Natasha Woods has operated in the pressure cooker twice—once supporting Gigamon's IPO from the agency side at Weber Shandwick, then running PR at GitLab through its public offering and five subsequent earnings cycles. Now as Senior Director of Communications at The Linux Foundation. Across the industry, she’s noticed a pattern emerge of marketing org consolidation under CROs, potentially limiting the creative oxygen brands need to survive. In this conversation, Natasha breaks down the mechanics of earnings prep, explains why the GitLab team workshopped a single analogy for CNBC, and shares why one founder's dismissive comment to a journalist nearly torpedoed a launch story.
The operational mechanics of earnings calls: review chains, last-minute changes, and executive interview prep
Topics Discussed:
Why GitLab's "iPhone for DevOps" analogy resonated so well on airThe customer-first approach that led to a nine-month Fortune story on Interana and TinderWhy reporters are shifting to freelance, newsletters, and in-house content roles—and what that means for foundersThe balance between demonstrating business results and showcasing storytelling – and how to make both shine Press release optimization for LLMs: bullet points above body copy, not buried in paragraphsFounder mistakes with journalists: the "you didn't do your homework" storyConference announcement strategy: relationships and embargo timing matter more than venueGTM Lessons For B2B Founders:
Earnings prep is review chain architecture, not content creation: Natasha's role during GitLab's earnings wasn't just writing the release—it was orchestrating multiple approval layers for the release and media talking points, maintaining the press page of the financial website, and keeping everyone's phone numbers accessible for last-minute changes. The constraint is coordinating legal, finance, and executive sign-offs under time pressure. Founders approaching their first earnings call should map the approval chain early, identify bottlenecks, and establish clear decision rights before the press release draft even exists.
Executive interview prep targets bridging mechanics, not answer memorization: Brian Robins, GitLab's CFO (now at Snowflake), practiced weekend sessions with his wife and in front of mirrors before Natasha's prep sessions. The goal wasn't rehearsing specific answers—it was becoming fluent in bridging unexpected questions, aligning body language with messaging, and managing facial expressions on camera. Founders should treat media training as improvisational skill-building: practice redirecting surprise questions, watch yourself on video for body language tells, and focus on comfort rather than scripting.
Over-preparation creates robotic interviews that producers reject: Natasha has seen executives so rehearsed they couldn't handle deviations from expected questions, and producers called mid-interview to complain the conversation felt scripted. The balance: practice enough to handle bridges and body language, but maintain conversational flexibility. If your exec can't naturally pivot when asked something unexpected, you've over-indexed on preparation. Record practice sessions and watch for wooden delivery or inability to think dynamically.
Customer stories unlock media narrative faster than founder vision: When Natasha worked with Interana (a behavioral analytics startup founded by ex-Facebook engineers), she asked who was using the product. The answer—Tinder—became the hook for a Fortune feature. She called Tinder's comms team, learned why they chose the technology, then pitched a reporter who had just moved to Fortune. That single customer conversation created a story that took nine months to develop but positioned the company better than any founder pitch deck could. Start your narrative development by interviewing your first five customers about why they bought.
The "iPhone for DevOps" analogy required CEO-CLO-Comms workshop sessions: When preparing for GitLab's IPO broadcast interviews, Natasha asked CEO Sid Sijbrandij how he'd explain a DevOps platform to his non-technical Dutch parents at dinner. Multiple brainstorming sessions produced "GitLab is the iPhone for developers—it consolidates all the separate tools into one platform." She tested whether he could deliver it naturally on air. When he said it on CNBC right after listing, the host's facial recognition was immediate. That single analogy took multiple prep sessions. Don't assume technical analogies are obvious—workshop them until they're bulletproof.
Everything said to a journalist is on-record unless explicitly pre-negotiated: The biggest founder mistake Natasha sees is conversational comfort leading to unguarded comments. Journalists aren't adversaries, but if something is interesting to their audience, it gets printed. The failure mode: thinking "off the record" can be declared retroactively. Establish ground rules at the conversation's beginning. For sensitive topics, say "I'd like to discuss X on background" before sharing it, not after.
