The PR Playbook That Actually Drives Revenue (Hint: It's Not Press Releases) - Harrison Duhr

PR feels like an unquantifiable luxury when you're trying to hit profitability. But Harrison Duhr has helped hundreds of startups use media to drive actual business outcomes - fundraising, hiring top talent, and landing ideal customers.

As Head of North American Brand at London and Partners, Harrison's secured coverage in CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, and TechCrunch for startups scaling between the UK and US. But his approach completely flips the traditional PR playbook.

Here's what makes this different:

Harrison's not talking about press releases or chasing tier-one publications on day one. He's showing you how the PR landscape has fundamentally shifted - and why the independent media trend is where smart founders are focusing their energy now.

You'll learn:

Why Wall Street Journal coverage isn't the right first move (and what actually builds momentum)

The independent media opportunity that's wide open right now - and why journalist-turned-founders are your ideal partners

How to build PR relationships that tangibly support fundraising rounds, customer acquisition, and hiring

The one tactic that puts you in rooms with investors and ideal customers without any cold outreach

Why testing your narrative internally comes before pitching externally

The cultural nuance between pitching in New York vs. London that trips up most founders

The reality check: This isn't quick-win PR. Harrison built a Bloomberg partnership over 8 months. But those relationships compound - they drive business outcomes, not just vanity metrics.

If you've been treating PR as "nice to have," this episode shows you exactly how to make it drive revenue.

One action: Listen to the end for Harrison's single recommendation every founder should act on immediately.

Questions? Email hello@peereffect.com or find us on LinkedIn.

More from James:

Connect with James on LinkedIn or at peer-effect.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hi, I'm James Johnson, the founder and CEO coach. Welcome to the Peer Effect, the podcast where your peers will tell you how to unlock your 10 million plus business. Sometimes for founders, a PR can feel like an unquantifiable luxury down the priority list. However, done right, it can help win clients, support fundraising, and attract the very best talent. My guest today, Harrison Door, leads North American Brand at London and Partners. They're the economic development agency of London that scales North American companies to London and vice versa. He secured media in CNBC, Bloomberg, Fortune, TechCrunch, and many more. This is the episode for you if you want to up your PR game. So, Harrison, welcome, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Thanks, James. Really excited to be here and chat PR with you.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Well, before before we even dive into PR, I was told you did something studying nuts during COVID. What was it?

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Listen, you know, everybody got into a hobby, right, during 2020 and the pandemic. I feel like baking bread was a huge thing for people. Certainly, respect to those people. But for me, I decided to design my own marathon course actually. I was slated to run the New York City Marathon that year, like so many people, but obviously that had to be put on hold. So I had already started a lot of the training at that point. So I figured, you know, why not? Let's design a course. Let's, you know, have friends and families come out at a safe distance. I actually ended up running on Halloween of 2020 where friends and family showed up in costume. You know, it was a it was a whole little community kind of get together in a time I think many people needed it. I think one of the benefits of running on Halloween, you know, I had candy at my disposal. So my blood sugar certainly thanked me. It was nice to pop into Snickers and mild 20 or whatnot. What I overlooked though was the latter part of it. And realizing I had all these trick-or-treaters, I kind of had to, you know, dip and dive around, you know, Peter Parker's and Batman and Sherlock Holmes. So that made it a bit more challenging, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I love this. Take take someone that specializes in PR to get people to come out during COVID for you running a marathon. It's a good, good, good sign of your skill set.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

