Blog · field notes
Playbooks in public.
Embargo strategy, tier-1 placement, APAC localisation, crisis communications, and KOL wave design. Drawn from six years and 50+ launches.
How to Pitch a Web3 Security or AI Safety Story to Mainstream Business Press in
Bloomberg, FT, and WSJ want Web3 security and AI safety stories — but founders keep pitching them wrong. Here's the reframe that actually lands tier-1 coverage.
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Founder-Led LinkedIn for Web3 and AI Builders: The 2026 Algorithm-Proof
LinkedIn's March 2026 algorithm update broke most founders' content strategies. Here's the Web3/AI-specific operating system — profile architecture, formats, cadence, and AI-citation strategy — that actually works now.
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Cybersecurity Startup PR: How Web3 Security Firms Get Into Wired, MIT Tech
Smart contract auditors, on-chain forensics firms, and bug-bounty platforms have unique PR problems. Here's the earned-media playbook that builds institutional credibility without burning client relationships.
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Web3 Protocol Post-Hack Trust Recovery: The 90-Day Communications Playbook
After a Web3 exploit, most protocols collapse not from the hack itself but from failed communications. Here's the 90-day PR playbook that converts skeptics into long-term holders.
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Which Journalists Accept Crypto News Under Embargo (And How to Approach Them)
A founder's operational guide to identifying crypto and Web3 reporters with a track record of honouring embargoes — plus the consent-first pitch sequence that protects your TGE, funding, or protocol launch.
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Crisis Comms Long-Tails for Web3 Founders: The Scenarios Nobody Writes Into the
Most Web3 crisis plans cover hacks and regulatory letters. They miss the slow-burn, secondary scenarios that quietly destroy reputation. Here's the full long-tail map.
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Crypto News Embargo Coordination Services: What They Are and What They Actually
What a professional crypto news embargo coordination service does, when you need one, and why doing it wrong is one of the most expensive PR mistakes a Web3 founder can make.
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What Does a Good Embargo Strategy Look Like for Crypto Announcements?
A practical framework for crypto founders on building embargo strategies that drive coordinated coverage, protect journalist relationships, and avoid the pitfalls unique to Web3 PR.
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What Are the Risks of Embargo Breaks in Cryptocurrency PR?
Embargo breaks in crypto PR aren't just awkward—they crater journalist trust, scramble token launch timing, and can invite regulatory scrutiny. Here's how to protect yourself.
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When Should You Lift the Embargo on a DeFi Protocol Announcement?
The embargo timing playbook built for DeFi founders—covering on-chain leak risks, journalist lead times, market hours, and the five scenarios that force an early lift.
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Web3 PR Embargo Strategy: The Operational Long-Tails Founders Never See Coming
Most Web3 founders think embargo strategy ends at "don't publish before X date." It doesn't. Here are the operational long-tails that derail launches—and how to manage them.
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How to Turn a Web3 Conference Appearance Into 30 Days of Earned Media: The
Most Web3 founders waste 90% of the PR value from a conference appearance. Here's the exact post-event sequence to mine a talk for story angles, follow up with journalists, and fuel a month of earned media.
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Web3 Founder Substack Strategy: How to Build a Newsletter That Journalists
The best Web3 founders in 2026 are bypassing intermediaries entirely with Substack—turning newsletters into primary sources journalists cite, deal-flow signals VCs forward, and community anchors that survive market
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How to Pitch Naavik, Blockworks Research, and The Block's Research Desk: A Web3
Most Web3 founders ignore the analysts and newsletters that institutional capital actually reads. Here's how to earn coverage in Naavik, Blockworks Research, and The Block—without buying it.
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Web3 Gaming PR: How to Pitch Decrypt, Polygon Blog, and Gaming-Native Outlets
Gaming journalists at Decrypt, Naavik, and Delphi Digital reject most GameFi pitches on first read. Here's a tactical, outlet-by-outlet guide to what actually earns coverage in 2026.
