In this episode, Julija Jegorova, founder of Black Unicorn PR, discusses the essentials of public relations for startups. She shares her journey from journalism to PR, explains how founders can effectively approach media, and highlights the key factors that make or break a startup’s PR strategy.
Julija’s journey into PR wasn’t intentional—she originally planned to become an investigative journalist. A chance conversation with a top journalist led her to explore public relations, a field she knew little about at the time. This unexpected pivot eventually shaped her career, proving that seizing opportunities and networking can lead to new and exciting paths.
Unlike large corporations, startups don’t have an established reputation to manage—they need to build it from the ground up. This requires a different PR strategy, one focused on storytelling and visibility. Julija realized there was a gap in the market for PR agencies that understood startups' unique challenges, which led her to launch Black Unicorn PR. Her agency helps founders navigate media relations, positioning them in top-tier publications.
Not all PR agencies are the right fit for startups. Julija emphasizes that founders should look for agencies that manage expectations realistically and prioritize long-term brand building over quick media hits. A good PR agency will be honest about what’s achievable and won’t promise instant results. Chemistry between the founder and the agency is also key—without trust, effective collaboration is impossible.
With AI tools becoming more common, many feared that PR professionals would be replaced. However, Julija believes AI can enhance productivity but can’t replace human creativity and relationship-building. While AI can help with grammar checks and basic content generation, PR remains a deeply human-driven industry, relying on authentic storytelling and journalist connections.
Julija’s career highlights the importance of networking—not just for sales, but for long-term opportunities. She advises founders to attend industry events with an open mindset, rather than a transactional approach. Building relationships naturally, rather than aggressively pitching, often leads to valuable connections that can pay off years down the line.
PR is a long game, and startups that approach it strategically—by focusing on storytelling, authenticity, and the right partnerships—can build a strong reputation that supports their growth.
Julija Jegorova
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intro music: [00:00:00] This is the Selected Podcast, your backstage pass and exclusive access to some of the biggest names in the tech industry, brought to you by Sesamers, the definitive name in tech event media.
Ben: Hi there, this is Ben from Sesamers, recording live at Tech Chill 2025 in Riga. We're speaking with industry leaders who are shaping the future of startups, investments, and innovation.
Today, I'm excited to be joined by Julia Jagorova, founder of Black Unicorn PR. JJ has spent over 15 years in global PR and communications, working with major brands like TomTom, Asus, Visa, before diving into the startup world. In 2018, she founded Black Unicorn PR, now recognized as one of the top PR agencies for startups in Europe, helping founders secure media placements in TechCrunch, Forbes, BBC, The Guardian, etc.
She's also a regular speaker, mentor, and university [00:01:00] lecturer to help the next generation of PR professionals and startup founders master the art of communications. Hi, JJ. How are you doing?
Julija Jegorova: Hi, I'm very well. Thank you for such a nice introduction. It made me feel very important. No, it's
Ben: alright. I took it, you know, from your LinkedIn, you know, so you did a good job communicating about your background.
Julija Jegorova: Thanks.
Ben: Uh, tell me about your journey, you know, how did you started PR? How did you end up, you know, starting, uh, your own company?
Julija Jegorova: Yeah. So it was never planned to be in public relations. Um, I didn't even know about public relations. I think when I've started, uh, this journey. So moved out to Lithuania in 2009, went to study journalism in the UK and my plan was to become a journalist.
An investigative journalist go to all the war zones. Um, my family was very supportive because I think they never thought anything can happen. And then the second year I was actually offered to go to Palestine in 2010. And I called my mom and said like, Oh my goodness, I have the best news ever. I'm going to be going to a war zone in a couple of months.
I was invited. And she was like, no, you can't. Um, and at that time, obviously I was very [00:02:00] much dependent on her. So that was, um, off the books. Um, so what happened then is I went to one of the events that was organized by university and I met Nick Davis. So Nick Davis is probably one of the best investigative journalists in the UK.
Then we had dinner together and I asked him, well, what should I do if my mom was not letting me to go to a war zone? That's very evil. And he was like, why don't you try public relations? And I did not have the notion of what PR is at the time. So I saw sex in the city and I imagined it would be something like this.
Um, and the interesting thing was that the event was organized by university and by a public relations agency. So what I've decided to do there and then is that I will just go to the organizers to some of the PR directors and say that I would like to get an internship. And they told me, yes, yeah, of course, well, you can just get in touch with us.
