Nobody Cares About Your Startup (Yet): The Founder’s Guide to PR & Media
Part of Twin Cities Startup Week 2026, September 14–18.
Every founder thinks their startup is interesting. But getting journalists and the media to actually care is another matter.
The panel will explore what founders really need to know about PR, media and communications: When should a startup start thinking seriously about PR? What actually makes a company newsworthy? What do journalists care about — and what do they ignore? What communications mistakes do founders repeatedly make? How should the story change as a company moves from startup to scale-up? And how do you build visibility and credibility without wasting money or simply creating noise? And when can PR really help a company punch above its weight?
Speakers:
Arick Wierson — Moderator, Newsweek: Newsweek columnist, six-time Emmy Award-winning television producer and former senior communications adviser to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Arick has spent much of his career at the intersection of media, corporate communications, public affairs and storytelling, including advising startups and growth-stage companies.
Erin Foran — Head of PR, Sezzle: Head of Public Relations at Sezzle, one of Minnesota’s most prominent startup success stories of the past decade. The Minneapolis-founded fintech grew from startup to a multibillion-dollar public company, giving Erin a great perspective on how communications evolves as a company scales.
Mike Nathan — IMPERO Ventures: Serial entrepreneur, startup operator, investor and founding partner of Exit 156 Capital. Mike is also behind Burn Rate + Bull$hit, the startup and entrepreneurship media platform that has built an audience of more than one million subscribers. He brings the perspective of both a VC/operator and someone who has built a massive audience talking candidly about what it actually takes to start, fund and scale companies.
Carl Levi — Greenberg Enterprises: Chief Revenue Officer of Greenberg Enterprises, a family-owned investment office focused on early-stage and scaling companies. Carl can bring the investor perspective on what portfolio companies get right — and wrong — when it comes to marketing, positioning, communications and building visibility.
Pat Milan — Tunheim: Senior communications strategist with Tunheim, one of the Twin Cities’ leading public affairs and communications firms. Pat brings decades of experience advising companies and organizations on reputation, positioning, media and communications strategy.
Getting here on Wednesday. Parking, Basecamp, lunch, and the rest of the day: tcstartupweek.com/wednesday