For sure. And to clarify, it was a very small uh get together. You know, we we weren't having any any crazy social spreaders. It was just very select friends and family. But it was definitely a time where I think community was needed.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Amazing. No, we often I think founders can often think that PR might be a a luxury because they're kind of like, oh, this is not my key focus right now, but we'd be great stage to sort of discover like how PR, how powerful it can be and how Scale Ups can use it. So why why do you think it's important straight off the bat?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yeah, absolutely. I think it's such a critical opportunity for companies to not only target their ideal customer profile, but also expand into that and expand into new emerging markets, right? I mean, so many of the startups I personally work with and just startups collectively, you know, they're looking for that next fundraising round. They're looking for that next product launch. And the beautiful thing about PR is you really have a chance to control your narrative there and work with so many great journalists and media and content developers to kind of tell the story you want, get that ideal customer profile solidified. And, you know, I think it's something a lot of founders, particularly on the early stage, you know, seed to Series A, don't really think about initially because, you know, at that point you're so focused on the product, you're so focused on getting to profitability, but it can really help accelerate those things. And, you know, I understand for smaller teams, that can be a little bit harder to have the bandwidth for that sort of thing. But that's why, you know, organizations like London and Partners, great, because you know, we're a nonprofit that works with hundreds of startups on both sides of the pond, right? So we can kind of provide that complementary expertise. And for these startups too, whether it's London or US, you know, there's a lot of great PR agencies and consultants too that can also help with this sort of thing. So I definitely recommend it as a marketing strategy that startups should implement.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

So what is the first PR step that really, really moves the needle, do you think?

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, so I think it's important to take that step back and educate. Everybody wants a piece in the Wall Street Journal on day one, right? But we have to reel in expectations, of course. So even when I first started at London and Partners, and I just hit three years this month in January, I took a step back and kind of educated media and some of our founders and you know, kind of partners here, because sometimes people think we're a law firm, London and Partners, which is uh, you know, an understandable uh rationale there. But I think just taking that approach of just really laying out what we do, you know, noticing how media cover a certain topic and where there might be kind of relevant opportunities. And then from your company perspective, really just framing your product or your collective startup in a way that relates to a larger audience, right? I think I I've seen a lot of startups that get so kind of lost in their lingo or their their own language, where I think it's important to really ensure a larger audience understands what they truly do. So I think just solidifying your messaging, understanding what that ideal customer profile is, and then just coming to a meeting with a journalist or media and not having an immediate agenda or having a desire for an immediate story, but really looking to build that long-term relationship, I think helps founders go a long way.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Well, you can make it also you you've you've got stuff in the Wall Street Journal and various other publications. So this is your specialty. How long, let's say, you started, so you started three years ago. How long does that sort of education piece take before that you might start seeing sort of and maybe not the Wall Street Journal, but let's say articles in other places? Are we talking about sort of a three-month, six-month year, two years? Like roughly what? What is a time scale people need to dedicate to this?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah, I mean, I I think it's certainly dependent on the news cycle and the type of announcement that's being solidified. But and and you know, I'll give you a few examples on my end. I'll give you two. So I attended South by Southwest Austin March 2023. I've been going every year since, but the reason I highlight that one in particular is I just casually met somebody from Bloomberg. We established a great relationship, just kind of bonding over all the creative and immersive stuff going on at South by. It's a great platform for that. And that was in March. Fast forward to November of that year. We were able to get Bloomberg to sponsor one of our major investor and founder summits, Grow Summit. They did a live podcast at the summit. Every attendee actually got a three-month promo code from Bloomberg after and an email with the actual podcast. So that was very much an opportunity where we kind of built out for the long term. And then Bloomberg ended up sponsoring the summit again in 2024, which is great. And then the second example, and this is a a trend I definitely want to highlight a little bit more as you and I continue our discussion with independent media, but a really great journalist, Alex Conrad, he started his own media brand, Upstarts Media, after doing the Forbes VC Midas list for a number of years. And we had a coffee chat in spring of 2025, you know, really wanted to help him promote his new brand across London. So I actually brought him out for London Tech Week, helped him launch his first international event, you know, got him involved with a private investor summit with the likes of Sequoia and Balderton. And that one was in June. So that one was a little bit quicker. So, you know, you really have to kind of just roll with the punches, be flexible with it. But I think the the key for both of these cases and really in general is don't expect the media to ask, you know, make sure you come to the table with something that's going to benefit them as well. So with Alex helping him watch his first international event in London, Bloomberg, you know, getting them a incredible audience of founders and VCs with a London US transatlantic business tie. So I think one pitfall for some founders is they come ready to ask, ready for a fundraise, you know, are very eager for that sort of thing. But in taking that step back to see how you can really benefit each other and actually leading with that first, how I can benefit you can really establish a productive long-term relationship.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

