Journalists, entrepreneurs, and even some public relations professionals will tell you that the PR process is broken. But could AI actually make things better? Honeyjar, which will be attending this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Startup Battlefield 200, wants to use AI PR tools to make the expertise and judgment of the best PR pros available to everyone, including founders who have no idea where to start.
The startup’s founders, CEO Michelle Masek and CCO Nadia Jamshidi, certainly fit the bill when it comes to PR expertise. They’ve both spent decades in the field, doing in-house communications and working at agencies. Masek recently served as senior vice president of marketing and communications for Ev Williams’ venture firm, Obvious Ventures.
The Problem Honeyjar Wants to Solve
As Masek described the challenges involved in “helping with the why and when of comms and marketing for 110 portfolio companies,” she found herself asking a key question: “Is there a way to scale the senior-level expertise into AI [in a way] that actually helps users do the work of comms in the proactive and skilled way that we do?”
Honeyjar is her answer to that question. It automates processes like writing announcements, finding the best journalists to pitch, and identifying the most promising speaking opportunities. But Jamshidi said in a follow-up email that Honeyjar’s vision goes beyond getting press coverage and beyond specific AI tools.
“Honeyjar can find reporters, build media lists, scan news and social, track coverage, and surface opportunities,” she said. “Those capabilities are important, but they’re just one piece of what we’re building. The bigger idea is bringing the whole communications workflow together: signals, context, strategy, judgment, timing, and execution.”
Built for the “Unassigned Communicators”
And it’s not just for founders. Masek said she’s come to realize there are “millions and millions of unassigned communicators responsible for the work of comms.”
“They don’t have the title of comms, but they’re marketers, investors, authors, creators, school superintendents, sports team leaders,” she added. “It’s incredibly horizontal, this need to nail strategic communications. It’s always passed around, but the problems are very often not solved.”
Nor is Honeyjar trying to replace PR professionals. Masek said she and Jamshidi built the tool they wanted to use themselves. She argued that Honeyjar can make PR firms and in-house comms teams more effective, while allowing individual PR practitioners to “take on that third client without any scaling cost.”
Early Traction and Beta Testers
When Honeyjar opened its waitlist, it received 10,000 signups in the first 24 hours, said Masek. Beta testers include Nextdoor, tech startup Coco Robotics, investor Bloomberg Beta, and agencies Mission North and Full Picture.
That sounds promising for companies looking to get more attention, but it could be a nightmare for journalists. They receive more pitches than they can respond to, many of them already written by AI chatbots.
Keeping the Human in the Loop
When the fear of getting inundated with even more PR slop was raised, Masek noted that while Honeyjar can draft a pitch email or a social media post in the customer’s voice, the customer actually has to hit send or publish.
“We never want a world where the human is removed from the loop,” she said.
And that’s also where judgment is key. Masek said she and Jamshidi tried to “infuse and encode Honeyjar with our wisdom.” Through a broader initiative called the Comms Lab, they’re now training the product on the judgment of other PR pros as well.
“For us, judgment is knowing what to do, what not to do, when to act, and how to adapt to the situation,” Jamshidi added. “That comes from understanding a company’s goals and priorities, what’s happening inside and outside the organization, and knowing what to say, to whom, where, and when.”
Knowing When Not to Pitch
In some cases, Masek said Honeyjar might even tell a founder that they’re simply not ready for coverage.
“We hear from reporters all the time who want better pitches, who want to hear from experts directly,” she said. “We actually see a future where there are more credible pitches in your inbox from sources who you actually want to hear from.”
What This Means for PR and Comms Teams
Honeyjar’s approach reflects a broader shift in how companies handle communications. Instead of replacing human judgment, the platform aims to scale it. For teams without a dedicated PR hire, that could mean access to strategic guidance that was previously out of reach.
For seasoned professionals, the promise is efficiency. By automating research, media list building, and opportunity scanning, Honeyjar frees up time for the relationship-building and creative thinking that AI can’t replicate.
The company’s beta roster suggests interest spans startups, agencies, and investors alike. Whether Honeyjar can deliver on its vision of better pitches and smarter comms will depend on how well it encodes the judgment its founders believe sets great PR apart.