I got in touch with them for me like 10 times up until the moment they actually accepted me to, uh, you know, do an internship there. And that's how it [00:03:00] started. 2010
Ben: or 11? 2010
Julija Jegorova: it was. Yeah. Yeah.
Ben: So 15 years.
Julija Jegorova: Yeah. No one can see me, but I look younger then.
Ben: Uh, the, what I really like about this, uh, story is that it's starting with an event.
Julija Jegorova: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, you have to go, whoever's listening, you have to go to events, even if you're tired and it's like been a long day and you don't feel like going to an event, always go. Because I think throughout my life there were so many random meetings that I thought were just a random meeting, but then they actually turned it to something else.
And yeah, and if I would never have gone to this Nick Davis event organized by PR agency. Maybe we will not be talking today. Yeah.
Ben: How do you turn randomness into something valuable without being, I don't know, too transactional or like just planning everything?
Julija Jegorova: I think that's a very fair thing that you said, you know, you don't be transactional.
So when I'm going to events, I don't sell myself. I don't sell the services that my agency [00:04:00] is providing. And also I do not expect anything from the people that I meet. So if I meet some founders, you know, not saying, Oh, look, we have a PR agency. Would you like to work with us? And. I think that works best being just very authentic and genuine.
And we do have some of the founders, some of the investors that do come back to us like three, four years later saying, well, we've met at an event. You left a good impression. Maybe we should have a conversation. So I think going with an agenda where you just. You know, I don't know, targets everyone like via Brella.
And it's like, let's meet, you know, we have something for you. It's just really annoying.
Ben: So you mentioned Brella. Can you explain what it is for those who are not so familiar? So
Julija Jegorova: Brella is a networking app where just before you come to an event, you can schedule some meetings, um, and I've received. So many,
Ben: how many,
Julija Jegorova: I don't know, like maybe 15.
Well, that's not that
Ben: for this, for this, yeah.
Julija Jegorova: Yeah. And usually it was, we are software development agency. Would you like to develop an app? Uh, we're looking to build a logistics center. Would you like to become a partner? So even like the [00:05:00] basic research, you know, just the most basic research, just see what that person is doing, um, and then connect.
Ben: Uh, are you using yourself the app to have meetings here or how, how do you handle your, the networking part?
Julija Jegorova: Um, I'm really bad at networking in the sense that I don't schedule it. Um, there are some people that I wanted to meet, you know, because let's say a tech chill or any other events, you do have the community that is gathering together and coming together.
And of course you get to see all of your friends, partners, et cetera. Sometimes people reach out because they have genuine interest, let's say in public relations. Someone wants to know about like the female founder's journey and. All the troubles that we go through. Um, someone just wants to have an advice or just a chat.
Um, and that's how people approach me. I always also on LinkedIn say that I'm going to be, you know, this particular event at this particular time. You know, just think me if you want to have a conversation. So, but yeah, networking apps are great if you use them wisely.
Ben: Uh, [00:06:00] you, you said that you started like in 2010, uh, to work in PR and then in 2018, you started Black Unicorn PR.
Why?
Julija Jegorova: Great question. So I worked with big companies, right? With corporates. And then in 2014, 15, I started working with startups because that was a big boom, especially in the UK. Everyone wanted to become the next, you know, Steve job.
Ben: Where were you based on?
Julija Jegorova: Um, in the UK. Yeah. Yeah. So since 2009, I've been based in the UK.
Yeah. So everyone wanted to become the next big thing. And I started working at one startup, sustainability startup. Still exists. Great product, wonderful people. Um, and I've realized that. The difference, let's say between corporates and startups, the corporate company, they do already have a lot, um, history, a lot of history, a lot of PR, a lot of marketing, you know, also they do have the budget predominantly what they need to do is manage their reputation, right?
[00:07:00] So with startups, there is no reputation to manage. You have to build it up from scratch. And that was really, really exciting. And when working for that particular startup, it was. Real good fun. I've been there for a couple of years. And the problem that we found is that whenever we would be looking for PR agency, you would have big agencies trying to come and pitch us.
First of all, the budgets were absolutely insane. As a startup, you know, you don't have so much free.
Ben: What is insane in the in this case?