That's true. So then that's done explained. It's quite important that you are quite clear what type of journalist or what type of media you want to be in. Because the sound's quite intensive, it's quite like it's long-term, it's relationship-based, it's quite solution sort of that implies that you're gonna have to be you can't do that across too many people, I'd have thought.

SPEAKER_01 9:07

No, and I always stress to my founders and partners and clients quality over quantity with media. You know, certainly there's a lot of value in getting, you know, 15 media articles in one month for your product. But I think if you're getting featured in the upstarts of medias, the tech crunches, fortune magazines, Wall Street Journals of the World, you know, the Bloombergs, that's where you're having that quality impact, right? And I think it's critical too, right? Because to your point, journalists take a lot of pride in their particular beat and and what they cover and what subsectors and you know, a lot of them like to stay in that lane because you know, that's that's what their expertise is, that's what their passion is. So I think they also very much appreciate the companies and PR people who do the research of okay, this person covers strictly future mobility, or this person only covers like audio AI companies. You'd be surprised how many people don't take that extra effort to really do their homework and research and tailor a media story that is actually relevant to their beat.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

But so let's say take your example of where it feels like you could give quite a lot of value to people based on say, say, the audience that London Partners brings, your own personal network, etc. There's a there's a clear value you can give for a founder that is not having that, they've got their own business that but like what is some some value they can give before they start asking?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah, absolutely. I think really putting yourself in the room with founders, investors, operators, you're looking to target. So, what I mean by that, I think, and this is also kind of relevant to the independent media trend, I think the world of media and events and investing is getting closer and closer together. So you have all these great journalists like Alex Conrad and Upstarts Media, Alex Heath and Sources, Eric Newcomer of Newcomer, they also run a ton of events for their publications as well, right? And there's also been so many, especially coming off of COVID, so many incredible and productive events, particularly the tech weeks, I think have had a lot of traction the last few years. So I already referenced London Tech Week, which naturally we're heavily involved in. But, you know, we've also partnered with A16Z a lot to, you know, run a lot of great events at SF Tech Week and LA Tech Week, and of course New York. So even if you're uncertain of where to start and you're you're maybe just a little bit overwhelmed by how many events are going on, I think it's really critical just to take that step back, look at the calendar, you know, attend some sort of events, not only learn something new, but it puts you in a platform where you're gonna get that FaceTime that a cold outreach email likely won't get you, unfortunately. So building those relationships is critical. And as somebody who's the only North American marketing and PR individual for our company, I've had to throw myself into now hundreds of events at this point. And it's I can't stress enough how important it's been for branding for London partners here in North America for all our startups that we work with. So, you know, don't be afraid to put yourself into that event cycle because it can really open up a lot of doors for you.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

And do you think it has to be the founder that that throws themselves into that event cycle, or can it be someone else? Because what what I'm thinking, maybe people founders listening is like that. Sounds like it's a full-time job for you. That feels like quite a commitment in terms of time, both sort of event time, relationship time. Is that something that can be hired in for or outsourced, or is that something the founder has to do themselves?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

You know, I I certainly recommend the founder C-level if they're able to have the time. I think that certainly moves the needle the most, but it doesn't have to be. You know, I I I've even run events and panels with, for example, Head of America at Virgin Atlantic. So, you know, even just having somebody who has a very clear-cut lane with their company and title, I think you can go a long way. And sometimes chief of staff, for example, that's a very emerging trend right now, I feel like, in in the corporate landscape, where I think that used to just kind of be an EA position, but now it's like it's the right-hand man or woman to a CEO, and they're you know taking meetings on behalf of C-level executives. So just understanding that the corporate landscape, similar to the media landscape, is kind of shifting in terms of responsibilities. And now you're seeing like AI, you know, experts or AI specialists is a role that's it's quite hot at the moment. So I think any sort of active role is important in an event, but if you can get that C-level executive, it certainly makes a big impact as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Okay, so you've got this impact from from PR and you you you're getting it out there. You mentioned this sort of independent media trend. Where if you was if you were a founder doing, where would you put your focus sort of on sort of the bigger sort of prestige publications, let's say like Wall Street Journal or independent media?

