Key facts
- Honeyjar uses AI to automate PR tasks such as writing announcements and finding journalists.
- The platform aims to make senior-level PR expertise accessible to a broader audience.
- Honeyjar's founders, Michelle Masek and Nadia Jamshidi, have decades of experience in PR and communications.
- The tool can find reporters, build media lists, scan news and social media, track coverage, and surface opportunities.
- Honeyjar's vision extends beyond press coverage to integrating the entire communications workflow.
- The platform is designed for founders, marketers, investors, creators, and other "unassigned communicators."
Honeyjar is launching an AI-powered platform designed to enhance public relations and communications efforts for companies and individuals.
The startup, set to participate in TechCrunch Disrupt's Startup Battlefield 200, aims to democratize PR expertise by automating processes like drafting announcements, identifying relevant journalists, and uncovering speaking opportunities. The platform seeks to provide the judgment and skills of senior PR professionals to a wider audience, including founders who may lack experience in strategic communications.
Founded by CEO Michelle Masek and Chief Communications Officer Nadia Jamshidi, both with extensive backgrounds in in-house and agency PR, Honeyjar addresses the challenge of scaling senior-level communication expertise. Masek, formerly senior vice president of marketing and communications for Obvious Ventures, recognized the need for a tool that could assist the numerous portfolio companies her firm invested in.
Jamshidi elaborated that Honeyjar's capabilities extend beyond press coverage, encompassing media list building, news scanning, coverage tracking, and opportunity surfacing. The overarching vision is to integrate the entire communications workflow, including signals, context, strategy, judgment, timing, and execution.
Masek highlighted that the need for strategic communication is widespread, extending to marketers, investors, creators, and other professionals who may not hold a formal communications title. Honeyjar is not intended to replace PR professionals but rather to augment their effectiveness, allowing them to handle more clients without proportional scaling costs.
Upon opening its waitlist, Honeyjar garnered 10,000 signups within 24 hours. Beta testers include notable entities such as Nextdoor, Coco Robotics, Bloomberg Beta, and agencies Mission North and Full Picture.
Addressing concerns about an influx of AI-generated pitches, Masek emphasized that while Honeyjar can draft content, the final decision to send or publish rests with the human user. The company is focused on infusing its AI with human wisdom and is training the product on the judgment of experienced PR professionals through its Comms Lab initiative. This approach aims to ensure that pitches are credible and relevant, potentially even advising founders when they are not yet ready for media coverage.