The First 90 Days of a Fractional PR Engagement, Week by Week

A fractional PR engagement spends its first 90 days in four phases: a two-week narrative audit, two weeks of messaging and media mapping, four weeks of first pitches and founder profiling, then a launch window and a reporting cycle that sets up the next quarter. You should expect your first earned placement somewhere between week 5 and week 8, not in week 1. If someone promises a Forbes hit before they've read your deck twice, they're selling you something other than PR.

Below is what I actually do each week as your fractional head of PR, and what you should hold by day 90.

What a fractional PR engagement is, and what it isn't

A fractional PR engagement means one senior operator runs your communications function part-time, on a retainer, instead of an agency account team rotating juniors through your file. With me, that's a retainer of $5K to $12K per month across Web3, AI startup and cybersecurity PR, usually for 3 to 12 months. Traditional AI-PR agencies typically charge $20K to $50K per month for a comparable scope, and much of that pays for layers you never talk to.

What it isn't: a press release mill, a pay-to-play placement service, or a guarantee of coverage. I've spent six years placing Web3 and AI founders in Forbes, CoinDesk, Cointelegraph, Decrypt, The Block, Blockworks, Bitcoin Magazine and AI Magazine across 50+ protocols. None of those placements were bought. They were earned with a story a reporter wanted, delivered at the moment they needed it.

The first 90 days exist to build that story and that timing. Here's the plan.

The 90-day plan at a glance

The phases overlap in practice. A reporter who replies in week 3 doesn't wait for my calendar. But the order matters, because skipping the first four weeks is the most common reason PR spend produces nothing.

Weeks 1 to 2: the narrative audit

I start by listening. Two or three founder interviews of about an hour each, plus calls with whoever owns product and growth. I'm looking for the one thing your company can say that a reporter can't get from your competitor.

In parallel, I audit your existing footprint:

• Every piece of coverage you've had, with the angle each reporter used
• Your deck, website, docs and the last 60 days of founder posts on X and LinkedIn
• The three to five competitors who'll be compared to you, and what they're known for
• What ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overview currently say about you and your category
• Upcoming news you control: product releases, funding, partnerships, hires, data
• Upcoming news you don't control: conferences, regulatory dates, sector events

The output is a short memo, not a deck. It names three candidate angles, the proof each one needs, and which one I'd lead with. Founders are often surprised which angle wins. The story you pitch investors is rarely the story a CoinDesk or AI Magazine reporter wants to write.

What I need from you in weeks 1 to 2

Access and honesty. Shared drive access, a Slack or Telegram channel, the real metrics (even the unflattering ones), and a list of anything that must never be said in public. I can't protect you from a question I didn't know was dangerous.

Weeks 3 to 4: messaging and the media map

With an angle chosen, I build the messaging house: one positioning line, three supporting pillars, and the proof points that back each pillar. Every claim gets a source. If we can't prove it, it doesn't go in a pitch.

Then the media map. This is a tiered list of 40 to 80 outlets and beats, not a spray list of 2,000 emails:

I also build a 13-week news calendar so every week has something worth saying, even if it's a data point or a commentary offer rather than an announcement.

Weeks 5 to 6: first pitches go out

This is where most founders expect the engagement to start. It's actually the midpoint of the setup.

First pitches are usually a mix of three types. One exclusive offer to a single tier-1 reporter on your strongest piece of news. Two or three trend pitches that place you inside a story bigger than your company. And commentary offers on live news in your sector, which are the fastest route to a first quote.

Subject: Exclusive offer: [company] [news], embargo [date, time, timezone]

Hi [first name],

You wrote about [specific recent piece] last month. [Company] is announcing
[one-line news] on [date], and I'd like to offer it to you first as an
exclusive under embargo.

Why it matters to your readers: [one sentence with the proof point].
What's available: [founder interview, data, customer, demo].

Happy to send the release and assets under embargo if you're interested.

Shilika

Realistic expectation for weeks 5 and 6: a handful of reporter conversations, one or two interviews, and possibly the first quote or placement. If your news is strong and the timing is right, an exclusive can land fast. If your news is thin, I'll tell you, and we'll build a reason for coverage instead of forcing one.

Weeks 7 to 8: founder profiling

Company coverage fades. A founder who's known for a point of view keeps getting called. So weeks 7 and 8 build the founder layer:

• A founder bio, headshots list and short press kit
• One bylined op-ed drafted from a voice interview and pitched to a contributor outlet
• Three to five podcast targets with a tailored pitch for each
• A media training session focused on the three hardest questions you'll be asked
• A posting rhythm on X or LinkedIn that matches the messaging house

The Gaia engagement is a good example of founder and company stories working together. Gaia was positioned as "the Stripe for AI agents" through a Forbes feature, a Decrypt deep-dive and Benzinga coverage, plus a 6-podcast founder tour timed to Consensus Hong Kong. The podcasts did as much work as the articles. You can read the breakdown at the Gaia case study.

If founder visibility is the main goal, the founder profiling service goes deeper than what fits inside a general retainer.

Weeks 9 to 11: the launch window

By week 9, there should be a real announcement on the calendar. A funding round, a mainnet, a product launch, a partnership, a research report. The launch window is where everything built in weeks 1 to 8 pays off.

The launch plan covers:

• Embargo terms and the lift time, in the reporter's timezone
• Exclusive versus wide release decision, made on the merits of the news
• Briefing order: exclusive outlet first, then tier-1, then trade and regional
• Release, FAQ, fact sheet and asset folder ready 72 hours out
• Founder availability blocked for the 48 hours around the lift
• Owned channel posts, partner posts and community posts sequenced after the lift
• Regional translations queued if the launch is multi-market

The RARI Chain mainnet launch is the template I return to most. It landed 11 simultaneous tier-1 placements, including CoinDesk, The Block, The Defiant, Cointelegraph and CryptoNews, and the embargo lifted into coordinated APAC translations. Details at the RARI Chain case study.

For Web3 launches, the Web3 PR campaigns service covers this in depth. For AI companies, the AI startup PR service adapts the same sequence to tech and business press.

Weeks 12 to 13: reporting and the next quarter

I report on outcomes, not activity. A useful quarter report answers five questions:

Then we plan months 4 to 6. By this point I know which reporters respond to you, which angles land, and where the gaps are. The second quarter is almost always more productive than the first, because the setup cost is behind us.

Who this 90-day plan fits, and who it doesn't

It fits founders at seed through Series B in Web3, AI or cybersecurity who have real news coming in the next quarter and a founder willing to give three or four hours a week. It fits teams that want one senior person accountable, not a pod of account managers.

It doesn't fit if you need coverage in two weeks with nothing prepared. In that case, a scoped launch sprint ($15K to $40K over 4 to 8 weeks) is the honest answer. It also doesn't fit if you want guaranteed placements. I don't sell those, and I'd be wary of anyone who does.

Common objections

"Why wait until week 5 to pitch?" Because a pitch without a sharp angle and a tiered list burns reporters you'll need later. Four weeks of setup protects the relationships that produce placements in months 4 through 12.

"Can't we just do the launch?" You can. That's what a sprint is for. A retainer is for founders who want coverage after the launch too.

"What if nothing lands?" I'll tell you by week 6 if the news isn't strong enough, and we'll change the plan. Silence on a pitch is data, not a reason to send it to more people.

If you're comparing models, the pricing breakdown for AI startup PR and the fractional versus agency versus in-house comparison cover the decision in more detail.

The first 90 days decide whether PR becomes a compounding asset or a line item you cancel in month four.

Want to see what your first 90 days would look like? Book a 30-minute teardown.