By Mehdi HassanWhat should a startup press kit include?
A startup press kit should include everything a journalist needs to write about you without emailing you first: who you are, what's new, the right logo and a usable photo. Most press kits fail by including too little, usually no founder photos and only a full-color logo, or too much, usually a brand manifesto nobody quotes.
This is the checklist, in the order it should appear on the page. It's the public, press-facing slice of your brand guidelines, so if you've written those, much of the work is already done.
- Boilerplate: a 50 to 100 word 'About' paragraph a journalist can paste as is.
- Fact sheet: founded, founders, headquarters, team size, funding and investors you've announced, customers you're allowed to name, with a date.
- Logo pack: full logo, horizontal lockup and symbol, each in color, black and white, as SVG and PNG, plus a zip.
- Logo-use rules: clear space, minimum size, backgrounds and three to five misuse examples.
- Founder photos and bios: high-resolution headshots in square and portrait crops, and a short bio for each founder.
- Product images: current screenshots and, if relevant, a short demo video or GIF.
- News: your latest announcements with dates and links to coverage.
- Press contact: a real person's name and email, and expected response time.
What's the difference between a press kit and a media kit?
A press kit helps journalists cover you; a media kit helps advertisers buy from you. The terms are often used interchangeably, and search results mix them, but they serve different readers and contain different things.
Press kit | Media kit | |
|---|---|---|
Reader | Journalists, podcasters, event organizers | Advertisers, sponsors, brand partners |
Purpose | Make you easy to cover accurately | Sell ad space, sponsorship or partnership |
Contents | Boilerplate, facts, logos, photos, news | Audience size, demographics, formats, rates |
Who needs one | Almost every startup | Publishers, newsletters, creators, events |
If you run a newsletter, community or podcast that sells sponsorships, you need both. Otherwise, build the press kit and skip the media kit. Many startups label the page 'Press' or 'Newsroom' and title the downloadable zip 'press kit', which matches what journalists search for.
How should a startup structure its /press page?
Structure the /press page as a single scroll, with downloads near the top and background further down. Journalists on deadline scan the first screen, grab the logo and boilerplate, and leave. Everything else is for the ones writing a longer piece.
Section | What's in it | Why it's here |
|---|---|---|
Hero | One-line description and a 'Download press kit' button | The most common task in one click |
About | Boilerplate with a copy button | Pasted directly into articles |
Logos | Previews with SVG and PNG buttons for each version | Most journalists need exactly one file |
Fact sheet | Key facts with a last-updated date | Stops outdated numbers spreading |
People | Founder headshots and bios | Often requested, often missing |
Product | Screenshots and video | Visuals for the story |
News and coverage | Announcements and press mentions | Context and credibility |
Contact | Named person and email | For interviews and questions |
If your site is a template you can't easily extend, adding a page like this is often the first point where a template starts to pinch. Our guide to custom website vs template covers when that's worth fixing.
Which file formats should a press kit offer?
Offer vector files for logos, high-resolution raster files for photos, and web-ready versions of both. The goal is that any journalist, designer or event organizer can use a file directly, without converting it or asking for a different version.
Asset | Formats | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Logos | SVG, PNG (transparent), PDF or EPS for print | Color, black and white for each lockup |
Symbol or app icon | SVG, PNG at large square size | For avatars, slides and listings |
Founder headshots | JPG, high resolution, plus a web size | Square and portrait crops, plain background |
Product screenshots | PNG at full resolution | Current UI only; remove test data |
Video | MP4, plus a hosted link | Short and captioned |
Fact sheet | Web page plus PDF | Dated on the first line |
Name files so they explain themselves: 'acme-logo-white-horizontal.svg' beats 'final_v3.svg'. Shopify's guide to logo file formats is a useful reference if you're unsure which format suits which use.
What logo-use rules belong on a press page?
Put only the rules a journalist or partner could break: clear space, minimum size, background choice and what not to do. Your full brand guidelines will have more, but outsiders won't read them. Four rules and a row of misuse examples cover nearly every mistake.
- Clear space: keep an empty margin around the logo, defined by a visible element such as the symbol's height.
- Minimum size: the smallest width the logo stays legible, for screen and print.
- Backgrounds: which version goes on light, dark and photo backgrounds.
- Don'ts: no stretching, recoloring, outlines, shadows or rearranging the lockup.
- Name: how to write the company name in text, including capitalization.
These rules should match your internal guide exactly. If you publish a fuller public brand page, link to it from here; our guide on online brand guidelines shows how to build one. The partner-facing guides from Spotify and Apple in our brand guidelines examples are good models for how short and precise these rules can be.
How do you write the boilerplate and fact sheet?
Write the boilerplate as plain description and the fact sheet as dated, checkable facts. Both get copied word for word, so every sentence should be something you're happy to see in print. Leave out claims you can't support and anything that will date quickly unless you're willing to update it.
A fill-in boilerplate and fact sheet structure
Boilerplate: '[Company] helps [audience] [do outcome] by [how]. Founded in [year] by [founders], the company is based in [city] and backed by [investors you've announced]. Learn more at [URL].' Keep it under 100 words and avoid adjectives like 'leading' or 'revolutionary'.
Fact sheet: Last updated [date]. Founded. Founders and titles. Headquarters. Team size. Funding announced, with round and lead investor. Product and pricing model in one line. Customers you have written permission to name. Press contact.
If you're early and the fact sheet looks thin, that's fine; honest and short reads better than padded. The trust signals that matter most at that stage are covered in our guide to brand trust signals for early-stage startups.
How do you keep a startup press kit current?
Keep the press kit current by giving it an owner and updating it at every announcement. A launch, a funding round, a new executive or a rebrand should all trigger an update before the news goes out, because that's exactly when journalists visit the page.
