One of the complaints I hear a lot in the Romanian tech scene is the lack of support from the press and the blogosphere for the startups, being sites, apps and businesses.

I have a few ideas about this, having the most popular Romanian blog, read by journalists, businessmen and other people:

  1. the startup/person pitching is shady as fuck. people use fake email addresses in 2016, really, they do. they cant say who the investors are. can’t say any real numbers or they flat out lie about them, being obvious they lie. people who you dont like and dont like you back call you out of the blue with kind words and requests.
  2. they have a PR agent with a bad reputation. some hire a real public relations agent, others use the services of consultants, whom they meet at hubs. they dont bother checking their success rate or credentials of these people. i have met one who paid Romanian consultants with no results for 10 years and they were shocked to find out their lack of press was because of these people, who nobody in the tech press liked.
  3. they badmouth bloggers/journalist for no reason. having an aggressive approach to news, i have a lot of fans. some of them badmouth me not on point, on the subject, on the numbers or on the opinions expressed on my blog, but using general terms. fuck that guys, he’s a cunt. i am, but i am also right when i write about your lies and business practices, so… i have heard from time to time people expressing thoughts about me without reading my blog, but based on what they heard from others. the stakes? none, they were doing it for fun. and it doesnt happen to just me, but to a lot of others. your startup failed? keep badmouthing the journalists and the bloggers that said it would.
  4. they do fluff pieces first. they entice one journalist with an exclusive interview, and the journalist knows not to dig too much into the details, because his main job is to create a positive buzz, no matter what the reality is. this is a separate problem, with the journalist trying to make the startup appealing. the problem is the startup sends me the press release, also saying the news already broke on another site 2 or 3 days ago. and no, the CEO is not available for questions. OK, what am i to do with this? cause it’s not news. being published days ago. i cant do more, the CEO is not available.
  5. they dont want to pay. so, if it’s not news, commentary or a press release, it’s a paid post. pay! you dont want to pay, you want real press coverage? good. do it the right way.