SixEastern

Emily Gerber founded SixEastern after gaining deep experience in PR and communications at major tech companies. She worked at Uber leading PR for the business development team and B2B programs, and at Box handling product communications with a focus on product launches and partnership announcements. From these roles, she saw a gap in how startups approach press—most founders either avoid it thinking it won't drive growth, or they approach it in an overly theoretical, high-level way without tactical guidance on what actually works.

SixEastern launched as a PR agency with a philosophy centered on tactical, actionable advice rather than theoretical frameworks. Emily's approach differs sharply from traditional PR wisdom. Rather than obsessing over relationship-building with reporters, she discovered that well-executed cold outreach done right is just as effective. She also realized that press value for B2B companies isn't primarily about direct signups—it's about second-order effects like credibility signals, logo placement on websites, and sales collateral that helps close deals.

The agency worked with over 100 tech companies across stages. Among early notable clients was Ramp, which worked with SixEastern on early product announcements. Other notable clients mentioned include Perplexity, a consumer AI company that invested essentially zero in paid marketing but used PR as a major growth driver, seeing massive spikes in signups and pro user adoption after announcements.

Emily's tactical playbook centers on matching the right story to the right publication. TechCrunch works best for funding announcements and product news. Axios is deals-focused (funding, partnerships with monetary components, acquisitions). Business Insider excels at pitch deck stories, entrepreneurial journey pieces, and top startup lists. Venture Beat covers AI news. Fast Company focuses on future of work and design. Forbes uses its contributor network for earlier-stage companies and awards like AI50 and Fintech 50.

For pitches themselves, Emily found that three-sentence emails outperform longer pitches. Being direct—"reaching out with an eight-million-dollar Series A from X investors, offering exclusive"—works better than trying to paint a big market problem. She also discovered that positioning against incumbents ("Salesforce alternative with X approach") converts much better than positioning as a category creator. Avoiding common mistakes like over-complicating funding announcements or trying to pitch product news to deals-focused publications made a measurable difference.

For podcast and awards, she built a framework: understand customer verticals, search for aligned podcasts, do qualitative analysis (check if they feature vendor executives, verify they're actively producing, listen to episodes, check past guests), and reach out casually on LinkedIn before pitching. When pitching podcasts and newsletters, finding your customers' media diet through informal conversations proved surprisingly effective.

SixEastern has grown to work with over 100 companies and has become known for demystifying PR with concrete, tactical guidance. Emily has moved beyond just placing stories—she now helps founders think strategically about what stories are worth telling (consumer companies with low friction can drive signups; B2B companies drive sales collateral and recruiter credibility). She's also expanded to helping clients pitch op-eds, find gaps in coverage, and develop contrarian angles that reporters actually want to cover. The agency continues to adapt as media changes—recently pivoting strategy when TechCrunch stopped accepting op-eds—and has built a reputation for not just getting coverage, but getting the *right* coverage that moves business metrics.