We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 153 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Grow organically & retain

How do I pitch journalists directly, and is there an Indian version of HARO?

HARO itself went through a messy shutdown-and-relaunch as Connectively, and quality has dropped with AI-generated pitches flooding it, so treat it as one tool among several, not the plan. There's no true India-only HARO equivalent, the real move for Indian founders is building a personal shortlist of beat reporters at YourStory, Inc42, ET and Moneycontrol, following their recent work, and sending a two-line pitch with a real number or story hook, not a press-release attachment. Keep it under 150 words, lead with why it matters to their readers, and follow up once after a week.

Go deeper

4 resources, 3 link-checked.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

HARO's shutdown-then-relaunch as Connectively left it flooded with AI-generated pitches, so this roundup of working alternatives (Source of Sources, Qwoted, JustReachOut and more) is the actual current map of "get quoted by journalists" tools.

12+ Connectively (HARO) Alternatives

From prezly.com by Prezly

  • HARO/Connectively quality has dropped since its 2024 shutdown and 2025 relaunch.
  • Source of Sources, from HARO's original founder, is a solid free daily-email alternative.
  • Paid tools like Qwoted and JustReachOut offer larger, curated journalist databases.
Open prezly.com
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

A practical set of pitch-email templates and structure rules, cite credible data, double-check names, keep it short, that turns "cold email a journalist" from a blank-page fear into a fill-in-the-blanks exercise.

How to Pitch Editors & Win More PR [+ Templates]

From hubspot.com by HubSpot

  • Roughly 70% of publishers say they're open to pitched ideas that fit their beat.
  • Personalize every pitch to the specific journalist's recent work.
  • Cite credible sources and provide supporting links/data in the pitch itself.
Open blog.hubspot.com
📋 Template
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

A free, no-signup-hassle press release template that gets your basic facts and formatting right so you're not reinventing the format the first time a journalist asks for one.

How to Write a Press Release [Free Template]

From hubspot.com by HubSpot

  • Standard press release structure journalists expect.
  • Editable template you can adapt to funding, launch or milestone news.
  • Pair a release with an actual pitch email, don't rely on the release alone.
Open blog.hubspot.com
📄 Article
Free Beginner

Written by a VC who's watched hundreds of portfolio founders try and fail at PR, this is the most no-nonsense explainer of why "we launched" isn't a story and what actually is.

How to Get Press Coverage: Startup PR for Dummies

From medium.com by Christoph Janz (Point Nine Capital)

  • Journalists want stories with a real person at the center, not product announcements.
  • Build a shortlist of 10-20 reporters who already cover your problem space.
  • Local press is an easier first rung than national or category-leading outlets.
Open medium.com

People also ask

Also in Starting Up

The same ground, over in Grow & market, our Starting Up track.

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Build pipeline, our GTM track.

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Keep and grow the customers you win, our GTM track.

eChai Partner Brands