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Web3 Founder Thought Leadership Without a Ghost-Writer: A DIY Framework for
A repeatable content extraction framework for technical Web3 founders who want to convert protocol expertise into bylines, X threads, podcast pitches, and conference talks — no ghost-writer required.
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DAOs and Decentralized Governance: The PR Playbook for When There Is No Single
No CEO, no press office, votes that reverse overnight. DAO communications is the hardest PR problem in Web3. Here is the framework that actually works.
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Crypto Founder LinkedIn PR: The 90-Day Operating System for Institutional
Most Web3 founders ignore LinkedIn or turn it into a price-ticker feed. Here's the 90-day content system that builds institutional credibility and converts it into inbound media and meetings.
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How to Get a Speaking Slot at TOKEN2049, ETHDenver, and Consensus: The PR
Most Web3 founders treat speaker applications as cold submissions. This playbook shows how TOKEN2049, ETHDenver, and Consensus actually select speakers—and how to earn your slot before you ever apply.
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Web3 Gaming PR Playbook: How to Earn Coverage in Decrypt, Naavik, and
GameFi and on-chain game founders face a split media landscape. This playbook shows how to craft two parallel narratives—one for crypto press, one for gaming journalists—and pitch both effectively.
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Exchange Listing PR: The 6-Month Media Runway That Gets Crypto Projects Listed
Tier-1 exchanges audit your media presence, founder visibility, and community quality before approving a listing. Here's the phase-by-phase PR playbook that builds the coverage they actually look for.
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How to Build a Web3 Investor Relations Program Without an In-House IR Team
Institutional allocators now demand structured disclosure before writing checks. Here's how seed-to-Series B Web3 founders build a credible IR program using fractional PR—without a full-time hire.
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Newsjacking for Web3 Founders: Turn Regulatory Headlines Into Tier-1 Media
How to monitor SEC, CFTC, MiCA, and GENIUS Act developments, draft a journalist-ready comment in under 30 minutes, and build a standing expert source relationship that generates inbound media queries.
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KOL vs. Earned PR in Crypto: How to Allocate Your Communications Budget in 2026
KOL spend dominates 40–60% of crypto marketing budgets, but earned editorial PR builds the institutional credibility, AI citation authority, and journalist trust that no influencer wave can replicate. Here's the
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Token2049 Singapore PR Playbook: How to Win Earned Media Before, During, and
Token2049 Singapore concentrates top-tier crypto and mainstream press in one venue for 48 hours. This tactical playbook covers the 6-week pre-conference PR sequence, on-site journalist access, and post-conference
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Web3 GameFi PR Playbook: How to Pitch Decrypt, IGN, and Polygon in the Same Week
GameFi founders face a dual-audience problem: crypto press wants on-chain metrics, gaming press wants player experience. This playbook maps both editorial worlds and shows you how to pitch both at once.
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How to Use Original Research and On-Chain Data to Land Tier-1 Crypto Coverage
Crypto journalists at CoinDesk, The Block, and Blockworks want data-backed stories—and on-chain transparency gives Web3 projects a structural PR advantage no Web2 startup has. Here's how to use it.
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The Web3 Conference PR Playbook: TOKEN2049, Consensus, and ETHDenver Into
Most Web3 founders spend $20–50K attending tier-1 conferences and leave with zero earned media. Here's the full PR operating system to convert TOKEN2049, Consensus, and ETHDenver into durable narrative capital.
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Crypto Token Unlock PR: How to Communicate Vesting Cliffs and Supply Events
Token unlocks are high-stakes IR moments. Most teams go silent or post a terse on-chain update—both erode holder trust. Here's the full communications sequence.
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Crypto Exchange Listing PR: The 4-Phase Sequence That Builds Market Confidence
Most founders treat an exchange listing as a single press release. This playbook covers the four-phase PR sequence—context seeding, visibility building, coordinated announcement day, and post-listing earned media—that
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Fractional PR for Web3 Startups: Cost, Scope, and When to Hire vs. Agency
A founder's guide to fractional PR for crypto startups—what it costs, what it covers, what stays in-house, and a self-assessment framework to choose between fractional and full-service agency.
