like your technology offering.  

Do you have Beta customers?  

Big help in that department.

8.  What Happens When I Google You?

Are you on LinkedIn?  Facebook? Twitter? G+?

What will I find?  What will I learn about you - or rather what will I perceive about you?

Make sure that your social presence is up to date, accurate and reflects what you are doing.

9.  Sell Me On Why I Should Represent You.

You have every right to interview me.  

But don't forget, I am going to interview you as well.

I probably turn down most of the startups that come my way - not out of arrogance, or lack of budget, but because either I don't think you have a good enough story (yet) or you won't make a great, kick-ass client.

I want kick-ass clients who will listent to me, follow my advise, let me fuck up every now and then, and sustain a program so we can both be successful.

I don't work for you.  I work for the media, the industry analyst, the blogger and the thought leader who I think should know about you.  

If I bring a great story to someone of influence, my job is to help them be in the know and discover what is awesome about your technology, your company and the team behind the vision.

10.  OK.  Let's meet

If I don't know you, and you want to meet, I charge a basic consultation fee of $500 to meet or have a conference call.  

This generally lasts about 1.5 hours and even if we don't do business, you'll get my take on what you are doing, some good advise on PR, and a week or two later, you'll probably get another call from me, because now that you've made me aware of what you are doing, something will more than likely come to mind where the consult will be of further benefit.

Money aside, it also means you are serious about you're heading in a new direction where you might want to engage with a PR advisor such as myself.

I like to get the money thing on the table in advance.  I am happy to have a short phone call at no charge and see what's up.  

I don't prescribe until I diagnose. 

After that, my time, like yours, has value.

Best way to reach me is here. 

The purpose of gaining coverage on sites like CNET, TechCrunch, Mashable, The Next Web are not only to create buzz for your startup, but to gain what I call a cascading effect.

A burst of coverage on the sites covering startups, have the cascading effect of related coverage in your vertical markets.

Photo shot on the 4th of July at South Padre Island by me.

Serving the financial services market?  You have the opportunity to cascade related coverage in.... you guessed it the financial services related vertical media. Disrupting broadcast media?  Ditto.  And so on...

Think Beyond Just Buzz

It's nice to break your story in places like these.  

Journalists and bloggers who cover specific vertical markets look to these sites for story ideas.

Think of these sites for launching your company.  

Think of the vertical markets for generating deal flow, partnerships, funding and sales.

If you know of a Texas entrepreneur who is working on a startup, or has a great startup idea, I encourage them to contact Tech Wildcatters, a Dallas based seed accelerator that invests in and puts promising B2B web and software companies through a 3 month resident "boot camp."

Entrepreneurs apply at TechWildcatters.com/apply. Applications close on January 16th.

Important dates:
Jan. 16th Application deadline
Jan. 25th Quick Pitch day/Book signing with Brad Feld
Feb. 28th Spring class will begin.

During the Capital Factory’s Demo Day in Austin, I had a chance to catch up with Blair Garrou, Managing Director at DFJ Mercury in Houston.  DFJ Mercury is a seed and early stage venture fund.

VC Minded / Super Angel Financing

Blair’s firm looks at deals ranging from $100,000 to $1,000,000, so an event like this is a great place to get a sense of what early stage companies are trying to build out before they go to someone like Blair’s firm.

 “You know it when you see it….”

As you can see in this video, Blair talks about the types of companies he is looking for, and how the way the world has changed in terms of raising money.  The cost of starting up has been dramatically reduced, especially when you can outsource infrastructure services from companies like Rackspace or Amazon. 

Blair’s looking for deals in gaming, and specifically any type of company that is taking advantage of game mechanics to drive users and usage on the mobile web.

Blair also points out that if you can raise some amount of angel money, you are more likely to attract the attention of a firm like his.  If you’ve raised some amount of money from an angel, then it also means that you have someone who has done some due diligence as a precursor to having a firm like DFJ Mercury consider you and your team.

Follow Blair here on LinkedIn:  /bgarrou

And Twitter: @bgarrou