Match spokesperson format-fit, not seniority: Not every founder should do broadcast. Not every CTO should do podcasts. Natasha builds spokesperson matrices: who handles 60-second TV hits, who does long-form written interviews, who thrives in hour-long podcast conversations. Some executives shine in rapid-fire Q&A but can't sustain narrative depth. Others are brilliant storytellers who can't compress to sound bites. Founders should assess their team's format strengths and deploy accordingly—it also signals leadership depth to investors when multiple execs can represent the company.
Conference announcements should require longer lead times under embargo: For KubeCon North America, Natasha sent news packages to media three weeks before the event. Reporters filed stories in advance to publish when the embargo lifted day one. The decision to announce at conferences depends on: competitive timing, reporter relationships, whether your news fits keynote themes (for inclusion in roundups), and your embargo management capability. Don't default to "we'll announce at the conference"—evaluate whether you have the relationships to pre-brief effectively and whether the news warrants event timing.
Reporter relationship ROI is measured in email open rates: Reporters get hundreds of pitches daily. Zero relationship means your email likely dies unread unless you're a second-time founder (Natasha notes Jeremy Johnson at Andela could reach reporters directly based on prior founding experience). Comms professionals with established relationships achieve materially higher response rates. Founders should invest 6-12 months before needing coverage: offer yourself as a source for their beats, provide context on industry trends, make introductions to interesting customers. The ROI compounds when you actually need coverage.
Transparent coverage with mixed news beats puff pieces: When managing Andela's CEO transition with Alex Konrad at Forbes, Natasha asked what numbers he needed to run the story. She secured revenue growth, valuation, and projections—even though growth had stagnated. Konrad's article noted the valuation and sales challenges but positioned the CEO change as a positive inflection point. The win wasn't glowing coverage—it was building trust during a leadership transition with factual transparency. Founders should aim for neutral, complete stories over promotional pieces. Credibility compounds.
Marketing under CROs optimizes for efficiency, threatens brand equity: Natasha sees orgs putting comms under revenue leadership for efficiency gains, but it stifles top-of-funnel creativity and long-term brand building. The failure mode: comms metrics get judged by sales contribution, forcing storytelling into demand-gen frameworks. Her advice: maintain strong sales-marketing partnership while keeping brand work separate from revenue accountability. If your CRO doesn't deeply understand marketing (most don't), decoupling is critical. Brand lovability drives funnel performance, but measuring it by pipeline contribution destroys the creative space it requires.
Press releases need bullet summaries above body copy for LLM parsing: Traditional press releases (headline, subhead, body) don't get picked up by Perplexity, ChatGPT, or other AI search engines. Earnings releases have always included 3-5 bullet points under the subhead, before the body, that summarize key information, so regular press releases now need to follow suit. That's what LLMs extract and surface. Natasha's format: headline, subhead, bullet-point summary (this is what AI reads), then body with deeper detail and links. Founders should restructure releases to be AI-native: front-load the summary, minimize jargon, link to supporting materials rather than creating five-page documents.
The "you didn't do your homework" founder story: Natasha was launching a big data startup founded by an ex-VMware R&D executive. She secured a call with Jonathan Vanian and prepped the founder on expected questions, including competitors. On the call, when Jonathan asked about competitors, the founder responded: "You obviously didn't do your homework because you should know this if you were a great journalist." Natasha had to salvage the relationship with an apology call. The article ran but was significantly shorter than Jonathan's typical depth. Lesson: journalists ask questions to hear your perspective and get quotes, not because they lack information. Treat every question as an opportunity to shape narrative.
Podcast prep combines broadcast body language with written interview depth: Podcasts are marathons (often 60+ minutes), now mostly video, requiring sustained performance. Natasha's approach: bring broadcast discipline on body language and camera presence, but prepare for the narrative depth of written features. She collaborates with hosts early, sharing bullet points of what the guest will cover and asking what else they want for their audience. The format rewards executives who can relax into storytelling while maintaining visual awareness. Don't treat podcasts as casual conversations—they're long-form performances that require both technical and narrative preparation.
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