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How to Build an LLM Citation Footprint as a Web3 or AI Founder
Being covered in crypto press no longer means being cited in AI answers. Here's the content architecture Web3 and AI founders need to get quoted in ChatGPT and Perplexity.
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Vulnerability Disclosure PR for Web3 and Crypto Security Projects: The CVE
A step-by-step disclosure communications workflow for crypto security vendors and DeFi protocols — from pre-disclosure stakeholder sequencing to post-disclosure narrative recovery.
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How to Turn a Web3 Funding Announcement Into a 30-Day Earned Media Campaign
Most Web3 founders fire one press release and watch the story die in 24 hours. Here's the 30-day narrative arc that makes earned media compound: pre-brief, embargo lift, wave-two pitches, bylines, and community
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Cybersecurity Startup PR: How to Get Into Dark Reading, The Record, and
Security beat journalists operate by different rules. This practitioner guide maps the cybersecurity media landscape and shows seed-to-Series A founders how to earn coverage before they have a PR budget.
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Web3 Founder Ghostwriting: How to Place Bylined Op-Eds in CoinDesk, Decrypt,
Most crypto founders with real insights never land bylines in tier-1 outlets because their drafts read like agency copy. Here's the end-to-end ghostwriting-to-placement workflow that actually works.
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How to Build a Crypto Journalist CRM: Beats, Sentiment, and Embargo Reliability
Most Web3 teams keep journalist contacts in a Google Sheet that goes stale in 60 days. Here's the schema and workflow for a CRM that actually works when a story breaks.
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How to Coordinate Embargoed Press Releases for Blockchain Funding Rounds
A step-by-step operational guide for Web3 founders on coordinating embargoed press releases for blockchain funding announcements—covering timing, journalist selection, legal compliance, and lift-day execution.
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Embargo Timing in Web3 PR: The Founder's Playbook for 2026
Master embargo timing for Web3 PR campaigns: how long to hold, who to brief first, when to go simultaneous vs. exclusive, and how to prevent on-chain leaks killing your story.
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How to Build a Pre-Launch Media Footprint That Raises Your Series A
The investor-facing PR playbook for Web3 and AI founders: build a 12-month earned media strategy that produces the press logos, expert quotes, and authority signals VCs actually look for.
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GameFi and NFT PR in 2026: How to Earn Media Coverage When Journalists Are
The 2021 GameFi PR playbook is now a liability. Here's the utility-first earned media strategy for gaming and NFT founders who need tier-1 coverage without the hype.
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How to Use Original Research as a PR Asset: The Web3 and AI Founder's Guide to
Proprietary surveys and on-chain reports are the most powerful PR assets a Web3 or AI founder can build. Here's how to design, pitch, embargo-coordinate, and repurpose your data for six months of compounding coverage.
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Token Unlock PR: How to Communicate Vesting Cliffs Before the Community Panics
Token unlock events are predictable crises — yet almost no Web3 project has a comms plan ready. Here's the 30-day narrative framework that reframes supply events as protocol health signals.
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Web3 Founder Ghostwriting: Build Thought Leadership on LinkedIn and X Without
Most crypto founders either post sporadically or outsource to agencies that don't know tokenomics. Here's the four-pillar ghostwriting framework built for Web3.
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AI Agentic Infrastructure PR: How to Speak to Developers, Investors, and
On-chain agent frameworks, decentralized compute, and LLM coordination protocols need three different PR tracks running simultaneously. Here's how to build them without contradicting yourself.
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How to Measure Web3 PR ROI: The Metrics Framework Founders and Boards Actually
Impressions and placements don't cut it anymore. Here's the outcomes-based Web3 PR measurement framework—AI citation rate, journalist source-filing, investor mention tracking, and TVL lift—that boards and investors
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Press Release Blindness in Web3: What Founders Should Do Instead in 2026
Cointelegraph's head of PR declared a press-release blindness crisis in May 2026. Here's why wire-only distribution fails—and the narrative-led earned media strategy that actually builds compounding authority.