Julija Jegorova: Um, well, look, PR agencies are used to be working for and with big companies, right? So retainers can sometimes start from 15, 000, 50, 000 per month. Obviously something that, um, A startup can't really afford.
Uh, we did work with a wonderful PR agency that they had to reduce their budgets massively. But then what I realized that there was no PR folk PR agency that is focused on startups. So when I left the company, I've decided that I'm going to be a freelancer because I've realized there's so many startups that could use the skills that I [00:08:00] have, you know, for my corporate background, for my startup background, in terms of the in house services that I was offering.
Um, and I never had a plan. I never had a desire to. Have an agency to open one, to become an entrepreneur, right? Something that I became today, but there was so much demand that I've literally forced Mauro, who's my co founder to leave his cushy corporate job and come and join me in this wonderful, crazy venture.
So yeah, it was kind of born out to the needs that there was. There were no startup PR agencies focused on startups at the time.
Ben: And so when you said the timing is, and now they are.
Julija Jegorova: Yeah. Oh Lord, there's, I don't know how many loads and you have different agencies on different sizes. Then you have solo printers that are offering also PR services, freelancers, small agencies, big agencies, big agencies like, I don't know, Edelman, et cetera, also trying to tap into the startups market.
So they even have special arms. You know, focusing on that, but then loads of agencies right [00:09:00] now, not saying all of them are good.
Ben: How do you address if a PR agency is a good fit when you're a startup founder?
Julija Jegorova: Um, first and foremost. Expectations management. I think that's the most important part. You do get sometimes extremely ambitious founders, and I'm not saying you should not be ambitious, but you also shouldn't be realistic.
So someone who says, well, I saw this massive company that's been around for like hundreds of years, they're all over like New York, tennis, BBC, techno, you know, whatever. We also want the same thing in the next like two months. Which is impossible. What we're trying to do is trying to get them from 0 to 1 in terms of the PR game, then from 1 to 10, etc, etc.
So, expectations management and if a PR agency tells you, yes, of course, we can do that in no time, run in the opposite direction. Um, also, another important thing is chemistry. We always have either lengthy calls or meetings with potential clients, because sometimes we can be the best agency, they can [00:10:00] be the best client, but as people, you just don't click that happens, right?
We should not pretend that that doesn't happen. That happens. You know, sometimes you just don't like each other. And if you work with a PR agency, you have to like the people that are there. Cause you have to trust them with some of the most sacred information. And if there is no trust, then it's going to be very difficult to work.
Ben: Can you tell me about, uh, A story with a startup that you worked with that, uh, was like, uh, amazing. And then the one that was like a total nightmare.
Julija Jegorova: Um, we don't, you see, you can feel when it's going to be a total nightmare on the first, like 10 minutes of the call. So usually if we do feel we're not the right fit, so someone might be asking us also, what are the KPIs?
You know, how many press releases are you going to be sending out per week? And we do explain them that KPIs and the number of press releases, they don't really matter, right? It's just not what. Public relations is about, and if you explain it to them [00:11:00] and if they understand it and accept it and understand your point of view, you know, as a professional, then there's a possibility to work if they just keep pushing the same thing saying, well, no, I want to know how many press releases they're going to be.
I want to know exactly what you're going to be delivering. It's very difficult to work with those people and it's better not to. And another thing is not everyone needs public relations, uh, probably shooting myself in the foot here, but sometimes in the very beginning, you might need more advertising or marketing.
So whenever we talk to a potential client, we try to understand where the needs are, but also we're trying to understand how we can help. We're not. The agency that is trying to sell for the sake of selling, because, you know, we want to make money, right? Of course, the idea of the business is to make money, but we also want to work with people that we like, that we enjoy and that will enjoy working with us, but also the ones that we can bring a lot of value to.
Ben: How much does it cost?
Julija Jegorova: Uh, PR agencies, depending on the region, so in the [00:12:00] UK, usually between 3, 000 pounds up to maybe 15, 000 pounds per month, um, somewhere, let's say in, uh, the Northern Baltics and the sea region can be anywhere between one and a half thousand euros to like 10, 000 euros, depending on, you know, your needs and your package.
And obviously what's happening with PR agencies right now, I see is that because the last couple of years, I think were very difficult for agency and business. Uh, everyone started to diversify their offering. So people started doing public relations as an earned medium, but also maybe they start producing podcasts or creating blogs or doing something else.
And of course, if that's a part of the offering, the pricing, why just vary massively.
