Honeyjar brings AI to PR and communications workflows, targets founders and 'unassigned communicators'

Honeyjar automates tasks such as writing announcements, finding journalists to pitch, identifying speaking opportunities, building media lists, scanning news and social media, tracking coverage and surfacing opportunities. Jamshidi, the company's chief communications officer, told TechCrunch that those capabilities are important but only one part of the product. She said the larger goal is to bring together the whole communications workflow: signals, context, strategy, judgment, timing and execution.

Masek, Honeyjar's CEO, and Jamshidi have spent decades in communications, both in-house and at agencies. Masek recently served as senior vice president of marketing and communications at Obvious Ventures, the venture firm founded by Ev Williams. At Obvious, Masek described the challenge of helping 110 portfolio companies with the why and when of communications and marketing. She said she asked whether senior-level expertise could be scaled into AI in a way that helps users do communications work proactively and skillfully. Honeyjar is her answer to that question.

The startup is not aimed only at founders. Masek told TechCrunch she has come to realize there are millions and millions of unassigned communicators responsible for communications work. She said they do not have the title of communications professional but include marketers, investors, authors, creators, school superintendents and sports team leaders. Masek described the need for strategic communications as incredibly horizontal, adding that the work is always passed around but the problems are often not solved.

Honeyjar is also not trying to replace public relations professionals, according to Masek. She said she and Jamshidi built the tool they wanted to use themselves. Masek argued that Honeyjar can make PR firms and in-house communications teams more effective while allowing individual PR practitioners to take on a third client without scaling costs.

When Honeyjar opened its waitlist, it received 10,000 signups in the first 24 hours, Masek said. Beta testers include Nextdoor, the tech startup Coco Robotics, investor Bloomberg Beta, and agencies Mission North and Full Picture.

The product's expansion raises concerns for journalists, who already receive more pitches than they can respond to, many written by AI chatbots. Masek said that while Honeyjar can draft a pitch email or social media post in a customer's voice, the customer must hit send or publish. She said, 'We never want a world where the human is removed from the loop.'

Judgment is central to that approach, according to the founders. Masek said she and Jamshidi tried to infuse and encode Honeyjar with their wisdom. Through a broader initiative called the Comms Lab, they are now training the product on the judgment of other PR professionals as well. Jamshidi added that for them, judgment means knowing what to do, what not to do, when to act and how to adapt to the situation. She said that comes from understanding a company's goals and priorities, what is happening inside and outside the organization, and knowing what to say, to whom, where and when.

In some cases, Masek said, Honeyjar might even tell a founder that they are simply not ready for coverage. She said reporters constantly ask for better pitches and want to hear from experts directly. Masek said she sees a future where there are more credible pitches in reporters' inboxes from sources they actually want to hear from.

Editor's Summary

Honeyjar is building an AI platform to automate public relations and communications tasks and to support the broader communications workflow for founders and non-specialists. The startup, led by veteran PR executives, reports 10,000 waitlist signups in its first 24 hours and beta users including Nextdoor and Bloomberg Beta. It stresses human judgment and send control as it seeks to improve pitching while addressing concerns about AI-generated PR spam.