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Web3 Founder X/Twitter Strategy: The 12-Month Thought Leadership Operating
A week-by-week X content architecture for Web3 founders: ownable thesis, compounding formats, journalist relationships, and milestone-synced posting cadence—without a social team.
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Crypto Founder Media Training: How to Survive a Tier-1 Interview Without Losing
Most crypto founders can pitch VCs but fall apart on Bloomberg or Unchained. This practitioner playbook covers reporter dossiers, message architecture, bridging, and the crypto-specific traps general media training
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DAO Crisis Communications: How to Respond When Governance Goes Public and Token
A practitioner playbook for DAO founders navigating governance crises: who speaks first, what the opening statement must contain, how to communicate across Discord, X, and governance forums simultaneously, and when to
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Regulatory Announcement PR: How Web3 and AI Founders Should Respond to SEC,
Every SEC ruling, MiCA enforcement date, and GENIUS Act update opens a 48-hour window for Web3 founders to become expert sources—or get defined by others. Here's the tactical playbook.
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TGE Communications Compliance: MiCA, the GENIUS Act, and SEC/CFTC Guidance for
Every press release, X thread, and pitch deck in a token launch now carries securities law exposure. Here's how to build compliant TGE communications that still win tier-1 coverage.
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Crypto Presale PR: The 90-Day Communications Plan for Founders Running a
Most presale guides ignore the PR and AI-citation layer that separates durable investor credibility from day-one sell pressure. Here's the 90-day operational playbook.
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How to Become a Quoted Expert Source in Bloomberg, FT, and WSJ as a Web3 or AI
A practical 90-day playbook for Web3 and AI founders: how to get quoted in Bloomberg, the FT, and WSJ by understanding how financial press reporters actually source expert commentary.
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DeFi Protocol PR Playbook: Build Earned Media That Moves TVL, Not Just
DeFi PR optimised for impressions rarely moves TVL. Here's the playbook — on-chain press hooks, institutional briefings, compliance-safe messaging, and exploit comms — that actually grows your protocol.
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Stablecoin and RWA PR: How to Position a Tokenization Project for Bloomberg,
Most RWA and stablecoin projects default to crypto-native press and miss the institutional audience that actually moves capital. Here's how to pitch Bloomberg, FT, and WSJ instead.
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AI x Crypto PR: How to Pitch Agentic Web3 Projects to Both Crypto and
Agentic Web3 founders face a dual-audience problem. This playbook maps crypto vs. AI editorial priorities, builds a single bridging narrative, and gives a pitching sequence from CoinDesk to Wired—with a compliance note
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L1 and L2 Blockchain PR Playbook: How to Differentiate Your Chain in a Crowded
With dozens of chains launching monthly on near-identical scalability claims, narrative differentiation is the primary PR challenge. A founder-focused playbook for L1 and L2 teams.
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Post-TGE PR: The 90-Day Communications Plan After Your Token Goes Live
Most PR guides stop at launch day. This 90-day post-TGE communications plan covers exchange listings, on-chain storytelling, founder AMAs, governance messaging, and sustained earned media.
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Web3 Founder Personal Brand PR: The Operating System for LinkedIn, X, and
Most Web3 founders treat personal branding as vanity. It's actually a growth channel that shortens fundraising cycles, attracts talent, and earns journalist callbacks. Here's the 12-month operating system.
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Crypto Founder Narrative Positioning: How to Pick the One Story That Lands
Most Web3 founders pitch five narratives at once and land none. Here's Shilika's five-part framework for selecting the single story that CoinDesk or The Block will actually run—plus six real teardowns.
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DePIN PR Playbook: How to Position a Decentralized Infrastructure Network
DePIN founders face a three-audience PR problem that most token launches ignore. Here's the messaging architecture, outlet map, and metric-driven hook strategy to cut through the noise.
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MENA Crypto PR Playbook: UAE, Saudi, and the Token2049 Dubai Press Cycle
Web3 founders relocating to Dubai or Riyadh need a regional PR plan, not a recycled NYC one. Here's the MENA press tier list, VARA-aligned messaging rules, and how to run the Token2049 Dubai press cycle properly.