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah, I mean, listen, people will always want to get featured in the Wall Street Journal, but I'm strongly advising our startups and partners to get involved in this independent cycle just because it's only going to get stronger, in my opinion. I even attended a panel earlier this fall that was strictly on independent media and just the cycle or the impact of where this is going, right? So, you know, I think if you're able to kind of blend both, it certainly I think hits very strong audiences. So, for example, London Tech Week 2025, I mentioned I brought out Alex from Upstarts, but I also brought out Dominic Davis from TechCrunch, right? So having that notable long-time standing publication in TechCrunch, and then kind of the more new wave, you know, emerging trend of Upstarts Media, the new the new media publication, and then somebody, of course, as reputable as Alex Conrad too. I think that really balances it out. And I think it's exciting too, because with these independent media publications, if you're able to do an event, it's really a great way to bring the full tech ecosystem together. That's something I really strive for in my work here at London Partners. We do a lot of work with lawyers because as you can imagine, with international expansion, it's quite needed for any regulatory hurdles. So we actually just did an event here in New York, how to scale consumer brands, and we hosted it with Paul Hastings from the lawyer perspective, Lear Hippo, the VC perspective. We had Rothys, a great retail company that we've helped expand. So the startup perspective, my boss, Stephen V line, the London economic development perspective, and then RT at Alliance from the media. So I think when you have events or panels or really just a room full of that encompassing tech ecosystem, that's where exciting conversations happen. I think that's where people realize what where they can connect the dots. And I think partnering with independent media publications and doing events with them just is a natural platform for that, and then leads the coverage after the event as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

So it's like a double win, like you're not just chasing the article and the thing. It's like the process itself is useful in terms of people that you meet, the partnerships you make, so the opportunities you uncover.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Exactly. And I think, you know, if that seems like you don't have the bandwidth, or maybe you want to kind of test out a few things prior to engaging these high-quality media. Another great thing too, right now, is the rise of internal content. So, you know, while a lot of these media have gone independently as Substack themselves, you know, we're also noticing a lot of great founders and operators creating their own Substacks and having traction with that. For our LA Tech Week event this year, we had it at UTA on the future of the experience economy and had it involved with Virgin Atlantic, Sofar Sounds, Sandbox Studios. One of our attendees was so blown away by the quality of the event, they actually did a full Substack recap themselves of our event, which was great for traction, great for promotion and brand awareness. And you know, we're also seeing the internal playbook as a very strong internal content kind of tactic. So we actually partnered with frontline ventures, a very strong US, Europe, VC, that one fund is modeled US to Europe and the other vice versa. So we did that US playbook for European founders looking to expand to the states, and we partnered together. And it goes back to my point of having the full tech ecosystem. So we had my boss, Stephen Feline, aluminum of partners, but we also had Wilson Censini, a great lawyer, Vanta, a startup we have collectively worked with to help expand, of course, the frontline ventures perspective. And this was everything from go-to-market tactics to what not to do with your expansion to what I wish I did differently. And the great thing about these playbooks and internal substacks is you can have you can really truly control that narrative, right? So that can be your initial test to the market of is my narrative making sense? Is it a product market fit? Are is the average consumer understanding our product? And that can really be a sounding board for all right, maybe we need to tweak what the technology does a little bit better before we go out to the Wall Street journals and the tech crunches of the world.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

