Startup press kit: the page journalists actually use

A startup press kit is a public page where a journalist can describe your product, download a logo and email a real person, without waiting for a reply. Put it at /press, link it from the footer, and keep the boilerplate, facts, logos, images, colours, fonts and a named contact.

This is not a sponsor deck. A media kit for creators sells a collaboration. A press page serves a reporter on a deadline. If a block does not help them get the story right, leave it off.

What to put on the page

A stranger should learn, in order: what this is, who runs it, what it looks like, the latest facts, who to email, and whether the pictures are free to use. Put the contact in the first screen.

A boilerplate a reporter can paste

Write what the product is, who it is for and what it does, in about 50 to 100 words. That is the paragraph a story will copy. Skip the mission statement, and any number you would not want quoted next year.

• One sentence for captions and the first line of a mention.
• Two or three sentences for a normal news item.
• The full boilerplate, about 50 to 100 words, for a longer piece.

Here is a boilerplate for a fictional product, Northline.

Northline is scheduling software for independent clinic front desks. Practices use it to fill a cancelled appointment from a waiting list, so an empty slot becomes a visit the same day.

Write the paragraph you want quoted. A hurried reporter will quote the one you published.

Date any figure, or leave the number out. Add the year you started, where you are based, and the category. For each founder, write two or three sentences and one fact, with a square headshot at 1080×1080 in the same crop, and a pronunciation line if the name is often said wrong.

Logo files for light and dark grounds

A white page, a dark theme and a single ink each need a different file. One full colour logo on a white box fails two of them. Publish a wordmark, a square icon, and light and dark versions, the set in logo variations.

Show both on the page, on a pale patch and a deep patch. The picture is a preview. The download is the transparent file, with no rectangle baked in.

Name files for a stranger's downloads folder: northline-wordmark-on-light.svg and .png, the same pair for on-dark, then northline-icon in both. Lower case, hyphens, no "final". Brand asset management covers the wider habit.

Export each wordmark as an SVG and a transparent PNG, with the ground left out of the PNG. Export SVG and transparent PNG shows how the two files differ. Do not publish a watermarked preview. It will be the file that gets printed.

In Gradiently, tag each logo in the brand kit for the ground it is made for, light or dark, and keep the one you use most as the main logo. Offer those same files on the press page, not a later export from a slide.

Colours, type and the page header

Publish named swatches with hex codes, not a picture to sample. A hero colour, one or two supports, and light and dark neutrals are enough. Keep that list in the brand kit. The swatches below are a Northline example, not a palette to copy.

Name the heading font and the body font. Attach the files only if your licence lets the public have them. Font licensing is the check. When you cannot share the files, the names alone are the right thing to publish.

Make the header look like the product: 1920×1080 on the same ground as the site, with the name and one line. Auto ink keeps the line readable without a box behind the words. Caption each product image so an editor does not write one for you.

A shared press URL also needs a link preview at 1200×630. Founder photos can stay at 1080×1080. Decide the three sizes before you design, so the header is not a social post stretched sideways.

If that ground is a claimed Mark, add the certificate number, like GRC-7K2M-9QXA-4TPW, and a link to check the certificate. Anyone can see the holder and the history. It is a Gradiently registry record, not a trademark. How to read a certificate explains the result.

Make every file one click away

The page fails if the right file is a favour someone has to request. Put the downloads on the page, labelled in words.

Ordinary links are enough. The download attribute asks the browser to save the file. Say the ground and the format in the link text.

<p><a href="mailto:amira@northline.example">Amira Shah, press</a></p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="/press/northline-wordmark-on-light.svg" download>Wordmark for light backgrounds (SVG)</a></li>
  <li><a href="/press/northline-wordmark-on-light.png" download>Wordmark for light backgrounds (PNG)</a></li>
  <li><a href="/press/northline-wordmark-on-dark.svg" download>Wordmark for dark backgrounds (SVG)</a></li>
  <li><a href="/press/northline-wordmark-on-dark.png" download>Wordmark for dark backgrounds (PNG)</a></li>
</ul>

Skip unsourced counts, stock photos, retired logos and zips that ask for an email. Link two or three announcements, newest first. If you have no coverage, link your own launch note.

Publish it in one sitting

1. 1

   Write the words

   One sentence, a short mention, and about 50 to 100 words. Add the year, where you are based, the category and the founders. Date any number.

2. 2

   Export the logos

   Dark and light wordmarks, each as SVG and transparent PNG, plus an icon. Name every file for its ground.

3. 3

   Add colours and type

   Hex codes and font names in text. Share font files only if the licence allows it.

4. 4

   Design the header

   A 1920×1080 header on the site's ground, and a 1200×630 image for the press URL.

5. 5

   Add the certificate

   If you claim the ground, put the certificate number on the page and link the public check.

6. 6

   Publish the URL

   Put the page at /press, link it in the footer, and send that URL when someone asks for the logos.

When facts change, update the boilerplate and remove old logos. The page is done when a stranger can describe you, take the right logo and email a person.