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AI Startup Funding Announcement PR: The 4-Week Plan for Seed Through Series B
Most AI startup funding pitches land wrong. This 4-week plan covers outlet selection, embargo tier construction, the investor quote workflow, and the day-of pickup sequence for Seed through Series B.
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How to Pitch CoinDesk, The Block, Blockworks, and Decrypt in 2026: A
Sending the wrong pitch to the wrong reporter is the fastest way to burn a crypto media relationship. Here's the 2026 beat map and pitch formula for CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt.
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How to Manage Multiple Outlet Embargoes for a Token Launch
Running simultaneous embargoes across 10+ crypto outlets for your TGE is one of the highest-risk operations in Web3 PR. Here's the tactical playbook to do it without losing control.
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AI Startup PR: Get Covered in TechCrunch, The Information & Forbes
The actual editorial bar at TechCrunch AI, The Information, Forbes, VentureBeat, and Decrypt's AI desk — what each outlet takes, what it rejects, and how a fractional operator runs the whole motion.
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Crypto Exchange Hack Communications: The First 6 Hours Playbook (Post-Bybit)
After the $1.5B Bybit breach reset the benchmark for exchange hack response, every CEX needs a comms plan running parallel to technical containment. Here's the minute-by-minute playbook.
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Rug Pull Allegations: The 72-Hour Crisis Communications Playbook for Web3
When your project is publicly accused of a rug pull, the first 72 hours determine survival. Here's the holding statement, on-chain proof bundle, and channel sequencing you need—with templates.
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How to Earn Tier-1 Crypto Coverage Without Paying for Placement: The Readiness
Most crypto founders pitch before they're ready. This 3-gap readiness audit—story angle, journalist relationships, third-party credibility—shows you what to fix before your first outreach email lands in CoinDesk's inbox.
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What a Web3 PR Retainer Should Actually Include in 2026 (Line-Item Breakdown)
Every agency pricing page gives you a band. None give you a line-item view. Here's a real scope-of-work template for Web3 PR retainers—and how a fractional retainer compares to a $20K agency one.
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AI Search Visibility for Web3 Founders: How to Get Cited in ChatGPT,
The operator playbook Web3 founders actually need: how GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) works, why it's different from SEO, and the tactical steps to get your project cited when prospects ask category questions in
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Web3 Crisis Communications Playbook: From Rug Pull Allegations to Community Trust
Crisis communications management for crypto companies. Rug pull allegation reputation management and community trust rebuilding after a Web3 crisis.
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Web3 PR Embargo Strategy 2026: How to Coordinate Tier-1 Press Without Breaking the Story
How to coordinate embargoed press releases for blockchain funding rounds. Embargo timing, journalist relationships, and recovery from embargo breaks in Web3 PR.
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Token Launch PR Timeline: The 90-Day Pre-TGE Comms Plan
A week-by-week pre-TGE PR timeline with tier-1 outlets, embargo cadence, and founder deliverables. 90 days from narrative seeding to launch day.
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APAC Web3 PR Playbook: Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India
How Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India press cycles actually differ, and the order to sequence a Web3 launch across them without wasting budget.
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Forbes Contributor Strategy for Founders After the 2024 Changes
Forbes closed open applications in 2024 and culled contributors in December 2025. Here's what actually works now for founders: contributor, Councils, or op-ed alternatives.
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Web3 Founder Podcast Tour: Book 8-12 Tier-1 Shows in 90 Days
How to run a Web3 founder podcast tour: the three-tier show list, the pitch that lands replies, and the clip loop that turns one recording into 12 assets.
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Web3 PR Embargo Operations: The Tactical Playbook (2026)
The operational embargo playbook for Web3 founders: outlet sequencing, embargo letter templates, breach response, time-zone math, and the long-tails nobody writes about.
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Tier-1 Crypto Media Outreach: How to Build Web3 Journalist Relationships That Actually Land Coverage
Tier-1 crypto media outreach and Web3 journalist relationship management. AI startup PR, enterprise blockchain media coverage, content writing services.
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