Ben: You didn't tell me about something that was super successful. You told me that you never have a nightmare because you don't get, you don't bring the clients in. Well, what about like an amazing client? What does it look like?
Julija Jegorova: Um, so an amazing client, probably one of the coolest clients that we had from like the past one we [00:13:00] just started was Nordican that got acquired by GoCardless, um, couple of years ago. Uh, we had probably one of the best conversations with them initially. Then we realized that the founders are absolute geniuses and we found a way how to use them and position them in certain ways.
And they've got some of the best coverage and it was also done literally just as COVID hit, like two days before COVID hit. Um, and we did really well with them. And as I said, they got acquired by Locardless, so that was a big deal. Another client of ours that was amazing was from Estonia called Klaus.
They also got acquired, I do not remember exactly the name by who. But a lot of the clients that we work with, I We'll be very selfish and arrogant say that we do a really good job of, you know, taking them from the zero to one. Um, and we've never had a client leave us because we do a bad job. Usually they leave us if they grow massively and they need like the actual in house team, right?
For [00:14:00] like 10, 20 people. And maybe this is something that we can't really deliver.
Ben: You were talking about the challenge of running an agency business. Uh, how do you manage this sort of, uh, I would say like elasticity, like the fact that you need to be able to maybe have more people working with you. Like, do you have like a bunch of freelancers on call?
Like, how does it look like? How many people work at like you need?
Julija Jegorova: So there's a total around 15 of us. So we do have a core team that are full timers. Um, and we do have some people that are almost full time with us, but they're on a freelance contract because they might be doing with us four days out of five.
Um, and yes, and that, that's very true because today you can have a lot of clients and then you will need. Everyone to cover for those clients. And then, you know, sometimes clients can drop either, you know, they grow too much or they run out of runway and they no longer can afford PR services. So you'd have to be very smart about it.
The way we do it in the agency is that everyone that we worked with, we also haven't fired anyone. We did have a couple of people leaving, you know, for other [00:15:00] jobs, you know, one of our South African colleagues, she got an offer at DHL and she called us saying that, you know, she's leaving. I was crying. She was crying, but you know, it was an amazing opportunity.
Um, so we just try to have different teams within. Our company. So someone is very much, you know, focusing on FinTech and then we kind of given FinTech clients, I was more insistent ability, et cetera. So, yeah. And as I said, yeah, the last couple of years were kind of difficult because of course the, you know, the money is not the same for startups, right.
That's not as easy to raise. And also there's just so much competition right now. So someone might be going with a cheaper option, but team wise, they are sacred. They are the best. And, um, Yeah, I would not be having this conversation with you right now, uh, because obviously the guys are hard at work, but um, I really value, I would value my team over clients.
So if a client is making life difficult, it's easier to part with a client than let's say get rid of a team member.
Ben: What's the impact of [00:16:00] AI and ChatGPT on your work?
Julija Jegorova: Initially, everyone panicked, right? And you could see people saying like, that's it, the copywriters, the PRs, the marketeers, they will become obsolete because there's ChatGPT.
Um, I think there was a little bit of panic, maybe for a couple of days. And then you realize that, well, AI is here to stay. It's not going anywhere. So we should not demonize it. We should just try to work it out. How can we work with AI? Um, I use AI quite frequently for, um, grammar check, cause we are British agency and I'm not British, I'm Lithuanian.
So I do make grammar mistakes every now and then. So that works nicely. Um, I think some of the other colleagues, you know, might be using it as prompts, you know, maybe creating like very quick press releases on something, but even then we do have a dedicated cooperator that is writing all the thought leadership pieces, uh, rewriting all the press releases, et cetera.
So we try to use it, but we're not [00:17:00] abusing it. And also in terms of all the other tools, we don't do anything less in visuals and videos, so we're not really using that. And still a kind of this human aspect, I do not believe that you can replace that in public relations and journalism.
Ben: So you don't see, um, like an AI agent doing PR and talking to journalists instead of you?
Julija Jegorova: Yeah, I really don't. I really don't. I think you can use AI tools to enhance your productivity and do the work, but I really don't think that Any good PR professional is going to be replaced by an AI agent.
Ben: What does it look like to keep up with journalists? Like, uh, tell me, like, get me through, like, a life, a day in the life of JJ.
