{"id":3492089,"date":"2026-10-12T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/honeyjar-offers-ai-tools-to-improve-pr-and-comms-at-every-company\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T15:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T15:45:00","slug":"honeyjar-offers-ai-tools-to-improve-pr-and-comms-at-every-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/honeyjar-offers-ai-tools-to-improve-pr-and-comms-at-every-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Honeyjar offers AI tools to improve PR and comms at every company"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Journalists, entrepreneurs, and even some public relations professionals will tell you that the PR process is broken (buy me a drink sometime, and I\u2019ll give you my rant). But could AI actually make things better?<\/p>\n

Honeyjar, which will be attending this week\u2019s TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Startup Battlefield 200, wants to use AI to make the expertise and judgment of the best PR pros available to everyone, including founders who have no idea where to start.<\/p>\n

The startup\u2019s founders, CEO Michelle Masek and Chief Communications Officer Nadia Jamshidi, certainly fit the bill when it comes to PR expertise. They\u2019ve 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\u2019 venture firm, Obvious Ventures.<\/p>\n

As Masek described the challenges involved in \u201chelping with the why and when of comms and marketing for 110 portfolio companies\u201d (the startups her firm had invested in), I flashed back to my own brief stint leading marketing at an early-stage VC firm, where founders were constantly asking for help getting into TechCrunch. So I wasn\u2019t surprised that Masek found herself asking, \u201cIs 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

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 told me in a follow-up email that Honeyjar\u2019s vision goes beyond getting press coverage and beyond specific AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoneyjar can find reporters, build media lists, scan news and social, track coverage, and surface opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cThose capabilities are important, but they\u2019re just one piece of what we\u2019re building. The bigger idea is bringing the whole communications workflow together: signals, context, strategy, judgment, timing, and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just for founders. Masek said she\u2019s come to realize there are \u201cmillions and millions of unassigned communicators responsible for the work of comms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have the title of comms, but they\u2019re marketers, investors, authors, creators, school superintendents, sports team leaders,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly horizontal, this need to nail strategic communications. It\u2019s always passed around, but the problems are very often not solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Image Credits:<\/strong>Honeyjar<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u201ctake on that third client without any scaling cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That sounds promising for companies looking to get more attention, but it could be a nightmare for journalists. We receive more pitches than we can respond to, many of them already written by AI chatbots.<\/p>\n

When I raised my fears about getting inundated with even more PR slop, Masek noted that while Honeyjar can draft a pitch email or a social media post in the customer\u2019s voice, the customer actually has to hit send or publish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want a world where the human is removed from the loop,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s also where judgment is key. Masek said she and Jamshidi tried to \u201cinfuse and encode Honeyjar with our wisdom.\u201d Through a broader initiative called the Comms Lab, they\u2019re now training the product on the judgment of other PR pros as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, judgment is knowing what to do, what not to do, when to act, and how to adapt to the situation,\u201d Jamshidi added. \u201cThat comes from understanding a company\u2019s goals and priorities, what\u2019s happening inside and outside the organization, and knowing what to say, to whom, where, and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some cases, Masek said Honeyjar might even tell a founder that they\u2019re simply not ready for coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear from reporters all the time who want better pitches, who want to hear from experts directly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe actually see a future where there are more credible pitches in your inbox from sources who you actually want to hear from.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

Journalists, entrepreneurs, and even some public relations professionals will tell you that the PR process is broken (buy me a drink sometime, and I\u2019ll give you my rant). But could AI actually make things better?<\/p>\n

Honeyjar, which will be attending this week\u2019s TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Startup Battlefield 200, wants to use AI to make the expertise and judgment of the best PR pros available to everyone, including founders who have no idea where to start.<\/p>\n

The startup\u2019s founders, CEO Michelle Masek and Chief Communications Officer Nadia Jamshidi, certainly fit the bill when it comes to PR expertise. They\u2019ve 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\u2019 venture firm, Obvious Ventures.<\/p>\n

As Masek described the challenges involved in \u201chelping with the why and when of comms and marketing for 110 portfolio companies\u201d (the startups her firm had invested in), I flashed back to my own brief stint leading marketing at an early-stage VC firm, where founders were constantly asking for help getting into TechCrunch. So I wasn\u2019t surprised that Masek found herself asking, \u201cIs 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

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 told me in a follow-up email that Honeyjar\u2019s vision goes beyond getting press coverage and beyond specific AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoneyjar can find reporters, build media lists, scan news and social, track coverage, and surface opportunities,\u201d she said. \u201cThose capabilities are important, but they\u2019re just one piece of what we\u2019re building. The bigger idea is bringing the whole communications workflow together: signals, context, strategy, judgment, timing, and execution.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just for founders. Masek said she\u2019s come to realize there are \u201cmillions and millions of unassigned communicators responsible for the work of comms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have the title of comms, but they\u2019re marketers, investors, authors, creators, school superintendents, sports team leaders,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly horizontal, this need to nail strategic communications. It\u2019s always passed around, but the problems are very often not solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Image Credits:<\/strong>Honeyjar<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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 \u201ctake on that third client without any scaling cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

That sounds promising for companies looking to get more attention, but it could be a nightmare for journalists. We receive more pitches than we can respond to, many of them already written by AI chatbots.<\/p>\n

When I raised my fears about getting inundated with even more PR slop, Masek noted that while Honeyjar can draft a pitch email or a social media post in the customer\u2019s voice, the customer actually has to hit send or publish.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never want a world where the human is removed from the loop,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s also where judgment is key. Masek said she and Jamshidi tried to \u201cinfuse and encode Honeyjar with our wisdom.\u201d Through a broader initiative called the Comms Lab, they\u2019re now training the product on the judgment of other PR pros as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, judgment is knowing what to do, what not to do, when to act, and how to adapt to the situation,\u201d Jamshidi added. \u201cThat comes from understanding a company\u2019s goals and priorities, what\u2019s happening inside and outside the organization, and knowing what to say, to whom, where, and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some cases, Masek said Honeyjar might even tell a founder that they\u2019re simply not ready for coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hear from reporters all the time who want better pitches, who want to hear from experts directly,\u201d she said. \u201cWe actually see a future where there are more credible pitches in your inbox from sources who you actually want to hear from.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3492090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3492089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3492089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3492089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3492090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3492089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3492089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3492089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}