So actually kind of almost almost like you test your product. What I'm hearing is test your PR messaging, get out, talk about it a lot, test it like within smaller groups, maybe small lower-level publications. And as you get more confident that it's landing, pitch bigger.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Exactly. And because then you have that traction already. You you have tangible ROI, you're more comfortable in your storytelling, your narrative development. So I think it's just kind of a nice way to build momentum and confidence with media. That's not to say you can't approach these independent media publications or reach out to TechCrunch when you have a funding round to begin with, but I think it also is just good media training and kind of gets these C-level executives and founders thinking in a lens they're not normally used to, because media, I as we've talked about, is not always the first focus for a founder or C level, especially when they first start.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Okay, so what are some of the common sort of PR mistakes you see early stage founders make? We're just talking about how it goes right. How might it go wrong?

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Yeah, I think particularly in my role is the cultural nuances and differences, right? So pitching a story in London is not the same as pitching it at New York or SF. What do I mean by that? Well, I think understanding just how these cities and working styles operate. So in New York, where I'm based, everybody's always on the go. It's always, you know, onto the next meeting. And I think when people, you know, have that interview or have that meeting in person, it's very much a quick all right, how can we best work together? How can we make our lives easier? Like, how can I help you? Not to say small talk isn't important, but I think it's certainly a lot quicker. But when you're in London and I think Europe broadly, I think there is a little bit more of getting to know the person, you know, in a more kind of casual, comfortable environment. You know, really, I think just having that step back to just kind of see, you know, who you are as a person, how can we potentially work together, but it doesn't have to lead with that. And I honestly have found both styles really beneficial for founders. I think it's just communicating that, you know, the Europe way of doing business is not a hundred percent the same as doing business in New York. And I think there's founders out there that kind of pitch everything out immediately, expecting kind of similar results and expecting a similar product market fit because of that. But encompassing that cultural just kind of stylistic differences is something I try to stress to founders.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Okay. And so we've got vary your message depending on or vary your style, maybe more than your message, depending on whether you've sort of US Europe build your way up from sort of entry-level publications all the way up to big ones, but really try and engage in independent media so that you are getting into events, making connections, and like enjoying the using the process to get to the coverage. How would you go about so we go right back to the pro scan? You've only got so much time, you need to identify who you're going to talk to. How do you go about identifying the right people to talk to? And how would you go about making introducing yourself as a founder?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah, absolutely. So I think you know, if there's a if you're an AI company that's looking to fundraise, and maybe you're you're a few months out from that, but you at least want to kind of start gaining some traction there. If I was advising this this founder, I would recommend doing a similar thing to what you and I are doing now. Getting on a podcast, maybe. Talking about the product, who they are as a founder. I think podcasts are a great opportunity to highlight the person, really have that kind of human element to it. Or you can even go the approach of an op-ed or a byline, right? So that's you know, working with a fast company or Inc. magazine and having a story, but you're you're the publishing author, author, the C-level executive or the founder. It's something I've actually done quite a bit here at London Apartments. Our head of North America, Stephen Feline, has had a fast company executive board for roughly two and a half years now. And I work side by side with him to kind of curate these great stories. And we've had it focus on everything from why VCs are flocking to London. We even had a few VCs reshare the full article on LinkedIn, which is great, to why the future of life sciences is moving to London, to why Paris and LA can look to London for post-Olympic legacy. So it's been a really good tool for us, not only to help with brand awareness, but we've actually gotten some new clients via that fast company op-ed opportunity. So I think when you you know establish that cadence of all right, I have an op-ed or I have a podcast that I've solidified kind of my name for, then you can kind of take that to the, you know, the Wall Street Journals, the uh fortune magazines, the uh the information publications like that. And as far as like making those intros and and having it be impactful and you know, actually kind of getting attention, that stems back to what I mentioned earlier is what value add can you uh can you bring for that journalist, right? Like, can you help them launch your first international event? Can you help them cover a topic they maybe hadn't thought of before? You know, journalists always appreciate an embargoed announcement, so that's the opportunity for them to cover it first. So that's certainly a tactic that I'd recommend for any kind of big product announcement or potential fundraising announcement, you know, giving one particular journalist that that exclusive opportunity. Really, I think you also have to understand it's just there's going to be kind of a trial and error with it, particularly for that first-time founder or that very early stage company. So just understanding it's okay to, you know, have some rejection from that. I mean, if you're a startup founder, I think you have to have that kind of resilience and grittiness anyway. But I think also going back to my original point of don't treat these media opportunities as isolated one-offs or isolated events. I really take a lot of pride in my my long-standing relationships personally. And you know, the metric I always point for myself here at London Partners is the repeat individuals and companies I I've had come back to me to want to partner again. So whether that's frontline ventures, upstarts media, a16Z, Bloomberg, I think that having a longstanding opportunity as opposed to an isolated thing will move the needle for you.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Very nice. I think generally, even for founders, like retention rate is probably an underused metric. Like I think it's a really good indication of any business's quality.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

