The two-minute test every pitch faces
An editor opens your email at 9:40 in the morning. Forty more are waiting. Before replying, they do one quick thing: open your website. Within two minutes they decide whether you are a company they can quote, or one they can skip.
That test is now run by people and by AI tools, and both read the same thing first: your website. In Muck Rack's State of Journalism 2026 report, as summarised by the University of Minnesota, 43% of journalists said it was rare to get pitches relevant to their beat. Relevance mattered most (70%), then interview sources (58%), original data (40%) and high-resolution images (37%).
Most of that list is prepared before the pitch is written. So the question for a founder is: what would an editor find, and what is missing?
The InventionDM PR Readiness check answers it in minutes.
How it works: four steps
- Enter your website. Just the address.
- Choose your goal. Founder profile, company growth, launch, funding, award, thought leadership, expansion or other.
- Answer a few goal-specific questions. Each goal asks different things, because a funding story and a founder profile need different evidence.
- Get your PR checklist and brief. What is on your site, what you told us, what to prepare first, and the materials to have ready.
Goal | What we ask |
|---|---|
Founder profile | Role and expertise, approved short bio, supporting work |
Company growth | The milestone, when it happened, why it matters, records that support it |
Product or service launch | What is new, who it is for, launch window, what shows it works |
Funding or investment | What was confirmed, who approved the announcement, public source, announcement date |
Award or recognition | Awarding body, award and category, date, confirming source |
Thought leadership | Topic, your original view, what supports it, spokesperson |
Expansion or new market | Where, opening date, what is set up, who there should care |
Other | What you want to communicate, who should hear it, what supports it |
The golden rule: write only what you can confirm. Funding needs approval from everyone named. An award needs a source.
What an editor does with your website
When an editor opens your site, they look for a named person, a clear description of the business, proof they can check, and a way to reach you. Muck Rack's summary also reports that 69% of journalists prefer pitches under 200 words and 62% prefer one-to-one emails, so a short, relevant, personal pitch with proof behind it wins over a blast.
What the check does not do
It does not judge whether your story is newsworthy, and it does not promise coverage. The details you type in are not verified, so confirm them before anything is published. Think of it as a pre-flight checklist.
From checklist to coverage
If your gap is | Start here |
|---|---|
A launch, growth or funding story needing a release | |
A founder or expert with no public voice | |
Entering a new country | |
Coverage that is hard to find or described wrongly by AI tools | |
Not sure |
Questions
Do I need a press page first? Not mandatory, but a named media contact and a place for photos and a company description save an editor time.
Can this tell me if my story is newsworthy? No. It shows whether the supporting evidence is in place.
Should I mention funding in a pitch? Only if every party has approved it and you can disclose the details.
Will PR help my search results? Credible coverage can help people find and trust you. No one can promise rankings.
Ready? Run the PR Readiness check, pick your goal, and see what to prepare first.