So what do you have? Like, uh, let's say you have a database of, I don't know how many journalists. You have to keep, you know, a bunch of them engaged, you have to talk to them frequently, like, what does it look like? Yeah,
Julija Jegorova: so we don't annoy journalists and we don't get in touch with journalists just for the sake of getting in touch with them.[00:18:00]
So the only time and reason why we do engage with the media is only if we have something valuable for them to offer. Even if we have, let's say a press release, um, I don't know, announcing something important, we do not just send out a news wire. We don't send out a mail merger or anything like that. We create like a very tailored database of like 20 to a hundred journalists that we think will be interested.
And then every single email is being sent individually. So, because journalists, uh, well, journalism and media landscape has changed massively in the past couple of years. We know that there's been massive layoffs all across, so the last thing we want to do is piss off a journalist, you know, just sending, like, irrelevant information for the sake of sending it.
So all the journalists that we work with, they know that our clients bring value, be it, you know, commentary, opinion pieces, or something else. So we just don't, yeah, we just don't get in touch with them unless there's a need to.
Ben: Uh, you are a signature from Lithuania.
Julija Jegorova: Mm hmm. [00:19:00] Yes. I can anticipate the next question now.
Ben: What, what is my question?
Julija Jegorova: Uh, it's something about Lithuanian mafia, as you said. And just before we jumped on the spot.
Ben: So what is going on with the Lithuanian mafia? I see, like, Lithuanians everywhere.
Julija Jegorova: Yeah, Lithuanians are everywhere. And, you know, bear in mind that we are a small country of less than three million people.
That's why
Ben: it's shocking.
Julija Jegorova: It's amazing, like, also there's so many successful Lithuanians out there, right? It's, it's insane, but, um, my particular journey was that, um, I left Lithuania in 2009, and the reason to leave was to go to university, to a British university, um, and the reason for that was because Lithuania joined the EU in 2004.
So that kind of opened the new borders and there was a new wave of opportunities. And pretty much all of my classmates and the people that I knew from those days, they all left, you know, to study. Now I see that a lot of Lithuanians are coming back. So you kind of leave in 2008, [00:20:00] 9, you go to study at university, you do your bachelor's, your master's, whatever.
You go to work at a company that probably does not have its headquarters somewhere in Lithuania, but they have it in the UK. He gave all that experience. And at some point when you're like over 30, you're getting tired. And you also, you know, you want to come back home and you want to give back to the community.
So now we have this new wave of absolutely fantastic professionals with international experience that I think really give a lot of value to the community, especially to the startup community.
Ben: We're here at TechChill, so not far away from Lithuania, which is also a reason why there's so many of you here.
What is your expectation when you're at an event like TechChill?
Julija Jegorova: Um, What
Ben: do you like from this year edition?
Julija Jegorova: Yeah. So this year it feels a little bit different from the last couple of years that I have attended. Um, it feels a little bit more intimate, uh, to a certain degree. Um, I think in terms of expectations, it's always good to see all the people that you haven't seen since last year.
[00:21:00] So it's always nice to bump into, you know, former clients, existing clients, uh, you know, friends, some of these people that you became friends online, like you and I, right. We've met online. So this is the first time I think we've met in person. Um, and once again, you know, I'm not here or I'm not attending events just to do sales.
I'm just to learn from the ecosystem to see what's happening. Um, and yeah, and to provide a value.
Ben: We're getting to the end of this, uh, pod. Um, for those listening, we want to level up their PR game. Where can they learn more about Black Unicorn PR?
Julija Jegorova: So definitely go on our website, www. blackunicornpr. com.
And we do have a really good blog with a lot of information. It's literally a golden wealth of information with everything you can find. How to write a press release, how to do thought leadership, what journalists hate, how not to annoy them. Uh, so definitely take a look at that. All the resources are for free.
Um, also feel free to reach out to me on [00:22:00] LinkedIn. Um, I've been trying to push a lot of content. Um, Educating the market because that's quite important and yeah, I think those two are the best ones.
Ben: Thank you so much for your time.
Julija Jegorova: for having me
Ben: again. As usual, great to hear about the journey of our guest and learn a bunch of different things.
I was recording this live at TechShield 2025 in Riga. And thank you again to the TechShield team for making these conversations possible. Don't forget to subscribe to the Selected Podcast for more insights into storytelling, startup growth, and the people shaping the future of tech. See you soon on [00:23:00] Sedamus.