And it's interesting you bring on metrics, right? Because that's always, I think, one roadblock maybe I'll have from a founder or somebody who hasn't considered PR media as much. You know, metrics in PR are very much a highly debated topic. You know, is it site traffic? How accurate is site traffic or clicks? That that we could probably have a separate podcast on just that topic alone. It's what I stress to founders and you know, partners and clients, it goes back to an earlier thing we we talked about is quality over quantity, having that name recognition, having that brand awareness, stemming from you know, sparking a great conversation and and starting to get the attention of investors and other like-minded companies, right? I know that's maybe a little bit harder than a typical, you know, sales goal or kind of you know strictly defined ROI. But I will say one thing we're really proud of at London and Partners, we we do track the amount of additional additional money we fuel into London's economy. And for the 24-25 fiscal year, we were able to add 677 million pounds. And that's not just you know, scaling companies like a firm and scale AI and Harvey, but also we we have a local kind of side of the thing, side of the house as well. So grow London local and helping the mom and pops in London promote their story too. So while that's not a traditional PR metric, it is one collective London and partners metric we like to highlight. And for any for any founder worried, just kind of about what is the tangible ROI for my story, it's it's the relationships you're building and then creating those long-standing relationships to doing more events together and more stories.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Amazing. Well, maybe let's let's finish out with what is the one actual thing that founders listening to this should go and do once I stop listening.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Yeah, I I I think that that's a great question. I think if there had to be one thing, I'm I'm I'm gonna double down on it. Partner at the independent media right now. It's it's just going to continue to emerge. There's I think going to be additional journalists following that route. And then, you know, you're even seeing cases now like Newcomer, where they actually have built out a full editorial staff with the independent media publication, right? So just know it's a trend that's that's gonna get stronger. And something I haven't mentioned yet, these independent journalists are now founders themselves, they empathize with the journey more than they ever have, just because they have to promote themselves, they have to fundraise, they have to get their name out there in a way maybe they hadn't before. So I think it's a really interesting kind of synergy to have a founder and a journalist now embark on that startup journey together. So would definitely recommend going that route if I was a founder.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Amazing. Well, Harrison, thank you very much for taking the time to share your expertise. I'm sure founders listening will find it very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Thank you so much for having me, James. Really appreciate it. And it was fun reliving my crazy marathon experience from 2020. I still can't believe I did that.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

And if if if founders have got questions for you, are you happy they reach out to you on like LinkedIn or is there a better way to get in touch with you?

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Yes, absolutely. So Harrison Durr at LinkedIn, or you know, if London is of interest, or your London company looking to potentially come to the States on that H D U H R at Londonandpartners.com or LinkedIn works do.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Such a great episode today with Harrison. I love the insight around the many benefits gained from targeting the growing independent media space. Journalists as founders. We'll see you next Wednesday for another founder episode. As ever, if any questions, just email us at hello at appearan effect.com or reach out on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening and happy scaling.