Welcome back to Runway! 

Today, Cate Lawrence, senior writer at Tech.eu, joins JJ and Mauro for a wide-ranging and candid conversation about what it takes to get covered, the realities of a journalist's inbox, and where European tech is headed.

With over a decade covering startups across publications like The Next Web, DZone, ReadWrite and now Tech.eu, Cate has a unique perspective on the European tech ecosystem, and strong opinions on what founders and PR pros get right (and wrong) when pitching.

In this episode, we explore:

📬 What Cate's inbox really looks like: 180+ pitches a day and counting

📰 The types of stories that actually get her excited (hint: it's not just funding rounds)

⏰ How much notice journalists really need, and why Friday afternoon pitches are a bad idea

🔍 Why journalists do their own outbound research, and how to make sure they find you

🇪🇺 The state of European tech: momentum, layoffs, and the golden opportunity from US instability

🌍 Which European ecosystems to watch: hint, a big one is in CEE!

👀 Interesting startup ecosystems and diasporas: Armenia and more

🤖 How AI is creating a strange new tension between founders and the journalists who cover them

📻 The rise of alternative media formats and what it means for traditional newsrooms

🕵️ The wild story of a fake hedge fund, stolen websites and a fraudster in India, investigated by Cate, with a bit of help from JJ and Mauro

Whether you're a startup founder, a comms professional, or just curious about how European tech journalism works from the inside, this one's packed with insights.

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Runway is a podcast started by Black Unicorn PR co-founders Julija Jegorova and Mauro Battellini to help startup founders, company builders and business leaders with insights, tools and advice from specialists in sales, marketing, PR and more.

Black Unicorn PR is a London-based tech PR agency focused on startups, scaleups and VC.

For more information visit: https://www.blackunicornpr.com/

For even more advice, especially on PR, visit the Black Unicorn PR blog