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What is a press kit?

A press kit is a page on your website (or a PDF) that gives journalists everything they need to write about your company — in one place, right now. It answers the questions they ask every founder: What does this company do? Who's behind it? Why should readers care? What does it look like?

The best press kits are a single page on your website at /press-kit or /media. Journalists can link to it, share it with their editors, and come back to it when they're ready to write. PDFs go to spam. Website pages get read.

Why journalists expect a press kit

Journalists typically cover 10–20 companies at a time. They don't have time to email founders for basic info, chase headshots, or wait for logos in PNG format. A press kit tells them you take PR seriously — and makes their job easier. Founders with professional press kits get coverage at a significantly higher rate.

The press kit checklist

Every complete press kit has these eight elements. Missing even one can be the difference between getting written about and getting ignored.

  1. 1
    Company one-pager A 2–3 paragraph company description: who you are, what you built, and why it matters right now. No jargon, no marketing copy. Think of it as the Wikipedia entry a journalist would write if they had all the time in the world. Include your founding year, HQ, team size, and one-sentence mission.
  2. 2
    Founder bios + headshots 2–3 sentence bio per founder, written in third person. Include one high-resolution professional photo per founder (min 2MB, PNG or JPEG, minimum 2000px wide). Bonus: a team photo at the office or on location. Journalists need to visualize the humans behind the story.
  3. 3
    Product screenshots / demo video 3–5 key product screenshots showing your most important features. Label each one. Also include one short demo video (under 2 minutes) — unedited, no music, just the product in action. Journalists who can't visualize your product won't write about it.
  4. 4
    Key metrics Your most impressive and verifiable numbers: monthly active users, annual recurring revenue, YoY growth rate, customers served, or any milestone that makes your story compelling. If you don't have big numbers yet, use customer count, data points collected, or time saved. Real is better than impressive-looking.
  5. 5
    Press mentions / media logos Any articles, podcasts, or interviews where you've been featured — even small ones. Include the outlet name and date. Place logos of media outlets you've been in or are targeting (if they've given written permission to use their logo — don't guess on this one). Social proof compounds.
  6. 6
    Brand assets A zip file containing your logo in multiple formats (SVG, PNG, PDF) and color variants (light background, dark background). Include your brand color palette (hex codes). Downloadable at one click. Journalists who need to create a graphic will go to whoever makes it easiest.
  7. 7
    Contact info One dedicated PR/media email address (not your personal email). Link to your LinkedIn profile and Twitter/X. If you have a comms team or PR agency, list a primary contact with a direct number. Journalists work on deadline — they need to reach someone fast.
  8. 8
    Recent press releases Your last 2–3 press releases (if any): fundraise announcements, product launches, major partnerships, or awards. Format: plain text + a clean PDF version. Journalists don't read PR-speak, but having these available shows you've done this before.

Common press kit mistakes founders make

  • ✕ Making journalists email to request it. Your press kit should be linked from your homepage, visible without a password, and indexed by Google. If a journalist has to ask for it, you've already lost them.
  • ✕ Including low-res logos or broken image links. Test every link and download in your press kit on a different device. Nothing signals unprofessional like a 404 error in your own media kit.
  • ✕ Writing in founder voice. Press kit copy should read like a Wikipedia article or news brief — third person, factual, no superlatives ("world's best"). Save the marketing language for your homepage.
  • ✕ Overstuffing it with PDFs to download. One click, one page, everything visible. PDFs kill engagement. If you must use a PDF, link from a web page that has the key info above the fold.
  • ✕ Forgetting to update it. Update your press kit every time you hit a milestone, raise a round, or launch a major feature. Set a calendar reminder every quarter.

Where to put your press kit

The best practice is a dedicated page on your website: yoursite.com/press-kit or yoursite.com/media. Link to it from your homepage footer and navigation. Include the URL in every pitch email.

If you also maintain a PDF version, keep it on the page as a secondary option — but make the web page the primary experience. Journalists are more likely to share a URL than forward a file attachment.

The one-page press kit template

Want the exact format we recommend to every founder we work with? We put together a one-page press kit template with placeholder text you can fill in, export as a PDF, and host on your website. It covers all 8 checklist items above in a format journalists actually use.

It's free. Download it below.